Gotta return a Suhr S3. Should I get another S3 or these Les Pauls? (see inside)

[Goo Fighters]

So, I found some things out about the new Suhr Pro series S3 I bought the other day and I'll be returning it. Nothing to do with Suhr quality, tone or anything. Just realized I want some of the newer features like stainless steel frets, Gotoh 510 bridge etc...There is a 30 day 100% satisfaction guarantee so I can get a full refund. This puts about $3000 CDN at my disposal. I had my eye on ordering an '09 Suhr S3 with these specs:

Suhr Standard model body shape
Basswood body with Flame Maple top
Maple neck with Indian Rosewood fretboard
Even C Slim .800-.880 neck shape
10-14" radius,
1.650" nut width
Stainless steel frets
Gotoh 510 bridge
Sperzel locking tuners
W/B/W pickguard
SSH+ humbucker and two FL single-coils, 1V 1T 5-way
Pickup options: HSH with SSH+, SSV in the neck, FL in the middle or HH with SSH+ & SSV (most likely pick the SSH+ and two FL single coils)
Bengal or honey burst body colour possibly
BPSSC system possibly

It will look like this one with a different body colour:

They really do sound and play great, but I also have the opportunity to buy a couple of beauty Les Pauls, although I've never owned one or played one outside of a music store:

2006 Gibson Les Paul Standard Desertburst (Un-Chambered, Weight Relieved) $2,000 (CDN) O.B.O.
50's Neck Profile.
Weight is 9 1/4 pounds.

Comes with the Original Hard Shell Case and not the Gen 1 Protector (Chainsaw) Case in the picture. Also comes with the Case Candy

Dead mint condition. All stock except for the Sprague Paper-In-Oil Caps but the original caps will be included. Both .015 uF on the neck and bridge pickups.

Here are the specs and a couple pics of the other one:

'07 Chambered LP. Its a '58 Reissue Custom Shop VOS Cloud 9, in washed Cherry finish, with a nice tasteful flametop. 100% stock, with burstbuckers, big 58 neck but not ridiculous, really nice colour and flame on this one. The guitar is virtually in new condition, and comes with all the case candy. Nice woody Allman Bros/ES-335 tones, less than 8lbs, and gobs of thick sustain, its the cats pajama's! The biggest problem is the fabric flap that holds the case open needs to be restitched. Asking $2900 CDN

I don't really know anything about Les Pauls, so opinions on these are welcome. I'll definitely try before buying, but which one of the three face melters would you guys go for? The only thing with the Suhr is that I'll have to buy it without playing it first, and it will take a few months to get it. Should I be investigating any other guitars at my budget level? The place I got the Suhr from has a vast selection of guitars. All the Fender Custom shop, high end PRS, Les Paul, a few Andersons, a few Suhrs, EBMM etc...I tried the Gilmour Relic Strat and loved the tone and feel of that one, however it's a couple grand above what I am willing to fork out...

 

[Mr.Hanky]

Uhm... you said that you wanted SS frets and a gotoh bridge, so why are you looking at LP's?

If you have a hankerin for LP tone, get a LP cause nothing else, and I mean NOTHING ELSE will suffice, despite what some of the wannabees will tell you.

 

[Goo Fighters]

Uhm... you said that you wanted SS frets and a gotoh bridge, so why are you looking at LP's?

That's if I end up going with the Suhr.

If you have a hankerin for LP tone, get a LP cause nothing else, and I mean NOTHING ELSE will suffice, despite what some of the wannabees will tell you.

I love Warren Haynes and Joe Bonamassa's tone, and of course Jimmy Page. This is gonna be a tough call.!

 

[Alpedra]

Get the Suhr and the Gibson. .

Different tools. I have a Les Paul and 2 Suhrs. The Suhrs sound fantastic and play amazingly well. But there are tones that only a Les Paul will give you. Couldn´t live without any of them..

 

[Spider-Man]

From my experience a custom shop Chambered LP will have a very different tone than the LP Standard. Make sure you like the Chambered tone. The one I owned sounded great. To my ears, the biggest difference was in the mid-rage response. Compared to the the LP Standard (which is not a solidbody by the way, it's full of Swiss cheese holes) the CR8 was warmer and sounded more "vintage" if that makes any sense. Plug it in, and it was instant Mick Taylor. I sould have kept that one..... There's no way I would ever pay $2000 for a LP Standard. I'll buy an Edwards 130 model before I will ever buy another Les Paul Standard....

I had an S3 and now have a Suhr Standard on order with the specs I want. Suhr guitars seem to be consistently well make so you can always find one that's a great player. The same cannot be said for a Gibson. If you have played those two LP's and one really speaks to you, go ahead and grab one. You can always find a great playing Suhr later.

 

[imonabuss]

I can live without a Les Paul more than I can live without a Suhr. Better quality on the Suhr and a wider range of tones. But, I do agree that if you play a Gibson that you really like, buy it.

 

[Dan S]

The Standard has (9) 1 inch holes for weight relief. It is not FULL of holes. Gibson's been doing it since the early 80's.

 

[soldano16]

I'm pretty sure I've played that chambered 58. I believe it's in Ottawa now but I think it came from Montreal.

If that's the story, IMHO it's nothing special at all, tone wise.

 

[CharAznable]

Why get one when you can get two for twice the price?

 

[Spider-Man]

The Standard has (9) 1 inch holes for weight relief. It is not FULL of holes. Gibson's been doing it since the early 80's.

I know... but in my book 9 holes is full of holes. And that doesn't mean that it might not be a great sounding guitar.

I'll never buy another LP Standard, but YMMV. There's definitely lots of guys getting great results with LP Standards. I had problems with the neck joint stability, playability, and tuning stability with LP Standards that I owned. No such problems with the Historic that I currently own.

So, I guess my point was to evaluate an LP Standard closely. There's certainly some great ones out there, but not the ones I owned which were all purchased as internet deals so I did not play them first.

 

[Goo Fighters]

I'm pretty sure I've played that chambered 58. I believe it's in Ottawa now but I think it came from Montreal.

If that's the story, IMHO it's nothing special at all, tone wise.

Yep, that's the one. Thanks for the info. :RoCkIn

 

[electronpirate]

Get that first LP on your pics...or I will.

 

[Zeon45]

Do yourself a favor an try an Anderson. I compared a Suhr S1 Pro with an Anderson Classic and I greatly prefered the Anderson. :AOK

 

[Sikor]

I really tried to like Les Paul, but just couldn't connected

On the other hand, my S3 Pro is really great and became immediately my main guitar (I have also MM JP6 and Fender CS Strat).

To make my statement completely clear: get the S3!!! :BEER

 

[Goo Fighters]

I really tried to like Les Paul, but just couldn't connected

On the other hand, my S3 Pro is really great and became immediately my main guitar (I have also MM JP6 and Fender CS Strat).

To make my statement completely clear: get the S3!!! :BEER

Well, I've decided to go with the S3! A dealer here in Canada has one on order that will start being built in May, so I don't have to wait 3-6 months. I think it will be a much more versatile guitar than the Les Pauls. Can't decide if it will be better with an HSS with or HSH setup though. It'd be an easier decision if there were some clips comparing the neck pups. Also have to choose between honey burst or bengal burst for the body colour. Colours seem to vary quite a bit though on the bengal burst guitars.

Bengal

Honey Burst

Big difference between the two bengal bursts there. Don't really like the 2nd one. Too much black in there. If I was going to get one, it would have to look like the 1st pic, or the one in your avatar pic. I'm leaning towards th honey burst though, as the colours seem to be a little more consistent.

 

[Sikor]

Well, I've decided to go with the S3!

Good choice! You woun't regret it

Can't decide if it will be better with an HSS with or HSH setup though. It'd be an easier decision if there were some clips comparing the neck pups.

Go with HSS. Neck single coil tone is unreplaceable :AOK

Also have to choose between honey burst or bengal burst for the body colour. Colours seem to vary quite a bit though on the bengal burst guitars.

Bengal

Honey Burst

Big difference between the two bengal bursts there. Don't really like the 2nd one. Too much black in there. If I was going to get one, it would have to look like the 1st pic, or the one in your avatar pic. I'm leaning towards th honey burst though, as the colours seem to be a little more consistent.

Bengal Burst in real life looks like in the second picture.
First one is way to much red. It's probably the lighting conditions and/or color balance in the photo.
If You want good "real life" reproductions of the colors of the Suhr guitars, go to their web gallery and check the guitars.
Photos in the gallery are really well done and show how the guitar looks like.

http://gallery.me.com/suhrguitars

 

[Alpedra]

Yes, Bengal is a very "versatile" color.

Sometimes it looks golden, sometimes quite brownish, depending on the lighting conditions. Not only in photos, but in real life too....