Les Paul Jr.

[t_ross33]

Anyone have any experience with the Epiphone or Gibson versions? Should be able to find them pretty cheap and I'm looking for a straight up rock 'n roll axe. I find myself playing on the bridge HB when I'm rawkin out anyway, so I thought "what the heck" might give one of these a spin.

I'm assuming some mod'ing and/or upgrades would be desired a la Squier 51 (might have to grab one of those too, I need a maple fretboard ).

Outside of the Billie Joe Armstrong references, what can you tell me?

Thanks brothers!

Trev

EDIT: OK, search the forum first and you find things like this: http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=169

Anything to add to this discussion?

[Plank_Spanker]

A friend of mine (and one monster player) has a LP Jr. It's a straight up, no frills, rockin' guitar. It does what it does quite well.

And you can't beat the the price...............

[sunvalleylaw]

Anyone have any experience with the Epiphone or Gibson versions? Should be able to find them pretty cheap and I'm looking for a straight up rock 'n roll axe. I find myself playing on the bridge HB when I'm rawkin out anyway, so I thought "what the heck" might give one of these a spin.

I'm assuming some mod'ing and/or upgrades would be desired a la Squier 51 (might have to grab one of those too, I need a maple fretboard ).

Outside of the Billie Joe Armstrong references, what can you tell me?

Thanks brothers!

Trev

EDIT: OK, search the forum first and you find things like this: http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=169

Anything to add to this discussion?

As an alternative to consider, what about Paul Westerberg's First Act guitar. Looks like it is set up similarly and looks like it would rock hard for the price at $159.

http://www.electric-guitar-review.co...nature-guitar/

http://members.aol.com/paulspage/fa_05.htm

[t_ross33]

As an alternative to consider, what about Paul Westerberg's First Act guitar. Looks like it is set up similarly and looks like it would rock hard for the price at $159.

http://www.electric-guitar-review.co...nature-guitar/

http://members.aol.com/paulspage/fa_05.htm

Hmmm... that's very interesting. I dig the Replacements! Leaning towards the more classic stylings of the LP Jr though. That said, ya gotta love the tartan (or is it plaid ) pg!

Thanks for the links SVL.

Trev

[warren0728]

gibson jrs are not super expensive and i've seen the epiphone lp jrs at guitar center for 99 bucks. They are a great sounding single pickup rock and roll machine!

ww

[Spudman***]

Here is a little more versatile option. Slightly more than $99 but still pretty reasonable for a set neck all mahogany body set up.
http://www.rondomusic.net/gg1jrtvy.html

[sunvalleylaw]

Here is a little more versatile option. Slightly more than $99 but still pretty reasonable for a set neck all mahogany body set up.
http://www.rondomusic.net/gg1jrtvy.html

Hey Spud: I have no clue so I hope the following question is not dumb. My understanding is that a Gibson SG or knockoff often has two P90 soap bars. How would this SX differ in sound than a similarly set up SG knock off? This relates a little to my shopping for my kid. I think a double cut away might be easier to hold. I hope to be in Boise soon for a seminar and want to make a GC stop and want to narrow down my guitars I need to pick up. Remember, also looking at the Squier '51.

[Rabies]

I went ahead and picked up an Epiphone Les Paul Jr P90 the other day when I ordered my '51 from MF, and I really dig it (my '51 is awesome too, but I'll rant about that in the appropriate location sometime later). For being a 99 USD "crapwood cheapie" it really rocks! I was so surprised. The fit and finish on mine were awesome. The action is a little high, but I'll deal with that when I do all the little upgrades and mods, soon. I was scared that the compensated, unadjustable bridge thingie would be a nightmare concerning intonation...but it's really not that bad at all. It gets a little out if/when chording on the upper frets, but not that bad. I picked up an adjustable wraparound bridge on eBay from Guitar Fetish, for 8.50 shipped, to take care of that. I love eBay...

The neck is what really surprised me. Smooth as silk and NO FRET SPROUT!!! Maybe I got lucky...I dunno...but wow!! Not bad at all. It feels great and is pretty fast. And the P90 rocks, too!! Little noisy, but so much fun through the Valve Jr and a few pedals. You can't hear the noise when yer rockin, anyways!!!

I got the black or ebony colored model. The one with the white P90 dogear cover. I hate that color on the ebony. So I also acquired a black dog ear cover to fix that. The only thing that I'm really not sure about now, and I need all of you thefret.netters to help me out with choosing, is what color pickguard I should get. I was originally leaning towards either a brown or red tortoise shell colored one, or maybe a gold one, but after looking here: http://pickguards.us/materialoptions.htm at some of the samples, I'm not quite sure what would look best on the black finish. I saw several samples that I thought would look awesome.

So if you don't mind, let me know which color you think might look best. I would appreciate the input. Because I'm really torn now.

And when all is said and done, I'll post pics of it. I'm sure it'll probably give you GAS!

I'm very pleased with the one I got. So I have to recommend it. I'm sure quality varies from axe to axe on these for the price. But for 99 bucks, roll the dice, and I hope you get as lucky as I did.

[Brian Krashpad]

Hey Spud: I have no clue so I hope the following question is not dumb. My understanding is that a Gibson SG or knockoff often has two P90 soap bars. How would this SX differ in sound than a similarly set up SG knock off? This relates a little to my shopping for my kid. I think a double cut away might be easier to hold.

Actually the two would sound pretty similar, both are mahogany guitars with P-90's. An SG-type guitar would have a lighter, thinner body and somewhat better upper fret access than a singlecut. A downside to SG-types is that many are neck-heavy as a result of the lighter body-- you have to be a little careful that the headstock doesn't drop down towards the floor if you take your fretting hand off the guitar neck.

I have an SG-knockoff Agile Valkyrie II I got new on closeout for $99 (they'd been a little over twice that prrviously), and it was worth every penny:



A compromise between an SG-type and singlecut LP type (like the SX GG1) is a doublecut LP type. Gibson makes it's Faded Les Paul Doublecut (what they used to call a Les Paul Special doublecut, but the Faded is without a gloss finish), and used USA Hamer Specials are basically the same guitar with a gloss finish and no pickguard. I have a Hamer Special I picked up used for $450 several years ago (I added the pickguard):



Fwiw, I've owned several Gibbies over the years, and Hamer USA is easily a match for or better than Gibson. Hamer Specials come with Seymour Duncan P-90's stock.

There are other oddball designs with one or two P-90's out there as well. For example, I got this Tempest Special used w/ohsc for $250 last year:



It's basically a Les Paul Special with a different shape, 2 P-90's, mahogany body, setneck. Pickups are Duncan Designed.

[Brian Krashpad]

I went ahead and picked up an Epiphone Les Paul Jr P90 the other day when I ordered my '51 from MF, and I really dig it

I got the black or ebony colored model. The one with the white P90 dogear cover. I hate that color on the ebony. So I also acquired a black dog ear cover to fix that. The only thing that I'm really not sure about now, and I need all of you thefret.netters to help me out with choosing, is what color pickguard I should get. I was originally leaning towards either a brown or red tortoise shell colored one, or maybe a gold one, but after looking here: http://pickguards.us/materialoptions.htm at some of the samples, I'm not quite sure what would look best on the black finish. I saw several samples that I thought would look awesome.

So if you don't mind, let me know which color you think might look best. I would appreciate the input. Because I'm really torn now.

I think the red tortoise would look great on a black Junior! Silver or chrome would work too.

BK

[Iago]

I dont know about you guys, but I was GASing for one of those 58 Jr's Limited Editions.. they were going for 200-250,00$, with a P-100 pickup (stacked P-90) and grovers.

[LagrangeCalvert]

I was jonesing for the new melody maker with the single coil(s).....looks interesting and a good straight up rock guitar!