Thoughts on Chinese les Paul from a 51 year old

[TEB]

As a collector of quality mij guitars , and how I discovered them was as kid stationed in west Germany. Ok yesterday evening a friend stopped around and shows me his Chinese Lester. Bought off some website name is Ali express, and he came also with a set of Seymour 59's and new pots. Here is what I found upon inspecting guitar.

1. It is definitely mahogany as in weight Not sure if it is old growth not sure what china has available ,Around 8.5 in weight.

2. Real maple cap and measuring body of guitar it is same as actual gibby. From cap edge to body edge around 1.75 width 13 inches wide and body length around 17.25

3. Headstock measures at 17 degrees

4 the fretboard is rosewood do not know if it is Indian but I can't tell and m.o.p inlays. The nut will have to go , Replacing with nylon.

5. The finish is spectacular and the binding on guitar and neck was done well. If you look closely you can just see that the body is two piece just barely noticeable.

6. Hardware gonna scrap and go aluminum as also tossing pots caps and humbuckers.

To the insides routing is clean in pots cavity. And pulling out humbuckers routing is also clean. Neck cavity a deep neck tenon decent set in job Very clean.

So in my research over the years I read articles on mij guitars early 70s late 60s as in junk. But then the Japanese got their act together and started producing quality at affordable price. and the lawsuit stories I don't know if they are factual. I do know that several of my tokais and navigator just excellent guitars.

And whatever factory this Chinese les was built in has me thinking that somewhere in china a quality and control production manager is on the ball. I think total price was like 290$ with case pink lining.

So I think in what I'm trying to say is if you want to get a guitar and start from ground up I guess it is not a bad idea. Especially if you know a 51 year old that will do the work for free. And you can sit with him as he starts working on your Chinese les and drink his beer as well.