Where to start? I have always had a special place in my heart for Gibson’s Les Paul. It was the first type of guitar I chose after having played enough to have an opinion.
I was in 8th grade, and my next door neighbor owned a pawn shop. I mowed his lawn all summer in exchange for a Epiphone les paul standard. I still regret selling it to fund the purchase of my Gibson SG.
So long story short i have never owned a true Gibson Les Paul, the closest I got was my Gibson SG special faded.
So I check Craigslist one morning and there is a guy just a few miles away saying he wants to trade his Gibson Les Paul Studio for a Fender Jazz bass, which I had. I call him and before I can fully comprehend what is going on, around ten minutes, he is on his way over with the guitar to make the swap. My Jazz Bass was mint, and the les paul was very well played, scuffed beat, a real musicians guitar, it had been PLAYED. I remember thinking it odd that he made such a big deal about the fact that I got a Gibson Case, don’t get me wrong the case is beautiful and well made, but my focus was much more on the guitar, nut, and frets etc… I even received all the original inspection, and warranty information that comes with a Gibson when bought new. AWESOME
Fast forward a month or so, and I am so excited I ordered Gibson 57 classic pickups to put in the Les Paul, and I am going to take the stock Burst Buckers and put them in my SG, and upgrade for both! and here is reason I post this, and would like to remind everyone especially while looking for guitar lessons or piano lessons in Mckinney be careful who you choose to deal with!
I opened up the guitar to discover not the stock gibson burst bucker pro pickups, but Seymore Duncan 59’s! My first reaction is outrage, then anger, then embarrassment at having been duped. I went ahead and installed one 57 classic in the bridge position of the les paul anyway, and the jury is still out, writing this now I have played it less than 10 minutes, but there is a very real possibility that I actually prefer the sound of the Duncan 59.
So everything worked out for the better for me, I have what I like to work with, and make my own, but I post this cautionary tale because I know that the majority of people out there would not be so indifferent at a slight. While I do genuinely like the pickups that I potentially would not have tried outside of this situation, when buying, or trading for a guitar being told it is stock, you expect a stock guitar! Anything less is not only being untruthful, stealing. So not only is the guitar not stock, and has been tampered with, but the pickups I received are worth roughly half of the pickups that were removed from my guitar, and I was told I was receiving.
My guitar doesn’t have to be stock, its not a collectors item or investment of some kind to me, I got it to PLAY it for many years to come, and I truly do love this guitar, but remember people when choosing people to do business with, especially choosing a guitar teacher, or piano teacher, choose wisely. A big fancy building, and expensive marketing campaigns aren’t what to be looking for, and many times can hint at other aspects of a business that make it a poor choice. When dealing with John Ward Music Lessons, you will only experience honesty, and high quality instruction.
The Les Paul that was misrepresented to me came from an individual closely associated with one high class guitar retail store in Mckinney Texas. I have had experience with them previously having discouraged students who eventually came to me from reading anything but guitar tablature, as discussed previously in “Guitar Lessons, and Reading Music“. I know that this individual may not represent the organization as a whole, what is an organization if not the sum of it’s parts?
Home.