rhoads56, i appreciate your comments and understand where you are coming from, but quite frankly there's no reason to talk down to someone treating them like a kid.
The reason this guitar says Gibson on the top is precisely because i respect the brand. You talk about professional luthiers not having respect for the heritage of a brand, quite frankly, thats a bit deep, i'm just asking the guy to paint something.
Theres absolutly no point spouting out stuff to do with heritage etc when you're talking about big corparations though. They are there to make money, from selling a quality product. The only time Gibson mention heritage and their roots these days are when they are trying to sell you a Custom Shop/Historic model.
Another reason your comments frustrate me is because being a left handed player, it is very difficult to get guitars i like, most of which aren't even produced, why? becuase it doesn't make good financial sense to companies, hardly fair on the consumer though.
Slash played a replica Les Paul with Gibson on the headstock for years, i don't think Gibson lost much sleep over that. Because of him the amount of money Gibson must have made is immense.
With regards to fraud etc, you have a valid point, but it is only valid if i sold the guitar without telling the buyer it wasn't actually made in Nashville, or if i was a company churning these things out under false pretences.
I have a whole lot of respect for the original Les Paul era, i just wish they put as much time and effort into their Standard lines these days. Everyone knows the 59' was a cracker, so wots with Standards these days having weight relief holes in the body and not having long neck tenons?
My name will not be on the head purely because i believe it is just as much as a crime. The design is that of an exact Les Paul, with my name on the head it would be suggesting i came up with the guitar. If i had altered the shape etc then yes my name would be up there but Gibson / Les Paul deserve the credit, it would be like putting a Fiat badge on a Ferrari.
It an age old debate i don't think will ever be settled, so lets just leave it at that. Everyones entitled to their own opinions. Comments/critism on the build would be much more useful. Thankyou