Some time ago, in one of the indulgent pages of this blog, I've mentioned the thoughtful inclusion of a tampered heel in the Gibson Les Paul which was featured in the manufacturer's Axcess model. This allows the more adventurous players among us, notably of the shredder pedigree, to have an appealing access to the upper frets.
That heel design was actually an adaptation of Neal Schon's (Journey) idea which originated from his customized model. Neal Schon has a dated embrace for Les Pauls, my adoration for him is definitely for his dauntless inclusion of a Floyd Rose bridge & the aforementioned heel revision. However, it's all past tense now as Neal Schon had a recent fallout with Gibson. Here's an extraction of this bitter episode:
"... They rubbed me wrong, man. I worked very hard with them on my signature model that we did several years ago, and we got Les' blessing and everything – Les was a good friend of mine. We changed the heel on the guitar, changed the angle of the neck, showed them how you put a Floyd Rose in a Les Paul without the thing sticking five miles out. We did a lot. And they ended up telling me that my guitars wouldn't sell because they were too expensive, even though every one of them sold out – this, despite the fact that they put some ridiculous price tag on them, like $10,000 or $12,000 a guitar.
"So they took my ideas and stuck them on the Axcess model, which is a cheaper edition of what was my guitar. We got into it legally for a moment about the heel of the guitar, which was very much like a Schon. Eventually I just said, 'I'm gonna let this go. Forget about it.' So I walked away, and I'm glad I did."
This is not my attempt to decamp you Les Paul purists from your chateau- no. I am trying to highlight the harsh endorser-manufacturer relationship especially so when it boils down to financial considerations.
In the near future, the above image will be a familiar sight because Neal Schon had teamed up with PRS for his guitar needs. I certainly like where he's going with this.
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