Gibson Les Paul Custom

[guitar2005]

This may seem like a simple question but I'm having trouble getting a definitive answer.

Is the Gibson Les Paul custom made of Mahogany with a Mahogany top or is the top maple or better yet, is it 1 piece mahogany.

As the neck neck, is it a maple neck with ebony board?

Thanks

[MzI]

That is a good question as there are quite a few different combinations that are used. The current ones that are made coming from the custom shop, are Maple top mahogany back with mahogany neck ebony board. Now for the variations upon that. The 57 Black Beauty has a Mahogany body with Mahogany top as per the specs on the custom shop website. The number of pieces that the bodies are made of I am not sure you would hafta send the custom shop and email to find out most likely. Maple necks on customs, at one point they did make them. All of the Zakk Wylde customs have maple necks because thats the way he likes em but his originals had maple necks and i believe they were 70s and 80s production. So you can basically throw together whatever combo you want and be safe.

MzI

All this coming from a guy who has never owned an LP in his life, though I would like to own one just cant afford one.

[Mattia]

You're not going to get a simple answer, probably; books have been written (by strange, ****-retentive obssesive type folk) about the differences between various Les Paul models throughout the years, down to tenon lengths and what kind of binding was used.

Basically, the 'Les Paul' is a solid mahogany back, a carved (hard) maple top, a 1-piece (not scarfed) mahogany neck (absurdly wasteful way of building, IMO, but that's me...), and rosewood fingerboard. Used to be Brazilian rosewood. A few models have Ebony, but it's not all that common, or at least wasn't to my knowledge.

Never seen a 'proper' Les Paul of any stripe with a maple neck, though. It's Just Wrong, see? All-mahogany body, yes, fine.

Edited May 11, 2006 by Mattia

[crafty]

Norlin-era Les Pauls had the maple necks and multi-piece, or "pancake", bodies. The original customs had all-mahogany bodies with ebony fretboards and the GT/Bursts had maple/mahogany with brazilian rosewood fretboards.

Zakk's original customs are Norlin-era instruments with the maple necks and pancake bodies. The Norlins are just starting to become collectable because many people had their first LP experience on one of those instruments. They've aged quite nicely and sound pretty good on their own. There are actually more so-called '50s Les Pauls on the used market now than were actually made in the '50s, and people are starting to wise up to the whole voodoo thing.

Here's a picture of my '04 Classic, before installing the DiMarzio PAF Classics:

Edited May 11, 2006 by crafty

[guitar2005]

Norlin-era Les Pauls had the maple necks and multi-piece, or "pancake", bodies. The original customs had all-mahogany bodies with ebony fretboards and the GT/Bursts had maple/mahogany with brazilian rosewood fretboards.

Zakk's original customs are Norlin-era instruments with the maple necks and pancake bodies. The Norlins are just starting to become collectable because many people had their first LP experience on one of those instruments. They've aged quite nicely and sound pretty good on their own. There are actually more so-called '50s Les Pauls on the used market now than were actually made in the '50s, and people are starting to wise up to the whole voodoo thing.

That's what I thought. I remember John Sykes (Whitesnake) saying his custom black beauty was all mahogany yet Zakk's has a maple neck/maple top. I actually prefer maple over mahogany for necks so I think I'll go with maple.

Does anyone know if maybe painted customs had a mahogany top vs non painted were maple? Is there some kind of correlation there or is it just dependant on the year they were made?

Listening to Randy Rhoads, I'm sure his cream Les Paul custom had a maple top.

[Guitarfrenzy]

Like everyone else has said, there pretty much isn't a standard for Les Paul Custom's as far as wood is concerned. Over the years it changes. I've got two Les Paul Custom guitars, one is a cream colored 1980 (Rhoads type) of guitar, and the other is a red 1987 Les Paul Custom Lite, which they only made very few years, and is even equiped with a coil tap for Stat sounds. Neither of them have the same wood combination. So, there is no definite answer to your question, just different era's of the Les Paul Custom construction. But, Mahogany and Maple are the two tonewoods used. Probably the only thing that's stayed the same is the Custom Inlay logo, and the block inlays on the fingerboard. People can change the truss rod cover to say Les Paul Custom to try to pass it off as a Custom, but if you know what to look for, like the inlays, etc... you won't get fooled. Also, another characteristic of the Custom is an Ebony fingerboard instead of Rosewood.

[crafty]

That's what I thought. I remember John Sykes (Whitesnake) saying his custom black beauty was all mahogany yet Zakk's has a maple neck/maple top. I actually prefer maple over mahogany for necks so I think I'll go with maple.

Does anyone know if maybe painted customs had a mahogany top vs non painted were maple? Is there some kind of correlation there or is it just dependant on the year they were made?

Listening to Randy Rhoads, I'm sure his cream Les Paul custom had a maple top.

I doubt anyone could tell just from listening to Randy whether his customs were maple or mahogany. His sound was so unaturally distorted and peaked that he could sound the same playing a Strat, V, or LP.

[mikhailgtrski]

I doubt anyone could tell just from listening to Randy whether his customs were maple or mahogany. His sound was so unaturally distorted and peaked that he could sound the same playing a Strat, V, or LP.

+1

You read my thoughts...

[guitar2005]

Listening to Randy Rhoads, I'm sure his cream Les Paul custom had a maple top.

I doubt anyone could tell just from listening to Randy whether his customs were maple or mahogany. His sound was so unaturally distorted and peaked that he could sound the same playing a Strat, V, or LP.

I agree - Its just a wild guess. His top end is very crisp with the Paul and a little less piercing with the polka V he had which is why I guess the paul is a maple top. Listening to Sykes, the top end isn't as.... well... high. A little smoother (even in his JCM800 days)

As for Randy's studio distortion sound, thats mostly from those god awful MXR Dist+ pedals he used and the brutal, in your face Altec speakers. His live setup sounded a lot better although it was pretty much the same gear.

Thank you everyone for your help.