We have a lot of Les Pauls. In fact, there's 43 in this office alone and there's more coming in weekly, so I guess it's fair to say that we see a nice amount of these guitars. A few don't sound so good (we try to keep this number as low as possible), most are great, quality instruments that we really don't mind having around for a while and then there are the rare few that get the official, GrinningElk "Holy Sh*t" award. These few are the real gems that we always hope come our way; In fact, they are the ones Lee always wants to keep. I have to remind him that if we did keep them all, we'd be sleeping with them in the backyard because our old ladys would have tossed us out of the doggone house by now. Such is the case with this '03 R7 Goldtop. The upgrades are RS Super pots and caps, a locking bridge and Sheptone Tribute PAF's. These changes all add up to a guitar that Gibson wishes they could produce on a daily basis although they probably could if they took half a mind to do so. These Tributes are mad by a guy named...Shep (go figure that one) and simply put, the man gets a thumbs up because it's obvious to our 70's - 90's Rock- hardened ears that he's got his pickups dialed in. Great lead tone from the start and I badgered Lee to really put this guitar through it's paces until he finally put the danged acoustic he's been plucking for a month down and strapped this girl on. Plugged her into a Marshall Slash and a gray speckled 4x12 reissue and we were off. 45 minutes later, I had my fill of old Nugent, Thin Lizzy, Aerosmith and of course, Kiss (only the early stuff). All system's are go with this Goldie, so if you're in need or want of a guitar that already has the headers and Micky Thompson M-50s on it, then this is your poison. We're the best and we're not afraid to say it- give us a shout today!