2017 Gibson Les Paul Standard T Cherry Sunburst Flame Top Review + Demo 

great observation

It definitely changes the look of them - that's for sure. Sometimes it can give the guitar a more 'high-end' feel if the top is really nice. As far as the 2017 line up - yes, they need them haha

Agreed or missing pickguard.

I like that mine doesn’t have those things. I think they look great on slid colors and some hurts. Mine has a killer flame, and I’d hate to hide it with plastic.

The early 2000s Standards are some of my favorites - especially the plus tops. Half the time, you can just stick and ABR-1 on them and put them in a Lifton and it looks just as good as a reissue! haha I believe its around 2006-2007 when they start all the major weight relief and pcb boards. When it comes to resale time, the early 2000s Standards get a lot more interest than the later ones. I figured this 2017 at 1499 would sell within hours... seeing as they are still selling at stores at 2799 new and not too many used ones less than 2k.

I have one of these in honey burst with the original pickups and it sounds nothing like this, this one sounds really underpowered and thin, with the middle sounding out of phase or something

It looks like SW has some in stock! www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LPS18ODCH

I am in Canada and prefer to actually see and play the guitar before buying especially with Gibson and the high cost.

Understandable! Best of luck!

That’s a gorgeous color, and unfortunately rare!

That’s on the HP model.

Yes, they weren't the nicest sounding to my ears either. Pretty guitar though

I did the opposite. I found the BB Pros sounded warmer than the 57's.

It's definitely unique. I pointed out in the Reverb listing that it might be a flaw in the wiring as it is also much quieter. The 3 way switch is pretty loud on the switchovers too.

Yeah, it might not have been a flaw though, tons of people do it on purpose to get that sound (affectionately called the "Peter Green" sound). I hate it myself. Another thing that might have happened is that on the quick connect pickups the wires are different on the neck and bridge. So if you follow regular aftermarket gibson wiring schemes they end up wiring them out of phase or grounding out one of the coils. Given that it had the PCB board, I'm thinking they used the stock pickups, cut off the connector, and followed a soldering diagram for aftermarket gibson pickups. If you unsolder the hot and the ground on ONLY ONE of the pickups and switch their position (hot to ground and ground to hot, making sure the bare wire is still connected to ground, Bam fixed!). It happened to me a ton of times when mixing pickups from different makers, pretty simple fix (and it does not affect the sound of the pickup when in single positions, it just electrically changes the phase).

Thanks for the info! I'll probably just leave it as-is to avoid completely breaking the wiring, but will definitely pass it on to the next owner

Yeah, very common issue with people getting rid of the PCB board. I had to seek out the information on forums because it happened to me too (and many others apparently). They swapped the wires because it made sense in their manufacturing with coil splits and other types of options on some models with the PCB (that is the consensus it seems anyways, nothing official from gibson). E.g. guitaristguild.com/index.php?topic=437.0

I don't know if weight relief is actually cheaper or not. They have to route out the extra sections out of the body so it might actually cost more to do that. The poker chip and PCB - yes, that's cost saving there. I get the whole PCB thing, but those poker chips can't cost more than 10 cents to them, but every penny does add up.The PCBs are handy for the novice that can't do pickup swaps on their own, so there is a small plus side there. Modern guitars aren't 'bad,' they're just different. The market says the pauls are too heavy, so Gibson responded by weight relieving them.

What I meant by cheap weight relief is the quality of the wood... Since Gibson began weight relief in 2007, there is a general consensus that Gibson is using lesser quality maple and mahogany. There is a wood shop in my town that used to sell rejected maple/mahogany from Gibson, the shop hasn't been able to get any for 10 years now... numerous internet threads seem to be implying that with weight relief, top notch wood is no longer being used....

That's possible, but it could be that Gibson is no longer rejecting really heavy woods since they plan to weight relieve them anyways. I think the mahogany used on this example is really nice looking stuff.

It is nice, and it better be for what Gibson charges... However, which of your guitars you think has better wood and materials? your Gibson stuff since 2000? or your stash of Gibson's from the 70's-90's?? I have a 1949 Gibson ES-125 that was their student model at the time.. The quality of the maple and mahogany in that guitar likely exceeds Gibson custom shop material currently. and the original P-90 in that 49??? forget it....

I think they are trying to address issues their consumers have. Weight savings, pickup swap ease, and the poker chips are ugly so dropping those shouldn't be a problem. Maybe throw them in the case for old farts who can't remember which was is up or down.