As a gigging guitarist, quality and perfomance are essential in the instruments I use. A breakdown onstage is not a good thing. I have 2 Gibson Les Paul Standards, a 1976 Tobacco Sunburst and a 1985 Vintage Sunburst. I recently sold a 1992 Cherry Sunburst. All 3 guitars, though indentical in make and look, were 3 different guitars in feel, hardware and sound. All 3 also had different sized necks, with the '76 being the thinnest, the '85 in the middle in thickness, and the '92 had the largest in diameter. The '76 I had bought brand new and even though being used to it, the '85 actually is the most comfortable for my left hand when playing. The bridges on the '92 and '85 are the same in build and size. The '76's bridge is a little smaller and has a retaining wire, and also not near as high off the body.

The pickups in the '85 are the best sounding of the 3 guitars, with the best crunchy rhythm and the neck has the best clarity and sustain. The '76's pickups are the brightest, and the '92 has the darkest tone. All 3 guitars have the same pickup switch selector. The volume and tone controls on the '85 and '92 are 500k whereas the '76 had 300k pots which I replaced with RS Guitarworks 500k set. By far the 500k pots have a better taper and control. The 300k didn't get any louder past 6, just more gain. The 300k's were holding back the tone.

The frets on the '85 and '76 are the same low wide large frets, the '92 had jumbo's and were the easiest to finger leads with, although I prefer the low wide larges of the '76 and '85 for all around playing. The neck joint on the '76 is the smoothest of the 3, the '92 has the chunkiest. The finish on the '85 is the best of the 3. The '76's finish is thinly applied. All 3 have the Gibson Deluxe tuning keys, which have a great feel and stay in tune well on all 3.

In conclusion, I feel that the '85 is the best in quality of the 3, but all 3 were genuine quality instruments. I miss the '92, but the '85 makes up for it. I have not played any Les Paul newer than a '98, so I can't comment on newer models. I use a Soldano Reverb-O-Sonic and a Fender Automatic for amps. I recently sold a '69 Fender Princeton, so I have had a variety of amps to play the Les Pauls thru.