Star Letter
NO REAL ALTERNATIVE?
I’m writing in about the Different ‘Cuts review by Dave Burrluck issue 424. In Dave’s appendix about the real Les Paul Standard, he makes the point that this guitar is better than ever.
When I was gigging in my teens, my dad bought me a new Japanese-made CSL (Antoria) Les Paul Custom copy, on the basis that he couldn’t afford the real thing, which was almost four times the price. That the CSL was a great guitar in its own right – the gigs using it funded my first Gibson and many other musical things – is not the point. Back then, there were only two choices: a cheap Japanese copy, or the real thing. Both made equal sense, and still do in the world of Epiphones and non-Gibson owned clones.
What arguably does not make sense is to pay the same or more money than the real thing when, as Dave says, it’s still getting better. If I were to buy a Godin, for example, I would want one of their own creations, not their take on a Gibson singlecut. I appreciate the market for very limited edition ‘super singlecuts’ like the Patrick James Eggle beauty, but at the ‘mainstream’ £1,500-£2,000 level does it really make sense? Steve Broadhead, via email Thanks for your thoughts, Steve. Can any of us leave the logo at the door and choose a guitar purely on its own merits? It’s very difficult but if you’re buying with a £1,500£2,000 budget in mind, we’d argue you’re looking at a pro-spec instrument that’s meant to be played: in other words, a quality workhorse not a boutique collector’s piece. On that pragmatic basis, we strongly urge anyone in that position to try all of the possible contenders at first hand. Reviews help narrow down the field of course, but you just won’t know what connects with you as a player until you plug in and play. We’ve been surprised, both positively and negatively, in the past by that first in-theflesh encounter with a guitar we’ve thought of buying – so we’d strongly advise trying out guitars like the Eastman and the Godin as well as Gibbos. No, they don’t have that classic name on the headstock nor, perhaps, the same solid re-sale potential – but you might just have that hand-in-glove moment when you pick one up.