New Les Paul

[micheldegas]

Hi!

I am a new member.

Here is my recent acquisition.

Not completed yet, missing the pickguard.

[charles]

It's very rare that I think so, but I think I like it without a pickguard.

Thanks for joining up and sharing with everyone.

[Barry]

Hello michaledegas, and welcome here...that's a beautiful guitar!

That model LP and colour is on my "wanna get" list. The only LP I currently own is an Epiphone Studio, in worn cherry. It's a nice guitar but I reckon your El Degas would blow it off the stage!

It does look good without the pick guard, but I would add one since I'm mainly a rhythm player and tend to get into some hard strummin'. I'd hate to scratch 'er up.

Thanks for the pix!

[charles]

The El Degas MIK set neck LP copies are pretty nice, despite the tendency to have a plywood body. I just have to work out a ground issue on mine, but other than that it is pretty darn good

[mikedem]

That is a great looking guitar....can you hear the jealousy in my voice?

Did you pick it up from a shop or through a buy/sell site? I am always looking through Kijiji and Usedeverywhere and Montreal is only a 1.5 hour drive . I would have snatched that up in a minute.

[the52blues]

It looks to me like the string saddles are metal and not plastic? Did you get it like that?

[micheldegas]

Hi!

I found it on Montreal Kijiji. Posted on Sept 10, seller contacted within a few hours. Bought the next day.

It is as I found it except for the trussrod cover I replaced. Saddles are not in plastic.

It is made of what seems to be plywood as shown in open back cavity ( pics added ).

Plays and sounds surprisingly good. It as been tested by the owner of real Gibson LP '60 RI in Ottawa / Gatineau region that kept playing with for a full 30 min. on a jam we had with old friends ex-members of the Blues Band I was in in the late '60s.
For me it was simply amazing since this guy is usualy not accepting playing on other than his. He don't even want to buy any other guitar that I offered him saying that he will feel like cheating his girlfriend!!!!.

His verdict was "The only thing that I feel different from my Gibson is that the el Dégas, apart from not being of the same color, is a bit lighter and that is not bad at all."
I personally consider that as a cheat!!!!!!

Bye!
Michel

[Barry]

Hi michel, thanks for the extra pix.
I think when people say "plywood" construction they're actually referring to a structural Sandwich construction.

In guitar building, a sandwich is a "layered construction comprising a combination of relatively high-strength facing materials intimately bonded to and acting integrally with a low-density core material." By contrast, plywood is usually made of several layers of relatively low density woods with the grains alternating direction every 90 degrees. It's a way of making a strong structural panel out of otherwise crappy wood. If this guitar was made of real plywood you would see the ragged edges of the end grains every other layer, and you don't.

The sandwich construction also explains the El Degas's high quality of tone and sustain as well as its relative lightness compared to the 'real' LP. Structurally it's as sound as a solid body. Tonally? Well that's a subjective opinion, but in your case it looks like "they got it right"!

[charles]

No Barry, when we say "plywood" in reference to these otherwise great MIK set neck Les Paul's... we really mean plywood!
(My El Degas "Let's Play" Les Paul Standard copy)


If you look really closely at the finished edge of some bodies, you may spot the ridges of the plywood in the finish...
(My El Degas "Let's Play" Les Paul Standard copy)


...or if the finish is translucent enough, the actual plys themselves.
(My El Degas "Let's Play" Les Paul Standard copy)


Hey, they're still nice guitars! Some other models in the ED line-up are plywood as well. But just remember as the folks on the boards at Harmony Central always say... Gibson's ES-335 has been made of plywood for years and years and is has been one of the sweetest sounding models they produce.

Now of course as Barry says, plywood and pancake/sandwich bodies are not to be confused. Pancake bodies are actually in-line with what Norlin was doing with guitar construction at the time in the 70's. Here's my El Degas Les Paul Doublecut copy, note the different wood pieces on front and back with a small strip in the centre:

[Barry]

OK, I stand corrected; and bow to your El Degasian knowledge.
It appeared from the pix as though it was a sandwich.
Some of the Matsumoku produced labels in the 80's also used ply construction, so I should have known better.

[charles]

Jack White knows - who the heck needs a pretty guitar! Just get some nails, a bottle, and some wire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVeTtI-- ... re=related