Gibson LC-1

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Permalink Reply by Michael T. Swisher on November 10, 2009 at 5:04pm

Ron,
Yeah, Gibson inspire a fair amount of complaints. I have a L-130, which is a model before the current LC designation. It is the same grand auditorium size with a short scale. Mine is bubinga, the 140 is rosewood and the Emmy Lou Harris model is maple.

My observation about Gibsons (from owning several over the years) is that quality control is often wishful thinkling. If you play a lot of any particular model, however, then you ought to find one that is what it ought to be – mostly. I love my L-130, but I spent a fair chunk of change getting it to where I wanted it. If you spend serious money, then you need to play for a while and then go to a luthier and tweak. With my Gibson this included tossing the onboard electronics (Fishman) for something passive (LRBaggs) a new nut & saddle with setup, and bone pins. Now every one loves my guitar because it plays so well. This includes me, and really don't care that it cost me a bit.

Now, for advice, I think you have some fair options. The body shape – which is a large part of the sound – is pretty close to what many call a small-jumbo. And not that different from a grand auditorium. If you are chasing that sound, then play a batch of small-bodied guitars and listen to them. If you just have to have a short-scale, consider chasing down a hand-built from someone who is making them for about 2K and then you can get pretty picky. But you don't sound ready for that.

If you're in the market for a pretty decent box for not many bucks, buy the Epiphone version. Sure it's a plywood box, but then again it sounds pretty good, is cheap enough so that you can spend $200 or so making it work like you want and you can drag it around without much worry.

Good luck.

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