I’ve been wanting an acoustic guitar for quite some time, and the brand that stuck out for me waas Breedlove, a guitar company out of Bend Oregan. Sure, I have looked at other makers, Guild, Martin and Taylor guitars to be exact. Breedlove just checked all the boxes for me in playability and affordability for me.
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Between seeing the KISS Dynasty tour in ‘79 and my summer job at Chicago fest in ‘81 and ‘82, my interest in making music was rekindled again; I had been taking acoustic guitar lessons off and since age 13 at the Chicago Boy & Girls Club in the uptown area a couple of years prior to those events.
My fixation on the Gibson Les Paul I owe to Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, but mostly owe it all to KISS lead guitarist Ace Frehley, it was Ace and the Les Paul that struck my interest in my music journey, I’d have to say between the tv shows “Midnight Special” in ‘75 and Don Kerrshne’s Rock Concert in ‘76 on a small black and white tv sealed it.
Around the same time, Some friends and I use to frequent this shop called Biasco Music located at 5535 w. Belmont ave; had to google this, it’s home of the Vampire Castle Of Chicago, now. We’d smoke our pot, jam out some tunes on the record player and later you find us at Biassco’s music in one of their sound booths, noodling on some random guitar. This is how and where I got my first real guitar, a brown/tobacco sunburst 1978 Gibson Les Paul. I know I was high when I bought it, cause I could not remember why I had a layaway receipt in my pocket the day after a trip to the music store, in the end though, I paid $500 for it. Not a bad “used price considering that in 1978 Gibson produced just over 5k Les pauls with a street price of $749.
I’ve been in several bands back in my younger day; we played a lot of the current tunes of the time, but I would have to say most if not all of our original material was more punk rock than anything else.
Fast forward prior to 1988 is when our drummer at the time had stolen all the band’s gear and skipped town. At this point in my life is where I decided to get myself into college and pursue an arts degree.
Pictured above is my old "‘78 Gibson Les Paul. along with an Alveraz 12 string acoustic, that I traded my fluorescent green Charvel Model 2 guitar to a friend (we swapped back later).
So here we are nearly 40 years since my original guitar was stolen, am I still bitter about it? I was for so many years, till I had contact with him recently and said my peace, which allowed me to move on, I guess I just needed to hear “some” reason for his actions.
A couple of factors played a part in me wanting to play again, I wanted to get back to playing for my own enjoyment, and I have to attribute my newfound love for the guitar (again) came from a couple of musicians I found on YouTube, Dave Simpson and his band the Dave Simpson Trio from the UK, and lastly. Jeff McErlain, NYC performer and instructor. I’ll link their channels below. so in late May 2021 I went to reverb.com and bought a 2003 Epiphone Les Paul Plus top (pictured below), the only thing I didn’t like about when it arrived, it had a tapered neck, very thin. Other than that it was a Gibson brand and it was a Les Paul, but buyers remorse set in and I quickly became unhappy with it (it’s back on reverb for sale). So I decided if I was going to own a Les Paul, it was going to be the real deal.
So the search was on, I looked online for another ‘78 and quickly discovered the prices were far out of my reach, I also learned a new feature now used in the Gibson line, ‘WEIGHT RELIEF”, my search now was for a “non” weight relief with a beefier neck, well at least more so than the Epiphone I purchased earlier. Damn, that neck is thin, I really dislike it, a lot.
So for the next few weeks, I explored Guitar Center, Reverb, and eBay, along with various other sites for reviews and specs on particular models. I soon narrowed it down to the Gibson Les Paul Traditional model, somewhere in the years 2013, 2014, and 2015 with a beefier style neck.
Then I found it, actually, I found 2 that fit the bill for me on eBay, both with 50’s style necks, both with no weight relief on the body and both were from 2013. there was however one small exception. one was a cherry burst body (not a fan) and the other more like a honey burst. Needless to say, the Honey burst won. and from the images below you can see why.
A quick side note, a closer inspection of the original box shows the color as a Carmel burst and is a part of the “New Traditional” of the Gibson Les Paul lineup., Much appreciation to some members of the Gibson guitar owners page on Facebook confirmed this little tidbit of information as well, so, in retrospect, it’s close enough to a honey burst for me.
So what’s the verdict, does the Traditional come close to my old ‘78 Les Paul Standard? I have to say “yes” it does. The traditional is more or less the Standard of old. The newer Standards bodies are chambered, whereas the Traditional/old Standard is solid. The newer Standard have a slim 60’s style neck, the Traditional has a beefier 50’s style neck
I guess I should note, I wanted to get back into music for the sheer enjoyment it brings, I still remember a few things, I can still find my way around the fretboard, but with YouTube, you can basically find the genre you enjoy, for me its Blues and Punk rock.
This brings me to the last couple of tidbits of this blog. A couple of friends and I are kicking around the idea of forming a cover band, a punk band to be exact. but mostly for our own enjoyment, that’s another blog for another time.
And lastly, I have to attribute my newfound desire to play again to a few YouTube channels, first off is Dave Simpson of the Dave Simpson Trio from the UK, NYC instructor and performer Jeff McErlain, and lastly my true love in all music, (next to Punk rock) the Jazz and Blues YouTube channel. Months before I made my decision to get another Les Pau, I was listening to these channels and they just made something spark inside this middle-aged Man, I’ve listed their channels below; I highly recommend a looksie and a listen.
“When I was young I wanted to play the guitar badly. After years of hard work, practice and determination, I can play the guitar badly”
Some links I found helpful:
