The nitrocellulose lacquer finish on the Gibson Les Paul Faded Double Cutaway Electric Guitar makes for great looks. Solid mahogany body and set neck add to the resonance and great sustain while classic P90 single-coil pickups provide the sharp bite of the very first Les Pauls.
Les Paul Faded DC
Reviewed by:
unregistered, on november 09, 2012 2 of 2 people found this review helpful
Price paid: C$ 750
Purchased from: used
Features: According to Wikipedia, it seems the faded line was introduced around 2007 and was discontinued in 2009. These guitars are made in the USA.
This model has the relatively rare feature of being a double-cut model (hence the DC faded name). It has 22 frets and the double cutaway really gives great access to the extreme upper register which is incredibly useful for lead guitar playing. I'd say it is even better than my G&L which has the traditional Strat "horn" but is thick where the neck is bolted on, which makes it harder to fit the thumb comfortably behind your fingers when fretting high notes. It also features a Standard Gibson tune-o-matic bridge and stopbar tailpiece, although these are probably made of cheaper metal than a regular Gibson. I've read that many guitarists swap the bridge for higher quality bridges but it does a fine job for me and I haven't felt the need to change the hardware.
This guitar is basically a solid slab of mahogany. Mahogany body and set neck with a mahogany fretboard. One interesting design aspect is that the pickup selector is not on top of the fretboard like most Les Paul's, it is close to the volume knobs. A traditional Strat player like me will like this although there is the risk of knocking it out of the "rhythm" position when playing very aggressively with your picking hand. Another interesting thing about this feature is that there is only one, lower cavity in which all the electronics are placed, unlike the usual Les Pauls that have an extra route for the pickup selector which makes the body feel like one solid piece of wood. Perhaps this affects the great resonant Acoustic tone this guitar has when played unamplified. Also, this guitar is light as a feather and feels much nicer to shlep around on a stage for 3 hours than traditional Les Pauls. It's body feels small and incredibly comfortable to handle.
The neck is relatively thin, has a great profile and the fretwork is perfect. One slightly annoying feature is that the neck is very flexible and even slight pressure will cause the tuning to change. This is handy for a whammy bar-like effect but just to put it into perspective, if you lay the guitar flat on a table, the (light) weight of the guitar on the angled head is enough to make the tuning go down a solid quarter tone if not more.
The two stock Gibson P90 pickups were the main attraction for me when I bought this guitar. I was expecting to get some real twangy transparent tone, which I did get but I got a whole lot more! (read below). The pickups are controled by a traditional 3-way Switch and feature two pairs of independent volume and tone knobs.
My guitar is the TV yellow model which is really charming in my opinion. It is called TV yellow because apparently Gibson figured that yellow was the color that would look the best when the guitar would be broadcast on black and white television. I personally could have done without the whole faded gimmick, the guitar's finish is not glossy and will chip and wear off really easily, causing the guitar to "relic" which can be real appealing to some people I guess. I'm pretty careful with my guitars and it is already starting to wear a bit in its first year of ownership (even though I bought it second hand). It's not a make or break feature for me, but if I could have chosen, I would have prefered a matte but durable finish.
The "vintage" style stock "Gibson deluxe" button tuners are nothing to write home about. I find they are too sensitive and only very slight turns cause important variations in tuning which took some getting used to for me. Also, the buttons would be nicer if they were ivoroid but instead they are cheapish looking off white plastic. They however compliment nicely the Vintage look of the guitar but I think that changing them would make this guitar absolutely perfect.
This guitar traditionally came with a cheapo Gibson USA gigbag but mine came with a rather nice SKB hardcase, which made the 750 price tag even more enticing. // 9
Sound: I play a whole lot of reggae and world music and this guitar fits these styles perfectly. Bob Marley did play a GibsonLes Paul Junior with p90s I believe. However, this guitar is far from a one trick pony and it does so well at handling different styles, that I don't even really use any other guitars on stage! An interesting thing to note, p90 pickups will distort very quickly and are great for anything rock! Here are some great tones I have gotten from this guitar:
-Bridge pickup + crunchy distortion gives an excellent AC/DC, Led Zeppelin rock sound. I find open first position chords tend to sound really muddy and rather awful with humbuckers and high gain but on this guitar it is the perfect balance of brightness, fullness and transparency. The pickups handle a lot of gain incredibly well, and the result is breathtaking.
-Middle + bridge is great also and is a selection I use most of the time (when not soloing). You get a great basic tone, that is warm and defined and the more you mix in the bridge pick-up, the more bite you get. The more you back off the bridge, the more your tone mellows out. I use this setting with a Wah in the toe position and I get a great reggae skank sound. Without the wah and with some very slight overdrive, this guitar has the ultimate "could you be loved" style single note half palm muted reggae sound. With more overdrive it also has a great afrobeat sound, for distorted funky comping and for one note palm muted rhythm.
-The neck pickup is what impressed me the most. Using the clean channel on my Fender deville and backing of on the tone, I get a great jazz tone. That's right, you heard me, Jazz tone. To me, the bridge and the neck pick-ups can be made to sound like two separate guitars! The tone is beautiful and mellow and rich. As I mentioned earlier, the solid mahogany body is extremely resonant when played unamplified and the neck pickup makes the guitar sound almost like an acoustic! I swear that the tone is so nice and "acoustic-like", I wouldn't be afraid to leave my Acoustic at home if I had to accompany a singer for an Acoustic song. Just turn off all overdrives and you have a great Acoustic sound for strumming, that is not thin and twangy or midrangy like some fenders.
Also, I recently recorded some African style arpeggios very high on the neck. My plan was to record clean and then add chorus, to get a more Caribbean sound but the clean tone was so pretty and "roots" sounding that we just kept it as is. Truly felt like mama Africa in my hands!
This guitar can be pretty noisy, especially when turning on different levels of gain. For example, I use a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 and I find that the p90s make this pedal distort way to quickly. For that reason, I tend to keep the overdrive knob at about.5 to 1 out of 10. Even at a quarter turn, I find my fulldrive sounds like a distortion more than an overdrive. Also when I click on my DS-1 or my bigmuff, the hum is very loud. Personally, I like that hum, kinda like a dog barks when he's happy to see you! If you expect to turn on a crazy amount of distortion and be dead silent when not playing its just not going to happen without serious noise suppression. It's not a problem for me because I turn these effects on for soloing and turn them off between songs or when I have to do low gain comping.
One sound I Can Not get from this guitar is a great clean funk sound. Nothing beats a Strat for some funky kool and the gang or RHCP type comping. It's not a terrible funk sound, just not an ideal funk tone.
For high gain leads, this guitar can sing, scream, cry, wail and everything in between. You can get beautiful meaty sustain and get into some Hendrix territory with some fuzz and a wah. // 10
Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar had a slightly high action but once adjusted it was absolutely perfect. Easy to play, with no fret slap and great sustain yet with a very low action.
True to it's original model, it doesn't have any fancy crown or Diamond inlay at the headstock. No biggie. Also, the Dot inlays are nice and perloid, which is a nice touch for such a no frills entry-level priced guitar. A student of mine came in with a 600$ mexican Strat it it seemed to have plastic of white inlays. Yuck.
The neck is sensitive though and pushing and pulling on it can cause the tuning to vary considerably. This is not a problem per say but if you are going to lift the guitar, rocker style, you can expect the tuning to be slightly affected. The fretwork is perfect. Nice and straight, just the right thickness and no protruding from the edges of the neck.
The nut is not ideal and I think that lubricating it with graphite helps alot. I've noticed the strings do stick a little bit to the nut grooves, which means that if you tune up and then bend, this can pull the string out and flatten the notes. To remedy this, I always try to pull on a string slightly instead of using the tuners to coax it down if it is only slightly sharp; this means the string probably wont budge much while playing, however, graphite greatly helps this. I've heard this to be an issue even with some 2000$ Les Paul Standards so I don't feel particularly hard done by.
The bridge pickup does protrude a good amount from the body which means I have struck it and the neck pickup occasionally when playing aggressively. I wouldn't say it has caused me to damage the guitar or myself so this is not even an issue. // 8
Reliability & Durability: The strap pins were terrible but I hear that it is the case on many Gibsons. They are long and thin and don't get particularly large at the end, which means a strap could come off Very easily. I changed these pins with black earnie ball strap locks and not only do they look great, the guitar feels great and I am confident it will never ever fall. The black straplocks match wonderfully with the black pickups and pickguard too.
The finish wears off by design but it has done so mainly in places where it is not noticeable like on the back of the neck and the back of the body where it would come in contact with my belt. I have even found little yellow paint flakes in my case but generally the guitar looks good and Vintage like which adds to the beauty of it.
It does withstand everything I throw at it live and it has never failed me. Then again I'm not throwing it around on the stage floor but it can take some knocking around. The neck seems slightly weak though and because of the double cutaway it seems that if you smacked it hard enough, you could shatter the neck at the joint. You'd really have to abuse it for that to happen though and this is only an impression, I haven't actually tried running over it with my car for example. // 8
Impression: Overall, this guitar is a true dream come true for me, an active musician that has had to play everything from rock to heavy metal to reggae to funk to afro beat to jazz. I feel like I can bring only this guitar to pretty much any musical setting and even if I had to play exclusively clean, country songs, it would still do a great job.
I've been playing for about 20 years and 2 years professionally and own some acoustics, a rare Roland double humbucker guitar with a through neck and ebony fretboard (nice!) and a G&L. I truly hate my G&L and I'm looking to replace it with a Strat with single coils for that real Fender stratty tone. If it were lost I would seek out the exact same model and color because I adore this guitar.
I love the p90s on this guitar. I feel like they give me the fullness of the Gibson sound but the definition, response and transparency you'd expect from single coils. I love that it is light as a feather and the double cutaway is an invaluable feature since I play mainly lead guitar. In an ideal world, these pickups would be completely dead silent, but the noise is only really obvious when stages of gain are added.
I also really like ebony fretboards. If I could have gotten an ebony fretboard on a sub 1000$ guitar, I would have died and gone to heaven.
Basically, this is a real chameleon of a guitar. It'll sound twangy and Fender like when you want it, and it'll handle the rock high gain stuff that gibsons are known for. It's a perfect guitar and the fact that it inexpensive really makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. // 10
Les Paul Faded DC
Reviewed by:
silhouettica, on november 09, 2012 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 800
Purchased from: Guitar Center
Features: This guitar was made in 2007, by hand in Tennesee. It features a mahogany body and set neck, with a rosewood fretbord containing 22 Jumbo frets. It is a solid wood top, with no special finishing. It comes in TV yellow stain, or worn cherry stain, mine personally is a worn cherry. It boasts a traditional Gibson double cutaway shape. It includes a Tune-O-Matic bridge, with two P-90 pickups and a 3-way selector. This guitar comes with a gig bag featuring the Gibson logo. All in all, it has lot of impressive features, and is worth the money. // 9
Sound: I normally play along the lines of progressive metal music (Opeth, Dream Theater, Pain Of Salvation, etc), and I get an interesting sound for that type of music. There is no doubt that this guitar is made for the blues, but with the right settings, it plays metal perfectly well. I used to play through a Line 6 Spider III 30W amp, where the tone was heavily outmasked by the Spider. Currently though, I managed to score myself a Traynor Custom Valve YCV40WR all-tube amp, and through this, it sounds like a dream. The distortion really sticks to each string when I am playing with it on, and this is just perfect for the type of music I play. The guitar handles cleans very well, able to create both subdued tones, as well as rich cleans as well. All in all, it can create lots of different types of melodies, however, I am considering swapping out my bridge pickup for either some form of humbucker, or rewired P-90, just to get a more heavy sound. // 10
Action, Fit & Finish: The setup was excellent, no problems whatsoever when I got it. I bought it direct from guitar center, and literally watched the salesperson take it out of the box and hand it to me. The pickups were adjusted fine, however, for some odd reason, for the first couple months of playing, whenever I hit the 22nd fret on the high E string, it would scrape against the pickup. However, it seems like it has fixed itself, because that no longer happens, and I did nothing to fix it. Aside from that, there were no flaws with this guitar at all. The action was excellent, everything was well adjusted, and all the knobs worked fine. I would also like to mention that this guitar is extremely light. I'm giving a 9 only because of the problem with the pickup. // 9
Reliability & Durability: My one gripe with this guitar is the durability of it. I have owned this guitar for about a year, am fairly gently with it, it lives in a smoke free home, and has only been gigged once over the entire year. However, with all this said, a lot of the paint on the bottom and back of the guitar has worn away. It scratches extremely easily, and the paint comes off quite easily as well. Now, I personally like the "faded" look that it gives it, but most people probably wouldn't. The hardware seems nice, the tuners are great, the bridge is great, Pickups, etcetera. And it seems dependable- I have used it in a gig without a backup, mainly because I don't own a backup, but I do think that I would do it again. However, as I said before, the paint chips easily, and within a year of purchasing, almost needs to be redone. // 7
Impression: All in all, this is an excellent guitar. While not being built with my style of music in mind, it still manages those crisp metal tones, and that excellent clean. I run this through my Traynor amp mentioned above, along with a Boss CH-1 Super Chorus, a Dunlop Crybaby Wah, and a Vintage Boss CS-2 Compression Sustainer. It works great with all the pedals, especially getting an excellent tone out of the chorus. I have been playing a little more than two years, and this guitar is excellent for me, and I can see myself using it for years to come. If it were stolen or lost, I would find it, not caring what it takes. There is no buying another one of these, only finding my original. I love most things about it, as I said before, my only gripe is with the paint. I tried about 20 guitars, from the likes of Fenders, Ibanezes, Jacksons, B.C. Riches, etcetera, and this is the guitar that I truly like the best. I kinda wish it had a Floyd, or at least some sort of tremolo arm, but, it still plays fine without it. All in all, this a great guitar, and everyone should at the very least try it out. // 9
This really reminds me of the old version of Les Paul JR, just with a double cut-away and additional pickup. It would probably be nice second guitar for someone like me who likes LPs but wants one slightly diffrent.
hahahah you could not be more wrong!!! this guitar is on the smaller side, very light, and very comfortable to play.
i will agree when you say it's ugly, though. i have it in TV yellow and dear god it's obnoxious. I love it to death though. I have considered slapping a seymour duncan JB in the bridge, but we'll see.
and yeah, the paint has rubbed off mine just from my guitar stand. so if you're into cosmetics... this is NOT for you.
I LOVE it though. 10/10. perfect. perfect. perfect.
I've has this guitar for about a year now. The p90's are great but don't try to play too much metal with this. You can't really get much heavy sound past AC/DC-esque. However, It's not terrible for pinch's and the sustain is ridiculous. I can't believe the guy didn't mention the sustain!
The finish is decent, but you have to be very careful where you place it or what kind of stand you get, Rubber padding will react with the finish and make it smudge. I cover my pads with a sock or clean cloth.
As far as the double cut goes, I like it a lot because I can get the gibson tone without the Gibson weight. It just feels a lot better down there.
If you like to play classic Rock up to 80's prog, this is a great choice for under $1k. I got mine on Ebay for 600, (and gc has sales on them often) so it's not hard to acquire.
As far as ugliness goes, I like the red one. Makes me think of cedar. The yellow one looks terrible.
For all of you that are saying that it is ugly, or that it looks like a rip off:
This guitar is the same thing as a Les Paul Special Double cut. The pickguard is meant that way, the guitar is derived from the Les Paul Special single cut, which had that pickguard. It was supposedly the Middle Priced Les Paul when it was introduced, below the Customs and Standards but above the Juniors. The finishes were mostly non-glossy (only exception was the sunburst). And it is more reminiscent of an old SG special than that of a Brian May guitar. It was irst introduced in 1960, and if you don't believe me go to: http://www.gibsoncustom.com/flash/produc... l_DC/1960SpecialDC.html so there you go a little piece of guitar knowledge fot those of you that posted stupid comments (the first 2 people)
I like the looks of the LP Spl DC (the cherry finish; not a big fan of the yellow), and I'm sure it sounds pretty nice through an amp; I've only ever played one once and didn't get to plug it in. The neck's too fat for me, though (or at least it was on the model I played) but minus that it sounded pretty nice unplugged and felt good.
i have had the tv yellow for about a year and this guitar has changed my life, musically speaking... i play this guitar into a variety of tube amps and with a variety of pedals... the p90s are noisy, but the upside is unbelieveable tone... and i mean unbelieveable... roll the volume down and it gets stratish... up is girthy... and the tone controls are very much alive... at volume, set the amp a little bright and roll the tone down to match normal tone... for a solo, roll it up... wow... in fact, i gig regularly with this guitar, a cable, and a blues jr... talk about travelling light... plays everything from abba to zappa... but into my mesa blue angel/marshall 4x10 at about 2:30... WOW>> ... notes bloom and swell and constrict and the guitar's tone literally dances with your hands... for those of us who like to ride the volume control, this guitar will reward you well... pitch specific feedback... harmonic fountains... and glorious angelic sustain... righteous...
as for the finish... i love mine... which has worn in an ever so beautiful "i have played this guitar for 50 years" kind of way... blood, sweat, tears, and beer... the back of the neck is especially pretty where the tv yellow has worn to white... but definitely get a hardcase...
Lets forget about the build quality of the guitar its the player that it suits lol its worth 800 dollars if you ask me, it can be refinished easily primer and paint 4 mo waiting time but yeah easy =P
I have the TV yelo. I love it and can't wait for the paint to rub more. This is a total R&R guitar. However i did put Tone-zone (Bridge) and VV (neck) DiMarzios buckers in mine cause I can't stand the noise. The workmanship is great but I always like to improve on things... I shielded it throughout, put nice caps in it. But the neck and fit and action were beautiful off the wall. Plays like butter and has heavyweight tone. Mine weighs just under 6.5lbs and when I strum chords the whole damn thing vibrates, it's so resonant. Sustain is unreal, it sings!!!
I have a 2006 LP Special Double Cut Faded in TV yellow. A quick search will let you know that these guitars were all made at Gibson's Nashville, USA shop between 2003-08.I'm a lifelong Fender man,feeling that their instruments play more like guitars than the super low-action, heavy-weight, rock'n'roll soul-killing humbucker-outfitted guitars of their rival Gibson.But repeated listening to
Johnny Thunders and some Keith R. induced me to check out some P-90s. Original Les Paul Special double cuts are pretty rare, and generally very expensive. Even Gibson's Custom Shop versions of this guitar start at $2700, which means essentially you pay an extra two grand for a bound neck, no tune-o-matic, and an extra coat of paint. I don't buy instruments on-line or from "Guitar Supercenters" as I've no interest in being ripped off, so it took me awhile to find one of these reasonably priced. Paid $500 used from a local dealer who threw in an old Univox LP case, which beats hell out of a nylon bag. I've been playing this guitar for about three years now and I love the fast neck,sustain,
light weight, and P-90 tone-not as twangy as a Strat or
Tele,beefier but still bright. I like clean guitars,so I rarely use pedals other than a Crybaby or an old MXR,
relying on over-heated tubes to provide gain. This Special sounds great thru my '67 Dual Showman Reverb once it gets hot. I also think it's the sexiest shaped guitar Gibson has ever made, a real blues-rock-punk machine. Things I'm not too crazy about: fretwire protruding from bottom of fingerboard had to be filed &
sanded(I've since learned this is a common complaint); finish is grainy and flaky, lots of bare wood showing thru; tone pots are o.k.,expressive but not great range, tones get duller, not deeper at < 3-4; finally, action needs a lot of looking after, requiring me to do frequent string height and intonation adjustments-never much of a problem with the Strat, Tele, or even my old Dan Armstrong. God, do I love single coils. All in all, I like this guitar a lot
and would buy it again. Despite some issues, I think it is a terrific value for the money: screaming assertive tone, playability, sustain for days and sheer
R'n'R coolness more than make up for any minor defects.
This is simply a great review of this guitar. Not because it says what I agree with, or because I happen to like double cutaways, or TV yellow. I can make my own mind up about that! But it clearly describes what the reviewer does and how this guitar suits him and does it in an engaging way. Congratulations and thanks for providing something quite rare - a readable informative review.
I have an old 70's Madeira copy of the lps/dc, the only difference is mine has a badass bridge and its a bolt on. Looks(cherry finish), plays(solid mahogany, very slippery neck) and sounds(I frickin' love the p90s) the exact same (though I bought mine used with gfs p90s)as the Gibson(I compared them side to side on the same amp, mine actually has a lil more bite). I only paid $220 for mine and as far as I'm concerned its the best guitar deal I've ever got(besides free) and I go thru guitars like underwear! But this one's a special special, the only way I'd sell it would be to get the Gibson with the set neck and the name(higher resale value). I love the lp/s/dc's and think they're the foxiest guitars out there besides the old teisco's and Goya's, but those generally aren't players as I've learned the hard way. A studio, standard, traditions, etc are just a bit too thick for my heavy handed strumming tendencies so the special lets me use a gibson(Madeira) for my noisemaking habits.
... notes bloom and swell and constrict and the guitar's tone literally dances with your hands... for those of us who like to ride the volume control, this guitar will reward you well... pitch specific feedback... harmonic fountains... and glorious angelic sustain... righteous...