Silvertone Les Paul Copy

This guitar was made in 1958. (I guess in Korea) It has 22 frets and it is semi-hollowbody. (looks like a solid body though) It has two volume and two tone controls like on a regular Les Paul. The pickups look like the mini - humbuckers on the 30th Aniversary riesue Gibson Les Pauls. They sound real good for being as old as they are. It has a plain black finish with several scrathes on it. (from my Grandfather) It's a single cutaway and I replaced the tuners beause they were crap after sitting in an attic for 30 years.

This guitar sounds amazing for being in a musty old attic for 30 years. You can play anything from classic rock to modern hard rock with the right amp. I have played this trough a Marshall Jcm 900 and a Fender Stage 160 and the clean souns amazing on the Fender. And on the JCM 900 with a Guyatone MMX Metal Monster (tube distortion pedal) I can get as much distorion as I want. (Sometimes too much) The only think I really dislike is that since it is so old the frets are garbage after about the 11th fret. So, I am going to replace those very soon.

The action was horrible past the 11th fret. You can't get any real sound out of it past there. Just 'bzzz!' That's only because it wasn't well taken care of by my grandfather. The rest of the guitar is pretty much fine; after i polished it up and put new tuners & strings on it.

This thing is very reliable. Like I said it's from 1958 and it has been sitting in an atic for 30 years! The hardware will last if you take care of it and so will the finish. And yes i can depend on it. But this is my backup guitar. I guess I would gig with it without a backup. I just dont really know . . .

Never talked to them.

For being as old as it is and how good it is for being that old i gave it an 8. If it were stolen I would probably buy something different. (Just because, not because I don't like the guitar) I wish it had better frets! But hey, its old.

Bought in '99, it's a new Silvertone that's made by Samick, so I believe it's made in Korea. It's typical Les Paul style, 22 frets, single cutaway, tune-o-matic bridge, stop tail piece, two chrome covered humbuckers, 2 volume, 2 tone, and a 3 way toggle. It's mahogany (probably a lower grade) with a flamed veneer top, which is pretty damn striking looking. It looks like it should cost over a grand. The neck is mahogany with a rosewood fingerboard, and the frets seem smaller vintage style. There's binding on the neck and body, which is done a bit sloppily, but for so cheap, I'm not complaining. I went back to the store and have seen other ones just like this that have none of those flaws. The finish on the body is a tobacco sunburst, with a deep red finish on the back, and on the neck. Again, typical LP style. The neck is pretty thin compared to a lot of other LP style guitars out there, but not uncomfortable at all to play. The tuners are cheap, but work well. It came with an allen wrench for the truss rod, big deal. But, a solid guitar for the price, very very solid. But, I'm a nitpicker, and the finishing flaws get on my nerves, but for a very close Gibson sound, it's all you need.

I play blues, rock, metal (metallica, not korn), funk and everything else in the sun. I play in a country rock band, which I am not a big fan of the music, but it pays just the same, and the songs are challenging sometimes. It is a little on the bassy sound, but that's that "Gibson sound." I keep it at home and play through my practice amp, only clean and dirty chanels needed. My strat makes the gigs (see my review of the Super Fat Super Strat) with a hot rod deluxe (another review of mine) with a tube screamer, dunlop wah, and danelectro cool cat (yet another review). It's not too noisy at home, the amp is. An old peavy little practice amp, very yuck. The classic 30 Peavy is in the studio, and the hot rod is at the shows. It has a big rich full sound, like a Paul. You get the old Pagey Zep sounds, slash, that sorta stuff. It's not quite bright enough for Aerosmith, though you can tweak your EQ to get that. It's a LP style guitar, so if your looking for variety, go buy a strat. It's jazzy and rock and blues, clean for jazz and dirty for blues and rock. That's it, that's the Les Paul sound. No complaints from me, cause what else do you need? But I'm a strat man, and that's always gonna be true. LP style guitars break too easily, where as I can throw my strat around. But for that Gibby sound, this comes close.

The action is good, the pick-ups were set up good too, and the top is done nicely with no routing flaws. The finishing botches are what I hate though, they're sloppy around the third fret and where the neck meets the body, and kinda rough around the body binding. The straplocks could be bigger too, but that's ok. From a distance, this guitar is striking, up close you can see some flaws. But the other's I've seen weren't that bad.

I haven't tried it live, and won't. Nothing beats the strat live. Turn up your bass and a strat will sound like a Paul. Put the selector switch in posistion 2 and you'll get a telecaster. With my strat you have a button to push in that activates the bridge pickup, and you can sound like a tele neck pick-up. Now that's diverse. This isn't. If you don't play like Pete Townsend, this guitar will stand up. So for a LP style, I'll give it points.

Haven't dealt with Silvertone, or Samick who makes these now. It has a waranty card, but I didn't send it in.

I've been playing for 6 years, I own two strats, the Super Fat Super Strat and another that the bassist in the band (incredible guitar player, and my teacher) and I built that has Noiseless pick-ups. I also own a Samick artists series strat copy, a Peavy Wolfgang Special, a '72 Telecaster Thinline Re-issue, an old Fender Duo Sonic, and a 70's Electra Les Paul copy. This guitar is what I expected and wanted, just something to have, that has that Les Paul sound. I chose it cause it has a cool top and finish, and I've always been a Joe Perry fan, and he's a LP man. I wouldn't buy it again, just because the urge hit me and I wanted this just to putz around with. For $350, you can't ask for any more from a Les Paul style guitar. It's all there. If you want that sound, but don't have 2 grand for a Gibson, this guitar has your name on it. My finish was botched up, but none of the others are, so I have to deduct points for on mine. Just a bad factory mishap. Nice guitar for the money.