Signature (Japanese) Les Paul
The Signature Les Paul guitars are the best kept secret of the guitar world! Without a big brand name on the headstock you can be sure that their value is all down to quality construction and components. Made in Japan by a world class manufacturer, famous for Tokai and Epiphone Elite guitars, the Signature Les Paul guitars are of a quality you’d expect from a Gibson, but at a much more affordable price.
These Signature guitars have carefully hand selected Mahogany bodies with carved tops of solid bookmatched Maple to a maximum thickness. This represents a step up from other guitars featuring a curved body and wafer thin Maple veneer. The thick solid Maple Cap makes for a more defined tone, and in the translucent coloured models it looks fantastic. The 24.75” scale neck is made from a single piece of solid Mahogany with a luxuriously smooth heel that thickens out to join the body at the 16th fret. The single cutaway body has the bulk and feel of a traditional Les Paul guitar, and this solid wood construction gives a characteristic rich and full-bodied tone.
The symmetrical headstock has a skewed, rectangular shape, terminating in an elegant two-tiered curve. The face of the headstock is nicely decorated with a mother of pearl crown emblem, and the double-ply truss rod cover bears the Signature logo. The standard models bear 3 a side Kluson type tuners with the classic green turning knobs. The Signature Custom has gold Grover tuners for unsurpassed tuning accuracy. The headstock is angled back to increase the string pressure over the bone nut. This increases tuning accuracy and enhances the sustain of the guitar.
The Rosewood fretboard is of the finest quality with a soft waxy feel that gives you a perfect platform for your fingers. The meticulous degree of craftsmanship is clear in the fretboard binding, which seals in all the fret ends for a smooth surface against your fretting palm. The fretboard is inlaid with trapezoid mother of pearl inlays for a finer look and silky smooth feel.
The deeply inset lower cutaway merges seamlessly with the neck of the guitar, giving great access to the upper regions of the fretboard. This curve is accentuated by the body-binding running around the entire face of the guitar. As the binding curves into the lower cutaway it can be seen to thicken, indicating the presence of the solid Maple cap underneath. The raised scratchplate and humbucker surrounds are also cream coloured to match the binding. The Signature Custom features a multi ply binding that also runs around the back of the body and face of the headstock.
The Signature standard guitars all feature top quality chrome hardware, including tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece. The volume and tone controls are of the tapered golden resin variety, adding a vintage touch to these guitars. The Cherry Sunburst, Cherryburst and Honeyburst Signatures have a luxurious gloss finish, through which the colour and wood grain shine through, continuing up behind the neck and headstock. The Worn Cherry Signature has an incredibly soft matte satin texture, highlighting the intricate grain of the wood.
Although there is nothing original about the shape and style of the Signature guitars, on a closer inspection it is clear that they are very genuine instruments, built for the discerning musician. They go beyond the quality of high end Korean built guitars and are more comparable to American guitars costing over three times as much.
This quality is instantly noticeable on picking up and playing a Signature. There is a sense of effortlessness to the action that can only be described as ‘they play themselves!’ Without plugging them in you can hear the precision and subtlety of the tone, together with the powerful resonance of the solid body.
Plugging the Signature in reveals that underneath its shiny humbucker covers there are some seriously responsive pickups at work. The quality of the sound is exceptional, and with the usual two-volume, two-tone controls and a three way pickup selector you have all the sounds you could possibly want out of an electric guitar. On clean amp settings the high definition of the mid tones and low frequencies eliminates the need for reverb to help even out the sound – all notes ring out with sparkling perfection. Whereas in some guitars the different pickup selector positions can only cater for specific styles of playing, the Signature guitars sound immaculate in all possible variations of pickup and tone settings.
These Signature guitars are of a standard that should inspire any guitarist to delve further into their creativity. They are certainly fit for the professional musician, and offer a level of quality that not readily affordable for a lot of people. This gap in the UK market between highly priced Gibson Les Pauls and top of the range Epiphones is where the Signature guitars slot silently in. There is however one little catch – there are only a few of them left and they are going quickly!
AVAILABLE IN TWO COLOURS -see options. Please note picture is not the colour available.
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Our Price: £649.00
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