Kind of a blanket statement (or at least dont entirely agree)
I have a 1981 Les Paul Standard and a 2007 Les Paul Custom both trouble free great sounding guitars (taste vary of coarse). Throught the years I have many offers for the Standard, after people have tried it.
However: After getting the standard a few years later wanted another Les Paul the quest never went well, nothing measured up to my standard. So it went: when I was ready to buy could not find one that equaled or surpassed my standard. Or-- had tripped across a nice Les Paul but was not in the postion to buy or just lost interest for whatever reason at the time.
The 2007, pretty much triped across by accident, was not looking at any guitars at the time. My point, they are out there and not just the two I have.
So yes there are nice Les Pauls after 1960.
Things I agree with you:
Yeah I pretty much got that Standard because Gibson was on the headstock, because Jimmy Page played them really. (same thing I agree, hey I was 17)
And yes there are allot of bad ones out there too. Throught he years I have played a ****load of Les Pauls. A rough guess somewere in the neighborhood of 2-3 hundred. (come to think of it not all that many in 30 + years) The biggest offenders always seemed to be nut & frets.
But yes that is a poor track record to say the least.
With the price of these things no one should have hunt and peck to that degree. Sidenote: when I purchased my Standard it was $600 with the case.
@Jeries as you guessed from me droning on I favor Les Pauls, I love allot of guitars for different reasons. But for me the Les Paul feels like home for me, probally because it was my first electric guitar.
respectfully
John