Gibson '60 Les Paul Classic

Is a 2007 USA made Gibson Les Paul Classic in Ebony Finish.

Not much to say other than its standard Les Paul features...is practically a Les Paul Standard, without the PAF pups. The pickups are the Same pickups used in Explorer model, creating a much hotter, harsher sound. Can still back off and do some nice blues and vintage rock.

Only a seven for the Standard LP features...nothing outta the ordinary.

I play Hard Rock and Metal mainly, but dabble in the Jazz and Alternative fields, this Guitar holds up superbly well with all of these especially the metal (the pups seem to be the main contributor here).

My Chain is basic, but i'm working to get that Brand Spanking new 100w Head sometime soon. So Guitar > Dunlop ZW-45 Crybaby Wah > Zoom G1 > Roland Cube 30. My dirties come from the Zoom where im using a boogie rectifier sound, which is complimented by the LP.

Hate my setup...love my guitar.

Only thing i'm going to change is the knobs i like speed knobs, possibly the Neck Pickup to a PAF, and maybe the machine heads...sacrilege i know...i like locking tuners

Action was set up well, havent had to do anything...(yet). I'm going to raise my Neck pup a bit (to get a brighter sound)
No flaws, quality instrument everything works perfectly.

Guitar is a work horse, havent had a chance to gig it yet cos ive been pretty crook but it will withstand a beating from me (after all its a Gibson) Hardware seems great, little worried about the tuners...i've heard stories. Finish is nitro-cellulose, which apparently can be touched up and repaired very easily, so that seems great.

STRAP LOCKS ARE A NECESSITY TO ANY GUITAR, ESPECIALLY A GIBSON!
As soon as i bought this guitar, i bought a set of strap locks, I've heard so many stories of dudes dropping their babies and loosing headstocks and breaking necks SO TAKE NO CHANCES!

I would use it without out a backup...but i use my other guitar (which is shockingly shocking) as my Drop C guitar, so thats kinda my backup.

Haven't had to deal with them

Warranty is one year i think.

Been playing for nearly 7 years, since i was 10. All the other gear has been noted above.

If it were stolen, i'd probably cry, because it is my baby and its just a fantastic guitar, and yes, once i had the money...i'd get another one.

This was compared to a few Ibanez's an explorer, jim root tele, and mainly an LP studio...none of them cut it...they just didnt have the presence i found in the LP...only the JR Tele and Explorer came close

My guitar was made in 2008. It has the typical features one would find on a Les Paul. The 22-fret rosewood fingerboard looks quite pretty -it could pass for Brazilian. My guitar is a quite plain sunburst maple top (I'm not into the heavy flame thing). The mahogany on the back is finished with a medium stain. It shows off the grain and it looks fabulous (My last LP's back was fire-engine red!). I like the slight aged, vintage look of the tuners, inlay and binding. See the 'Sound' section of my comments concerning the pickups.

I don't like these stock pickups. Generally speaking, I am not impressed with hot pickups. I play mostly jazz and I plan to replace these with '57 humbuckers. In my opinion, because '57's aren't as hot, I feel more nuanced playing is possible, The player's own tone comes through. I know some people would say this isn't a jazz guitar -maybe Les Paul would disagree. The 496/500 configuration sounds cheap to me. Burstbuckers may have historical significance to Gibson and certain players. They just sound like mistakes that shouldn't have never left the Gibson plant.

I usually take all my guitars to a tech to have them looked over and set up. Since these came with .10's, I definitely wanted to have .11's in the set up. This guitar was on the Guitar Center's showroom floor, so I can't necessarily blame Gibson for the less than stellar original set up. However, I have not been impressed with Gibson's quality control for some time.

This guitar is dependable, solidly built. However, as I previously mentioned Gibson needs to re-think quality control and pickup configurations.

Customer support begins when an instrument leaves the factory. If the quality isn't good, then you, the consumer, aren't being 'supported.' Gibson is quite lackadaisical about it's status in the guitar world. I recently purchased an ES-175 from one of their largest dealers and it was shameful. Ibanez's budget hollowbodies could beat an new ES-175 any day of the week. But, I digress.

The raunchy pickups and Gibson's lack of commitment to insuring that their dealers display, care for, and set up their product to higher standards forces me to give this instrument an overall rating of a 7. Gibson could be a little more cognizant of the customer's individual needs. I purchased this guitar for half of it's original sticker price. I would have never considered purchasing it for $ 3000. Gibson has also jacked up its current prices. I guess it hasn't heard about that recession thingy that's been in the news lately.

2003 lightburst les paul classic, single cutaway. stock 500T pickup in the bridge and 498R in the neck. no features out of the ordinary from a regular les paul

The guitar is great for almost anything; rock, jazz, metal, country

lovely thick tone from the neck pickup, but there's significant feedback from the bridge pickup on moderate to high gain settings. I tried adjusting the pots, pickup depth and action, but i wasn't able to cure the feedback. I noticed a bit less feedback when I turned down the tone and volume knob. Eventually I swapped it out for a different pickup a year after i got it.

the pickup selector switch came loose from the factory, so instead of it moving up and down, its almost left and right. I dont mind it though, its easy to fix by tightening the switch

very very durable guitar... Once I caught my friend's mentally challenged younger brother standing on the guitar when it was in its case. It was face down and he was standing atop the body. He weighed around 110lbs. Opened it up, no problem at all. I've gigged with this guitar dozens of times and it never goes out of tune

I bought this guitar brand new in 2003. It's my dream guitar and probably the last guitar i'll need or want to buy

Mine is a 2005 model in Bullion Gold. Standard Gibson LP accomodations:
Mahogany back and neck
Carved maple top
Rosewood Fingerboard with aged Trapizoid inlays (really look good with the gold top)
Standard Klunson tuners with green keystone knobs
Nickel hardware
Pick guard that has "1960" stamped into it with gold lettering
Abalone "Gibson" inlay in head stock
2 Volume, 2 Tone controls and 3-way switch
2 of the most miserable excusess for humbucker pickups I have ever heard (498R and 500T Hot Ceramics, more on these later)
Summary: This is a Plain-top LP Standard with really cheep ($40 ea.) pickups.

I/my band play a lot of old Neil Young, AC/DC,...well, old rock. My standard sound setup is (insert 1 of 12 guitars here)-X2 Digital Wireless-Boss ME20-(insert 1 of 8 amps here). Lately I have been using a stock Fender Blues JR. with a Webber Beam-blocker strapped in front of the speaker. Sounds like a LP should. The Hot Ceramic pickups have a full and rich sound that is corrupted by a constant piericing treble signal that leaves your ears ringing at any volume after about 20 minuets of practice. (My friends at the studio asked me to leave this guitar at home for practice) I also found that among the some 8 amplifiers that I have, only the Marshall was able to tame the raging signal that emmits from this guitar. The answer to my dreams came true when I decided to put some covered '57 Classic PAFs in it, Now this guitar is welcome in the studio any time. In my mind, this is the true "Classic" sound of a LP HB guitar. I like it better than my LP Standard with Burstbucker Pros in it. This has become my main axe in just the last few months due to this and other modifications. (See AF&F section) Rating would be 7 with the OEM supplied Pickups.

Well, I can say that the factory setup was dissapointing at best. The action was nominal/high leaving the guitar with a stiff feel to the strings, but the kicker was that this is one of two (out of five) Les Pauls that I have purchased new that the nut was not only cut too high but the bass strings and treble strings looked like they were cut by 2 different people at 2 different times. The Bass side was way high and the treble side was lower but not low enough. I know this is Gibsons fault because I watched the salesman at Guitar Center open the box. Well back home out come the files and feeler-guages and after adjustments to the nut, action, setting the neck straight and then adding back just a touch of bow, perfect! I usually do my own setups so I don't mind a higher cut nut (in fact I prefer it). Took me about 1-1/2 hours. Replaced the truss-rod cover stamped with "Classic" with a blank one as the guitar already says "Les Paul Classic" on the headstock it's self (just seemed a little redundant (again)). The finish is good but there is some orange-peel on the side of the headstock and a line in the binding at the first fret. Probably should have been sent back but it quickly became mine and I wouldn't part with it. Plus this way I KNOW it's mine. Also added strap locks (ALWAYS add strap locks on a LP style guitar).

Pfffff,,,It's a Gibson. Lifetime warranty, just don't let it fall on the headstock. This 10Lb. guitar will outlast me and I expect to be playing well into my later 90s. I just enjoy playing that much. The nickle hardware will age with a nice patina and the Nitro finish should last also. Strap buttons were solid but as with all LP style guitars the button on the upper bout is poorly placed so strap locks are a must. Depending on the type of gig, I would use this guitar without a backup. At the studio I proved I can select and replace a broken string in about a minuet.

While replacing the pickups I slightly over torqued one of the mounting ring screws a created a hair-line crack. I went to GC and pickuped a cream trim ring and when I got home I found that the shade didn't match the rings already on the guitar. After some research I found that Gibson only has 2 replacement ring types available, black and cream. I e-mailed Gibson support with my findings asking how I might find a trim ring to match. They got back to me in 2 days and I think that is entirely acceptable. Bravo! Oh, you want to know what they told me? Basically the tech told me that the shading can vary greatly from batch to batch and my best bet was to take my guitar or the old part to a store that has a few of them to match up. So, when gibson says "Cream", that shade of cream may run from ivory to coffee & cream.

Ok, got my first guitar at the tender age of 9 and went right into it so I've been playing for 41 years now. After my adjustments I just love the feel and sound of this guitar, as I stated it has now become my main axe for practice and recording. As for other gear in my stable: GIBSON - LP Standard, LP Classic, LP Vintage Mahogany, LP Special HB(GC verson with mini trapizoids and klunsons), ES-335 Dot Flame Top (Vintage Natural). EPIPHONE - Dot Delux, Ally Cat. Fender - 72 Tele Thinline reissue (MIJ), late 70s or early 80s Tele Standard (Ser. no. removed?). Rickenbacker - 330 natural. If lost or stolen I would try to replace it with a used one but I wouldn't count on finding one, especally a gold one.

Gibson Les Paul Classic 60',Tobacco sunburst, bought new in 2008.
Features as previous reviews (60's slim neck, 22 frets, Ceramic burstbuckers etc)
Came with a gibson hard case.
Pretty straightforward, no extras exactly. But I wasn't looking for that anyway so I give it a 9.

Being "new" to Gibsons (been a Tele-player for years&years)I might not be able to make a really good comparison to other Gibsons.
The burstbuckers are obviously hotter than a lot of other pup's, and I can agree that when "full on" you get a great full, warm tone with bite,lots of sustain and a bit of sparkle at the top, but it seems to be somewhat trickier to set a good clean sound.
I might change pup's to see if I can sort that out. The lead tone and crunch rythm is great though and what I've been looking for.
I play rock, blues, some jazz, alternative and reggae.I play through a MXR comp, Morley Wha, Ibanez Flanger, Magicboy Vibe, Lovepedal Eternity, Demonizer, T-Rex Replica into a 70's SFTR(pre-master.
As I said, been playing a Tele Custom '72 (with xtra middle pup), love a lot of the tones there but could never get that fat,warm sound.
I give it a 9 despite the slight problem with a clean sound.

The guitar played like a dream direct from the store! They might have done some adjustments but I haven't needed to do anything since I walked out of the shop.
I really love the slim neck and the feel of the guitar, that's what mainly keept me from other LP's and Strats previously.
All hardware in excellent shape. So its a 10, rating the playability I would give it 11.

Seems to be solid enough, first few months didn't keep the tuning that well but for some reason that hasn't been a problem since.
No other issues really.
LP's and other glued on-necks are obviously at risk of breaking easily but thats a general thing.
I would always play with a backup for broken strings, and such but not that I don't trust the guitar.

Haven't had to deal with them

Been playing for 35 years on an amatuer level(at some points a little more serious than that). Been looking a long time for a Gibson type of guitar and sound, but haven't really had the money until now.
Tried quite a few LP copies, a Vintage 70's LP Deluxe,some new LP Standards, but the lesser weight and the slim neck on the LP Classic made all the difference. For now it is almost perfect, though I might change the pup's at some point to have a look-see. Not that familiar with all the ins and outs about Gibson. They are pricey and some reviewers seem to have picked up bad copies which you really shouldn't expect given the price tags. Not mine though.
If I lost it I would definitely buy a new one or cough up the money for something like a Johan Gustavsson or some other botique guitar.

2001 LP classic , 22 frets ,AA flamey maple top ,2 burstbucker pro pups. ABr1 tune o matic bridge , Honey burst finish, nickel hardware.

Jazz, top 40, rock, fusion.Fender deluxe reverb, Yamaha DG60-112, quiet pups.Rich full and bright sound.I like it a lot.

I adjusted the neck relief , string height , and PUPS height , plays like butta.Vey flamey book matched top. all bridge neck and tailpiece aligmnet spot on.

Will last 50 years , with only wear being frets.Totally dependable.

N/A

40 years playing, If lost I'd replace it with a standard.It's an LP has everything I need.

2003 Gibson Les Paul '60 Classic with a Honey Burst finish, very mild flame. Main difference between this and a Standard is the pickups. The Ceramic Magnet pickups are quite a bit hotter than the pickups on the Les Paul Standard, which is great for heavy, distorted leads but can be a little over-the-top for some. The 60's Slim-taper neck is very comfortable for my hands. Great Gibson USA hard case. Typical Gibson.

Suits my playing style fine. I play 70's blues-based rock, Allman Bros, Clapton, etc. although I tend to crank it up a bit more than most. The pickups are a little hot, I'm thinking about putting a set of 57 Classics in it. I play through a Boogie MkIII, usually just straight to the amp with no effects. Sounds awesome. I also play it through a Line 6 Flextone III when I want a little variety. When I got it, I immediately put covers on the pickups (I hate the look of naked humbuckers) and had a hard time with squealing on the bridge pickup, until I played with the lead wire shielding a bit.

As with most Les Pauls, the action as it came from the factory sucked. I really don't understand Gibson's theory on this; I have never played a new Gibson with good action. I knew I wanted a Les Paul, so when I finally saved the money for one I started looking - I haunted every guitar store in town for nearly a year and a half - and just could not find one that spoke to me. Then I went to the Dallas Guitar Show and found this one. It played better than most, sounded great, and had a beautifully understated flame on a honeyburst finish. The price was right ($1400), so I bought it thinking that I could tweak the action to my liking after I got it home. No such luck. I'm one of those guys who likes the action ridiculously low, but I just couldn't get it low enough without it fretting out past the 12th fret. I'm pretty good with getting the playability of a guitar just right (I've been playing for over 30 years), so this was a big problem for me. Then, a local music store got a PLEK machine. I paid $150 for a PLEK job and the difference was amazing. I understand that Gibson now PLEKs all of their Custom Shop guitars before shipping them. Best investment I ever made. Now it's hard to put it down. Understand that I'm giving this rating for the guitar before the PLEK job, that's why it gets a 7 instead of a 10.

It's a Gibson Les Paul, fer cryin' out loud.

n/a

Been playing 30+ years, wish I still had all the gear I bought and sold back in the day, I could retire in style. I've pared my collection down to a Standard Strat, the Les Paul, a BC Rich Eagle, a PRS CE22 and my great old '78 Yairi DY85. For amps I use a Line 6 Flextone III and an old Boogie MkIII. I guess my only gripe with the Paul is that it's on the heavy side (9.4 lbs.). I've had to go through so much to make this guitar play the way I want that I probably wouldn't replace it if it got lost or stolen; I'd just shoot the culprit and go buy a PRS McCarty.

1960 Les Paul Gold Top Classic,22 frets,rosewood fretboard,aged trapizoid inlays,green key tuners,solid maple top,mahogany neck & body,tune-o-matic bridge,stop bar tailpiece,3 way toggle.498&500t pups,[i have seymour 59 neck&custom bridge in mine]smaller vintage style headstock w/mother of pearl inlay,60's slim taper neck, nitro cellulose finish,nice simulated reptile skin hardshell case.

I play mostly rock/hard rock&classic rock this is by far the finest "instrument" i've ever owned,people who slam this guitar must have gotten a used one damaged or something,got 10 guitars Ibanez,Jacksons,80's Peavey Vandenberg's mostly shredder type axes,got blessed last Christmas and bought a Gibson Les Paul!the highly imatated but never duplicated!!!i've had two SG's and they were O.K.but something about when you pick up this 9.3lbs mass of mahagony&maple and the TONE & SUSTAIN!!!off the charts it's very thick rich chunky tone thru my 100watt head my other guitars just don't stack up against my Gold Top i've waited 24 years for this axe.

Mine is a 2005 model made in Nashville,bought it from Mike's shop down the street, action,fit and finish were all excellent no issues,guitar is flawless also no issues thats why i dont understand some of the other reviews,this isn't a Les Paul Custom but if your not happy with a $3000.00 guitar chances are you won't be happy with a $10,000 one either,Gibson Quality control is top notch.

The strap buttons from the factory were very small and with a ten pound guitar it only takes one crash and your done so i highly recomend a set of straplocks,would absolutly gig without backup but i always have more than one axe anyway,i have had this guitar six months and reliability is great...no issues....and i'm not just saying this i'm very critical of gear but how can you knock something thats JUST SO GOOD!!!!

Haven't dealt with Gibson so can't say.

If i lost this guitar it would be like a death in the family and would be hard to deal with,like i said im 44 and been around and im sure ther are "bad"Gibsons out there like anything else but i sure got a gem,i didn't even know they made a "Les Paul Classic" when i bought this guitar but it couldn't have woked out any better with the speed of the 60'sneck vintage features and that FAT, CHUNKY,TONE.Do yourself and get one......it's not a Zakk Bullseye guitar bt it's not suppose to be...Gibson there is no substitute.

Gibson Les Paul Classic 2005 Gold top,maple top mahogany neck&body
498&500t pups,dont like the pick-ups,too fuzzy/spongy for me,have duncan 59 neck&custom bridge soots me well,nitro-cellulose finish
The Gold Top is done very well guitar is solid and a good buy,60's
slim taper neck is very comfortable anyone who wouldn't like a $3000.00 guitar probably wouldn't like a $10'000.00 either

This guitar tone wise is by far the fattest,chunkyist sounding guitar
i have[10 in all] and by far the Finest Musical Instrument i have.I run a 100watt stack and my favorite go to axe is my Gibson Les Paul
Gold Top.

Action,fit and Finish were great from the shop,two little shop dings
only i know thier there,love the 60's neck as i have to wrangle the 50's style,guitar has vibe and attitude all day long the often imatated but never duplicated Gibson Les Paul...the only thing left
for me to get is a Les Paul Custom!!!

No words necessary!!!

Gibson's Top Flight.

Very pleased with this guitar its not a $400.00 epiphone made in China this is the REAL DEAL....I'll take this guitar over any other!

2000 model. Original sunburst. 60's Slim Taper Neck. Ceramic magnet Humbuckers. Aged Trapezoid Inlays. Stop Tailpiece and Gibson Green Tulip Tuners. 1960 Inscribed on pickguard. 22 frets made in USA. This is a basic Les Paul design so its not exactly packed with 'features' but then again it's not meant to be.

This LP is designed for Hard Rock and people who love Les Paul sounds but cant get their head around those thick chunky ( 50's style ) necks. It packs more of a wollop than your Standard LP ( I own both ) in terms of the gain you can get from the ceramic pickups. After using this regularly I found when I went back to the Standard LP it seemed to have a much more vintage sound than this 1960 classic. I run it straight into a Marshall TSL 3 channel head and 1960 cabinet with chorus phase delay and wah added and its sounds like a monster. Pure AC/DC on steroids. It still mantains that distinctive Gibson sound but with added agression and cut/attack in the sound. The only draw back is that all this output doesn't lend itself to clean guitar sounds. You can search all you want but if you want a Les Paul to Produce really pure clean sounds then DONT get this one. It is built for riffs and solos!!!

Ok a word of warning here. Play a lot of these guitars and inspect them thoroughly. I say this because although I absolutely love this guitar there it came new with a couple of odd flaws. Firstly one of the tuning keys is not in line with the others and sits at a weird angle to the other 2 on the same side. Something you wouldnt expect from a 3 grand and up American made guitar. Having said that I am a fan of the tradtional colours available on this model and they are a very pretty guitar. The Action was more than exceptable on this one straight from the factory ( I did play a few ) but I recommend having your local guitar guru lower it a touch. Or.. have a crack at it yourself its quite easy on these LP's!!

Ok here I can speak with glowing terms about this axe. I have played almost 500 gigs with this guitar. The parts are all still original right down to the output jack, bridge saddles. volume and tone pots and all the things that wear out with time on Les Pauls. This guitar is an absolute road worthy iron horse of a guitar. Mine has endured litres of sweat, dust, cigarette smoke, the odd stray drink, traveled hundreds of km's, been dropped and that was just on the way to the gig!! NO seriously I am astounded at the punishment this guitar has withstood and not once has it EVER let me down!!! Touch wood. I have used this guitar many times without a backup guitar on hand. It sounds so good that all other guitars have benn on light duties since it joined the family. There is always room for improvement and I like to be hard with these reviews so I'll give 9 here but really this guitar could easily be a 10 in this category

Never dealt with Gibson

Ive been playing guitar for 26 years. My 4 main guitars are Gibson Explorer, Gibson Les paul Standard. Fender American Deluxe Straocaster and this 1960 classic.. plus a stack other cheapies. Now.. this all comes down to taste but I personally wouldn't trade my 1960 for anything and it eats all of the above guitars for breakfast. Again this all depends on what you need your guitar to do but for me this is one of the best player's Les Pauls going around. The taper neck really is a dream to play and combined with the ceramic humbuckers is my favourite feature of this axe. The older it gets the cooler it looks too as the finish becomes dull and worn. If your looking at buying one of these then plug one into a marshall in your local Gibson dealer and try wiping the smile off your face!!! Also mine was very loud when unplugged which for me has always been a sign of a decent piece of wood with good resonant properties!! Be wise though and play a lot of them till you find the one that stands out. They do differ slightly from one individual guitar to the next as I discovered. Again I have to stress that I have been very hard with my marks out of ten for each category in an attempt to be realistic. On the whole this guitar is an absolute winner and the best kept secret of all Les Pauls.

This paul has a killer lightburst finish. The bridge pickup is a 500T and the neck pickup is a 496R. It has the slim taper 60's neck that is lightning fast. It has the gibson green key tuners and it stays in tune very well. It is a new 2007 made in the USA !!!!!

This axe is like all Les Pauls, you can play anything you damn well please and it sounds fantistic. I play it through a Fender Frontman 212R (who say's a gibson don't sound great plugged into a Fender amp) Why anyone would change the pickups in this guitar is beyond me. This baby screams rock & roll and it takes care of buisness.

This is the first new guitar I've ever purchased that did not need to be set up at all!! Whoever put this thing together was obviously concerned about quality. The action is low and fast. The 60's slim taper neck is top notch. The finish is flawless.

EXCELLENT !!!!!!

Haven't had to contact gibson.

I've been playing for 30 years and this is one of the best Les Pauls I have ever put my hands on. I play classic rock, hard rock, 70's and 80's metal and blues. This guitar is a tone monster from hell !!!

2007 Goldtop model for specifics look at Gison.com

Sounds good through My Boogie Recto and ADA preamp. I actually like the clarity of the ceramics and roll off a bit of highs if it starts to sound shrill, or just turn the mic slightly off axis on the cab.

Completely horrible! They had 3 there...I picked the best one. It had 2 spots where the clear coat had built up as it was drying which I had to buff out. the whole thing had orange peel on it. The fret board was never smoothed out. The intonation wasn't close. I had to refile the nut as the D string was set visibly lower than any of the other strings. I also refiled the bridge saddles as they weren't even close to the correct radius. I bought this guitar to replace my 94 Goldtop classic that I sold to buy my PRS. I should have just bought an early 90s off ebay.

I am very disappointed with Gibson's current line. Upon further examination I noticed that the body is made from two pieces!! I'm sorry i though I bought a Gibson not an Epiphone! Wait...it gets worse! I have a 90 standard as well and in going back and forth between the two trying to find out why it is that the new guitar sounds like a toy acoustically, I noticed that the 07 is very light. I weighed them, the 07 is 3 lbs lighter! I then looked it up on line...and it seems that all the 07 pauls are now "weight relieved" except for the customs and reissues that is. I have bought my last Gibson product.

I have the honey burst type from 2000. you know the rest

this guitar is a screamer which is what I bought it for. I've looked for a les paul to suit me for about three years and this is it. Just remove the 1960 pickguard and away we go. The pick-ups a very hot and with a wah notched I can get a lovely zappa scronk sound if I desire or all the allman bros/ fleetwood mac/zz top stuff by using different amps and settings.

Well this is why it took me years to find MINE. I have not found much consistency in this arena and I could talk my brother into sell me either of his pauls. once I put some heavier strings on and did a set-up I reaped the rewards. so usually these are trouble (I have two friends looking for les paul and we haven't found any keepers after five months (and we live in chicagoland so we have played lots)

A drunken friend ripped the strap button off but otherwise I've been fine. that repair was annoying but not hard to do.

this is one of MY regulars and it is not allowed out of my studio.

This a 1960 Les Paul Classic in heritage cherry with the 496 & 500T ceramic pickups. This guitar has a mahogany body/neck with a plain carved maple top. Other features include tune-o-matic bridge and Gibson Deluxe tuners. Guitar comes complete with Gibson case.

As with the majority of les Pauls, it's all passive electronics with 2 volme and 2 tone knobs plus a three way pickup selector switch.

For my musical style, I play in a female fronted rock covers band. We play everyhting from GNR to Pink to Green Day to Sheryl Crowe to Led Zep so I need something that is flexible and covers most bases somewhere between the blues and rock spectrum.

I'm currently using this guitar through a Hughes and Kettner Switchblade Combo and also use a Boss chromatic tuner, Morley power wah and Guyatone noise gate so it's a fairly uncomplicated rig as the H&K is so flexible and has built in effects plus comes with a MIDI floorboard.

I won't sit here and tell you how it's great for Jazz, country etc as this is not the style of music that I play and I've got no intention of trying so can't comment on that side of things. However, the style of music that I play, it is absolutely spot on and more then versatile enough.

Down the years, I owned probably about 30 different guitars from Gibson, Fender, Tokai, Greco, Jackson, Charvel, Kramer, Yamaha and this has got to be my alltime favourite and this is definately a complete keeper so nobody else will ever get their hands on it.

One thing that amazes me about this guitar is the amount of clarity it has both clean and particularly distorted. No matter how much distortion I throw at this guitar (right up to gain setting 10 on the Ultra Channel of my H&K - basically an over the top dual rectifier), this guitar retains it's clarity all of the time and each note is very, very clear and doesn't get fuzzy or lost in the mix.

The bridge pickup is very hot and has a very dirty overdrive so it's great for rock and roll but again retains all of the note clarity whereas the neck pickup has a a very thick singing voice and is great for a lot of my solos (a la Slash).

This guitar is absolutely faultless in the sound department and whilst I know that tone is highly subjective, based on the reviews I sometimes read here, I am sure some of the reviewers are absolutely clueless (I am sure I saw someone talking about running it through their 50 watt tranny amp) and wouldn't know a good tone if it bit them in the backside or even have any clue how to extract the sound they want out of their amps! This guitars sound is pretty much in the name , 'Les Paul Classic' and it does have a classic Les Paul sound for Rock and Blues.

The factory setup was suprisingly spot on as with most guitar factories, you hear nightmare stories of setups being miles off etc even on the most expensive of guitars. As a guitarist, I know what a precious bunch we are and as we spend such huge amounts of money we expect it's been lovingly cared for and treated like it's the only guitar in the factory. The fact is, it's made in a factory by people who probably hate the sight of guitars, have to set up 100's of guitars a day and get paid a pittance so it always makes me laugh when people get upset if it's not 100% to their liking. There will always be mistakes and the worker might not quite care as much as we do unsuprisingly.

I guess I got lucky on the one that I picked on setup, however, if I was picky on the finish, mine does have the very smallest amount of run in the lacquer right at the very where the neck meets the body and the bridge seems to have a very small amount of tarnishing which I am sure would polish out if I was bothered.

Apart from that, one can only stand back and admire the rest of quality workmanship as it is a very well put together guitar.

Well, it's a Gibson so I suspect that this will last a lifetime provided that it is well cared for. The nitro cellulose that Gibson use can be reapplid (by a professional of course) without the need for refinishing the guitar so no issues there and hardware is not that expensive so again can be replaced if required.

The strap buttons are so small it's ridiculous, however, the very first thing I did was to replace them with straplocks as it's a very heavy guitar and would undoubtedly crack if dropped. A small additional investment always pays dividends when you've just made such a large investment.

I am sure that I could 100% depend on this guitar, however, I always gig with a backup as there's nothing worse then seeing bands who don't and then the whole audience has to sit there and watch while the guitarist is changing a string. How very dull for them and how very poorly it reflects on you/the band.

Never had to deal with Gibson before although I think you get a years warranty.

I previously owned a Les Paul studio for 8 years and never had a single issue, so hopefully I will never need to contact Gibson.

I've been playing for about 15 years and currently also have a 1980 Greco Les Paul standard and a Tokai LS48. As before, I've owned about 30 guitars over the years I've been playing including Custom Shop guitars and sound wise this stands head and shoulders above them all.

When I bought this guitar, I tried lots of different Gibson's including a Les Paul Studio Plus, 2 different Les Paul standard's, a Les Paul Standard Faded, a Les Paul classic antique, and finally 3 Les Paul Cassics. In my opinion, the Classic was the best sounding of all of them and although all of the classics sounded close, this was the best sounding of them all and hence why I choose this one.

Whilst I would have loved my particular guitar to have had a flamed maple top I made my purchase where it count's with my EARS and not my eyes. This heritage cherry was the best sounding of all the ones I tried. It's still a beautiful guitar and heritage cherry is one of my favourite Les Paul colours so I'm not disappointed it would have just been a nice to have. Could have bought a fireburst classic with flamed top for a bit more but this sounded better so it was a no brainer.

If this guitar was stolen there would be murders if I ever caught the culprit but I would undoubtedly go out again and buy another one.

A 2001 LP Classic purchased new from shop in 2003. Honeyburst, nicely grained plain maple top and mahogany body--can't tell if it's a one piece or two piece body--I can't clearly see any seam and the grain pattern just might be from the same piece of wood. Mahogany 60s "slim taper" neck with rosewood board and either yellowed or puke-green tinted inlays depending on light. Kluson style 'green button' tuners. "Screamin' hot" ceramic humbuckers. Pretty much a Les Paul Standard with some mods. I would prefer different p-ups, inlays and tuners.

I don't like the stock pickups--too sterile and piercing to me. So I swapped them out for some Duncan Antiquities-->It now sounds FANTASTIC. A very 'vintage' tone-base which can deliver Jazz, Country, Rock-a-billy, Blues, R&B, Rock and Hard Rock very well, even metal with the right pedals. Unplugged, the guitar has gobs of lively resonance from the headstock to the body, projects well, and sustains great. No fret buzz and great action. I run it through the usual line-up of pedals:OD, DIST, Wah, Chorus, Delay, etc and it takes these extremely well.(For OD I use a $12.00 Arion Tubulator which has the same chip as a TS9, but has a flatter, more transparent EQ--i.e. not as much of a mid-range hump. Works great with any guitar I put through it-Strat or LP--For Distortion I use a Marshall Guvnor 2-which converts almost any amp into a Marshall grind machine--LP + Marshall=Classic). I run it through different amps-mostly small tube combos from the 60s through today and also through a mid-80s JC 120--sounds really good with all of them.
It sounds the best and has the most natural fit though with a '63-'65 Epiphone Galaxy all tube combo with a 1x10 Lil' Buddy Hemp Cone in it--That amp and this guitar just seem to complement each other--from clean to grind, they show off eachother's range, with tight and round bass, just the right amount of mids and sparkly and chimey highs--mmm,mmm,goood! and all of this with no tone control on the amp!--everything beside volume, reverb and tremolo controlled by the guitar--How cool is that?! Anyway, after the pickup swap I'd give this a 10 because it has exactly the type of tone I want from a Les Paul. But I'm gonna ding it some points for the stock pups because I don't like them and I really question their place on an ostensibly '60s 'reissue'.

Let's put it this way--I got the guitar from the shop for $1180.00. It hadn't sold and I think it was because the thing had fret buzz in it that adjusting neck relief and bridge height couldn't take away. Still, it felt to me like a keeper. The shop's guitar tech redressed the frets and recut the nut with awesome results! No fret buzz, excellent playability and great resonance like I said above. He did the finishing work on the guitar that should have been done at the factory--it's a ten now, but it SHOULD NEVER HAVE LEFT THE FACTORY LIKE THAT! PERIOD! But I'm pretty much a happy camper now. I did put strap locks on it immediately to replace the dinky things Gibson put on and I'm gonna swap out the tuners because they really don't keep the guitar in tune that well--especially the g string. Because of the way it came from the factory, I'm gonna ding them pretty good.

I can depend on everything on this guitar now except the tuners. I usually have a back up when playing live because strings break and stuff happens. Being a Gibson you HAVE TO WATCH THE NECK/HEADSTOCK! Don't drop that puppy or drive it into the ceiling!

Been playing many, many moons. I love this guitar, it's great, it has needed some mods--but stuff like pups are a matter of taste, some guys love the stock ones--not me. The tuner issue should be addressed by Gibson--they should put better ones on these. The inlays are also a matter of taste--I don't care for them. But really, I've loved this guitar since it was set up right. I would probably look for the best quality/best deal on a used Les Paul if I needed to--I would love a Custom -- real pearl inlay, ebony fretboard and the cool split diamond inlay on the headstock. I would NEVER pay the kind of money they're asking now for these '60 Classics--$2000.00 bucks??!! Are you NUTS?!?! I bought mine the year Gibson decided to raise the price twice--in the spring-summer they went from +/- $1399.00 to $1649.00 street price; and to cash in on the Christmas season they raised that to $1999.00--frickin' thieving bastards at Gibson anyway!!! I have to take all the above into consideration and give the guitar a 7, but since I love it so much now (9, one point off for the inlays and tuners), I'll give it an 8.

Cherryburst reissue with the 496 & 500T pups. Bought for very littel money, reworked it on the bench, resold it - but warned the buyer what he was getting. Nice grain and burst colors, but very a bssic solid body guitar. Heavy. Slinm neck feels nice at first but hard to finish a set without cramps.

Brittle, one-trick pups that no one would buy stand alone. A change of pups is a huge improvement. "Classic?" What, cheap ceramic pups are classic what? Classic rip-off.

I think Gibson owners have cornered the market on denial. Signature and historic Gibbys are one thing, but these revamped production models are pure buyer beware. Their owners lke to argue they own some uniquely voiced instrument and they are expert at coaxing great sounds out of them. Per crap. They could have done better for 20% of the money. This model is a poor design and poorly built.

Simply terrible. In this category the guitar was not as good as Agiles & SXs I've played; the fretwork, nutwork, and neck set showed little or no QC. A dog to play, humpy board, heavy, spent a day on the bench getting it to the point I could sell it with a stright face.

If you haven't bought one as yet, shop around. There are many older LPs out there and plenty of decent clones that will blow the doors of this model. I rant thinking about the young players who are counting pennies and don't know better and get saddled to one of these p.o.s. Gibson shoiuld know better, there's no excuse for this guitar, and calling it a classic is rediculous.

35 year toured player, who's gone through a music store of gear - and loved pretty much every minute of it.

1993 Classic Plus-Top in Heritage Cherry Sunburst.

Extremely light - 7 pounds.

Has an unusually nice woody resonance with good attack.
Stays in tune. Bridge pickup will need to be changed, bought it used.

Overall extremely pretty with book-matched evenly flamed western maple top, trans red back. 'Burst edge is red with no fading.
Fairly decent detail work, few little things got overlooked but overall quite rocking.
Obviously made with super light mahogany that would nowadays go into something far more expensive like an R9.
Light weight provides excellent sound and comfort for a Les Paul. Plays really easily.
Cool Nickel plate hardware has attractive patina.
Slim mahogany neck will flex a bit if you pull on the neck much while playing, which was a bug of mine as a Strat player. A slim mahog neck needs more rigidity.
However set up with .011 strings this light mahogany guitar with maple cap sparkles while keeping a warm sound, which is why I bought the instrument after it attracted me.

I would be careful of knocking any Les Paul headstock. And good mahogany will indent at the slightest little ding. Nothing unusual about that.

Told me the model designation.
No issues.

This guitar feels extremely good, like an old American guitar, and has real sonic character. It's a stunner, not the most extravagant top but it does have the Vintage appeal. I really wish it had a fatter neck but I won't regret owning it and it always makes me play music.
It's a player, not a sterile showpiece for a lawyer to put up in his office.
Seek out an 1990-1993 model for best build quality and materials, under nine pounds. Later production tends to be disappointing. And never buy before playing any Les Paul, they're so inconsistent.

This is a 2005 Les Paul Classic Gold Top made in the USA.
22 frets
It has an AA maple top painted traditional Gibson Gold Top gold.
It has a 3 way selector switch, 2 volume control knobs and 2 tone control knobs.
It has the 496r and the 500t. These are presently (as far as I know) the hottest passive pickups that Gibson put in their guitars. *Be Aware* if you don't have an amp that can handle these pickups you will probably thiink that their clean sound is terrible, but I will try to stick to the features and reserve my opinions for the overall rating at the end.
The body is mahogany and maple while the neck is mahogany and rosewood with yellowed "Perloid" fretboard inlays. Whatver the hell "Pearloid" is
Since this is a 60's style Les Paul, it has the Tune-O-Matic and the 60's thinner neck.
The frets are typical of the newer Gibsons in that the are high frets that kinda give you almost a scalloped feel, but more on that later.
It came with a Gibson hard shell case with kind of a reptile design molded into it for its texture.
It comes with a pick-guard that has "1960 embossed on it. Hmmph. Fortunatly, mine also came with a plain pick-guard also which I promptly installed and put away the other. The truss rod cover has "Classic" on it it and it also says Les Paul Classic printed on the head stock and has "Gibson" inlaid at the top. A bit redundant on the "Classic" for me so as for the features I will give it a nine. I also wish that it had the split Diamond design on the headstock that I am used to seeing, but oh well.

For me, I gre up loving a wide range of music. Punk and Bluegrass/Country have been very near and dear to me, so a guitar that can really punch the crunch is important, but if it can't play clean, well, that would suck. This can handle it all, but know this: these pickups are HOT. You will need to be somwhat learned in your sounds to get the clean tones out of this. If you have a solid state amp that is 50 watts or less, you are going to have troubles with the clean sounds. If you use a tube amp 50 watts or more ( and this is the minimum I would recommend) You should be able to get them.
This guitar will take some work to get the brites balanced to a warm fat sound. At first i was surprised and even a little concerned. But after using it with my stronger amps I was very very pleased. True to the Les Paul tradition, you can get the widest range of sound styles from this guitar, but if you play a lot of jazz or other fat warm clean sounds this may not be your best best as your only guitar.

The factory set up was pretty damn sweet. Playing it unplugged there was some buzzing, but it didn't really come through in the amp. Keep in mind this: the bridge saddle is straighter than the nut. If you have a Gibson approved luthier set it up and file the saddles, you will be very pleased. I tend to have a heavy right hand from all of my acoustic playing. And if you tend to have a heavy squeezing left hand you will have to have it set up for that or it will get pitchy. The frets are high and if you can control your left hand then you will be able to make this puppy sing.
There were no issues with the finish. Of course i wish that it had the binding on both the front AND back, but hey, what the hell. The finish is flawless. Gibson told me that the maple under the gold paint is a very high quality but since it is a Gold Top, I will have to take their word for it. The binding is thin in the inside of the cutaway showing the maple veneer on top. Intersting. But I am glad for that for some reason.

This is a solid guitar. No noise. It must weigh 8 pounds! as soon as you pick it up you know the feel and weight as a true Les Paul. It is a tank and I love it. I have to give this a 9 only because I havent had it for very long.

Ahh...now this is it isn't it? Gibson lovers have come to know that we can count on them to treat every one of us like we were Page or Slash or whoever. And they do. This is not nearly my first Gibson and they have never let me down, yet I have hardly need to call them. (But that didn't stop me. I wanted to know who made it, where when and everthing that they could tell me. In spite of my seemingly boring questions, they were there all the way)

Ok. Here is what i have to say. I have been playing since I was a child. I have made 4 albums in spit of music never being my full time career. For 15 years i have been palying a 69 Les Paul Gold Top ( that, by the way, has since been painted Lime Green Sunburst) which is not my guitar but belongs to a close friend that i have jammed with and recorded with for all of these albums. Using Mesa Boogie, Ampeg, Music Man, Marshall, Crate and Vox amps. My acoustic Gibson J-185, and my friends Rickenbacher electric have been wonderful. Over the years we have owned and used a number of instrument but my personal preference is Gibson. While this is not thet same guitar as the 69 Les Paul, it is every ounce as wonderful. The pickups on this Les Paul will definately throw some of you off. I have read other reviews not liking this guitar. I can only say that they have either received a bad by chance or they don't know how to adjust their sound. These hot pickups can be a challange for the less experienced for sure, especially if you are used to the traditional Les Pauls. Also the high frets can throw one off as well. To me the plus is that if you ever need them shaved down you have more to work with and less chance of needing a refretting down the road. But they are a bit more sensative. You may have learn to finess your fret hand, but hey, thats a good thing. Over all i love this guitar. After years of playing Les Pauls, one may be a bit thrown at first by some of these features, but in my opinion they add to the overall perfomance of this guitar. The neck is beautiful with the slighteset twist (which is completely normal and even a good thing.) It holds tune like a Les paul should. Forever it seems. The tones are even and beautiful. My old Modulus SPI custom 5 string has a graphite neck and is like one big sweet spot. This guitar is similar in that aspect. Once you get you sound figured out, for instance heavy distortion vs less vs clean vs kinda clean, you will know your knob settings. Setting them as you play woith afford you wonderful even sounds. This is not your grandfather or fathers Les Paul. Using a p.o.s amp will give you a p.o.s sound. If you are one of those that have purchased this and are not happy, i recommend that you take it to music stores and try different amps, make sure that you have had it set up to your playing style and if you still arent happy , call Gibson. Tis is a guitar i will pass on to my son or daughter when i pass on. It is built to last and last and sound like no other. I will give it a 9mostly because i really wish they had put the split diamond on the headstock instead of the "Les Paul Classic" decal under the finish on the headstock because any lettering on a guitar like this should be inlaid and because I have no idea what Pearloid is. But I'm finiky

2004 gold top 1960 re-issue. Regular gibson tuners, naked black pickups, hardshell case. I took off the pickguard and plasstic thing around the PU selector switch. It looks better, I think.

It sounded pretty good, but I replaced PUs with EMGs. They're brighter
and seem to have more definition thru my usual suspect Marshall TSL 100 combo. It doesn't seem to have as much sustain as it should. I mean, it's a GIBSON.....

Basically it plays like a brick. I don't know if this is because I am spoiled by my '78 Black Beauty (which is one of the best playing and sounding guitars I have ever seen, and this is always agreed by anyone who is fortunate enough to play it) or what, but I expected much, much better. The Gibson authorized repair service in my area said he didn't think the neck was any good. Sent back to Gibson, they claimed "It meets specs" Which it undoubtedly did....maybe they should change their specs because a barn board would meet those kind of specs. The frets are made of railroad track AND it needed a fret job upon purchase!!! It still needs one. One didn't help it. For an expensive 'quality' Gibson this plays terribly. The factory setup was laughable, but I bought it anyhow, thinking "It's a Gibson, I can set this up all nice-nice no problem" Well think again. I think Gibsons mass market approach has really hurt their quality. (My brother's new SG Standard had essentially the same problem. It's great now, but it took a lot to fix it.) The Gold Top's finish is very, very good and it is built very well except for this BS with the frets/neck. I play it anyway, maybe it will make my fingers even stronger....

You could probably run this over with a car, like most LPs. I dunno about the hardware, I changed all of it, except the green key tuners. I decided I like them and it stays in tune OK. Which reminds me I couldn't get the intonation quite right with the original bridge so I got a Tone Pros. No more problem. The strap buttons were, as a matter of course, replaced with Jim Dunlop Straploks (R). I can't believe everyone doesn't do that. As stated above the finish is outstanding....but I don't play the finish :) I don't hesitate to take this one to shows and leave the others home. I am not the slightest bit worried that it will break.

Gibson was friendly and willing to pay shipping. They did look at it and re-set it up, but in my opinion they should have replaced it. Period.

Overall, I guess if I didn't own the '78 Black Beauty I would think it was a great guitar. But having owned sevral Les Pauls that were absolutely outstanding, I expected a lot more from this one than I got. I do not think it was worth the 1500 dollars and I would happily pay as much for a used older Les Paul and actually get my money's worth. It is a good guitar, but not 1500 dollars good.

the only accurate 1960 reproduction on this guitar is the neck.
the 1960 lp has nickel pu covers, it did not have a cheesy "1960" writen on the pick guard and it didnt say classic on the truss cover.
no big deal.
i went with the gold top and changed the pick guard.

not an accurate reproduction however,i bought this guitar with my ears like any self respecting musician should.
this guitar sounds great anyone who says it doesnt is an idiot, this is not an opinion this is a fact. if you say this axe is not good for ANY style of music, you don't know what your doing and you dont understand tone and how to achieve it. sorry but maybe you guys should take up the flute.

this guitar was fine from the factory, but it needs 10's and then an intonation tune up. the finish "gold top" was quite nice.
i could do without the greenish tint on the inlay but i've gotten used to it and kind of like it now. other than that, i cant find anything wrong with it.

in twenty five years ive never had a problem with a new guitar, just call me lucky.

never dealt with them, but they would fix you up, its a gibson.

ive been playing for twenty five yrs, mostly blues rock.
if this guitar were lost i dont know if i would buy another one.
its not that i dont like it, its just that there are so many guitars out there i would check something els out probably.
so many guitars so little time.
get one you wont be disapointed!!

I think the problem here is some of the reviews are talking about different guitars. I'm talking about the 1960 Reissue Les Paul, it has 1960 engraved in the pickguard, slim taper neck. Gibson seems to have put out a few gutars with similar names, makes my think they'd like to confuse the buyer. Mine was a dog. Cherryburst, standard LP set-up with ceramic pups. The "features" haven't improved in 50 years, it's hard to offer much of a score.

Simply terrible. I have heard $250 China electrics that sound much better. I bought mine without plugging in, big stupid mistake. Very harsh pups, unbalanced, useless for anything but metal, weak sustain. The ceramic pups are to blame, but the body didn't resonate well at all..

Solidly built, good hardware, but terrible quality control. Frets we not dressed properly, jagged ends, finish problems around the heel. The slim taper neck is very annoying. One pot had friction problems. Cherryburst was very nice, but it didn't make up for the nonplayability of the fretboard.

Everything was very solid. No issues.

Long tine player, plenty of expensive gear. I was foolish to buy this sight unseen, too trusting in the Gibson quality name - remembering the brand from the orange label days. Playability simply wasn't there, it was a crime to release this guitar. Broke-even on resale, which has been a strong argument for buying Gibsons, assuming this continues. All I can say is be sure you get some quality playtime on your new or used Gibson before you put you money down, they've been putting out some clunkers.

6o's classic,22 fret honeyburst with the 496 and 500 pick-ups,factory tuners and completely stock

i play everything from 50's to modern,this is the easist best sounding guitar i have ever owned,you judge a electric guitar by the way it sounds dry{without a amp}it sounds deep rich,a full range of sounds.when people said this guitar is not what its cracked up to be,change your strings,change your tubes if you play a tube amp,this guitar has the hottest passive pick-ups gibson offers,if you used to play'in Paf style,you will need to dail this guitar in,this guitar rocks,i play thru a modded 120 blue voodoo{still cheaper and better sounding than a boogie or Marshall}and a sovtek Mig 100,every sound from cream,bb king,ACDC,nugent,aerosmith,and Guns and Roses it does it all,one guitar

i got guitar used,so it was set-up pretty nice,but i still tweak to my personel taste,i used ernie ball slinky strings{10's}workmanship top notch

a battle axe,just look at slash Joe Perry,brad whitford etc you get the point,tour proven,road ready,only thing i did is put straploks on it,stays in tune,a true workhorse

never had problem,gibson always friendly,find out everything i need to know,great website too

been playing the guitar since 1973,like any guitar you should play it before you buy it,no two trees are alike,no two guitars are alike,if it does'nt feel right,don't buy it,i played alot of gibsons les pauls,you must find the one thats for you,you will know it when you pick it up,if it was stolen,the hunt would be on to replace it without a doubt,this is a all around guitar,you spend a bit to get it,but well worth the price in the long run

Okay so I finally bought a Gibson Les Paul..!! Its a Classic 1960s re-issue and I love it.
I bought it used but in excellent condition. If the guy at the music store didn't tell me it was used I never would have guessed.
All the technical information on this guitar is posted on the Gibson website at:

http://www.gibson.com/Products/GibsonElectric/Gibson%20Electric%20Guitars/LesPaul/Classic/

It is a tad heavy but it's a Gibson Les Paul..so what were you expecting..?

The sound is just awesome..!! The neck pickup generates enough bottom end and the brigde is bright and sparkley....but not in the manner of Strat sparkle. I play blues and classic rock (including originals in the same genre) and this baby suits be just fine. In my opinion you could comfortably use this guitar for almost any genre and style (except maybe tuned down to infinity, "might as well play bass" nu-metal)

I bought mine used but it was a beautiful setup. Perfect playability and intonation NO FRET BUZZ...!!! The pickups were also setup just great.

This guitar is built tough. Since I got it I have not touched any of my other guitars. I have used it at practice and a couple of gigs without carrying a backup. However if you are a professional musician (unlike myself) then you would know better to carry a backup guitar and strings no matter what you use..!!

Never had to deal with Gibson.

I have been playing for about 3 years now. I run my guitar via a home made pedal board (after being inspired by Zakk Wylde's pedalboard) which has a BOSS TU2 Tuner, CS3 Compression Sustainer, CH1 Chorus,MT2 Metal Zone, DS1 Distortion, Ibanez DE7 Delay, MXR EVH90 Phase unit and a Cry Baby wah (not in that particular order)

I love the feel and the tone of the Classic. I have an Epiphone Les Paul (with Seymour Duncan in the bridge (PAF) and neck(Screamin Demon))and a Mexican Strat (Seymour Duncan JB Jrs in the neck and bridge (the centre pickup is stock single coil)but this baby rocks..!!

If I lost this guitar I would buy another one immediately or a Gibson Standard Les Paul.

See all the above

Sorry for my english,,im from Quebec...I just buy mine that is tobacco sunburst..I have read all your reviews before buying it,,,i had the choice beetween a standart or classic model but i have always dream about a tobacco and there was no tobacco in stock in the standard when i did my choice. I was afraid about all the reviews that said that the pickups on the classic was too heavy,,because i m more into rock and blues rock and have always got what i need with my 1996 us standart strat with a sh-4 Jeff beck pickup. Now let me tell you something,,,the pickups are not too heavy att all,,it have a beautiful warm sound. I love to play on the neck position even in my rythme,,,and that classic give me all the tone,,the brightness of a strat when using in the neck position,,im talking about a rock sound,,,but with a clein too. I drive it with a subway rocket mesa-boogie 20 watts and 2-12 marshall..I take the same setting than my strat but put the drive a little down frome 8 to 6,,thats all. I have had many many guitars in my 25 years of playing,,strat,,yamaha,,ibanez,,kramer,,jackson,,name it,,i had it,,i also had a sg usa gibson an a black beauty usa LP..The classic is certainly the best buy i have done in my life..(with my strat).Go for it without hesitation.

Im a dealer,,so i had receive it,,open it myself and that beautiful peice was at 440 in a perfect pitch...The neck pickups was was lower thatn the bridge but when i d plug it,,the sound was balanced beetween the two. Thats a beautifull guitar,,the small neck is perfect for those who like to play with a start,,it is bigger a bit but will fit your hands perfectly.

I had receive it last friday and play with it live the same day,,,it stay tuned for the 2 hours show even if it was the original strings.
Put a strap lock and play with it all your life.

Perfect too..Im talking about Yorkville,,,Kent Bunkoff,,one of a seller,,,give me good feed-back about that guit and beetween the Lp model before i choose that one,,i ask it rush,,,and received it 2 days after. Fantastic support.,,,,I love my strat,,,but i cant give the same 10 support for Fende

If you are serious about your playing,,,,in all kind of music,,,you need a us strat and that king,,a classic 1960 LP usa..You ll be able to play anything from country,,jazz,,blues,,rock...with one or other.
Use a tube amp and find one with the right clein and overdrive inside.
I think that all LP model would be grate to play,,its a personal choice,,my classic fit me more than the others.

Finally I got my fist Gibson after been falling in love with for 10 years. It is a very nice handcraft. Made in USA in 1999. I bought the used one, but there is no dings, dents or scratches. Look Like a brandnew. Comes with original hardacse.

Stock pick ups are 496R and 500T which is better than I thought and this is what I expected for long time.

I sold my PGM500CA for buying this. I really love the colr and sound. This is a real thing that I have every play.

Something that I do not like is a Pickguard with an engraved 1960 ! Then removed it already, other thing is the weight ! it is too heavy. I have been playing Ibanez and fender all my life.. It is a big different

I bought this guitar from eBay without trying, but when I got it and try with my Line 6 Spider II... It sounds great, it is better than any Ibanez that I have ever had. This is waht I wanted. You will not disappoint with the sounds. Screaming and full of tone.

Clean sound is very sweet and distortion is very heavy !

I really like its sound

Original setting from the seller is very bad, but I reset up and it is perfecly guitar now.

The finishing is very good ( should be because I paid more than $ 1000 for that ) Mine is Cherry Sunburst. Color is very beautiful.

My opinion I will not carry it on the stage over 30 minutes, because it is too heavy for me. I use it for playing Blues and rock from 80's

Not so good for my main music I love, like dream Theater, Korn, Mr. Big e.g.

They are great. I emailed them one for asking about serial number. They got back to me within 24 hours. Better than others that I have ever contacted to.

This Gibson is very good for everybody. If you are a guitar player, you should have one for your collection. Their sound is unique.

I am very happy with Gibson quality ( even it is too expensive )

made in the USA, hot pu's being the main difference to the actual classic models. good thing it has the 60's neck, easier to play than the original LP neck.

OK it's a rock guitar. I only play at home through a Micro cube, but with the amp modelling I'm not limited to any specific rock style. I guess you can play folk music with this, just find the right sounds. For crystal clear bright clean sounds get a Strat.

Well built, the action was set pretty well, for 10-46 strings guess.

It's a Gibson. It's an LP. It'll outlive us all if not abused. Put straplocks on it!

I've been playing for almost 30 years, and this is the best guitar I've owned. Hope I'll never loose it, 1400 euros was pretty steep for me! But that's how good this guitar is, I was willing to pay that much tho' there'd been more affordable quality guitars for me.
My other guitars are a Start (US neck, jap copy body) and Dano U2.

2001 Cherry sunburst, green tuners 496 and 500 pickups, this guitar is well worth the $1250.00 US I paid, I had a brand new 1987 Les Paul standard it is almost identical, nice sound stays in tune really well(unlike other reviews)have the same pickups in my 76 reissue explorer they sound a bit brighter in the classic, just lowr the pickups and that solves this issue

I play classic to current rock and it covers all the sounds i need. I play through a Marshall DSL 2000 50W/ 1960A 4X12 cabthis thing sreams for all the other reviews that knock this guitar , you have to know how to adjust your tone on the guitar and amp.and you can really get some nice tone.

Finish was fine the 1960 logo did not make a differance in my sound, nor did the classic logo on the truss rod cover, it is a reissue 30 years from now these will be the pieces that will be looked at for authenticy.

I drooped it on the tuners and it still stays in tune all the time

Never needed to call them it is a gibson

been playing over 20 years had many gibsons and this one is just as good. compared it to a standard which was $500.00 more only differance was the neck,and the hot pickups, which can be tamed if you know what you are doing, if it were stolen I would look for a Classic Plus with the flametop finish Also own a 52 reissue Tele, 1990 76 reissue Explorer tobacco sunburst

This is a 1985 Les Paul Classic, Cherry Sunburst, 22 frets etc. The finish is perfect, and the previous owner broke it in for me and treated it well. The neck is fast and the sound is incredible.

This has the black face 500 and 496 or whatever Gibson pickups. They actually sound better than my chrome face paf's on my Explorer or my Tony Iommi's I put in my Ibanez. I use it through a THD Univalve or a POD for recording. This guitar is so sweet, I have a toothache!

Like I said it was used, and it was all set-up and broken in for me. Everything is mint and perfect.

I think this guitar could just about withstand anything, it is just about twenty years old but looks like new.

Never contacted them, "No Opinion".

Been playing 30 years, this is my first Les Paul, now I can be Jimmy Page right? I love this guitar, I almost don't want to take it out of the house. If it were stolen, I would have to hunt down the thief and do something bad to him/her.

2000 Cherry Sunburst.
I purchased this off E-Bay on a whim.

It sounds like I guess it is supposed to. This is the first Les Paul
I have ever owned. I am getting into a Jazz mode and this suits me just fine.

The action is low and fast. Feels great. The finish is beautiful. There are no flaws that I can see. The only thing I don't like is the color of the finger board inlays. They are kind of a funky greenish pearl. Oh, I didn't find it necessary to have the "Classic" emblem on the headstock twice. I did not care for "1960" on the pick-guard....I replaced it with a stock pick-guard. Also, I am gonna put chrome pick-up covers over the open pickp-ups..........I like that look better.

Everything seems quite durable and I feel that it was built very solid.

I did call Gibson on a couple of matters. They were just some simple questions, but I found them very pleasent and helpful.

Considering the great deal I got on this, and the over all quality, I highly recommend this guitar to anyone interested in a Les Paul.

I always wanted a Gibson Les Paul with that incredible Heritage Cherry Sunburst Finish and every day I see this wonderful guitar I know it was the right choise.

The Les Paul Classic is a great guitar to play rock music and I really love the sound of this guitar. I never expected this guitar to fit for jazz music, I wanted a rock guitar, and that's what it is - a wonderful instrument to play rock music.

It was set up fine, stays in tune and, like stated above, it looks absolutly wonderful - the finish looks so good, that this guitar would be a nice piece of art in any place, even if you don't play.

Everything is fine

No need so far

Beside this guitar I play a Gibson Les Paul 1954 Oxblood J.B. and a Patrick Eggle Berlin Pro and the Les Paul Classic just adds pefectly to these instruments.
You can not compare this guitar to the 1954 Oxblood Reissue, which is a much more valuable instrument, but the Oxblood does not cover the specific sound of the Les Paul Classic, which is just perfect for playing rock music like Gun's and Roses - I would buy it again.

2003 Model purchased from Musicians Friend as a blem, although I could find no blemishes anywhere. Black with white, more of a cream, All plastic has a slightly aged cream color. I would give it a 10 if not for the gold 1960 on the pickgaurd and truss rod plate.

Has all the full, fat and edgy tone you would expect. I am the former owner of a Les Paul Studio that this blows away. The studio was thin and tinny. Pickups are hot and can carry a full spectrum of tone, highs are clear and cutting, mid tones are full and lower frequencies are gnarly.

Setup was perfect, low no string buzz and frets feal great. Finish where neck meets body had soe contamintion, like it was shot with a little moisture in the paint. Small very hard to notice, but a quality contol issue. Maybe this was the blemish that retailer had found on guitar. Kudos to Musicians Friend for their quality control.

Solid quality. Will last for a hundred years with proper maintenance. No backup needed !

dont need them, guitar has no reason to call Gibson.

Playing for nearly 30 years, ive been around the block a few times. Played pro in Europe for 5 years. I dont understand the bad reviews on this guitar. I play it through a Fender The Twin and can produce all the sounds that you expect from this guitar. If I cant get the tone it is because it requires my Strat or All American II.

1999 Goldtop Classic LP.Immediately changed the pickups to 57's and this guitar will play anything .Regular Kluson tuners,amber knobs,SLIM TAPER NECK-which is a major reason I bought this beauty plus the reissue Goldtop has so much class in the classic.Really well finished and sings like a byrd.It's a Les Paul what can you say?
Don't need a lot of feautures because this babe will sing till the cows come home!

I got rid of the toneless 496 and 500 pickups and put 57's in it and this thing just started to reel off jazz,blues ,country and rock riffs like it was waiting to be released for years.Whatever style you play it comes out full and rich sounding.

Well set up and the Goldtop finish is perfect-I'm going to dread the day I put the first scratch on it.It plays so fast and smooth there is no fatique other than having to stand for long periods of time because you just don't want to stop gigging.

Build well and the hardware is beautiful.this guitar is rock solid and I don't see any issues .Okay the original strap button screws are too large for the Schaller Locking system but it still gets a 10 here.

It has a set neck and the sustain is awesome with the mahogany neck and body plus the arched maple top.It is a clasy looking and sounding instrument and I can't see getting anything else that would compare with this beaute.I played PRSs,Gretschs,Guilds and own a Fender ash Tele which I totally cherish and equals the LP but it's like comparing apples and oranges so why bother.

In an update to my last post, I replaced the shitty Klusons with Grover rotomatics in nickel. They make the klusons look and feel like a bad headache. The gear ratio is exceptional. with the Rotomatics. The only thing is that the headstock had to be "reamed out". DO NOT HAVE ANYONE DRILL, MAKE SURE THEY USE A REAMER. it is a circular, rotating utensil used to carve out the holes. DRILLING WILL TEAR THE ENDS OF THE HOLES. MAKE SURE YOUR SHOP DOES THIS. I also sanded the pickguard. it saved me 25 dollars and the hassle of having companies like Classic Ax (which were very nice people)from having to make a new one. I sanded it down with a very fine 600 or 1000 grade sanding paper, then a 0000 steel wool. which almost made the gashes completely disapear. Then used a Gibson high gloss polish to get smooth everything else down using a little elbow grease and a rag. I also replaced the truss rod with a blank one. Now this Gibson Les Paul looks like a real classic. Minus age damage.

2004 Gibson Les Paul Classic. 22 frets, two exposed humbuckers, a 490 on the neck, and a 500 on the bridge. I've always wanted a Gibson, never had the money, (I'm 22). But thanks to AmericanMusicalSupply.com I'm doing the E-Z payment plan. Anyways, the Setup is standard for Gibson. Tune-o-matic bridge. Gbisno Delux plastic tuners. Which need to be replaced with grovers or something. Hopefully some Kidney Bean silver tuners like Pages custom. The fucking thing says Classic on the little decoration piece on the head, which is pointless. Also the pickguard says 1960, like it needs to say. It's a fucking re-issue, why put the 1960 on it? The aged inlays are yellowish-greenish and are taking a little getting used to. I dont like the switch piece, they are trying to age all the plastic, but the switch piece is a nasty yellow. All this must go. I bought mine in a light burst. Was nowhere near the lightness of the pictures all over the internet. But it was a good thing, I love the finish and tint. The other finishes are too dark for my blood. And the Light burst was closest to the vintage burst of the 50's. I'm also going to put a new neck pickup with a closed plate later on down the road. But everything on this is F@#$ing Gibson. I think these are the best guitars on the market. And you will pay to own one. I'm rating this at a 9 3/4 b/c I have to replace the small shit. But overall. The guitar is one of the most beautiful things I have ever laid my eyes on. The Free Gibson Case saved me about 125.00. And is a great.

Sound is great. If you are looking to play Rock, Blues or Hard Rock, then this is the sound for you. I'd still like to replace the neck pickup to a Seymour Duncan or something. I like the Tone Slash gets out of his guitar. but the stock are really nice too. I just want my own sound selection.

Everything was set up fine. the Pickups only needed some adjustment to get the correct tone that I desire. The damn thing even came with .10 guage string setup. Saved me some time to adjust that myself. But I don't really care for the Gibson re-issue strings. I use Ernie Balls. They are a lot less tense and tough.

It's a Les Paul made by the best in the world. This is no Fender. Everything will last. the strap buttons are a little smaller compared to my Epi Les Paul standard. I always have a backup just in case.

Gibson was awsome when I delt with them. They replaced my Humbucker in my G-1275 within a week. And the repair was all free. I love this company to death.

I love this hot Piece of art. The case is wonderful. A combination lock, so no more keys. a silk liner. Everything is beautiful.

Made in the USA 1999
Pickups:496R Pickup in the Neck, 500T in the Bridge
Slim Taper Neck
Kluson-style tuners
Tune-o-matic bridge
My guitar is the honey burst finish
Aged inlays
Nice quality Case

This is a reasonbly versatile guitar. It's good for classic and modern rock as well as blues and jazz. It is also passable for metal because of the slim, fast neck.
The positives points of the sound are good low end growl, and ease of playing.
The negatives are the so-so tuners make it difficult to stay in tune and the lack of high end sound. I think for the money you should get better tuners.

Setup is a matter of taste (high or low, string gauge). The guitar has a time tested bridge design and the pickups are easy to adjust. The frets were perfect (Gibson does a great job on their necks). The switch, volume and tone pots were all well done.

The Classic has been a pretty durable guitar for the 4+ years I've owned it. No extraordinary wear or tear anywhere. The finish is pretty good and has not begun to wear yet. I don't think it came with strap locks, and any guitar in this price range should.

Gibson customer support people are terrific. They've been helpful whenever I've called. However, there is one big problem they must fix. After having some warranty work done Gibson shipped my guitar back without requiring a signature. Since I was not home, an expensive guitar sat on my porch in a giant Gibson box. It's a no brainer to require a signature.

Overall this is a good guitar. I thought it was the equal of the LP Standard when I bought the guitar. I think the tuners could be better, but they're not terrible. If lost I wouldn't run to the store to replace it. It's a nice guitar, but not a great value.

I don't have this guitar but I am just commenting on the guitar, I've seen people rate it bad, now listen,

If you play mostly metal, then obviously the guitar isn't right for you, don't go saying that the guitar is shit, and again, if you play metal, why would you buy a Les Paul?

it's HANDMADE, so it won't be perfect every time, that's why you LOOK at the whole guitar before buying it, "oh no! the inlay is crooked, what bad quality!" That's why you take a look to make sure the one you're buying is perfectly set up, you don't just go into the store and say "that's the one, here's the money, good bye".

USA Made Les Paul Classic 1960, year 2000 made....It has all features like a Les Paul should have. Mine one is in Heritage Cherry Sunburst (too bright though...). Honestly I bought it because I liked the look of it. My uncle got a Korean knock off Legend Les Paul with bolt on neck...I had been mugging around with it for ages before I decided to go for a real thing. I got it as a second hand but in an immaculate condition. I'll list the con as following:
1. I hate a pick guard. It's written 1960 in gold ...yeah....in gold...(also applied to the trustrod cover) how can it be a classic if it has something like that??......I dunno
2. The Jack Plate is a f#@king plastic! I don't know if the real 60's have plastic jack plate but this is a jack ass for ?60,000 guitar. With this money you could buy a brand new Japanese bike in Thailand...(well obviously I went for a guitar).
3. I still think the finish is a little bit too bright.
4. And what about those strap locks?
5. Those Humbuckers. I didn't say it is not good but I just don't like it.

I put SD 59' in and this baby sings like an angels. I've played a friend's LP Studio...it screams. Well Scream and Sing....I like them both but I'll stick with a classic becuase of the sustain.....yeah I mean the sustain is obviously different. I am pretending to be Mr Page and me and my mates think I can get away with that. I am in to it more and more everyday.

Flawless. Yes Flawless for this baby. Before I bought this one I had tried the Gary Moore. The craftmanship of the latter is a state- of -pice-of-crap.
Unbelieveably terrified me! Man I dunno....maybe others will be much better (same as the classic). Gibson Quality control sucks big time. I mean it. After 2 years I still see that guitar on the shop's wall...sad but true. I personally think those guys at Gibson factory listen too much still got the blue.

I guess it will last forever. very well put together.

Im a Thai dude who has been hooked with a Les Paul for all of my life since I was a little kid. It'd been 17 years...yes 17 years... before I got hold of a real thing. All my mates say I'm stupid...spending the big money for a guitar but I'm happy with my purchase. Honestly...very dissapointed with Gibson QC. It sucks big time!

Bought it in 2000.
Black & Tan.
Slim-taper neck
Hot-ceramic pickups
Looks great! Feels solid as a rock as a Les Paul should.
Juat add a metal jack plate to it and you're ready for the road!

I love it! Simply. Sound is big, full and heavy on my VHT Pitbull. Sound is sweet/bluesy on my '67 Bassman. Sound is sharp and clean on my Vox 15R practice mini-stack.

I play it thru:
A/B, MXR 10band eq, MXR SupaComp, Vox Wah, MXR Phase 90, Maxon AD-900 Analog Delay, Option 5 Rotation --> VHT! Then I juice all over myself ;)

Rock, alt, jazz, blues, classical...whatever. This guitar is a blessing. Every spot is a sweet spot.

You can man-handle it or be sensitive...it just wants to be played!

There are so many cool guitars at this price but this beauty has everything I could need.

I gig with this all the freakin' time! Have a great time doing it!

Haven't dealt with support...but
I would ignore any review that gave this guitar less than 7's.

Especially if they don't own it.

That means you --> Anonymous at 09/21/2003 20:05

I haven't played every type of guitar in the world so I have to give it a '9' but I can honestly say that if you want a great guitar that can play almost anything with great tone & sustain...get this.

2001 Les Paul Classic. Heritage cherry sunburst. Standard Les Paul features.

No complaints here, I actually like the sound from the stock pups. I've beeen thinking of replacing them with '57 classics but I've changed my mind.

Heres the problem area! Set-up was terrible, poor intonation, fretbuzz, rough edges on the high and matchstick-like frets, uneven fretboard, with dents, dings and dongs. Binding round the fretboard was a joke, very sharp edges and uneven cut. Orange-peel lacquer on bass side of neck and... I could go on forever!

It needed sanding and new jumbo-frets and a lot of work to get a decent fretboard, now it plays ok.

Everything except the finish is solid and good, it will last.

Never needed to.

I've been playing for 25 years and I am really dissapointed with this axe. I wouldn't keeep it if it wasn't that I have put so much money into getting it playable. Plus the fact that the US dollar have gone down so much that a new one cost about 70% of this goofer.

I had a Epiphone Les Paul Standard earlier, and guess what? That was a much better guitar in every aspect, playability, sound and finish. But I had to have a Gibson and sold it away. My loss...

This Classic is a 92 or so.It has the les paul "model" decal on the head, not "classic" as later ones have. It has the thicker cutaway binding like a standard laike a later one. The finish is amber, top is very flamey, but it's a "flitch-match" top the halves aren't from the same place. It is pretty sweet looking neverthe less. when i got it, it was stock. As it is one of my primary live guitars it has been modded quite a bit over the years.Tuners are now Grover Rotomatics in Nickel and I swapped the crap nut for real bone when i had the so-so frets dressed.The neck is the thin 60's style-nice shape to play IMHO. I am getting the hideous snot green inlays replaced with real MOP inlays when i get it refretted in the next couple months( Iv'e worn the factory frets out-they were pretty durable, it took me 10 years!)

I play hard rock in an original band(no covers).I use this and a similarly equipped SG 61 reissue for live work. These two axes hit a vox wha, pro co rat,echo plex and a noise gate into a 50 watt 1974 Marshall JMP 2x12 combo. Gives me all the tones and power I need.I replaced the caps with sprague orange drops,and shielded the control and toggle cavities.Pickups were bright and harsh, so I put in a Zebra coil Duncan JB in the trble slot, and an Antiquity in rhythm. Sounds AWESOME now. A bonus is the original ceramic pickups went into a haggard black heritage V reissue I own and improved its tubby, flabby tone immensely. This axe and the SG with the same electronis setup are very versatile-I adjust my controls a lot to suit the song as i play.I think folks who feel gibsons are one trick ponies probably run 'em flat out at all times(not a bad sound, just there is a lot in them tonally if you experiment.

Set up was poor-frets were dull and poorly finished,truss needed adjustment, just throw the stock nut away!Nickel hardware is tarnished, but hell-it looks cool with that aged antiquity! This guitar was bought used by me-the previous owner literally bought it and played the hell out of it for 2 years then sold it to me.To be fair I use a 11-52 set of strings and most all my guitars have needed the aforementioned fixes to suit what I need in a guitar.Fit and finish weren't great but just about average for an assembly line Les Paul-The Amber finish has taken wear well-but I was gigging for 6 months at a lick for many years so it looks like a 50's axe-a modern day relic, I guess! since the pickups wear and tarnish made it look old. I put on a regular LP creme pickguard,and a plain truss cover. It looks like a whooped 58 from 10 feet away! hehe!

Has held up ok, i feel. The skinny neck and steep head angle have always made me really cutious about keeping it on stands and in the case. No mishaps yet, though. I put on Schaller straplocs also, to reduce any risk of dropping it-I do this to all stage axes, but haven't done it to my vitage guitars that never see the road. I feel this axe could be gigged with with no backup, as I have played shows without switching guitars quite a few times. The SG is the backup-I use it sometimes just for a change, but the paul never is unreliable.Oh yea, I put a metal jackplate on as the old plastic one cracked.

Never dealt with em,most my stuff I get used.

I've been playing for over 20 years and own 4 Les Pauls, and SG, Firebird and Korina V as far as Gibson electrics. I bought this for stage use very cheaply. The mods I have done have taken place over the last 10 or so years. This guitar has the power, tone and looks that helps my rep as a good guitar player. It looks hot under the lights and delivers all the sounds I need-I prefer my stage guitars to be tough and this one has held up OK with proper care. If it were lost or stolen, i would probably just buy a Historic 57 goldtop as they are more eqipped as I like. The Classic took a lot of mods to get to this stage.This little Gibson LP has seen lotsa wild hard rockin nights and can handle many more! Nothing out-of-this world, just a mid line gibson paul doing what it was made to do! It don't blow me away like my vintage 69 Custom or my 54 goldtop, but hey,I feel thats a different league of instruments, being from the "golden age" of guitars-In another 20 years this one may be just as good.

Howdy folks, I play r&b, r&r, Delta & Chicago Blues, plus anything with a beat that gets the HIP SHAKIN', FOOT STOMPIN',THANG GOIN' ON....Here's the deal; If your Les Paul feels "too heavy" Then you just ain't cut out to play a Les Paul. If you can't handle a 10 pound guitar, then you sure as the devil can't handle a HIP SHAKIN' WOMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!! OWWW Bump on up against me baby!!!

It sounds like the neighbor lady when her husbands gone off to work.

She falls under my fingers just right....just like the neighbor lady (while he's gone off to work!)

All B/S Aside; This Les Paul will play for a long time. 'nuff said.

Totally Brainless customer support

I've been playing long enough to pay for your sisters abortion.
I own whips, chains, and other fun stuff.
I wish I'd asked about parking validation.
If it were stolen or lost...NO I WOULDN"T BUY IT BACK. I'D KILL THE MOTHERFUCKER WHO STOLE IT AND THEN calmly take my stuff back.
I Love it because it's my guitar.
She plays just right and we get along just fine.

'60 LP Classic Heritage Cherry burst. Bought used on EBAY. Ceramic magnet humbuckers and all the other regular LP features. Mine is a couple years old and does not have the horrible green tinted tuners and inlays. Instead, mine are vintage looking but not green. Cream pick guard with "1960" on it. IF you look hard for a used one you can find one that isn't quite so garish as the new ones.

As many have mentioned the pickups are very loud and harsh. I was looking for a classic thick LP tone, instead I couldn't tell any difference between this and my Ibanez S470. I finally changed the pickups to Lindy Fralin PAF humbuckers. NOW it's a Les Paul! What a difference. It sings and has such a warm complex tone. If you play metal the original pickups are fine, otherwise you are better off changing them for more variety. I score it a 7 with originals, 10 now.

This is where this guitar is every bit as good as the standard. I spent a few extra dollars when I had the pickups installed and had it properly set up. It plays like a dream. The neck is fast and the guitar just has such a solid feel.

So far so good, but it is very heavy to me. My other guitars a Strat and the Ibanez are much lighter. But, they don't sound like this either.

Have never had to deal wih Gibson so far.

I am 41 and have been playing since I was 13. I have always been a strat fan but have always wanted a Les Paul. I knew from these reviews that it needed different pickups for the blues and rock sounds I wanted. Now that I changed I love it!

I had a 2002 Gibson Les Paul Classic, heritage cherry sunburst! This was pretty cool!

This guitar sounded great! I used it in the studio and played out with it live once! It was great for rocknroll! I just never got into the toggle switch where it's located! I usually use the bridge pickup and have the neck pickup turned off! but the way I play, I rock out hard and I usually hit the toggle and turn off the bridge pickup! That's the thing that sucks about Les Pauls! Other than that, it's a beautiful fawkin' guitar!!!

It was set up pretty good!

This is a heavy guitar and probably one I've wanted for years because I've seen them for years and didn't have any money! I guess I was in the right place at the right time! Very lucky! Great sustain! Kinda reminded me of my first Les paul which was a studio! But twice the price! I actually wish I still had this guitar, well actually both guitars! Oh well!

I've been playin' for almost 14 years! I play a 1990 Hall of fame Gibson Les Paul Junior TV yellow double cutaway through a Mesa Boogie f-50 1/12 combo!

American made 2003 Gibson Les Paul Classic Goldtop. Mahogany body with carved, bound maple top, 22 fret bound mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard, Two Gibson ceramic magnet humbuckers (496R, 500T), two volume and two tone controls with tophat knobs, threeway pickup selector, nickel ABR bridge and classic tuners, thin 60's style neck, aged inlays, black hardcase.

I play just about anything from blues to metal and this guitar can do it all!. I run it through a Marshall JCM900 100w with a 1960a cab and it can deliver deep, clean tones right through to full on distortion. The pickups really drive the tubes and the Marshall just laps it up. saying that, I've also run the guitar through a 30w Marshall transistor amp and the results weren't so great. This guitar needs a tube amp to get the best out of it, hence the 9/10 rating.

The guitar was set-up fine when I got it and my Tech said that he'd done nothing to it so all credit to the Gibson boys. The finish is perfect and I can honestly say that there isn't a single fault on it

It's a Les Paul... these things will survive just about anything. Just be careful with the headstock! Strap locks are worth a thought if your the energetic type. If I had to, I'd gig this one without a backup, but I tend to always have a second guitar around in case of string breaks.

I've never had call to use them. Lifetime warranty (though this is doesn't necessarily apply in the UK!!)

This is one fine guitar. I've been playing since 1980 and have amassed a modest collection but this guitar is the centrepiece without a doubt. I also own a Gibson Les Paul Studio, Gibson Explorer, Fender American Std Strat, Fender Semi-Acoustic and an old Hohner Les Paul copy (my first guitar!). Amp-wise, I'm a Marshall guy, with a JCM900 100W plus 1960a cab, Marshall 30w and an AS50R. The only pedals I use are a Crybaby and a Boss DD3. The LP Classic basically gives me everything I need so i can't see me needing to buy anything else for quite a while.

2001 classic cherry burst with stock pickups

i play all kinds of music. i run a mesa triple rectifier three channel, aleseis quadraverb, marshall 9005 stereo tube power amp, marshall 1960 a cab, marshall 1960 b cab (vintage 30's)i use the 9005 to power the b cab for stereo effects.quiet as hell! sounds like freight train but the ceramic pickups are just too sterile. heres where the dilema starts, i also bought a gibson les paul gary moore signature the same day i bought the classic. the gary sounds FAT AS HELL! like Leslie West after a buffet! just kidding love that guy. solution bought gibson burts buckr 2 + 3 STERILE NO MORE. i love my classic more than any other guitar i have ever owned!!!! 29 to be exact. vintage gibsons and fenders, charvel san dimas, old usa deans to name a few. a few of my friends own les pauls and they all wish they had it. sometimes people get lucky when they buy a guitar, i feel i hit the lotto every time i pick my classic.

no guitar is perfect, this one was nice from the factory. set up by store tech awesome. stays in tune, even with extreme bends, finish was excellent

IT'S A FREAKIN' LES PAUL!!!!!
PUT THE STRAPLOCKS ON AND LOOSE YOUR MIND!!!

never a problem

been playing 25 years, said what i use in the sound section, plus a custom strat w/ floyd rose, emg 85, s, sa, and a warmoth soloist i am currently building. if it were stolen i would put a gun to my head for being so stupid! seriously overall, with the ceramics a 7 with the burstbuckers a 10!!! this is a players dream plays like butter, tones to die for, in classic les paul style

2001 honeyburst. Bought it "new" from a dealer who'd had it hanging on the wall for quite a while - thus, the great deal. Has the hot ceramic humbuckers and "aged" plastic inlays which can look o.k. or vomit-stained depending on the light. Old style kluson type tuners. Slim-taper neck. Other than that, a Les paul Standard for all practical purposes. They could ditch the ceramic pups(I like alnico) and plastic inlays(I like pearl - but then I would've had to have
paid about $800 more).

Great primary tone!!!--gobs of sustain and resonance throughout the neck, headstock and body. I run it into a Hiwatt DC40 Bulldog(4xEl84) sometimes straight, sometimes through an fx processor. Also through two Roland amps - JC120 or BC60, Sounds best through the Hiwatt(can't beat tubes).
The pickups are adequate for the styles I play - a hodge-podge of blues, rock, hard rock, pop and mellow stuff. They work best for hard rock or metal. The main problems are they're kind of sterile sounding, have scooped mids and are too bright. I'm a tweaker and I've done the whole thing: pickup and pole height adjustments, tone and volume knob adjusyment etc. What has made me decide to change to alnico pickups is checking out my friend's 1978 Les Paul Standard with original pickups - the tone was there and I didn't have to dick around with tweaking this and that, when I plugged it into my Hiwatt, leaving the settings where I had them set for the Classic, his Standard nailed the sound I had been looking for all along! Like I said, the pickups are adequate - but I didn't buy a Les Paul for adequate - so...OUT they go! I'll probably try Antiquities or Fralin's.
With the right pickups and amp(s), a Les Paul can cover a ton of styles from Jazz to Metal with everything in between - this one, stock, is great for hard rock to metal - but o.k. for anything else.

Once the tech at the shop I bought from did a fret dress and nut cut - it was great! That should speak enough for itself. Other than that, the "bookmatching"(they don't technically book match this model) is pretty darn close, the finish is very nice, the tuners stay in tune extremely well. Electronics work great etc.

You need to take care of your stuff.

Been playing 20+ years. Have this, a Strat and a Taylor. I've always wanted a Les Paul - ever since, as a wee lad, I saw and heard my big brother's Humble Pie - "Rockin' the Fillmore" album. If something happened to this one, I wouldn't wait quite as long to get another. I would shop around and try for the best quality, cheapest Les Paul I could find (New or used). You have to play as many as you can though. The Classics seened to be the most consistent in quality
especially compared to the Standards, which had a lot of dogs among them. A custom would be my dream guitar,(love Ebony and Pearl). But new ones are about twice what I paid and they aren't twice the guitar.
I love the sustain, playability and vibe of my Les Paul. I dislike the pickups and the plastic inlays on the Classic, but it really is a solid instrument so it gets and 8

2000 - Les Paul Classic - GOLD TOP!
Usual Les features, 2x tone 2x volume knobs and PUP selector (3 way).
Lovely slim neck, and I've got big hands, but this seems to fit nicer than my White Custom, and I never thought I'd EVER say that.
GOld Top Finish, what else can ya say, Cool As F**k!!
496R Pup in Neck and 500T Ceramic in Bridge.

This is where I get a little confused reading these reviews. This is a 1960 Re-Issue, basically a specialised model of Les Paul. If you buy this guitar surely you would buy it for the slightly harsher sounding higher output PUP's, not buy this expecting to get the sound of a Standard or Custom with Stock PUP's in!!! I don't really think that's rocket science. I bought this as an alternative to my Custom which has a "FAT" Seymour '59 in the neck, my Classic is the same as Craddock from Ocean Colour Scene plays and that's the sound I wanted, glassy, pronounced high end, switch to mid or neck and it calms down nicely to a mellow less driven purr. Also sounds great clean, you can coax loads of different sounds out of it because of the 500T being so powerful, it gives a nice variation with a flick of the PUP selector. I play mine through either my Orange AD30TC or my Sound City 50+ with 4x12" Cab. My style is 'Brit' sound Indie, I use a mix of clean and O/D and quite a bit of Delay and Wah, plenty of arpeggios and chords and a good amount of lead lines too. What do I sound like? Mmmmm, a mix of OCS, Led Zep, Coldplay and Haven etc, this is the BEST sound I've ever had, my Custom has it's place but this is my No1. And did I mention, it looks so damn COOL!

BOught my S/H and it was set up great for me, I will be sending it to my tech for a Pro Set up and may have the action lowered very very slightly, but that wuld be picky to moan about. Others have also moaned about the hardware beng "over aged", well, it's about rightly aged for a 1960 guitar, so if you want it to look newer, buy a new one

It's slightly lighter than my Custom which is nice, but as with most Les paul's it's built to last, I can't see myself ever having a problem with it.

Never actually had a problem with a Gibson so far, but I have heard mixed stories, so I can only mark this based on those

As I said, this is a great guitar if it's what you want! If you don't want the distinct sound of the PUP's go and buy a different model, what's the point in buying a 60's Classic and turning it into a Standard, save the extra cash and go buy what you want, it's not much more. Try one before you buy and start winging, thats why Guitar Shops have little rooms down the back with amps in!!

This is a great guitar, that looks, sounds and is made v v well. Can't fault it

2003 22 fet piece of art

let me start of by saying i play 80s metal, none of this new drop d massive distortion crap that is so popular these days. i have been playing for 25+ years and have owned just about every guitar amp combo on the planet and i use this guitar run into a boss ge-7 eq straight into my 86 marshall jcm 800 and there is no better sounding rig in the universe! this guitar is not for newer "players" that want to set in their bedroom and sound like a pro playing thru a line 6 piece of junk. i get all the distortion i need and it is a clean sound not like a active super dist. p.u. strapped to a log. this is a pro guitar for a pro player.

i picked it up at the music store , took it to practice and played it like i had been playing on it for years. the guitar practically plays its self. a true pleasure to play.

its a gibson, nuff said, will last a life time if taken care of.

never had to deal with them so cant really say.

like i said this is for a player that knows what tone is and what a real guitar should feel like. it will not cover mistakes, it will not make you sound better that you are, but it will bring out the best in you. if it was stolen i would spend the rest of my life hunting the bastard down then take pleasure in slowly torturing them to death!

My experience was very similar to Ken's (below). Same guitar, same price, same deal, same shipping experience, and I bought the guitar for pretty much the same reasons at right about the same time from the same place (zZounds). I think this is a GREAT guitar. I also have a 2001 Studio and a 2000 American Deluxe Fat Strat, and the 2003 Classic is by far the best of these three. You can see, feel, and hear how well made the Classic is. However, I think it should come with locking tuners and PU covers. The hardware should be as great as the neck and the body.

Not a wide variety of available sounds, but if you want that thick Les Paul tone, the Classic has it. I don't know if you like the LP Studio sound (I do), but side by side the Classic is clearer and rounder (and louder) than the Studio. I love all three of my guitars, but the Classic is in a different class.

The neck is incredible. Great fret-work. Very smooth and playable. The action is low, but not buzzy. Good setup right out of the box. No flaws. It stays in tune.

The Classic is a very solidly built guitar. I don't know if it will be as tough and reliable as my Stratocaster (the Studio isn't), but the Classic isn't fragile at all.

I highly recommend this guitar. I also highly recommend zZounds.com. I don't work for them and I don't know anyone who does. I don't buy or sell things on Ebay, so I have no interest in helping guitar prices rise. I'd really prefer guitar prices to fall. From my point of view, it's very hard to pay more than a grand for a guitar. However, the Classic is worth it. It really is.

Borrowed, not bought, Cherryburst. Slim-taper, ceramic pickups and all the rest discussed below. Looks and feels fine, though LP's are not comfortable guitars, take it or leave it - you're back in the sixtys .

Well I think it sounds pretty terrible, and my Marshall, Rivera & Fenders are pretty good tube amps - thank you. This guitar was a mistake - what Gibson's trying to copy is beyond me. I would never gig with this thing, how mono-tone! It has no sweet spot. Well, to each his own.

OK, nothing great. There are so many cool guitars at this price point it's hard to get excited by one more trick LP

I would ignore any review that gave this guitar`10s, I think they're trying to pump the score for eBay. I you like this guitar, great, but if you looking and undecided you really should play the field a little before you put your money down. I think most serious guitarist would say there are much better ways to spend your money.