2014 Gibson Les Paul Special Caramel Burst Semi Hollow Review

The Gibson ES Les Paul Memphis Electric Guitar Review – The new Classic "ES"

In all the years I've been playing guitar, I've levitated towards Les Pauls, SGs, Explorers, Strats, Teles, and and then many more iconic bodies and configurations. The Gibson ES series (Electro-Castilian) has always been a desire, but something out of reach. The ES lines of guitars are premium instruments, generally priced north of most nice Les Pauls and fifty-fifty some LP customs. I recollect the studio ES models are OK, merely they just aren't like ESs to me… I love cervix and body binding on them and I love the not bad lacquer finishes Gibson offers on the non-studios. As such, I've really kind of stayed abroad from new retail ES guitars… until 2014.

I was surprised 1 day to be trolling the Gibson guitar home site (opens a new window) and saw something I'd never seen before: a Les Paul called the ES Les Paul – best of both worlds. It wasn't long before I'd saved upwardly and bought a 2014 ES Les Paul in Light Caramel Flare-up. Wow. Information technology hit me similar a ton of bricks and I really brutal in love with the whole idea, right away.

Quick Opinion:  I think describing my kickoff hour with my special-club 2014 Les Paul could be best described in a "starting time impressions" kind of format. I was really diddled away.
* Outset thought: WOW this thing is seriously light compared to whatsoever Les Paul I ain of any kind. What a delight.
* First strum (acoustic) felt equally though I had a living matter in my hands. The resonant feedback to my hands and my breast was truly sensuous. I was delighted with the way the ES LP sang with open up strings and fretted notes!
* When plugged in amplified, I constitute the ES LP to be somewhat like to the ES 339 and ES 127, simply lighter and more airy. Information technology could be pushed to become blues snotty, caressed to be jazzy and new-agey, picked to be either rock or state. Name your toxicant: it does information technology to the nines.
* After fiddling with tone, book, tunings, and full general noodling with sound, I took time to just take the musical instrument all in with my eyes and hands: It's actually quite beautiful to behold.
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I'll go into more detail in the rest of the review. With that said, suffice it to say that I not only loved the new design concept, its execution is pretty much flawless. I love it so much so that I regretfully sold my first (the Caramel 2014) and took the time to find but the correct ruby burst 2015 on the market almost two years later. My newer one, the 2015 "Memphis Belle" is in my sound library until it is passed on to my family after my time has come.

Playability: To be articulate: each neck is hand-shaped and finished from a pre-form blank. Not all Gibson necks are the same… That's 1 of the corking reasons to own More THAN ONE of the same kind ;-). My commencement ES Les Paul, the 2014, and my current ES Les Paul, the 2015, have virtually the same neck carve, except that the 2015 is definitely thicker feeeeeelingggggg. Your mileage might vary, depending on what you like, the size of your easily, and the actual neck shape at the fourth dimension of manufacture. Gibson calls it a "Rounded C Profile neck." With that said, permit's describe the ones I've actually endemic…

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If you similar the traditional old-school 50s thicker neck, the ES Les Paul is for you. Information technology'southward a nice mitt-carved shape that resembles the neck thickness of my 2010 LP Traditional, my 2016 LP Traditional, and my Gibson Les Paul Custom. I like almost whatever kind of neck, just this one is my favorite, right upward there with the Stratocaster 50'due south Five cervix and my Fender Soft-D Tele Deluxe cervix. The ES Les Paul 50s cervix is substantial, only doesn't feel like a baseball bat or bass neck at all. If they made these with 60s necks or even slim-taper Firebird necks, that would exist fine… I just prefer the thicker kind…

Nicest play-power matter when yous play standing for hours? It'due south LIGHT. WOW is information technology light. You meet it and think "heavy similar a non-weight-releived body or heavy like a big ol' ES 335 with maple ply"… so you strap information technology and put the strap on your shoulder and feel like it's an audio-visual in weight. VERY nice. I can play Memphis Belle all 24-hour interval long and my shoulder is none the more sore.

I do play finger-way mostly, with some picking styles and lots of hybrid claw styles (choice and fingers are Really fast for some things!). Given the traditional neck width and nut width, the ES Les Paul is a finger-picker's delight, without costing the choice-picker to lose her/his mind when sweeping, economy-picking, or alternating upwardly-stroke and down-stroke. Memphis Belle has a Groovy balance of string spacing to fingerboard width.

The neck, the fingerboard, the binding on the body's front edging: all are comfy and make the guitar feel like it was made to exist played. Every bit a guitar role player with joint issues, Memphis Belle is really so very pleasant that I forget I've got a guitar in my hands sometimes – the ES Les Paul is just an extension of my musical mind…

Sound: At that place are many components to sound quality in an instrument. The "sound" portion of this review deserves a little more depth than usual because the ES Les Paul's sound is complex and very versatile – information technology tin can be different depending on how y'all play it and how yous dilate it.
one) Pickups/electronics
2) Tone woods, body, neck
three) Semi Hollow with just enough of a centre block

Pickups and Electronics The Gibson ES Les Paul for 2014-2016 has Memphis Heritage Spec humbuckers (also called MHS Humbuckers). The MHS humbucking pickups are true to their proper name in that they are about self-noise-silent in the signal concatenation. Nice. From one of Gibson's own pages, information technology lists the pickups as "MHS unpotted humbuckers." I don't get in front end of a 100wx2x4x10 Marshall Stack any more, so I'm not really worried about microphonics. I don't take one whatever more than, so sorry, readers, I tin't test it out for y'all to see if the humbuckers will allow feedback. Since they're covered with nickel Gibson covers, I don't know if it would be much of a trouble.

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The wiring in my ES Les Paul is hand-soldered point-to-signal old-school wiring and solder and capacitors. The potentiometers are non-splitting and feel and deed like older unbalanced tone-to-book resistance. I similar information technology just similar it is. It sounds fantastic and I wouldn't have information technology wired any other manner. (By the fashion, I put speed knobs on mine considering I have a terrible time gripping slippery smoothen-edged top hat/witch chapeau knobs.)

The sound. Oh! The sound! I tin can dig in with a thicker selection or metal pick through some hotter pre-amp 12ax7 tubes and get bluesy snotty snarly sounds in a skinny minute. The mid-position (both cervix and bridge humbuckers {or treble and bass humbuckers for the sometime-school folks}) sounds the most balanced for almost kinds of playing. The neck is decidedly jazzy and very thick and creamy. The bridge, when played alone, likes to honk a little like sometime unpotted PAF vintage, low-resistance pickups. With that said, you can dial in the tubes and your playing style and get a squeamish rock or country or dejection lead from slapping the pickup selector towards the floor. The span isn't quite right for jazz unless you thicken it up with a chorus, phase, or flange pedal. Stereo pedals all the more.

When finger-picked, I can get DELIGHTFUL jazz and new age sounds out of clean aqueduct stuff with the 12ax7s dialed down and using a nice clean boost such as a Beano from Analog Man or the unsung hero the Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster. (Funny, I accept four dissimilar pickup boosters/make clean boosters for varieties of punch and clean stuff and for rock and dejection… I like having a choice…) I tin use any of the iii switch positions to benefit song-like melody passages, bird-similar counter-melodies and "colour tracks," and the beautiful mellow warm sound of a cleanly-played and non-over-effects-pedaled neck pickup. I dearest the electronics in my ES Les Paul. It'due south VERY unlike from my BurstBuckers, 57s, 59s, or moderns.

When I hybrid-selection, I can get varied sounds out of the same amp/pedal/pre-amp settings, just past the shape of the pick motion, the difference betwixt finger flesh and fingernail, and pick. More so than merely any guitar with those dissimilar picking styles and parts: it's VERY expressive and tin can be really coaxed into very different sounds when amplified or run through a great modeller.

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Tone woods: The Gibson ES Les Paul trunk is made in the traditional ES Memphis mode: Pressed 3-ply woods with a carved top and lovely flamed maple on the acme. The dorsum and sides are individual pieces, much similar the way an acoustic is made, with a flat surface on both. The wood is nicely thick with maple-birch-maple ply layers. The body'southward box is made, then a mahogany center cake with Les Paul weight relief for feedback protection, anchoring the tail-piece and bridge, and enabling a thicker, more sustaining audio. The neck is a lovely mahogany jumpsuit unit of measurement with a nice chocolaty-red-brownish rosewood fretboard. This overall combination gives you a hybrid betwixt the playability of a Les Paul, the weight of an acoustic, and the sound basis of an ES iii-series Gibson. It plays and sounds like the woods were lovingly picked out by a principal luthier for their advent AND tone.

Speaking of the cervix, the 2015 ES Les Paul has a bone nut, replacing the modernistic corian nut. Information technology tunes, plays, and sounds prissy!
Re-imagining Semi-hollow Guitars: Since the ES Les Paul has the open design of a hollow body blended with the audio block of a solid body, sustain really comes to call in this guitar. Compared to either of my (truly hollow) hollow body guitars, the open up strings sing noticeably longer with the ES Les Paul. Nice balance of mellow open audio combined with good sustaining while lacking the (not friendly to almost guitarists) floating bridge on my true hollow body guitars.

Quality:Frankly, I have not found a single flaw with either my 2014 or my 2015 Gibson ES Les Paul. The finish effectually the body where the neck is inserted lacks the somewhat (unfortunately) typical bumpy spots I see on many set-cervix guitars. The consistency of the wonderful nitrocellulose lacquer finish on the back and sides is superb. The fret shape, cut, and thickness is just right. I had no cord buzz at all, even after I inverse the strings out to some D'Addario half-flat jazz strings. This, even without having too high an action…

The case is higher up par, smells great, and does a overnice job fitting this odd bird. Nifty! The tuners are REALLY old school, with green keystone keys and erstwhile-school push button-in bushings. You'd think the ES Les Paul was congenital back in the 50s. The fingerboard inlays are super precipitous-edged, and feel keen. The nickel (or chrome, I can't tell) finish on the hardware is perfect: hard, smooth, and mirror shiny.

I love the new "F Hole" stamped truss rod embrace!

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Value: Dollar-for-dollar, the Gibson ES Les Paul is priced correct for its quality, appointments, the Memphis manufacture, and position in the ES and Les Paul production lines.

To be sure, the Gibson ES Les Paul is a premium-value and mid-premium price guitar when purchased above $3000 new at retail. It's a existent heirloom guitar, so I think it's worth it. Information technology will, however, be unreachable past some guitar enthusiasts. For those who tin can't pay the "new" toll, yous can VERY patiently watch the used market for just the correct color and condition. My start ES Les Paul was $2999 out the door, my second was used and was $1999 (a very good cost for the new condition of the Memphis Belle).

If you want an ES and have enough money for an ES, the delightful ES Les Paul is much lighter and easier to play than the traditional ES-335. It'south worth a lifetime of playing.
Wishes: Gibson, I dear thee and I love all my favorite American guitar builders: please offering the ES Les Paul with traditional nibbed bounden-over-fret-end neck binding. Gosh! The one affair that made me sell my 2014, only to find that subsequent models take the same design. I'll live with it, only that'south really my Just wish for this guitar. Maybe, just maybe it would be squeamish if the bridge pickup had a niggling thicker audio somehow.
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2015-Right Features: Just a quick jog into the specs for those of you lot who might not know where to find them or if the original folio is gone:

Top Forest Species:    Maple, Poplar, Maple
Pieces:    three-Ply
Grade:    Figured
Binding:    Cream

Back Wood Species:    Maple, Poplar, Maple
Pieces:    3-Ply
Density:    Plain
Binding:    Cream

Trunk Rim Species Wood:    Maple, Poplar, Maple
Pieces:    iii-Ply
Grade:    Plainly
Weight
Weight Relief:    ES-LP Middle Block
Average Weight (body only):    one.3925 kg / three.070 lbs.

Body Profile
Carve:    ES-LP (Semi-Hollow)

Neck
Woods Species:    Mahogany
Pieces:    1

Details
Truss Rod:    Historic
Contour:    Rounded "C"
Thickness at Fret 1:    21.59 mm / .850″
Thickness at Fret 12:    24.13 mm / .950″
Other Materials:    Franklin Titebond l
Average Weight:    544.31 gm / ane.two lbs

Headstock
Blazon:    SP-ane
Inlay:    Mother of Pearl
Logo:    Female parent of Pearl "Gibson"
Silkscreen:    Gold "Les Paul Model"
Headstock Angle:    17 degrees
Tonal, Resonant, and/or Technical Issue:    The rounded neck provides an ergonomic feel and the mahogany adds a rich tonal quality

Neck Fit
Joint Bending:    4 degrees
Joint Angle Tolerance:    0 deg 0 min xv sec
Type:    Mortise and Tenon

Nut
Style:    White
Material:    Bone
Width:    4.318 cm / 1.700″

Fingerboard
Woods Species:    Rosewood
Pieces:    1
Shade:    Dark

Fingerboard Details
Radius:    thirty.48 cm / 12 "
Frets:    22
Nut/Finish of Board:    4.318 cm / i.700″ @ nut, five.6007 cm / ii.205″ @ finish of lath
Scale:    62.865 cm / 24.75″
Binding:    Cream
Side Dots (Color):    Blackness

Fingerboard Inlays
Style:    Trapezoid
Material:    Pearloid
Dimensions:    16.51 mm x 29.718 mm / 0.66″ x i.17 "

Electronics
Pickups    Rhythm MHS Humbucker Lead MHS Humbucker
Winds/Coil: Spiral side/Slug side:    4900/5100        5200/5400
Material of Wire (gauge):    Enamel (42)        Enamel (42)
Ringlet Dimensions (per coil):    6.6294 cm ten 1.7272 mm / two.61″ x 0.68 "        vi.6294 cm ten 1.7272 mm / 2.61″ x 0.68 "
Coil Material:    ABS        ABS
Gyre Winding Process:    Scatter Wound        Scatter Wound
Pole Piece Material:    Nickel plated steel        Nickel plated steel
Pole Piece Position from Nut:    47.4218 cm / eighteen.670″        59.5173 cm / 23.432 "
Slug Textile:    Nickel plated steel        Nickel plated steel
Slug Dimensions (diameter x length):    four.7498 mm x 1.24206 cm / 0.187″ x .489″        four.7498 mm x one.24206 cm / 0.187″ x .489″
Magnet Material:    Alnico 3        Alnico II
Magnet Position from Nut:    48.26 cm / 19″        58.42 cm / 23″
Magnet Dimensions:    6.35 cm ten 1.27 mm / two.5″ 10 0.5″        half-dozen.35 cm 10 1.27 mm / 2.5″ x 0.5″
Polarities:    Screw side is the south pole of magnet        Screw side is the s pole of magnet
Comprehend:    Nickel plated        Nickel plated
Qfactor:    3.21        3.ii
Resistance:    7526 ohms        7963 ohms
Resonant Frequency:    2859.84 Hz        2695.19 Hz
Tonal & Resonant Advancements:
Historically accurate "Patent Applied For" replica with airy tone and unbalanced coils. Slightly under wound.

Control Pocket Associates    Volume
Type:    CTS 500K Linear
Peak Voltage:    1080V
Range:    0-500K
Power Rating:    i/4 watt higher up 100K ohms
Resistance Tolerance:    500K +/- twenty%
Minimum Resistance:    100 ohms

Tone
Type:    CTS 500K Audio
Peak Voltage:    1080V
Range:    0-500K
Power Rating:    ane/4 watt in a higher place 100K ohms
Resistance Tolerance:    500K +/- 20%
Minimum Resistance:    100 ohms

Capacitors:    Lead Value    Rhythm Value
Orange Drop .022 mF    Orangish Drop .015 mF
Hardware

Tuning Keys
Fashion:    Kluson Unmarried Ring Tulip Button
Material:    Torso is stamped steel with plastic tulip button
Weight:    22.6796 gm / 0.8 oz

Tuning Keys Details
Tuning Ratio:    fifteen:ane

Bridge
Style:    Tone Pro AVR-ii
Material:    Dice bandage alloy
Plating Specs:    Nickel

Tailpiece
Style:    Lightweight Stop Bar
Compensated:    No
Material:    Aluminum
Plating Specs:    Nickel

Output Jack
Way:    one/4″ mono with dual tip contact

Jack Plate
Style:    Les Paul Foursquare
Material:    ABS – Foam
Weight:    two.0 gm / 0.07 oz

Plastics
Truss Rod Embrace
Manner: Blackness and white bell with engraved F-Hole

Knobs
Style:    Gilt Top Hats

Dial Pointers
Yes/No:    Yes
Switch Washer
Style:    Cream with hot stamp gold

Trim Rings
Style:    Cream

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Source: http://theguitarreview.com/2016/05/21/gibson-es-les-paul-memphis-electric-guitar-review-new-classic-es/

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