A little background information first.
About a year ago, I resumed playing the guitar after an almost 40 years hiatus. I had always been a Gibson Les Paul fan boy in my dreams, but never could afford one back in the day. Today I could, but being a little cautious as to whether becoming the player again that I used to be would really materialise, I did not want to risk losing so much money in case it doesn't, so I decided on going with an Epiphone Les Paul.
Therefore, I bought one of the 2024 Les Paul Classic in Heritage Cherry Sunburst, which came as a so-called B stock for €500 instead of €580, and immediately fell in love with it. As time went by, and after upgrading some of the parts, such as pickups, bridge and the nut, and spending a lot of time on learning how to do the optimal setup for this guitar, it just couldn't get any better in terms of playability also, in addition to being the look that it was right from the start.
Nonetheless, and even though I have told myself over and over to stop doing this, I've always kept an eye on the Gibson Les Paul market. So when the new Gibson Les Paul Studio Session came out in early December last year, and going by all the reviews that it had, all of my boxes were checked, and I just started waiting for a B stock Honey Burst, which would be my first choice going by the looks, or a B stock Bourbon Burst as an alternative showing up. That happened 10 days ago for a Honey Burst, with a B stock selling for €2035 instead of €2199, and I immediately placed the order. With B stock being a "return which may have slight traces of usage", in Thomann terms, where I purchase all my stuff.
The guitar arrived last Monday, and I have just come back from returning it. Thing being, that it is not a bad guitar at all. It is almost perfect for what it is. There was no scratch on it at all, and all the plastic bags were still closed, so the guy who ordered it previously had really handled it very carefully.
The only real issue I noticed with it was the nut slots being a little too high, but that isn't really a problem and could be dealt with very easily. Other than that, it is really a beautiful and perfectly handcrafted instrument.
However, the only true advantage over the Epiphone would be the ebony fretboard on the Gibson as opposed to the Indian laurel fretboard on the Epiphone in terms of look and feel which might be a criterion for me and which kept me pondering for a few days, and probably the 57 Classic pickups as opposed to the Epiphone ProBuckers which I upgraded to, in terms of sound, which is not as much a criterion for me being a kitchen player exclusively. And then of course, Gibson reading on the headstock, which also goes largely unnoticed in my kitchen.
But the bottom line being that all of this doesn't justify the Gibson being four times as much as the Epiphone, and since I'm not a person wanting a guitar just for the sake of owning it, I finally ended up sending it back, maybe with a little tear in my eye when leaving the box behind in the shop, to be honest.
About a year ago, I resumed playing the guitar after an almost 40 years hiatus. I had always been a Gibson Les Paul fan boy in my dreams, but never could afford one back in the day. Today I could, but being a little cautious as to whether becoming the player again that I used to be would really materialise, I did not want to risk losing so much money in case it doesn't, so I decided on going with an Epiphone Les Paul.
Therefore, I bought one of the 2024 Les Paul Classic in Heritage Cherry Sunburst, which came as a so-called B stock for €500 instead of €580, and immediately fell in love with it. As time went by, and after upgrading some of the parts, such as pickups, bridge and the nut, and spending a lot of time on learning how to do the optimal setup for this guitar, it just couldn't get any better in terms of playability also, in addition to being the look that it was right from the start.
Nonetheless, and even though I have told myself over and over to stop doing this, I've always kept an eye on the Gibson Les Paul market. So when the new Gibson Les Paul Studio Session came out in early December last year, and going by all the reviews that it had, all of my boxes were checked, and I just started waiting for a B stock Honey Burst, which would be my first choice going by the looks, or a B stock Bourbon Burst as an alternative showing up. That happened 10 days ago for a Honey Burst, with a B stock selling for €2035 instead of €2199, and I immediately placed the order. With B stock being a "return which may have slight traces of usage", in Thomann terms, where I purchase all my stuff.
The guitar arrived last Monday, and I have just come back from returning it. Thing being, that it is not a bad guitar at all. It is almost perfect for what it is. There was no scratch on it at all, and all the plastic bags were still closed, so the guy who ordered it previously had really handled it very carefully.
The only real issue I noticed with it was the nut slots being a little too high, but that isn't really a problem and could be dealt with very easily. Other than that, it is really a beautiful and perfectly handcrafted instrument.
However, the only true advantage over the Epiphone would be the ebony fretboard on the Gibson as opposed to the Indian laurel fretboard on the Epiphone in terms of look and feel which might be a criterion for me and which kept me pondering for a few days, and probably the 57 Classic pickups as opposed to the Epiphone ProBuckers which I upgraded to, in terms of sound, which is not as much a criterion for me being a kitchen player exclusively. And then of course, Gibson reading on the headstock, which also goes largely unnoticed in my kitchen.
But the bottom line being that all of this doesn't justify the Gibson being four times as much as the Epiphone, and since I'm not a person wanting a guitar just for the sake of owning it, I finally ended up sending it back, maybe with a little tear in my eye when leaving the box behind in the shop, to be honest.
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