Aspen Les Paul Copy

Cheap bolt-on neck les paul copy. Made sometime in the early 80s I think. Mine has absolutely no brand name on it, only identifier is a serial number and "Made in Japan" on the neck plate. I think it has a mahogany body with second maple archtop layer. Standard Les Paul controls. Original came, as with other reviews, faux-humbuckers that were really single coils. I just finished swapping those out with a cheapo Diesel Woodshred 59 bridge pickup and (I know this is weird) a GFS hot rail humbucker that I jimmied into the neck pickup route. I also installed a graphite nut on it 'cause the original plastic nut was binding the strings.

This guitar is the apotheosis of ballsy! Although the $15 bridge pickup I got on ebay has a nice punchy bright sound and steely attack on overdrive, the real strong suit of this guitar is the tele rail humbucker I put in the neck. It sounds full and jazzy on clean and like a punch in the nose on dirty. The middle position, weirdly enough, has a growly sound something like a wah-wah pushed all the way down. I really like it, but the thing I can't understand is that the middle position is at a lower volume than the other two alone? Something weird going on with the electronics? In any case, this guitar sounds so original, I'm willing to get used to the somewhat strange configuration. I'm primarily a Fender guy and am playing it through a Blues Deluxe.

When I bought it off craigslist for $80, it was set up horribly. That was part of the fun. It was like an experiment to see how good I could make a junk pile guitar sound. And I like the results. The action at the bridge and the nut was too high, some of the frets had raised--for which I've had to do some pounding and filing--one of the bridge saddles was broken, and all the screws were almost completely rusted through. Have I rectified all these problems? Just about. Does it play as slick as a real thing? Absolutely not, but that's not what I was hoping for. This machine is good, not only for killing fascists, but for bopping the man.

"Built like I tank," I think that's the jargon.

I'm only pretty damn sure it's an "Aspen" ...

I'm a hobbyist with a couple good guitars and a couple junkers that I'm modding. I play mostly single coil Fenders, but this guitar is for those times when I get "in the mood" to drink liquor and hammer away. Neil Young might like this machine.

Only other thing I'm thinking about is getting some push-pull pots so I can split the coils.

I am the original owner of an Aspen Les Paul copy. I purchased it in 1980. It was sold through Sam Goody stores. I paid $269 for it originally, pretty expensive in 1980 dollars. I was a sophomore in high school at the time with rock 'n roll dreams that never came true, but I still have the guitar, although its in desperate need of an overhaul.
Mine is a solid deep reddish-brown stain, I remember it was also available in a sunburst model. The Aspen name in inlaid on the Headstock along with an inlaid pattern on the headstock and inlaid frets.
It came stock with DiMarzio humbucker pickups. My connections are all loose and I have a short somewhere that is preventing the bridge pickup from working.
I'm trying to learn guitar again as part of my mid-life crisis, so I'm now looking toward getting this guitar back in shape. May just gut it and start over.

It is solid throughout and fairly heavy. The neck is smooth on the edges, making it easy to play.

Due to the condition of this guitar, and my novice level of knowledge, I wouldn't condemn nor praise this guitar.

There were some slight blemishes where the finish was oversprayed onto the fretboard and the white inlay around the edges of the fretboard. I get a little buzz on the 6th string that I can't seem to get out completely, but to be fair, I didn't treat this guitar too nicely over the years.

This guitar has taken much harder wear than a respectful musician would give it. That being said, overall, the guitar is in good shape, the finish and the underlying structure have held up well.
I have never had a case, I'd play it, knock it over while leaning up against a wall, etc. - Youth is wasted on the young...

Never tried...

I'm by no means an expert, but it nicer than most guitars I get an opportunity to play.

this thing I got for 100$ with a 30 0r somethiung wesbury amp, dod pedal, gibson case, so prettymuch free. that was 20 years ago, I've had 1200$ tele's, 900$ l.p's, some wacky proto's with active pick-ups and shit. I sold this to my friend so his kids could learn on it, they lost interest, I bought it back for the 50$, I played it for 6 hours last night, It was my first and will be my last. This bitch through a marshall, fugeddaboutit. I don't know a fucken thing about "aspen". This bitch has been cracked at the neck/body joint and stays in tune better than my L.p., I put a tone-zone in, took it out when I sold it, I got my baby back 3 days ago and I'll probably keep the original gold, soap-bar pick-up in. I love this guitar and will anally rape anyone who disrespects it. mad caddies, mustard plug rules. Dayton-first-in-flight, North Carolina will float off to sea

sounds like an A.m. radio, but its my baby, you're amp/strings/pick/technique, all play a role in the finished product. Sure, a 52' reissue tele sounds divine, but I prefer my 50$ aspen cause I'm far from divine

who fuckin knows, It was cracked when I got it in '92. other than that, It has always stayed in tune like there's no tomorrow

I've spray- painted it orange and covered it with skate and bmx stickers, cincy reds stickers too. Cause reds RULE! the high-e tuner is shitty and hit and and miss, but so is our our government, I can get it to work cause I'm not a retard, whaddya want for 50$?

I'm only here cause I'm trying to get info on aspen, the "company

I've been playing since 1990, I own a jackson proto. This guitar has outlasted several girlfriends, the best dog ever, I love you honey, It has been abused and stays in tune. I'm just looking for info on the "aspen" guitar company

This is a made in Japan Aspen Les Paul copy. I don't know the year it was made. I bought it off of eBay. It has 22 worn down frets, 2 volume and 2 tone controls, with 2 stock, gold cover humbuckers. Tune-O-Matic bridge. The pickup switch is kind of loose, which is probably from the previous owner but it works. Don't know what the body is made out of, but it is lighter than my standard strat. The guitar color is black with some dents and minor chips that add character to it. It's also double bound with cream bindings. The bindings were probably white once and turned that aged cream color, but I really don't know. The neck is nice and fat with gold machine heads and rectangle looking inlays. This came with a "groovy" looking hard-shell case. The headstock decal and also the decal on the case looks very 60s - 70s ish.

This guitar is perfect for what I play. Majority of the music I play is blues and some rock like RHCP and I mainly prefer cleaner tones and little distortion as possible. I have a peavey 100 watt amp, which isn't for guitar but for keyboards, but it works for me. I'm more practical than trying to copy my favorite blues artist, which there is nothing wrong with at all. I also have a Digitech rp50 that I use for my sounds, which is mainly clean with some slight distortion for solos but there is always that part of me that decides to experiment with synthesizer sounds. This guitar is great for blues and of course this guitar has a slightly higher output than my strat and it produces very bright highs and warm lows which is what I like for blues. Great sustain and very resonate when played unplugged. There isn't really too much I dislike about this guitar. It really depends on your preference and perception of what you want out of a guitar and the music you play. I like this guitar because it fits me and my playing.

Oh man...when I bought this guitar off of eBay, the previous owner told me he just put new strings on it before he shipped it. When I received the guitar, I was like "what the hell did this guy do?" the guitar was stringed up with excess strings, no trimming. Amateur job. I had to adjust the bridge height and intonation, which I don't mind, because I set up all my guitars to the way I like it - low action (high for slides). So I can't rate the set-up because it was done at a guitar shop or factory. This is an old and used guitar. Again I don't know the age of it. It didn't seem like it was abused and blatantly neglected guitar, just some life cycle wear and tear.

I've been playing this guitar for a while and play mostly with jam sessions and had it dropped multiple times. This guitar still has some more life in it and is good for live playing, even though I don't necessarily play gigs, I still put it through 4 to 6 hour blue ball sessions. The paint job still looks fantastic and doesn't seem like it's going anywhere soon. All hardware is solid, with exception to the pickup switch which can be fixed easily. Ok here is my rant. If you're the type of player that likes to throw his guitar around and do cartwheels, trying to look cool with your 3 chord rock and other crazy shit then your guitar won't last you long as you expect. It depends on the player and how well they keep up with their guitar. I'm not the type of guy that polishes my guitar everyday, but I know how to preserve it so I can have it for awhile and pass it down to my kids and grandkids.

Nope, I don't think I could ever get in contact with the original folks that made this guitar. I tried to look Aspen guitars but just found some acoustic guitar site. If anyone has any links to the history of this guitar company, I would greatly appreciate it.

I have other guitars in my arsenal. I have a used 50's looking strat that has an original fat fender rosewood neck but the body was made by some company like WD or Allparts and it is well made with no swimming pool routes. I also have standard strat and tele. This guitar is up there next to my 50's strat as far as playability and that soulful blues sound that I'm always after. I don't want to down play the standard teles and strats but this guitar is definitely 10 times better and is most definitely better than some epi lp I've played. I would go as far as saying it comes close to the Gibson LP. But I tell you what, if I took the time and money to refret, add some new tuners, some vintage 59's or similar pickups, this would exactly be like a Gibson LP but I'm happier with what I got than what other perceive of what I should need. If this was lost or stolen I would no doubt go and try to find the perp and pop his little heart but realistically I would probably go on eBay again and look for another one. These Aspen guitars are hard to come by. I mostly jam with friends and anyone willing to have a blues jam session and this guitar just sings if it's in the right hands. Lastly I just want to emphasize the matter of taste. The saying will always ring true "one man's trash is another man's treasure? But those 3 chord rock/punk boy bands gotta go!

I always thought this Les paul was Japanese made though it has a glue on neck (no bolts). It makes me think that the this difference could have made it a USA made guitar. Almost all Japan model les paul copies had bolt on necks of that time. Pickups were/are real deal USA Dimarzio super distortions. In the early nineties the bridge postition crapped out and it was replaced with a Dimarzio tone zone Neck postion is still original. The wood is anyones guess? When it was brand new it had a sweet dark brown finish with a hi luster transparent polyester coating on top.The pickguard and knobs were all black with silver chrome parts. The tuners also gave out in the early nineties and were replaced with sperzel.

When I was young I've never had the money to own a true Les Paul. Though I presently own 6 guitars. This Aspen has filled my need rich sustaining Les paul Crunch for years. it has a ton of tones and stays in tuned about the same as a Gibson. Its intonation isn't so good but what would you expect. I use it thru a 5150 and line 6 combos
It truly sounds as good as the 1st day I played it.

THe finish is now shot. Too many years of putting stickers and crap on it officially finished its surface. The finish was taken off and left as raw wood. A little stained was applied to enhance its bruised age. The action is still low and tight. Strings are .50's to .11. All hardware has been replaced with modern stock. The volume pots are original. The workmanship was iffy at best but it survives to this day.

It now stands as a stunning piece of longevity in my life. It resurrections have been many. It was purchased with money I made washing dishes in a restarant when i was 13 yrs. old. I used to go to the mall to see it. It used to hang on a wall with a bunch of Mid 70's gibsons that cost $400 each. Way more then I was going to pay. My late mother was furious when i spent my summers earnings on it. Funny enough when i brought it home and opened it she was startled and impressed with its looks. Its durability is hilarious. I tried getting rid of it on numerous occasions and for whatever reason it keep coming back to me. It was abandoned in the early/mid 80's in my father's country house attic 200 miles away only to land in my hands 1989 when we were cleaning out the old house . By that time I had long moved on to Ibanez and squier strats. It was resurrected and it ended being used as my sole recording guitar on 2 cd's I made with my band. It sounded monstrous. Better than any Gibson my bandmates were using. It drove them nuts.

n/a if anybody has info on these guitars please pass it on.

Truss rod cover says Custom, so I am assuming that it is a copy of a LP custom. Seems reasonable.
black with cream binding. gold(at least very gold-looking) hardware.
22 frets, kind of weird shaped: very square. maybe jumbo. I don't know. Shiny (abalone? mop?) inlays 1-3-5-7-9-12-15-17-19-21. Rosewood.
tune-o-matic bridge. 2 cream-colored open-face humbuckers. A volume and tone control for each. . . like any good LP.

Very nice tone. Rich, warm, clean sound, better with chorus, of course. . . beautiful for my jazz. Drives nicely, too. Anywhere from soft bluesy noise to squealing shred. Using just the neck pickup in a pretty soft warm setting through a DOD brand "Mystic Blues Overdrive" pedal into the drive channel of my Fender Ultimate Chorus, I nailed. . . I mean it. . . nailed Carlos Santana's early tone. I think he just had a good single drive, though, he didn't go twice.
It does become noisy if you distort too much (string squeaks, you know), or if you run both pickups as trebled as possible (10 and 10)(hissing). But most of us know better than that, right?
I love this guitar. It's my first electric, and though it's a lawsuit copy, it is because of this guitar that I will try to get a real LP. At least to compare. . . this guitar is perfect for me.

Nothing I couldn't fix with a screwdriver and 5 minutes of eternity's store. The top strap button was loose when I got it, the jack plate was loose and missing one screw, the D and G (and sometimes A)strings buzzed against the first fret if I picked too hard. Not bad.

I trust this guitar. The strap button was loose, but I fixed it. I would play with a backup only because I have a few favorite alternate tunings from my acoustic years.

I doubt that it exists!

I've played bass for 2&1/2 years, almost 3. Guitar has been 1&1/2 years, almost 2. . . the best days of my life have been since I took up guitar. I have a Johnson acoustic. Also very nice.
I love this guitar. It fits my hands, playing style. . . not image, but hey. . . I have no image. Ha!!! I would buy this guitar again if it were stolen. I'd probably cry, too.

Unlike many of the other entries, I have the original warranty and paperwork for my 1958 Aspen Les Paul copy. It has all the same features as a vintage gibson. Two REAL humbuckers (NOT cheapos) and beautiful finish. I also have the original case which is in very decent shape. These guitars were actually made in Austin Texas, and I know from the original warranty card mine had with it. This guitar is extremely nice and is not all beat to hell like the others on this page.

I play classic rock and jazz and this guitar can do it all. I play it through a crate 2-12 DSP or my Fender half-stack, which really makes this guitar kick some serious ass. It is very loud and has a beautiful full sound on the neck humbucker or a awesome crunch on the bridge pick-up.

The action on this guitar is as good as any other. I have a 1977 Gibson les paul custom and it plays the same as my aspen. The finish is a beautiful crimson and it hardly has a scracth on it.

I played this guitar in jazz band all through high school and many live gigs with my rock band and am currently taking it to college with me as i am a music major. I have never had a problem with this guitar. It has always been a solid dependable guitar the last 5 years i have owned it. I have used it on many gigs without a backup guitar, and on many occasions it has been my back up.

I have never had to contact the company, I dont even think it is around any more, but the original owner had a lifetime warranty on it.

If i lost this guitar I would be very upset. It is one of the best sounding/playing les pauls I have ever used.

I got an Aspen Les Paul copy in 1981. I believe it is from Japan. This is a good looking guitar. It is all Mahogany, "Book-Matched" and sandwiched. Dark stain clear coat. It a Les Paul set up 2 vol 2 tone 2 pu's TOM bridge. Its got a one piece thin mahogany neck with a Rosewood fretboard. The gold plated bridge, tailpiece and tuners are all worn, but I will replace one day.

It works well with the Blues and Classic Rock I play. I have a 69 Gibson Les Paul and 78 and 79 Fender Strats. Its got more boom then the mini hums (which are brighter). I have been using a 1981 Peavey "Heritage" amp which is a very good amp! I have a 1961 Fender Pro "Brown Face" that sings! I took out the original pick ups and put in "Duncan 59 copy" pick ups. The pus are worth more than the guitar but I don't care it plays real nice. It would get a 9 if the original pus were better.

Great out of the factory guitar for beginners. No changes except for the pick ups...But I'm the only NUT that would put $200 in pick ups in a guitar thats worth today $100? Note I did'nt change the pus till 1990.

I would use it live, the hardware is beat up from use. I will replace the hardware soon. The finish is still good.

Never called.

I have been playing since 1981, maybe its special to me because it was my first electric but I would be upset if I lost it. Its got a great fretboard, great action...just a good "neck feel" It may not get the warmer tone an old solid body might get, but Its killer for things like Frampton,Zep and other classic rock.

What year was it made? Late 70's /early 80's i imagine.

Where was is made? Probably Japan or Ethiopia or somewhere downtrodden...
Standard Les Paul hardware configuration. Black, cream binding and gold hardware. Not a bad looking axe.
This guitar, although very cheaply made with a neck like a wet noodle and questionable intonation, has a hidden secret weapon. Read on.

They come stock with false humbuckers - a PAF looking cover conceals one small single coil pickup (smaller than what is in a tele bridge even) positioned under the pole-piece holes in the cover, so that it looks like a PAF.
Well, since the guitar is sold as a lespaul copy, it has to have a comparable output, right? Right.
The way Aspen achieved this was to somehow reduce the impedence of the rest of the hardware (pots, caps, etc) -to sort of 'open up' the signal path a little so that these tiny pickups could sound louder.
I played it through high school with the stock pickups through an old Gorilla 1x12 solid state combo. It sounded ok, but never sounded good.

One day, my older brother gives me a real humbucker out of a good (lawsuit era) Ibanez Explorer copy that was a basket case. I install it and plug in through my Gorilla. WOW! I had serious crunch. I was thinking that i could attribute this to the difference between the two pickups and really - this was correct, but i later found that I had much more drive than a stock lespaul - or any other Gibson i was ever to play again. The lower impedence pots (i assume) gives me twice the output i should have. This SOB is LOUD!
Not long after i installed another real humbucker in the neck position, the Gorilla just pops and dies one day while i was jamming after school. Wonder why? ;p

I also added a set of Grover tuners - had to drill the headstock to get it to take them. Stock tuners were crap.
It does have a space between the top and the body of the guitar - gives it kind of a woody sound that i like.

I just recently went through this guitar, re-soldered all of the connections and put her back in service (it sat in its case for years after i got a real guitar).

You know how people bitch about not being able to get any overdrive out of the master volume (late 70's, 80's?) silverface Fenders? Well, i've got a Bassman Ten, and the Aspen makes it sound like a freaking Marshall. My Ampeg VT-22 will not generate a clean sound with this guitar and just a cord.
This beast gives hard preamp/poweramp overdrive like you've never heard.
One of these days, i'm gonna find a lespaul body and lay all this hardware in it.

Modified, this thing is a punk/rock/blues monster. More drive than anything i have ever played.
Stock - it sucks.

Cheap setup.
Nice finish - good visual copy of a deluxe.
Thinner and lighter than an actual paul.

Everything is solid.
Was my main axe for years...

???
Who the hell is Aspen, anyway?
I've heard they are low end Samick, which is low-end Ibanez?
Not sure.

I've been playing about 15 years. I also own an Ibanez Arstar, a Martin 000-15S, an Ibanez PUE5 pedal board, TS-9, an old RAT and a Dunlap WAH.
Amps are a silverface Bassman Ten and a 1969 (or so) Ampeg VT-22.

I wish the axe had a better neck. Other than that, i like it.

This thing...well its cheap, i got it as a gift from a mate on my birthday..i only wanted it for the neck as i'm creatin a les paul/ telecaster body...its supposed to be black with cream bindings like and old black beauty..but under natural light its green!!! with yellow binding....i open the body up to find its no really solid , quite hollow with a cheap layered wood. The machine heads were/are cack...got rid of em quick style. The head stock is an excellent copy shape of a les paul..but the logo and the daft logo had to go..i shaved them of with a sander....the neck looks good but the frets are a bit sharp edged so shaved them down an added a spot of s-glue. The action of the guitar is sh!t i lowered it but still its cack. The pots are old need replaced and the "humbuckers" are actully single coils coved with big bucker covers. This thing is a pile of poo.

it was sh!te, but i fired in a jazz seymour and a jeffbeck bridge..sound obviously bitching..but has a hollow "twangy" sound due to the hollow body..feck all sustain on this! i give it n/a cause without the sd's it would be a zero!

sh!te action, cheap & cheap. The bolt on neck is just awful...the angle is just way off...

geez....well with some reworkin it can be used but only for detuned fast punk, this is with mods ie seymours, grovers, shaving the neck ..really lowering the action etc...and who cares if it gets wrecked its sh!te anyway!

Ha...aspen yeah in aspen in aspen

I've played for bout 5 years, had a strat copy, a mex tele, a japanese jaguar and my present guitar, a reworked 72 custom tele with seymour D humbuckers ( little 59 and a jazz neck)....compered to this guitar ....hmm work it out for yourself..sniff sniff....yep...definatly sh!te