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An R9 Gibson 59 Les Paul reissue, bigger frets than on a 58, but still with a big neck profile….Mmmmnnn mighty good. This ones for sale at Merchant City Music for £3700.00 however I’d be tempted to get a plane ticket to new york, where said guitar will likely cost $3700.00 and spend the change appeasing your wife/partner/bank manager. Although expect to pay around 23% of the guitars price in Duty/VAT at the other end…..no messing with Customs & Excise now….those gloves are cold;)

I often see people on web forums asking advice on buying a Gibson Les Paul. There are many opinions on this, but having gone through the experience several years ago and managing to find a guitar that was both well made, well finished and well priced. I’m as qualified as anyone to offer my two penneth worth.

1. There are many myths surrounding modern Gibsons however it is worth noting that their quality control is and always has been a bit patchy. So its probably worth avoiding buying a ‘sight unseen’ guitar over the internet.  A quick survey of my friends and family highlighted how different LP’s can be. My brothers Standard is nicely finished, but has a really light fingerboard and one of the machineheads is not quite seated at the right angle, the singer in my bands LP Studio has really sharp fret ends, a mates Les Paul Standard has a build up of paint by the serial number. Another friends LP Custom has a glue splot under the tailpeice and is heavier than any guitar I’ve tried.
2. Do your own research – Opinions are like arseholes, everyones got one. Go onto Gibson’s own website and look at the models and see what interests you, buy some magazines as the dealer adverts with give you a good idea on both prices and the range available.
3. Choice is everything – Don’t go to a dealer with only 2 guitars to choose from, you need a dealer with a good amount of stock, some dealers like Peter Cooks or Coda’s don’t rely on finance deals to sell guitars, therefore they tend to pile them high and rely on a fast turnover. These places tend to be keener on price as they don’t want a pricey guitar hanging on a wall for months on end.
4. Try everything – Even if the guitar is not in a colour or the exact model of Les Paul you want, remember modern Standards have a choice of 50′s rounded or 60′s slim taper necks, try both and see what you get on with
5. Awww its heavy – As mahogany is the predominant material of an LP, they are usually heavy, but as wood has its own inconsistancies this can vary from 8.8 – 10lbs in weight. Don’t be a pussy this is part of the guitars charm, you can always buy a broad strap to distribute the weight.
6. Go on a ‘weekday’ - Guitar shops are usually busy on a Saturday. If you show up on a Tuesday morning wanting to try a £1200 guitar, you will probably get a better standard of service and less pressure to buy.
7. Make sure you get to play it through a ‘proper’ amp – I’m amazed that dealers are so thick as to make you try a grand plus guitar through a £100 amp. However this is common place (my brother has made 3 attempts to buy a PRS McCarty in recent years, everytime he gets to play through a Line 6 Spider or other such cheap amp, he feels underwhelmed by the guitars tone and always walks away this even happened at Music Live in 2005 on the PRS distributors own stand whewre he was forced to play a 2 grand guitar through a cheap Crate amp), don’t stand for it. You wouldn’t test drive an Aston Martin with 2 star petrol in the tank would you?
8. Fit and Finish - look for build ups of paint around the headstock, neck body join. Also binding check for dings and finish on the binding, especially where the neck meets the body. Hold the guiter up to the light and look for any scratches in the finish.
9. Does it play well? – Try the guitar un-amped, listen to the notes ring out, do they sound clean. Play Harmonics all over the neck, Play avariety of stuff on it, both clean and dirty use all the pickups, check the switch, volume & tone controls for any crackles.
10. Rosewood Fingerboards – Apart from Customs and some limited editions, the fingerboard will be Indian Rosewood. This should be the same colour as fruitcake, a rich dark reddish brown. If it’s the colour of pine its been harvested young and is too dried out, walk away. Look at the fret ends, are they sharp? Are they sat in the binding properly?
11. Don’t let the dealer sell you the guitar he wants – Avoid the assistants agenda, I’ve seen an assistant in a well known West End Guitar shop try and tell someone that the wiring in a Les Paul Classic had inferior quality cable to the Les Paul Standard. This is bullshit, there is no magical superior wiring on Gibsons production line guitars. However the dealers agenda was to push the customer into paying another £300 for a similar guitar. Don’t be conned.
12. Try more than one dealer, also look at Loot/Admag adverts. Ebay can be useful, but I would always try the guitar before you commit to a purchase. Beware of people  trying to sell you an ex artist guitar, if it’s real they will have a letter of provenance and some history. Beware of fakes, rebadged Epiphones or Tokai’s etc.
13. Take your time and try lots of guitars – I spent a week and looked at about 20 guitars in total. In the end I wanted a Wine Red LP Classic. After not being able to find a Standard with a decent finish and dark rosewood board. I had a choice of 2 ‘Classic’s', one in Copper and a common Honeyburst model. In the end the honeyburst won. I think the shop assistant was annoyed that I’d spent a working day choosing an instrument, including going for lunch halfway through. But remember its your money, not theirs. Take your time and if in doubt, walk away.

I was wandering around Denmark Street the other week when I spotted this Guitar in the Window of Music Ground. Its a Fender Esprit, built in Japan by Fujigen Gakki (Builders of Ibanez guitars) & only made for around a year in 1983-4. It’s on offer for £1400

Back in 1983 and prior to Fender’s Management buyout. Fender’s Dan Smith who was also responsible for the Squier range and Fenders own US Vintage reissues had come up with the idea of a guitar with routed tonal chambers within the guitars body. At the same time Fender were looking to make a range of guitars that could compete with Gibson in terms of their contstruction. St necks, 24.75″ scale lengths etc.

The Fender Master series were the result of Smiths designs. The above guitar is a larger bodied Esprit, designed to compete with the Gibson ES-335, the other guitar known as the Flame had a smaller body, was an attempt to compete with the Les Paul & looks remarkably similar to an Ibanez Artist.

Both guitars have symetrically cutaway tonally carved alder bodies and maple tops, with 1 peice mahogany necks. The humbucking pickups were by Schaller.

The third guitar in the master series was an archtop Jazzer designed by James D’Aquisto.

The range was to come in 3 models, Standard, Elite & Ultra

At the time Fender was in the process of being sold by CBS and ultimately the line was dropped after only a year.

I remember these guitars being sold off on the cheap by music stores as a clearance item in 1987. My brother bought a Flame Standard for £250. Much later on I met an ex Aerosmith Roadie who had bought an Esprit Elite for £300 at around the same time. From all I can see the main differences in spec was pearl inlays and on the Elite, Pearloid buttoned tuning machines. The standard had chrome hardware & standard dot inlays.

The Esprit did resurface as the Robben Ford signature model in the 90′s and the guitars have had a cult following on Ebay since then.

I bought my brothers Flame in 1999 and sold it on for twice the price in 2003. While they are great guitars, the Flame is never likely to take on a Les Paul. Its alder body and bridge pickup sound thin in comparison to the mahogany thickness of a Les Paul’s tone. Although the neck pickup is great for blues. I can see why Robben Ford used them.

However the biggest suprise of the Flame/Esprit is it’s middle positions, by using the guitars retro fitted coil taps it was possible to coax a Rickenbacker style jangle that would make Peter Buck proud.

Flame/Esprit’s are still out there and prices are not too silly yet. If you want an interesting guitar thats a bit different and has a bit of a story behind it. You can’t go far wrong.

In addition Fender have redesigned the guitar and its now part of the Squier Master Series