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I bought this guitar for a few reasons back in
2005/06.
The main reason was to mark the event (Ok, that's a
little much) of the Toastmen getting back together.
I ordered in in December and it came in January.
Originally, I wanted a Les Paul Studio in Alpine White
but the guy at the music store messed up and I almost
had an Epiphone Les Paul Studio. Yikes. I
splurged a bit for this but even at the time of writing,
it was on of the best things I've ever done.
Another main reason is I didn't want to bring the
Goldtop out anymore.
I was unsure about getting a flametop. One,
since I had to order it, I wouldn't know what I got
until I opened the case. I was pleasantly
surprised and relieved that flamed maple top was/is
"just right"; nothing really distinctive about the top
but it is flamey and gorgeous.
It originally had black parts and no pickguard (see
pics below). It did come with a pickguard but I
didn't find it until a couple of weeks later when I
actually looked inside the case. But, I had every
intention, even before I bought it, to replace the black
parts with cream parts, gold speed knobs, and pickups.
Everything was almost in place except the most
important tweek. My Goldtop's volume knobs are
great; there's a difference between 4 and 7 but the
Studio didn't have that response. That was one of
the reason why I got the 57 Classics - I thought it had
something to do with the lower output of the pickup.
It was a little better for getting "nuanced picking"
that I loved from the Goldtop where you can really hear
the pick attack (lowering the strings helps too) but
still wasn't quite right. The I read somewhere
online - and I wished I knew who to thank for the tip -
was to switch the Tone pots with the Volume pots. Once
that was done, everything was perfect. And I'm not
kidding.
Lays Back would have been the first CD that
had the Studio on it and it makes it that much more
difficult to pick which guitar I'm going to use for what
track, so lately is been: do a track with the Goldtop;
do track with the Studio and let the best one stay.
This guitar is the replacement for the Goldtop.
I know that. especially after doing the same tweaks with
a white Les Paul Studio a couple of years later.
Although the white one's better than it was, it can't
compare with this Studio. It's officially my Go-To
guitar.
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Year:
2004
