The toggle switch on brand new, US$ 3k guitar turned out to be faulty, fresh out of the box.
ISSUES:
1. If you try to switch to the bridge or neck pickups, the switch gets pulled right back to the middle, without interference. Seems like the toggle is not sticking out of the cavity enough to lock in place when you switch positions. It astonishes how this was overlooked at inspection. A pretty basic thing to notice.
2. Another thing that bothered me was some irregularity on the 2nd fret of the G string that makes the note almost bend if you move your finger slightly.
PROS:
Now this is how a Les Paul should sound like. If you, like me, wanted an upgrade from your Epiphone or other generic Les Paul, this instrument is on another level in terms of tone. And my Epiphone was completely modded. It had Gibson pickups, CTS pots, Gotoh bridge and Schaller locking tuners. And it never stood a chance against this Gibson. The Gibson Les Paul seems to unlock tones you never though your instrument could give. The difference is like listening to a song in a compressed mp3 and then listening to it again in a Wave format. I'm not sure way that is, as I'm not a professional, but for me the only explanation is the wood (even though a lot of people claim that wood doesn't affect tone as we like to believe). But I can't find any other explanation.
CONCLUSION:
Regarding the issues above, I'm in talks with Thomman to try to get the instrument replaced. I'll give Gibson a vote of confidence and stick with the same model, hoping that I'll have better luck next time.
