Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul Korina Goldtop

Well, I wasn’t really expecting to add a new guitar to my collection today. I posted the other day I was looking at Les Pauls and Telecasters but I didn’t really plan on getting a new guitar any time soon. But, today was the Four Amigos Guitar Show in San Rafael and I found a guitar and deal I just couldn’t pass up.

I guess it was love at first sight when I saw the 2009 Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul 1957 R7 Korina Goldtop Reissue. This is a limited edition run that is made from Korina wood rather than the normal mahogany. I honestly always expected to buy a sunburst Les Paul if I was ever going to get one.

And they had plenty of nice examples at the guitar show. But, when I saw the Goldtop it was all over.

Gibson ’57 Les Paul Korina Goldtop Reissue Electric Guitar Features:

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Rittenhouse Guitars

I found out about the Rittenhouse Guitar contest a little too late. I actually found out about the contest the day after it ended. Oh well, I still wanted to post about Rittenhouse Guitars because I really like their looks.

I guess the big thing now days is relic guitars. I thought they looked pretty cool for the most part but figured I’d never actually buy one.

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Buying A Rickenbacker 330

The guitar that really pushed me to start taking lessons was my Rickenbacker 330. I’ve wanted this guitar for a while but I honestly hadn’t even thought about it in a long time and I certainly don’t have a need for a new guitar (I think one is enough for most beginners). But, I love guitars and if I could, I’d have a room full of them. Combine that with a history of impulse buying and I quickly became the owner of a new Rickenbacker 330.

I called all the local shops to see if they had one in stock.Only Haight Ashbury Music Center had one, so I headed over to check it out. It was beautiful. I knew once I saw the Fireglow 330 I would be buying it (like I said, impulse buyer). It felt great to play as well, so I bought it.

A couple months after buying it I thought about taking it in to get setup at San Francisco Guitarworks. I had been reading that typically all guitars need a good setup. My initial thought was to not take the Rickenbacker in. After all, they are hand made and inspected before they leave the factory. I would assume that means it should have a pretty good setup already. But, I decided to take it in to anyway at the same time I took in my Gretsch 5120 (which I expected would really need a good setup since it’s a less expensive guitar).

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First Guitar Lesson

Since I’m not specifically writing this blog to provide online guitar lessons, I’m only glossing over what I learned in my lesson. Right now this blog is more about what someone learning the guitar later in life is going through and tracking my progress. I’m still trying to figure out this blog, so who knows what will happen down the road.

On my first guitar lesson we spent most of the time going over basic things like the six strings and their notes (EADGBE). I know the strings, but frankly have a hard time remembering them without doing a mental “rundown” from low E.

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Gibson Les Paul vs Fender Telecaster

I dropped by Rocker’s Guitars here in San Francisco today. I’ve been wanting a solid body guitar since my guitars are hollow or semi-hollow. The two I’m thinking about are a Gibson Les Paul and Fender Telecaster. Very different guitars to say the least. I liked them both for different reasons.

The two specific models I was looking at were the Fender Custom Shop Custom Classic Telecaster and the Gibson Les Paul Standard 50’s Neck.

The Les Paul was obviously louder and had a thicker sound and was able to push the amp to the point of distortion.The Telecaster was brighter and had a cleaner less muddy sound but couldn’t get any distortion out of the amp. For the overall feel, I preferred the Fender Telecaster. The neck felt better to me, but that could be because the Les Paul has the thicker 50’s neck. As for the looks, I’ve always loved the sunburst Les Paul.

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