After pining after this guitar for nearly a year, I am now the proud owner of late 70's Ibanez Les Paul copy that was on consignment at Ralph's shop, King Music Center. This was one of the results of Ibanez flat out plagiarizing (if I can use that word for a guitar) the Les Paul- being sued- and then barely changing enough things so that they couldn't be sued any more.
The guitar came at a high cost- namely selling my (formerly my brother Ben's) SG to Mike "B" Bennett at The B String guitar shop downtown. I hope the "Solid Guitar" is on its way to some other aspiring electric guitarist and it will help them with their music as much as it did me.
The next chapter of the story just happened. I'm currently downtown at Chelsee's cafe, across from the B String. Moments ago I stopped into the guitar shop to show Mike the reason I sold the SG. He had told me before that he is familiar with these Ibanez Les Paul copies, including ones like mine that differ from real Les Pauls mostly in the neck- Gibsons have a "set neck" design where the neck is physically set into the neck (more expensive, stable, and resulting in the incredible note sustain that Les Pauls are famous for); my Ibanez has a "bolt-on" neck (you get the picture) like Fenders, which results in a little bit brighter, snappier sound. The end result is lots of the beefy tone of a Les Paul but with a bit more versatility and brightness like a Stratocaster.
I set the case up on Mike's counter, and a curious look came over his face as I unlatched the top and opened it up. He inspected a few parts of the guitar before concluding that this is the very Ibanez Les Paul copy he had owned and sold at The B String a few years ago!
I'll get my first chance to see how it performs tonight at Elliot's Revue for their weekly jam. So far I am unbelievably pleased with the instrument. With all love and respect for my beloved former axe, this guitar is as much a step up as my acoustic Gibson was from my first guitar, that little Epiphone acoustic-electric some of you remember.
On we go!
