Two ‘59’s and a 60... Gibson Custom Shop Les Pauls Compared

Hey all, in this one I compare my 3 custom shop les pauls and think about whether I need them all and how they are different, or similar, to each other...

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[scottgeorge]

Love that you did such a pro comparison of your 3 beauties. One thing I’ve notice through painstaking efforts and trying to develop a really keen ear is that set up including ABR height makes a MASSIVE difference with resonance and also tone. I’ve been able to bring a seemingly not so resonant Les Paul to one that vibrates beautifully. So what can make selecting one at a store challenging is determining how well set up these Les Paul’s are

[MatthewPeskay]

This is what every experience of buying any guitar should be like. Rock on.

[RByrne]

I have to say the R0 or Peach R9 sounds best here to me. I'm currently trying to decide between the 59 and 60 reissues, but Im leaning towards the 60 V2 VOS. Thanks for the comparison!

[rhum]

Great video, one of the best on YT about LP choice. Nice to see and listen too. Great playing too. Both amps are great, your two rock and the peach' magnatone too.

[sapelopelo]

I just love this kind of videos of you trying guitars. Love the journey been following you for a while now. I hope your wife is doing well. Big hug

[onehotrocker]

My favorite guitar is the Les Paul. I have two Standards and one Studio. My favorite of the three is the Studio, believe it or not. The pick ups are a little bit higher output and the frets are lower to allow for lower action. Because of these factors it has become my "island" guitar. Great job on the video, James. You have excellent taste in guitars!

[graemero]

Great video James. If I had to choose, the Number 3/Peach select top is the best sounding & looking to me. It has tht Big Tele thing. I would love to hear it through the Rift with just a bit of spring reverb.

[MG-jwuy]

Quite a good comparison and the vibration aspect was pretty cool, thanks for the heads up video.

[markn]

Great video! I especially enjoyed watching you compare R9's while at the store. It reminded me of when I was searching for "THE ONE" R9, but I did it over a one year period playing over 2 dozen R9's and upgrading 3 times over that period. I think that the acoustic qualities of an electric guitar is not appreciated enough by players when selecting a great guitar. My favorites in your comparison were between "number one" and "number three" which you ended up taking home with you. I probably would have chosen "number one" because from what I could tell reminds me most of the 2020 M2M R9 in Golden Poppy Burst I that ended up. Acoustically it's very resonant, loud with a lot of width to the sound and sustains nearly forever. Plugged in, it growls yet remains very clear and articulate with crazy sustain and bloom. Even the salesperson I had, who I've known for 30 years, helping me said that it definitely has some kind of mojo going on. As a side note...my salesperson told me that most buyers of guitars like these buy them solely on how they look and barely play them, if at all. For him to have a customer like me who goes thru an extensive comparison process is very unusual.

[pierreg]

Wow! Wow!Wow!, 3 very beautiful pieces of art. To me, no craziness in buying 3 Les Paul's if you can afford it because the all sound and play a bit different. You choose one or the other depending on your mood and what you want to play.I am all for that.And creating a collection for ourself is also a very nice thing to do. It creates very good feelings and something we are proud of. It has more to do with the hart than with the brain. Keep on keeping on. By the way, very interesting video that will help me chose my next Les Paul when I can afford it. I just became a subscriber. Thanks

[ziggylayneable]

I love your gold SG I have one very similar identical in color gold front and back but it has a Stop Bar tail

[BlindTom]

There's a reason there's a tone knob on those things.

[nilsx]

I love good Les Paul style guitars, I have an amazing factory aged Gibson R9, plus 3 custom built LP style single cuts from a local German builder, 59 style, 56 style P90, both Brazilian boards / Honduras Mahogany, and a Custom black beauty.

I love the variety in them. The 2 pickup, 4 control layout with great woods and pickups etc just does it for me.

[brentklein]

I really like the one that had custom pickups made for it...very Peter Green sounding 👌

[Bry-dtkz]

Man those guitars through that two rock!!! Omg no words to describe that tone!

[hkguitar]

Your Anniversary R9 sounds wonderful with your custom wound pickups.
Thanks for this content, the LP are always a nice change from the Fender, life needs to be balanced. 👍😉
I have an R9 copy I commissioned to be build for me, it has all Gibson Historic plastics and electronics. I choose an early set of un-potted Burstbucker pickups and wired them permanently out-of-phase. I love how the amount of out-of-phase can be controlled by balancing the volume controls when installed this way.

[j.b.l.tones]

Adjusting the pickups and pole pieces on the original stock paf's would go a long way. It takes a lot of tinkering and patience, but well worth it. ✌️

[tomcarrington]

Always love watching you play blues.

Any chance you could do a video explaining how you dial in amp, guitar and pedals to find your tone? Where do you start, what do you listen for?

[jafugels]

Nice comparison! I bought my first R9 this year.

[Murphy_lab_R]

While i was not able to try 9 different ones in a sitting i did have to choose between two really nice R8's
a few hours ago. The choices were a 2022 R8 VOS in faded iced tea and a 2016 R8 historic VOS Lemon burst.
After going back and forth on both the Historic edged out the other only very slightly. The Lemon burst has a flamed top
whereas the iced tea one had really nice horizontal circular grain. To be honest IF my budget would have allowed i would have snagged them both up. Both are under 8.5lbs and have dark boards.This is my first Custom shop Les Paul and i have to admit they are really sweet!