Tee Hee...Jim said "brass nut" :-)

yorolpal
Tee Hee...Jim said "brass nut" :-)

I didn't want to be the one ... I guess buying two would give you the right to say, ...

yorolpal
Tee Hee...Jim said "brass nut" :-)

Someone had to say it...   

I hear ya Rain. I was shocked when I first saw that tuning system on a $2,500 Gibson guitar. yuck!
 
My path to Gibson was through Epiphone. I had an Epiphone Dot, and at least 4 Epiphone Les Pauls before I got Gibsons. I would always change out the tuners and the pickups - always. Sometimes even get a new nut. They would play well for what I had into them, but were never quite there.
 
One day a used 335 came into my friend's store and the moment I played it, I fell in love with it. I saw right away why the Epiphone was so much cheaper. I've kept the stock pickups in this guitar, but I did put Sperzels on it (they are on all my guitars except my vintage strat), and I did have the lacquer removed from the back of the neck, as I can't stand painted necks.
 
My Les Paul search lasted years. I would try them locally, try them in stores when I traveled, try old ones, try new ones - I never fell in love with a single one - at least not to the point of forking over the cash. Then one day my wife and I were out by a GC near a theater to watch a movie and we had a little time to kill. We went in and I pulled a few LPs off the rack and BAM, one was my guitar. I had already been talking about getting one for years and always told my wife "when I find the right one" so she was good with it - it wasn't really an impulse buy - honest! :) I believe it's a 2010 Desert Burst, and just a wonderful guitar. It too has the Sperzels and I had the paint removed from the neck. I did put a D'Marzio Super Distortion in the bridge just to get some of that 70s/Kiss rock sound out of it. This is a great guitar and I'm glad I was so picky and waited so long.
 
If I could only keep one though, it would be the 335 hands down. It can rock out/clean-up, and everything in between. Put 10.5 strings on a 335 and it is the perfect guitar for me (well, after you get rid of the paint on the neck).
 
Cheers to your search mate - I hope you find "the one"!

I am becoming a really big fan of the 335, also James. I've got an Epi with Gibson pick ups in it and it is such a versital instrument. My next step may be to an actual Gibson 335/336.

I'll warn ya Mike, if you haven't played one already, don't until you have the funds. If you love your Dot, the 335 will absolutely steal your heart! :)

I had a Gibbie 339 for awhile. Great guitar...but just didn't speak to me. That's why it's so important to follow Zappa's advice and let the guitar tell you its the one you need. Go with your heart.

there are so many better made guitars out there besides a gibson..
 
better quality, better design, better sound, better feel, better quality control, just better.

yorolpal
I had a Gibbie 339 for awhile. Great guitar...but just didn't speak to me. That's why it's so important to follow Zappa's advice and let the guitar tell you its the one you need. Go with your heart.

What he said. :) Keep trying all sorts of guitars and you'll know when you play the one that is right for you.

batsbrew
there are so many better made guitars out there besides a gibson..
 
better quality, better design, better sound, better feel, better quality control, just better.

In my case, I don't believe anything fits the bill better than a Gibson LP. First because I've wanted one for so long.
 
Second because it's the sound I love - I find it quite useless to go the long way around and buy a different guitar only to try to nail that LP sound.
 
Feel is a tough one. I mean, this isn't really something all too objective is it? In my case, different guitars have the best feel for different things.
 
Design-wise, I have ultra classic tastes. Call me neurotic, blame it on my background as a poor kid, but I've had to settle for cheap copies and never got to get the real thing as a kid. So getting what I really want is important to me. And since I'm the one playing that guitar...
 
A PRS or a Music Man has no real appeal to me. They utterly uninspiring. And the fact that a Les Paul or a SG please me the most sort of annihilate any rhetorical question of which is better. You can't command inspiration or love, and that's everything when you talk music. IMHO.