I thought Gibson maybe found lighter “maple” – meaning a close relative of maple, which is all the rage these days in mass guitar-building. I expected it to be heavier, though the aforementioned Lynch guitar wasn’t that heavy. So I was curious about this maple Les Paul, Les Pauls being my favorite guitars. Plus, I’ve owned an all-maple guitar – an ESP-made George Lynch signature M-1 super strat (LTD version) – and it sounded really good. The Raw Power was the only Les Paul I played at the store because I “knew” what the other ones there would play and sound like. Here are the available Raw Power colors ( photo). > The neck seemed more like a thinner ’60s-type neck to me, but that might vary by guitar. > Volume knobs/pots felt a little cheap, but maybe because it was a demo guitar. > I didn’t like the dot fret markers with a trapezoid at the 12th fret. I just can’t get into Les Pauls without the binding. It’s possible the one I played was a bad one since Gibson describes the finish this way: “A thin satin finish with 30-sheen lacquer gives the Les Paul Studio Raw Power a look that is clean and professional, but less glossy and polished than many traditional guitars, with a slightly raw, “pre-aged†appearance, and a smooth matt-finish feel.” Not my experience, but again, that was just one guitar. Literally the worst guitar finish I’ve ever seen or felt. > By far the worst thing is that this particular guitar, a white one, looked and felt like it was painted with either boat paint or exterior house paint. > Light in weight for a Les Paul – not always a good thing tone-wise, but helps your back! > 57 Classics sounded great in both positions. > Surprisingly, the guitar had balls too – probably helped by the Marshall. The notes really stand out: notes in chords blend together less. > VERY articulate, which you would expect with the maple. (Guitar Center clamps good cords to its amp racks.) Still, it won’t allow the best properties of the guitar or amp come out. I plugged it into a Marshall TSL combo – a surprisingly nice-sounding amp – using a dental-floss-thin cord that I assume Sam Ash hands out because they don’t care if people walk off with them. > Hardware: Grover Kluson-style green-button tuners, Zamak (zinc alloy) tune-o-matic bridge and tailpiece. > 57 Classic pickups (Alnico II magnets). > 3-piece maple neck, even though Gibson says it’s mahogany in at least one spot on its website. > Carved maple top “attached with ultra-strong Franklin Titebond 50 glue” to a chambered maple body. Anything not listed here means it’s the same as a Les Paul Standard, and the Raw Power SG specs are basically the same. That being April Fools Day and the all-maple construction had half the world thinking that these guitars were a joke.īefore getting into the review, here’s a quick overview of the specs. So an all-maple Les Paul? Gibson announced these guitars and Raw Power SGs on April 1, 2009. If you’re unfamiliar with Les Paul construction, Les Pauls are supposed to be: mahogany body/maple top, mahogany neck, rosewood (usually) or ebony fingerboard. If you’re unfamiliar with these Raw Power guitars, they are all maple – yes, maple. I wanted to play one of the Epiphone “korina” Vs because they look so dang cool, but instead pulled down a Gibson Raw Power Les Paul Studio. (On the way there, my boy wanted to listen to Van Halen – he’s a good kid! – and I just kept saying to myself, “Don’t buy anything, don’t buy anything….”)Īfter listening to him bang on the drums for a while at Sam Ash, I made him take a break so I could check out the guitars (“don’t buy anything, don’t buy anything…”). So I sort of shrugged at my wife like, ‘Hey – I’m doing it for him,’ then ran for the car and took off! Yesterday my son wanted to bang on the drums at Sam Ash and Guitar Center, which are across the street from one another here in northern New Jersey.
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