2nd Guitar Axis or Gibson

[Adwex]

It's interesting that nobody bashes EBMM on either of the Les Paul forums I frequent. In fact, they're not mentioned at all.

The deal with Les Pauls is this....

Yes, they're heavy, unwieldy, expensive, painful, uncomfortable, etc. etc. etc. The neck is huge, the body hurts my arm, you have to try a bunch to get a good one....yadda yadda.

The reason they are my favorite guitar is that once you get past all the complaints, and you finally find a good one, NO OTHER GUITAR HAS "THAT" SOUND.

Forget the USA Standards. Check out the Historic line, from the custom shop. I got my '57 reissue Goldtop on ebay for $1700. Put a $100 pickup in it, and for $1800 I got a guitar that sounds awesome, and I get compliments on my tone all the time.

Bottom line, if you want a comfortable, light, high quality, good looking, easy to play guitar, then get an Axis. If you want a Les Paul, get a Les Paul. Guess which one I have.

 

[Jimmyb]

It's interesting that nobody bashes EBMM on either of the Les Paul forums I frequent. In fact, they're not mentioned at all.

The deal with Les Pauls is this....

Yes, they're heavy, unwieldy, expensive, painful, uncomfortable, etc. etc. etc. The neck is huge, the body hurts my arm, you have to try a bunch to get a good one....yadda yadda.

The reason they are my favorite guitar is that once you get past all the complaints, and you finally find a good one, NO OTHER GUITAR HAS "THAT" SOUND.

Forget the USA Standards. Check out the Historic line, from the custom shop. I got my '57 reissue Goldtop on ebay for $1700. Put a $100 pickup in it, and for $1800 I got a guitar that sounds awesome, and I get compliments on my tone all the time.

Bottom line, if you want a comfortable, light, high quality, good looking, easy to play guitar, then get an Axis. If you want a Les Paul, get a Les Paul. Guess which one I have.

I don't think anyone has actually bashed them here.

The whole thing is very subjective and being on a forum run and paid for by EBMM, means that there will be a natural bias towards EBMM's.

Maybe people don't bash EBMM on Strat or Les Paul forums, but how many times do people ask the same question that the OP is asking here?

Great players like Hendrix and Page are great players, no matter what guitar they are using.

 

[thindave]

Well, I'll throw in my 2 cents...

I had an Albert Lee and a Rosewood Axis - they were both great. I found, however, that my hands would get fatigued after playing for a while. I tried a few Gibson Historics out and I found that the larger necks (baseball bats, actually) felt better in my hands.

So, after BP said he wasn't planning on making thicker necks as an option, I sold my EBMMs and bought a 54 Oxblood Historic. It's a great guitar with a big ole neck. Sounds great and my hands don't get tired. Would I buy another EBMM if I could put a bigger neck on it? I sure would, but until then...

 

[hbucker]

I frequent some LP forums. And there is no doubt in my mind that given the opportunity, there would be several there who would bash EBMM in a heartbeat. I can hear the reasons now why EBMM guitars would be inferior to those in Gibsonland: bolt neck, basswood (please!!) and poly finish just for starters. Gibson people tend to look down their noses at everyone else IMO, which ironically enough, causes disciples of other companies to dig in their heals even more. Allowing for the obvious EBMM bias here, I haven't seen much bashing other than what has already been noted in other posts.

The quest for "that" (whatever "that") LP tone can be fun. Replacing pickups, caps & pots seems to be the norm. And all this talk about the baseball bat LP necks is true for 50's historics. But there are a lot of 60's slim taper LP necks out there. To me they are fairy standard thickness.

Feel aside, I still maintain that if you're looking for a tone that post-dates 1980, EBMM will do you just fine. If you're looking for a tone that is 1970 or earlier, the LP may be more of a consideration. But I think you'd be silly to pay for an LP and then spend time trying to find pickups to make it sound modern when there are several EBMM's that will do that for you off the shelf. I also think you'd be silly to buy an Axis and then go through the paces of getting hand scatter-wound PAF repros trying to get that "vintage" tone.

But at the risk of beating this dead horse more myself, just play the guitars and make your decision.

 

[marantz1300]

I have six guitars,all different.I like a bit of variety.I like to be able to put my hand on the one I feel like playing.I like my silo the best.

 

[roburado]

I'm not really an LP guy. I have wanted one in the past, but really, I just never liked the clean sound except for doing the jazzy clean thing.

I, of course, would pick an EBMM over the Gibson in a heartbeat.

 

[Pablo]

If you are looking for a backup stage guitar, getting an Axis would make perfect sense (same feel, same quality but still slightly different). However, if you are not playing live it wouldn't make much sense to me to get another guitar with pretty much the same qualities... Unless, of course, your Axis SS is fitted with P90s or is one of the old swamp ash ones with a pickguard - which would make it very different to the Axis.

I have always wanted a Les Paul, but everytime I come around to actually buying one, I end up getting something else entirely. Why? Well, the Les Paul is an iconic instrument, but as a Stratty guy, the feel of those things are simply head shakingly different to what I'm used to. Moreover, to me the neck PU of a Les Paul is utterly useless with any kind of gain on it, as I always look for clarity and definition in my tone - two things that position simply doesn't provide.

With this said, I still want a Les Paul eventually... But it won't be made by Gibson! When in Japan, I played some truly amazing Edwards Les Pauls that, at half the price, made the Gibsons look really bad. If you are set on a USA Les Paul, I would still avoid Gibson and go for a Heritage. Are Gibson's Les Pauls really that bad? Nope, but they are really that inconsistant!

Cheers

Eske

P.s.: whoever brought up the Morse gets my vote!