[u]Gibson:[/u]
- seriously heavy
- mahogany neck, mahogany body with carved maple top
- single cutaway
- no strengthening at neck-headstock transition
- sloppy masking - paint smears on the binding
- mother-of-pearl inlays on head & fretboard
- rough ends on some of the frets
- three-position pickup selector
- 2 Tone & 2 Volume controls
- 2 humbucker pickups
- tunomatic bridge with stop tailpiece
- action set 'medium' - a bit high for my liking
- playability: good - string spacing about the same as an acoustic
- sound: very good - smooth, dark, almost muddy on neck pickup
- $1300 - case extra
[u]Yamaha:[/u]
- seriously heavy
- mahogany neck, mahogany body with carved maple top
- double cutaway
- 'volou' strengthening at neck-headstock transition
- excellent masking - no paint smears anywhere
- mother-of-pearl inlays on head & fretboard
- all frets smoothly crowned, no rough ends
- three-position pickup selector
- 2 Tone & 2 Volume controls with push-push (like a ball-point pen!) coil-tap switches
- 2 humbucker pickups
- tunomatic bridge with stop tailpiece
- action set 'low' - no fret buzz anywhere
- playability: very good - string spacing a bit narrower than the LP
- sound: excellent - smooth, sweet, better clarity than the LP, still very ballsy when cranked
- $640 - plush lined hardshell case included
A note about the neck-headstock transition: The part of the neck, where the nut is located, is a critical weak spot in many guitars. The layback angle of the head means that most of this part is cross-grain. The pocket cut into the head, above the nut, for the truss rod adjuster, further weakens this area. Gibsons seem to be particularly vulnerable in this regard. Ask any guitar tech about this, and you are likely to hear a lot of horror stories about Gibsons that 'lost their heads'. The Yamaha has a 'volou' (sp?); the neck 'flares' thicker on the back, adding a lot of strength to this area. It doesn't interfere with the playability at all. Its like the 'shoulders' of the head simply continue around to the back of the neck.
I went out that day to get the Les Paul Custom I had been dreaming of for years. I had no idea Yamaha made a similar guitar, but that's the one that came home with me.
