Almost bought a Squier Affinity today.

[Iggo]

I love love love my Les Paul, but I want something that I can grab with one hand and start playing immediately if I want to. Just knowing the Lester weighs a ton kills the inspiration more often than not.

So, the Affinity. Two humbuckers. No whammy. Nice heft. Thinner than the Les Paul, too. But I never played a Tele before. Longer scale, and those controls are right fucking there. Gah! I’m sixty and I’m not changing my beat the shit out of the guitar style.

So…I started eyeing the SG’s. (Epiphone. I’m not insane.) But they only had one charcoal one and some dude bought it right before I came in. (He was still there playing it.) They had red ones, but red is too on the nose for an SG, and all my guitars are black, silver, or gray.

So close….

Maybe next week…lol.

[rog]

1. Maybe Epiphone LP Florentine PRO, if you can find one.

F-holes, so semi-hollowbody, both pickups have coil tap for single-coil-ISH sounds. I sometimes use mine for jazz gigs, so it has flatwound strings, but it has a really great tone. I did not know this was a limited run ... I got mine for $400 (open box) from Musicians Friend, in a slow motion impulse buy (they had two open box for a similar price, and when the other one disappeared, I pulled the trigger). I never regretted it ... and it played perfectly out of the box.

The neck profile is not 'quite' the same as Gibson, but it plays great.


https://www.guitarcenter.com/Open-Box/Epiphone/Les-Paul-Standard-Florentine-PRO-Hollowbody-Electric-Guitar-Level-1-Wine-Red-J07382004004000.gc



I don't know if they make this any more ... I see references to a 'limited run'.

[Iggo]

2. I'll see if I can find one local.

I live on the border of L.A. and Orange County, so there’s actually a better than decent chance I can find a guitar shop that has one I can test-drive.

[rog]

4. I'd be curious to hear what you think ...

... if you find one. Good luck!

[rog]

7. I weighed my Epi ...

... while responding to Foolacious, below, and it comes in at approx 7lbs. It also seems to balance well.

How much does your LP weigh, just out of curiosity? Apparently the weight can vary quite a bit.

[Iggo]

8. I did the old weigh myself without it then weigh myself with it...

….and it came up a hair over 9 pounds.

Balance point is just north of the bottom edge of the neck pickup, which is awesome.

[Foolacious]

3. Any significant neck dive on this Epi? N/T

[rog]

5. I haven't had a problem.

Actually, I just did a 'reality check' I've never done before. The balance point seems to be pretty close to the neck pickup. I held the guitar horizontally, back to the floor, and it balanced perfectly with my hand near the rear edge of the neck pickup. It is lighter than a Gibson LP - approx 7lbs, by my bathroom scale - but hefty enough for me. Back in the late 60s, early 70s, I had a '56 LP GoldTop. I don't remember having a problem with the weight, but I was a lot younger then!

I guess the weight can vary quite a bit with Les Pauls.

Here's a '56 that weighs 8lbs: https://truevintageguitar.com/collections/electric-guitars/products/gibson-les-paul-goldtop-1956

And here's a '56 that weighs 9lbs: https://www.chicagomusicexchange.com/products/gibson-les-paul-model-goldtop-1956-1179717

I guess the 'average' weight of a LP is around 10lbs: https://gearaficionado.com/blog/how-much-does-a-les-paul-weigh/

That makes sense ... elsewhere, I found, "A typical Gibson Les Paul weighs between 9-12 lbs (4 – 5.5 kg)."

So the Epi is quite a bit lighter than the average LP ... and I 'may' have had a LP toward the lighter end of the scale.

Interesting.