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2003 '54RI Les Paul Custom...

zhivago

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 29, 2004
Messages
1,417
I have lurked here for many years, and this is my first post.

for many years, I have lusted after the 1954 Alnico-style Les Paul Custom, and with prices of vintage examples still pretty high up, I decided to go for a Historic Reissue.

So here it is, bought used, made in 2003, I got it shipped to the UK from a shop in Japan.

It weighs 10.1lbs and sounds as good as it looks.

54_1.jpg


my amp is a Ceriatone Tweed Deluxe clone, modded for 6L6s, housed in an tweed Bassman-size cab, with a 12" Celestion Gold.

Effects-wise, I use a Klon and occasionally a Maxon AD900

I have lurked and learned a lot from all of you here, so I'd like to thank you all :salude

:)
 

timmy 2 tone

Active member
Joined
Jan 22, 2006
Messages
3,010
I kind of regret getting rid of mine, but after replacing it with my Pearly gates, it doesn't bother me as much.
Great guitars though!!! Nice score:salude
 

MWR

Active member
Joined
May 16, 2004
Messages
2,510
Really nice.....I love that model! :salude 10lbs wow....why can't Gibson use the same damn timber for the black beauty as they do with the R9s & R0s.
 

Texas Blues

Active member
Joined
Apr 13, 2008
Messages
4,641
10.1 pounds!! I can feel myself getting fatter just looking at it! Plug that bad boy into my tweed deluxe, hit a power chord, and bacon'll come sizzling out of the speaker! Awesome!
 

bigtomrodney

Active member
Joined
Nov 7, 2009
Messages
1,448
That's a stunner. If I ever go for a Black Beauty it'll almost certainly be rocking the P-90s.
 

Uncle Gary

Active member
Joined
Oct 15, 2006
Messages
2,431
I just bought a '10 reissue '54 Custom. Looks just about like yours, except mine has a Bigsby. It has a great feeling neck, not too large and not too small. It also weighs only 8lb.15oz. with the Bigsby.

Very cool score there. Those staple pickups are IMO, one of the nicer neck pickups ever to come out of Gibson.
 

rays44

Active member
Joined
Jul 24, 2001
Messages
2,911
Congrats! One of my favorite guitars. Just don't adjust that alnico neck p/u too close to the strings. Enjoy it. :salude
 

gmann

Well-known member
Joined
May 26, 2003
Messages
6,147
That's a beautiful guitar! Hard to beat a Custom for looks and they sound great too!
 

vincenz

Member
Joined
May 2, 2005
Messages
96
On my '97 (see my signature) the Alnico Staple pickup was dark and muddy.
I recently catched a Seymour Duncan Staple on the bay...
Now it sounds like a strat neck pup under steroïds :wow. with focused bottom end, lots of presence in the upper mids and top end, and a very sexy honk in the mids.

In the same time I installed a Lollar P90 on bridge position, and a RS kit with super pots.

Not so cheap, but definitly worth it :salude
 

Electric Lloyd

Active member
Joined
Feb 5, 2005
Messages
3,500
Nice guitar, & :welcome! I've also wanted one of these for years. I'm sure it sounds grewat thru that tweed clone!
 

dnabbet2

Active member
Joined
May 31, 2017
Messages
211
Ten years later, I dunno if anybody cares, but I put a Lollar staple in the bridge position of a '54 Custom reissue 'cause I love the Gibson/Duncan staples and the Lollar doesn't require any routing 'cause it doesn't have adjustable pole pieces.

But it doesn't sound the same as a regular staple either, to my ear.

It's bright,powerful, and articulate, and I'd use it instead of P90s every time. But when you've grown to love the '54 Custom range of sounds, the Gibson/Duncan staple and the Lollar staple pairing seems to me to provide less distinctive variety. One man's opinion.
 
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