One electric to tame them all

In the late 80's and early 90's custom shop guitars used aged wood held in storage from the 1950's and 1960's. So my custom shop 1960 LP is literally made from the same wood as an actual 1960. They used real nickle hardware...and aside from the PAF's and 490 humbuckers...these guitars were fantastic. (The electronics were OK...but do not age well as they demagnatize.)

The current custom shops to me...are extremely overpriced when I could pay to have a custom guitar made, and often for less money, which would do far more in terms of options or tones. Everyone thinks they want "classic" old tones, but honestly I keep looking for new sounds and/or even better versions of classic sounds when I go shopping for guitars. After a search thst took a decade+;I've finally found pickups which make my LP roar the way I've always known it could...though the wood! But the other big part of an LP's tone is the nitrocellulose lacquer which really make up 90% of the tone. The trick was finding pickups that let you HEAR the wood and lacquer. A real LP is made with a figured maple top which adds a delayed "chime" to a mahogany body if it's cut and fitted right. Mine chimes with almost a bell-like overtone. Most modern Gibson's don't chime...leaving me looking to other builders or vintage guitars if I want to find another. I love Les Paul's but so many modern "custom" jobs are using pickups modeled after aged and demagnatized electronics...and therefore you just hear a ton of mud. Anything using polyurethane finish instead of nitro will dull the "chime"...and if the figure fitting is sloppy...it just won't be there at all.