First, a picture of the beauty, the 2024 Gibson Les Paul Standard 50s. I can't even begin to fathom how nice the Heritage Cherry Sunburst looks to me. Before this, I had a 2013 Les Paul Premium in Honey Burst and had to do a lot of photo editing to bring out the colours. With this one however, no editing was needed.
This guitar costed me JP¥ 299818, or about SGD $2614 according to exchange rate at time of purchase. Considering how retailers in Singapore are selling these models at upwards of $4300, I seriously caught a steal by hand-carrying it back from Japan. With just the airport handling fees and baggage fees, I brought back this Gibson Les Paul for just under $2700. That's a saving of about $1600 sia!!! Thank you Ishibashi Shinjuku!
I've always wanted to own a traditional, vintage-accurate Les Paul, and finally here I am with one. I've always known from the moment I booked this Japan trip that I'll be coming home with a guitar. I just didn't know if it's gonna be a Made-In-Japan Fender, or a Gibson Les Paul. Guess the cost difference was just too much not to choose the Les Paul.
I sat for a very long time in the store deciding between this Heritage Cherry Sunburst and the Vintage Sunburst, even video called my family to help me decide. I like both colours and both have equal weightage in my heart. The Cherry Sunburst signifies the epitome of Gibson Les Paul and is the brand's icon, while the Vintage Sunburst is used heavily by Slash, the guy who inspired me to invest in a Gibson Les Paul. Ultimately, I went with the Cherry one for now. Another opportunity next time then get the Slash signature model in Vintage Sunburst.
I have nothing else to say about this Les Paul, because I'm busy admiring the guitar. It looks so good with a Stratocaster by its side. Of course, the Squier Stratocaster will definitely be replaced by a Fender by the end of 2025, so all's good (hearsay there's another family trip to Japan at the end of the year)!
Alright alright, enough about the Gibson Les Paul for now. There is still one other piece of gear that I haven't talked about yet, the Line 6 POD Express. This is also another piece of gear that was rather elusive for 2024. I tried ordering this pedal from UK and US, but none were willing to ship to me because of "shipping rules" set by Line 6.
And so finally in Japan, I saw this pedal for JP¥ 28500, which when converted to SGD costs me just $250, which is insane value considering Yamaha sells for $275 and is currently out of stock. I bought this pedal at Umeda's Shimamura Music at Osaka. I have been to every music store since Fukuoka and this was the cheapest I can find, so I took the plunge.
The reason why I wanted this pedal so badly is because it has the Helix ecosystem in this small form factor and it runs on battery. Ok I know, I already have the Fender Mustang Micro Plus right, why do I even need this? Well I don't, but I also have a lot of spare cash lying around right now so why not right? The Fender Mustang fills the place of a super duper portable practice amp, while this POD Express lets me do much more, but still staying portable.
But as of now, I really do not need this pedal. For being so elusive, it was worth it to hand-carry back from Japan too. I just gotta say, Japan have a really big collection of not just guitars, but pedals too. I forgot the number of times I saw the Fulltone OCD Germanium on sale, and here I thought owning one means I'm special. I'm not special.
This trip to Japan certainly has been a meaningful one. Now I'm looking to get the special Slash truss rod cover to replace the Standard one and possibly some nice looking backplates to customise the back of an otherwise perfect Gibson Les Paul. Can't wait to really record guitar covers with it!
P.S. With this Gibson LP hardcase, I had to sell off the Mono cases to make space at home. I doubt I'll be playing on stage anytime soon so I won't really need softcases!
Edwin Ang
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