I came across this guitar yesterday amidst a wall of other Les Pauls and my eye was instantly drawn to the eggshell sheen nitro finish, the nickel hardware, and body shape that just seemed right. When I picked it up it reveled itself to have a solid heft, I'd estimate in the ten pound range. The back is a gorgeous cherry color and appears to be one solid piece of mahogany. The fretwork, quality of fretboard wood, smoothness of the neck edge, the nut . . . basically the entire feel of the neck as well as the guitar in its entirety . . . feel much closer to my 06 Custom Shop LP than my newer 2019 and 2020 LP Standards.
My research seems to indicate that due to the lack of a pickguard this is a 2002 Standard Plus model. The original Klusson tuners have been changed with Schallers, and the tophat knobs have been replaced with speed knobs. Other than that it appears original and in excellent condition.
There's a lot of online hype about this year and model Les Paul. I've held this one example in my hand and it absolutely stands out from anything off the regular production line I've seen in the last twenty years. Does anybody else here have experience with one of these?
