Trade Tang Gibsun Les Paul Supreme - order review

[progrmr]

....My personal opinion: Don't waste your money. The real Gibson Les Paul smokes them by a mile and they are not even up to the quality of an Epiphone IMO. You will spend about $300 on the guitar alone, plus another $80 or so on the case, then pay about $125 for shipping to the U.S. My advice save your pennies and buy the real deal. No comparison.

You do realize that a new Gibson LP Supreme is $3500 right?? And honestly what I got is what I'd consider to be a typical Epi LP copy. Granted, not an Ultra - but those are $550 before shipping and setup so probably twice what I actually paid.

To your list that you saw with your brother:

The trussrod on mine is adjustable - typical allen wrench adjustment that you see on most cheapie guitars (Epiphone LP's included).

The trussrod pocket on mine was packed with tape to cover the recess during painting I'm guessing. It came out easily with a small screwdriver. Granted you'd never see that on a real Gibby (maybe lol!) but it was not a big deal

I'd agree on the pickups - I don't think they're wax potted and will feedback with distortion.

The stop bar and bridge are on-par with an Epi LP IMO. The bridge on mine does buzz a bit but I've had that on a lot of the LP copies I'd own.

Case - meh, it's actually plenty solid to protect the guitar. Not sure I'd want to spend more on a "better" one. It's well padded and solidly built.

Nut - typical plastic crap you see on cheap LP copies (Epi LP's included). It works but tone would definitely be improved with a better one.

Wood - can't tell but mine isn't light like basswood at all. It does fell chambered which I assume is from the fact that there's no access to the wiring so the chambers are larger to accommodate access to the electronics from the bridge pup access. I'll have to open mine up when I get some new pickups and see what I can see. And honestly I've have guitars and basses made from basswood - it's a fine tone wood IMO. In fact some extremely expensive basses are made of basswood, not sure on guitars but I bet they exist.

Given that a real LP Supreme cost 10X more than I paid I think these guitars are a decent deal. Even with the bridge issue I ran into it was correctable and the more I play it the more I feel like I "got over" on Gibson and their ridiculous pricing tiers (IMO). No doubt a real Gibson would be WAY better than these guitars but 10X better...that I'm not sure of.

[whiteop]

Let me rephrase then - if you have owned a quality Gibson product before and are used to quality guitars, the Trade Tang will probably dissapoint you. There are better knock-offs for the money.

[progrmr]

Let me rephrase then - if you have owned a quality Gibson product before and are used to quality guitars, the Trade Tang will probably dissapoint you. There are better knock-offs for the money.

Agreed - there are also worse for the same money. I owned several Epi LP's that cost more than this copy and weren't as good. I've also had an Epi that I got for $350 that totally blew it away. In fact that $350 Epi blew away the Gibson LP Studio I had a couple years ago. It seems to be hit or miss with every knock off - there's good and bad examples.

I have owned "quality" Gibson products in the past and I've played more than I've owned. There are lemons there too - and quite frankly far too often for the price.

To each their own I guess.