Nick Vassilev's Place: Cleaning etc.

I have reasons to believe that Slash’s playing stands a few galaxies ahead from my guitar skills, as brutally confirmed by the latest assessment of my command of the 6-string instrument.

Rispek, man!

Slash with the original Apetite Les Paul copy

Well, this guitar surpassed my expectations!!! I expected a good quality Gibson Les Paul (don’t we all expect this from Gibson?) and this instrument simply blew my mind away. What a tone, what a great feel to it! Needless to say the AAA figured  maple top is amazing.

As all Slash and GN’R fans know, the original guitar used to record Appetite For Destruction (and Slash’s last minute guitar tone saviour) was actually a Gibson Les Paul copy. So now Gibson have made a copy of this famous copy . Wow, what a copy!!!

I believe big part of this amazing Slash tone was produced by the great Seymour Duncan Alnico II pickups and the Marshall Silver Jubilee head I had it plugged into. Excellent work, Mr. Duncan.

I subscribe to the school of thoughts that the fact the original Appetite guitar has such popularity and great tone and was even copied by the company whose guitars it was meant to be a copy of,  means that no matter what guitar you’re playing, you can create masterpieces as long as you play with your heart and soul. Well, a little bit of luthier craftsmanship would make your job easier, but it doesn’t have to be a 1959 Burst to play heavenly tones.

This is what I think. I may be wrong. But in any case the Appetite guitar rocks hard and kicks some serious ass.

These videos below prove my point:

#37 of 50 painted and aged by Tom Murphy himself

I’ve held a real 1959 Burst only once (never played one though – the guy wouldn’t allow it ) but this amazing guitar feels like the real thing. I guess it is Tom Murphy’s unique craftsmanship that represents the vibe of the Burst so truly.

It has the fatter and rounder 50′s profile neck which is somehow right for this guitar. I have mostly played lots of 60′s style thinner necks and this one feels differently pleasant.

The first thing that you notice is the AAA maple flame top and its amazing colour. Staring closer and you will see the period correct cracks in the paint that a real Burst would have developed today. I must say – it looks and feels like the real thing. The pickup covers have been changed with rustier and more convincingly older ones to complement the whole look of the guitar.

I am no specialist in vintage guitars although I have read quite a lot but I reproduce what I see and feel. The tone of this 40th Anniversary R9 is awesome. I wouldn’t notice the difference between these pickups and a pair of real PAFs, so to me they sound like PAFs. End of story.

Looking at a real Burst’s price of over £200,000, I believe that for its price the 4oth Anniversary Gibson Les Paul R9  represents unique value for money. Of course if you manage to find one on ebay.

By the way I have heard that Gibson have manufactured only about 700 Les Paul Standards (real Bursts) during 1959. The estimated number of Bursts today is higher that that. What, you didn’t think counterfeiters would spare that lovely piece of musical instrument? No man, people would sell their soul for money today .