Gibson Les Paul Custom EB GH

I have always wanted Les Paul Custom and now I decided pull the trigger and order one. Very fast delivery from Thomann through UPS Express delivery.
Stunning looks of guitar when I open the case first time.
Quality some what was as expected, flawless nitro lacquer finish, just only one thing that some parts of binding was scraped too deep, I know its hand made process and varies based on person who does the bind scraping.
Playability and feel is spot on, one of the best that I have ever felt from Les Pauls that I have played. Gladly the neck was not too thin, some where between 50´s and 60´s C profile, maybe a bit more shoulder would make it feel better for my taste.
Action was also very nicely setup in factory, only I would go a bit heavier string gage for my taste.
But then we come to reasons why I finally decided to send this beauty back to Thomann.
I finally came to a conclusion that it is way too over priced to what it really is and here is the reasons.
First, the pickups, why on earth Gibson uses this price range guitars the cheapest pickups (490R (neck) and 498T (bridge) ) that they have in their Les Paul line. You have to pay way too much more to get Gibson custombuckers on Les Paul Custom. So this means to buy Les Paul Custom Reissue 57 Balck Beauty to get custombuckers.
490R (neck) and 498T (bridge) pickups are very basic sounding pickups in my taste. Kinda too average sounding. I have played several custom shop Les Pauls with Custombuckers and those should be by default choice of pickup on this price range Gibson guitars.
Second thing, the case that the guitar was delivered was also surprisingly not any more made in Canada, it was made in Costa Rica! Very small detail, but still made me wonder if this guitar is actually this much value.
So eventually all these findings and feel of guitar made me decide to send it back, hard decision, but if I pay this much money on guitar I need that it fulfills all the expectations.

I bought this guitar mainly for recording purposes and for using it in music videos. First of all it's a beautiful instrument but you don't pay almost 4 grand for a piece of furniture. It excels in the sounds you get out of this masterpiece!

I know that many are sceptic about the richlite fretboards and people argue that this is not acceptable on Gibsons when you get ebony fretboards on Epiphone guitars for roughly 900¤.

At first I was also sceptic about richlite and thought it sounded a bit more harsh than the ebony fretboard but now after 3 months of playing it has begun to soften up a bit and get a more "ebony-esque" character. Compared to a 57 Black Beauty this Les Paul Custom has a more sharper sound thanks to the maple cap but in other aspects it's quite similar to the 57.

The only things I were not too happy with was some small scratches on the top of the guitar and a small ding in the binding on the headstock. But I am more concerned with the sound than the esthetics so I chose to keep the guitar because it delivers very clear chords and nice tight low end. The pickups are a bit "microphonic" as old Gibson pickups were back in the days and they are a bit too hot for high-gain sounds where they sometimes tend to pick up unwanted sounds. Having that said they work perfectly for rock, blues and jazz. If you plan on playing metal with this one I'd recommend changing the pickups.

This is an instrument meant for professional use and it's a guitar you buy once in your lifetime. If you are looking for a superior Les Paul this is it. I own one Gibson Les Paul Traditional from 2009 and it is also a great instrument but there are remarkable differencies in how much more precise a Les Paul Custom is compared to standard USA Les Pauls. If a normal Les Paul is a knife then the Custom is a scalpel.

It is worth the extra cash you put on from a normal Les Paul model in how it plays and how it sounds but the price is a bit steep for a hobby musician.

The finishing job on this guitar is far from satisfactory. There are issues with it all over the place. Just to name a few: on the neck binding, all around where neck meets body, and black is missing altogether where the neck pickup and fretboard meet (which up close is quite ugly). At this price level, I would expect much better from Gibson. I used to own a 2001 Les Paul Studio which had no such issues at all, so for a Custom to have them caught me completely by surprise.

Having said all that, I simply couldn't bring myself to return it. The setup was damn perfect straight out of the case, and the guitar feels silky smooth and gorgeous to play. And the more I play it, the more the sound and sustain on this thing just blow my mind. In short, too good to return, and I didn't care to risk sacrificing the amazing sound and playability for a nicer finish. After all, you're supposed to play the thing, not look at it.

As always, customer support at Thomann was excellent, as was the pricing in comparison to other stores.