Hi folks! REALLY busy right now… Several reviews in progress but not a lot of time to write and post. Sorry for the delays…
Here’s a quick overview of the new Gibson Les Paul Classic 7 String Electric guitar. This isn’t my normal thorough review: it’s something I wrote and posted on the Gibson page for the Les Paul 7… I thought I’d share it with you folks. It’s just a quick opinion… I’ll be more thorough in a later post with pics and opinions…
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I’m sitting here recording with my Gibson Les Paul Classic 7 String for the first time. I have had the guitar for weeks now, tinkering with it, embracing its identity, assimilating it into my musical brain. I went to the official Gibson product page to read the specs again as I actually use this lovely instrument in a professional environment (yet really just having a blast channeling music through this black and cream Beauty as if it were a part of my hands.) Opens a new window…
I have bought and sold a few of the Gibson V and Explorer 7-String guitars (when you can even find one, particularly the Explorer). They are great guitars: I just found the EMGs to be too sanitary (sterile and too perfect) and the necks to be just too wide. I have huge paws, so I don’t have a problem with them – I just found the necks to feel bigger than a Jazz bass neck… I REALLY wanted to love and keep the Explorer in particular but I just couldn’t do it. It felt like it was not a part of me when I played it. I sold both of them within a month of acquiring each one.
I kept hoping for a great Les Paul 7. My wish was granted this year.
This is REAL opinion from someone who’s actively using this guitar, with 4 decades of experience underneath my brains and hands.
- Nibs on the binding (yay! I’m missing those nibs on some 2014 and 2015 models. YES, I know why they’re not on recent models: I just happen to love the nibs. It’s a Gibson, after all!)
- The nut material doesn’t ping as much as Corian. Nice. It’s smoother and feels a little stronger.
- Seymour JB and Jazz pickups (YES! Passive that can bite or scream rock and smooth jazz and new age! Wheeeee! We’re NOT all metal players! Note: I LIKE metal, I just don’t play it.)
- Nice carved top that feels like a Standard, Traditional or Classic. Nice! Close your eyes and you think you’ve got a Traditional in your hands.
- A neck that feels as familiar as most any of my Gibby and Epi Les Pauls, nicer than my Les Baritone (still love my Bari, though)
- A neck that someone carved with ME in mind: a little flat and slender at the nut and rounder at the heel. Feels great, unobtrusive, melts into my hands every time I play it… It’s a very different neck like a less-rounded Firebird or something: but know that it feels great in hand!
- 15DB *CLEAN* Boost (does louder clean on clean circuit and goes to downright snotty when overdriven!), plus individual splits based in a Gibby PCB Quick Connect board… NICE. I can solder on a Gibson Quick-connect and hook in some DiMarzios or other Seymours for smoother or harsher sounds if I want to: all without changing or damaging the guitar
- That wonderful quirky and awesome mis-matched “cream” color between binding, pick guard, and rings (Trust me, all of my Les Pauls have this endearing trait… I happen to find it to be like “home.”)
- A FANTASTIC piece of rosewood on the ‘board and excellently-balanced and leveled frets. No buzz anywhere, not even when I down-tuned to ADADGAD.
- When I set the intonation, I only had to tweak three strings, and they were < 4 cents off. NICE! I don’t mind setting intonation. I just felt pretty good when it only took a tweak or three.
- I love the Grover keystone tuners (would liked to have the locking ones, but I can’t always have everything!)
- A SUPERB finish job on the lacquer finish. Excellent work Gibson team!
It isn’t any heavier than my Peace or my Epi Custom. It’s lighter than my Trads.
I have NO gripes about this guitar. It is a recording and jamming machine and I love it! It makes it EASY to jump from a “regular” Les or a Bari Les to this guitar. The necks are very similar. You don’t feel like you’re playing a cricket-bat-neck guitar. NICE.
Folks, we can nit-pick the details. Me? I wouldn’t change anything. The silver labels on the headstock that are better than the decal type but not quite as pretty as the inlay: fine. Silver is cool. I would love nickel covers (yes, I’m one of those guys): but no-one makes nickel-covered 7 passives that I’ve seen – not something Gibson could have chosen: and besides, Seymours!
Dear Seymour Duncan, MJ and all the wonderful folks at SD: Please make me some nickel-covered wax-potted 7-string pickups that are a 59 in the neck and an overwound Pearly Gates in the bridge!
The recordings are superb. I must say, dropping below the 6th string to walk around the melody and harmony with some notes that dip into the bass world is just stupendous. When you get used to it, you’ll love it.
The sound and playability are crisp, clean, and well-defined. You can finger pick, claw hammer, hybrid pick, and single-pick your way to heaven because this guitar puts out through tubes AND solid states like nobody’s business.
Gibson, thank you for this. I’m truly happy. It’s now my number 8 guitar (a big deal, really).
All of Bareknuckle’s 7-string humbuckers are available with a variety of covers. I have chrome-covered Black Dogs in my Schecter Jazz-7, and Mules in my Ibanez AX7521. They’re definitely pricier than Duncans or DMarzios, but they sound great, and nothing else has that classic look.
I wish I could find one used- they’re rarer than rocking horse poo! May have to settle for the old epi version..
Indeed!
I LOVE mine!
There are a new set of SG 7s out this year. They aren’t LPs with binding and that heavenly neck, but I suspect they will also get gone as fast as the LP and Explorer 7s.
I predict greater than usual nosediving :-/
😉