And what's the difference with his "new" Les Paul from his old Les Paul that he already played almost all the time?
Guitar nerds holy war alert...
The thing is that his "new" Les Paul is very, very close to his old Les Paul, and to do so Gibson must put a huge amount of effort to produce just 1 instrument hence the ridiculous price. Other than that, I highly doubt anybody, including Mark himself, would really hear (and feel) the difference between these two "delightfully vulgar pieces of equipment". Of course, his old guitar being almost 60 years old is different in infinitely many respects, but for a consumer (listener) the difference is next to nothing.
It's his main guitar for over 20 years and he has played more than 600 gigs with it in these 20 years. Mark would notice the difference in a few seconds.
I have to agree with TheTimeWasWrong here. He has played that guitar A LOT.
I mean this with all respect. I'm not saying all vintage Gibsons are "magical", and I agree it would be hard for anyone to hear differences between reissue/vintage LP's if you're just listening. BUT, playing 50's Les Pauls is a sort of special experience. I only own one (a "cheap" 57 Jr
), and have only played probably 10, so the sample is small. But I would say that they are different in feel than reissues.
BTW, I love the reissues!