1956 Goldtop Acoustic Tone - Advice on Choosing a Guitar

Hi, I thought I'd just do a quick video of the acoustic tone of my 56 les paul reissue, and explain a bit about what I look for in a les paul.

First, a quick note about this video... Strings are Snake Oil Vintage Originals, which are warm, sweet sounding, low output nickel strings. Please ignore the sound of the laptop mic overloading/distorting slightly when I start strumming

What I did when choosing this guitar, and what I suggest might be a good idea for anyone looking for a reissue, is to firstly play as many as possible! I really mean at least 10, and ideally up to 20.

Now, with each of these guitars, play in it unplugged. What I look for is a loud, bright, resonant, and airy tone. I find one of the best ways to assess resonance, and to narrow down your choice, is to play both open chords, bar chords, and a single string, and feel the guitar for resonance/vibration. Note how strongly the neck resonates in your hand, and the guitar body against your body.

I found the headstock to resonate pretty well on all the reissues I tried, but some were substantially stronger than others. Next, feel the wood by the rear strap button (the one behind the tailpiece). The better ones should still vibrate strongly here with chords, and with the plucking of a single string such as the G or B string. Now, you should be able to narrow down your search quite a bit already, but I try one last "test point", one that "works" with only the most resonant of the reissues. Place your right hand on the input jack / the word around it. Play an open chord and feel for vibration. Any les paul that you can feel the vibrations of here is, in my experience, pretty exceptionally resonant. On my R6, I can feel the vibrations here even when just the G or B string is plucked. So, you can narrow down your search from say 20 to probably around 3 or 4 from this test alone. Now, it is all personal opinion, and a matter of preference as to what makes for a great sounding guitar, but amongst this "short list" I listen for a bright (yet not harsh), airy and clear sound. Finally, I play all up and down the neck, literally every fret, checking for any "dead spots", where a note might not quite ring out properly. Remember, you can always adjust action, pickups etc later, but is hard to change the fundamental sound the guitar makes when you pluck the strings, as this IMO originates in the wood.

A lot of people pay attention to weight. In my opinion, this should be an afterthought. In my experience I have found great sounding guitars that are both light and heavy, and original 50s Les Pauls varied alot in weight... In the Beauty of the Burst book alone, the weight of those les pauls varies from between 8lb 1oz and 9lb 11oz

A lot of people also look for guitars with huge sustain... again, this is not my primary concern when looking for a les paul. I find it very rare for a les paul to have poor sustain

I hope this helps!

Cheers,

Johnny

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Gibson 1956 goldtop
• 56 les paul reissue
• acoustic tone
• 1959 Les Paul
• choosing a guitar
• advice
• R6
• R7
• R8
• R9
• R0
• Gibson
• Pigtail
• abr
• abr1
• Snake oil strings
• nickel
• nickel strings
• Vintage Les Paul
• vintage tone
• 50s Les Paul
• Vintage guitar tone
• unplugged

[punkOmatic86]

can you tell me which store has 20 R6 Goldtops in stock? So far i havent even seen one somwhere...!?

[johnbeloe]

@punkOmatic86 None - put if you go to a few stores they add up...I basically worked my way around london and exeter looking for 54-60 reissues, and chose the one with the best acoustic tone to my ears. Good luck with your search!

[TheStruggle66]

what would you recomend for a begginer to use

acoustic or elecric?

6 string or 12

and anything else if you wanna add?

i need this help quickly lol thanks

[johnbeloe]

@TheStruggle66 it depends... What do you want to learn? I heard Peter Green and Eric Clapton, wanted to play like that, so decided to play 6 string electric! basically, play the guitar that is most suited to the type of music you want to play

[centrum2k4]

Hey thanks for the advice!

Do you have any tips where to shop for Les Pauls, SGs and the like in the London area? I just moved to London and wanted to find some good stores. Thanks!

[johnbeloe]

@centrum2k4 no worries...start in denmark street, and then ask around for what you're looking for

[mo28mabini]

Excellent write up!!!

i also play electric guitars acoustically when testing them.. Guitars really do ring against your body. I also check the natural harmonics. .some sing more than others.

[yobhsiFehT]

Wait, this is all UNPLUGGED!?! :o

Niiiiiiiice! GREAT tone!

[centrum2k4]

@johnbeloe I checked out a few stores there - Vintage and Rare Guitars is cool - but I didn't really find a shop with a big selection of the latest Gibson custom stuff (like being able to compare several R7s e.g.). But I will ask around maybe there is something off the beaten path...thanks

[johnbeloe]

You're right, it would have definitely made for a better video, but it would have taken me a while to explain all that, meaning I would probably exceed the youtube maximum file size, and so would have to compress the video to upload it, which would result in pretty poor sound quality - sorry