Gibson Les Paul Junior

This is the second time I have tried to submit this review. I'm not sure why it is blocked, but let's try again. Luckily I saved it in a word doc. This is a 2009 Les Paul Junior, with all the usual specs, made in the USA, all mahogany, sunburst, with a solid mahogany body (2 pieces by the look of it). It has a single P90 mounted on the body, with one volume and one tone. The neck is also mahogany and the fingerboard looks like rosewood. It has a satin finish, single cut away, and a simple wrap-around bridge. The tuners are quite basic, vintage style Gibsons in keeping apparently with the original tuners on the Junior. The neck feels sort of medium fatness. It has the usual Gibson scale length. It came with a gig bag.

This guitar is probably my favourite ever electric guitar sound, in the 21 years that I have been playing. I play it through a Vox AC30 cc2 with alnico blues, and I play all kinds of styles, although with a leaning towards British rock and alternative rock (whatever that means!). Before I bought this guitar, I was put off by its apparent simplicity and felt that it would be too limited. Don't be fooled though! This guitar has an outrageously good core sound - nice rich P90s, which growl really well, and which have good string definition compared to a regular Les Paul, but which can sound thick too. However, you can also alter thing a lot more than you might expect by adjusting the tone and volume. You can get quite close to a neck pickup sound by lowering the tone and cleaning it up a bit with the volume, and playing near the neck. The controls on this guitar are pretty much usable across the spectrum too, compared to other guitars. One limitation I guess is that this guitar doesn't stay clean for very long. But that doesn't really bother me for how I use it. It can do good cleans though if you lower the volume. It has more punch and sustain than a tele or strat, but is a bit clearer and tighter sounding than a Les Paul with humbuckers. Great for punk rock I reckon.

The guitar was set up very well at the factory, with quite a low action. The two pieces of mahogany in the body are not that well matched, but I don???t really care about that. There are no other flaws, although I suppose a perfectionist might notice that the fret ends are just slightly sharp. Again, this is a very minor thing for me.

The guitar is really solid and because it is so simple, it is difficult to imagine very much going wrong with it. It's one weakness though is the tuners. It doesn't stay in tune all that well, which may be down to the nut which could need a bit more cutting, but also the tuners tend to slip a bit. I will probably replace these soon with something better. I think Gibson could do better with these tuners, but I can see why they put them on for aesthetic reasons.

I have no idea about Gibson, but Dawsons in Manchester where I bought it have excellent customer support. They also allow you to swap in two weeks if you want. I wasn't going to do that on this occasion!

I have been playing for 21 years and currently own a Tele, a Gibson Les Paul Studio, and in the past have owned a Stratocaster. I would certainly replace this if it were lost or stolen, or may even consider getting one of the reissues, since I love the basic principle of the Junior. What I particularly love about it is the range of sounds you can get out of one pickup but most importantly, the raw tone of it - superb sounds, which are really addictive. I tend to reach for this guitar now before the others. I guess it might be better with a neck pickup, but part of the charm is its simplicity and I suspect that it would lost some of its chime with more magnets pulling down on the strings. Overall, probably Gibson's best guitar - no wonder they continue to make it!

This is a 2009 Les Paul Junior, with all the usual specs, made in the USA, all mahogany, sunburst, with a solid mahogany body (2 pieces by the look of it). It has a single P90 mounted on the body, with one volume and one tone. The neck is also mahogany and the fingerboard looks like rosewood. It has a ???satin??? finish, single cut away, and a simple wrap-around bridge. The tuners are quite basic, vintage style Gibsons in keeping apparently with the original tuners on the Junior. The neck feels sort of medium fatness. It has the usual Gibson scale length. It came with a gig bag.

This guitar is probably my favourite ever electric guitar sound, in the 21 years that I have been playing. I play it through a Vox AC30 cc2 with alnico blues, and I play all kinds of styles, although with a leaning towards British rock and ???alternative??? rock (whatever that means!). Before I bought this guitar, I was put off by its apparent simplicity and felt that it would be too limited. Don???t be fooled though! This guitar has an outrageously good core sound ??? nice rich P90s, which growl really well, and which have good string definition compared to a regular Les Paul, but which can sound thick too. However, you can also alter thing a lot more than you might expect by adjusting the tone and volume. You can get quite close to a neck pickup sound by lowering the tone and cleaning it up a bit with the volume, and playing near the neck. The controls on this guitar are pretty much usable across the spectrum too, compared to other guitars. One limitation I guess is that this guitar doesn???t stay clean for very long. But that doesn???t really bother me for how I use it. It can do good cleans though if you lower the volume. It has more punch and sustain than a tele or strat, but is a bit clearer and tighter sounding than a Les Paul with humbuckers. Great for punk rock I reckon.

The guitar was set up very well at the factory, with quite a low action. The two pieces of mahogany in the body are not that well matched, but I don???t really care about that. There are no other flaws, although I suppose a perfectionist might notice that the fret ends are just slightly sharp. Again, this is a very minor thing for me.

The guitar is really solid and because it is so simple, it is difficult to imagine very much going wrong with it. It???s one weakness though is the tuners. It doesn???t stay in tune all that well, which may be down to the nut which could need a bit more cutting, but also the tuners tend to slip a bit. I will probably replace these soon with something better. I think Gibson could do better with these tuners, but I can see why they put them on for aesthetic reasons.

I have no idea about Gibson, but Dawsons in Manchester where I bought it have excellent customer support. They also allow you to swap in two weeks if you want. I wasn???t going to do that on this occasion!

I have been playing for 21 years and currently own a Tele, a Gibson Les Paul Studio, and in the past have owned a Stratocaster. I would certainly replace this if it were lost or stolen, or may even consider getting one of the reissues, since I love the basic principle of the Junior. What I particularly love about it is the range of sounds you can get out of one pickup but most importantly, the raw tone of it ??? superb sounds, which are really addictive. I tend to reach for this guitar now before the others. I guess it might be better with a neck pickup, but part of the charm is its simplicity and I suspect that it would lost some of its chime with more magnets pulling down on the strings. Overall, probably Gibson???s best guitar ??? no wonder they continue to make it!

2005 Sunburst (pre-satin finish), wrap around bridge, P-90, single cut-a-way. Stock everything, easy action neck, solid tuners, dot inlays, came with lame Gibson "gig bag", use my own case from my early 80s Gibson Sonex. Beautiful looking axe, simplistic.

Run through 2 all tube amps: Rivera-era Fender Super Champ (screams without pedals) and through the "beast", a late 70's Fender Blackface/grill Super-Twin Reverb (180W/390W peak), 90lb monster, through a DOD Stereo Chorus and TS-808 TubeScreamer (re-issue). Don't care for the clean sound, except through the chorus, but the P-90 screams with overdrive, amazing. Prefer it to humbuckers or other single coils. No more noise than usual through a tube amp. Squeals like a pig thru the Super Champ. Those Rivera eras were the best, hands down. Easy action, use .010's, coated strings.

Set the P-90 up about a 1/16" closer to strings. No frills, so simple, generally keep both volume/tone all the way up. Occasionally need to re-tune after awhile of furious strumming and/or bending strings.

Excellent axe. Also have an '87 American Strat, early '80's Sonex, and 4 acoustic/electrics (Tak EF341SC, Ovation Balladeer, Ovation 12-string, Cort MR710, through an Acoustasonic Junior30 DSP). It's my favorite electric, by far. Though simple, it seems more versatile for what I play (Replacements, slobberbone, Blackfoot, Green Day, Foo Fighters, Social D, and hard southern punk-rock style originals). I take care of it, but dont need kid gloves either. Dependable geetar.

Haven't needed anything yet. If I need it strobed, will take to local shop. This guitar got me back into electric guitar after having played acoustic for the past few years.

Gave about $600 thru Ebay. This is now my main electric axe. If lost/stolen, I would like another, but probably couldnt afford it now. Would replace with '57 re-issue Custom shop Epiphone. Love everything about it, looks, playability, simplicity, and especially sound. It rips. Have been playing on/off for 30 years (but total of about 10, with all the years of gaps of not playing at all, just drinking. Also want to get an Invader, Marauder, LS-1, S3. Gibson built some killer axes in the 70's/early 80s.

Mine is a 1987, I bought it about 10 years ago for $350. The 1987 has a stop tailpiece with a tune-o-matic bridge, making this an unpopular reissue until the last couple of years, now the demand is high due to it's ability to stay in tune better than the wrap around bridge. Just had it appraised and it came in at about $1,200.00 These models are a good investment. I've got the single cut away burgandy, don't have the original case. This guitar does not look 21 years old. I gig with it regularly and am rather rough on guitars and this is showing little to no wear, very well built. Has the P90 dog ear, the best p/u ever made IMO (I've got P90 soap bars in my LP Special and I don't like them nearly as much). It has just a volume knob and a tone knob making it as simple as can be, tone control is excellent for fattening the tone.

I play punk, alt-country and cowpunk and along with my 1990 GLP it's all I need, clean it has a nice touch of crunch which can be softened with the volume knob, and over driven it's close to perfect. I run it through a mid-ninties re-issue Ampeg Reverberocket with a couple of old Danolectro overdrive pedals and it sounds full. I do get a bit of 60 cycle hum in buildings with lousy power but it's not anything I can't live with.

I did have to get the frets deburred when I got it (10 years after it was made) cost a whole $40 bucks to do and I'm guessing it is also why this guitar came so cheap. Action is great, being a dog ear P90 there really isn't a whole lot of pick up adjustment, The finish is fine, the translucent burgundy looks good, it's a stained piece of mohagany it looks as good as it's going to for that wood.

I've been gigging with this guitar for over 10 years and have abused it on stage and it's a tank. Never had an electrical problem, never had a screw come loose anywhere on the body, never had it cut out. Just a damn solid guitar

I've dealt with Gibson before and there is a cool family vibe you get with certain people there, they like to hear about their guitars, none of the info that I've bugged them about was probably very high on their priority list but they got back to me very timely regardless. Not a bad thing to say about them.

I've been playing for over 20 years and been in working bands for at least the last 15. I have about 17 guitars (a mix of electrics, acoustics and one bass)and 4 of them are Gibsons. Their stuff is solid, it is annoying when you have to get frets deburred on a 10 year old guitar or a new on (had the same problem on a new 2002 Flying V)but they are still worth the money and the quality is there. I'll never get rid of my Gibsons and especially my Jr. If it got stolen I would be heart broken and would try to find another '87. Gibson should think about re-issueing this guitar because my friends who have Jr's with the wrap around bridge all have tried to trade with me, the tuning is very good.

Features? I think these are being overlooked with all the 1's people have been leaving. I had a 2006 single cut model and it had a '60's slim taper neck and a compensated tail-piece with a full gloss sunburst finish. These have a mahogany set neck with a mahogany body and the wood grain is of course visible on the front of the guitar. It's got a genuine Gibson EVERYTHING! with good resonant wood and for the money it's a great axe.

No neck pickup depth sound available so it isn't a very good clean sounding guitar compared to my ES333 with AlNiCo II Pro in the neck. The most fun sound is really to play it through an overdriven valve amp. In this case it's basically noise and more noise with humming coming out of the amp until you start to play and it's covered up a bit. I would describe the P90 tone as being not as sharp edged as a humbucker tone. The bass and treble response is not as present like it is with a humbucker and so the mids stand out front more. It's a softer sound that really reaches out and honks loudly at you with a lot of presence and 'thereness' to the sound. It's a nice alternative sound to other humbucking Gibson's but still very much within the Gibson tonal pallet.

My amps are a Ceriatone JCM800HW 2204, and an Epiphone Valve Junior that I have modded. If interested I made a web page about it.

http://members.optusnet.com.au/eyes.only/vj_mods_3/vj.htm

Awesome finish and fit. I read these Gibson in the 80's were slack at that time stories. I've never bought a Gibson older than 1998 and basically the quality of every Gibson I've owned or own has been top notch. A LP Standard DC Plus, ES-333, LP Special Faded single cut, a '98 LP DC Special full gloss binding, 2001 Les Paul Junior Special Plus, an ES137 Premium, this LP Junior, and another ES333. All of these have the '60's slim taper neck which is my favorite.

I think they are reliable depending on usage. If you play it and bend notes a lot the frets will wear out. If you don't break over a patrons head then it will last for decades. Look at antique violins, they are way older than the first 1930's electrics and plenty of them have survived. Of course some are restored to varying degrees but my point is obviously treat it well and it's going to last. Gibson's don't sit flat backed on the floor so you need to be careful not to drop them on there headstock's.

I actually asked a question last week and got a good reply in a few days. I think that's pretty good considering the amount of email they must get.

Good guitar. I have owned many guitars from different manufactures and for me Gibson's are the best guitars for feel and tone. Only a Gibson is good enough!

The overall finish of the guitar is ok, for a lower priced Gibson it's not too bad but could've been better. I had to replace the bridge with a tone-pros as the original was leaning forward causing the studs to move, not good!
The tuners are real old school which I love, the neck is like a baseball bat which again is cool. The gig bag is pretty good, it came with Gibson gumpf and a truss-rod wrench.
I replaced the stock P90 as i felt it didn't have much definition I put a Seymour Duncan Antiquity 50s P90 in and that is a belter!

The sound is great, it really suits what I do which is mainly rhythm work and delivers a fat traditional guitar sound where all strings can be heard.
The great thing about Juniors is how many tones you can get just by turning the volume back a notch or two.
Overall i love the sound.

The action wasn't too bad, could've of been better - could've been worse. The nut had been cut really well, the frets aren't all level which creates some buzzing but it's only a guitar after all!!
The intonation is a pig to get perfect but I've got it as close as I can.

I can depend on this guitar, the hardware will eventually wear but that's only natural if you actually play it not look at it!
No need for a back up guitar this bad boy is the one.

I haven't needed to have it repaired, touch wood, but I know how to do most repairs myself.

I have been playing guitar for 13 years and own a number of Gibsons and Fenders and the Les Paul Junior is definitly one of my favourites! I have a Gibson SG so it's nice to have another guitar with a completely different sound and feel.
I love the feel, look, and sound. That's all ya need!!

don't need no stinkin features if you know how to play your guitar. finish started to haze after first sweaty gig, right where your forearm rests. probably can be buffed out though. i love the slab of solid mahogany. replaced bridge with tone pro model. huge difference in sustain. tuners changed to locking grovers. no routing to do in case you revert to original. straplocks added for safety. perfect neck for me usa made about 2000-2001, 22 frets. haven't touched tone control in 5 years.replaced p-90 right away with p-100. could NOT stand noise with hi gain marshall amp. might try a semour duncan stack for improvement, but till mr. duncan offers a stack with optional dogear cover, i refuse to pay price of $170 for a $75 pickup, otherwise i love his products.

favorite quote: "that guitar howls and growls". it does everything my 55,56,57,59 les paul juniors did, including sustain, just not with vintage price. i play classic rock. this is my MAIN guitar. not much could replace it. bought it in Dallas as Mars Music was closing. $650 with gigbag. get a hardshell case for protection. even us weekend musicians need to protect from perils of the truck

all guitars need personal setup after purchase. routing was necesary for p-100, no big deal. fret tangs were dressed for comfort. action is incredible with 10's

tough Gibson. i depend on it to pay some of my bills. it will deliver for many more years. told my wife to bury me with it

any large corp. service stinks imho

playing 41 years. list of equipment endless. currently have 18 watt marshall, 1965 original deluxe reverb my friend GAVE me,,dsl2000 marshall half stack, solid state marshall 1985 5010 master reverb that i would stack up against any small amp. truly tube like sound that cleans up with volume control on my junior. great for sm gigs.
i'll always play a junior. emailed gibson to ask them to reissue a double cutaway in cherry at similar $750 price point for us guys that don't have 2k for a vos model. we'll see if they can do it. skip the way expensive les pauls and buy this guitar. with a few mods it can't be beat by anything on the market today that i came across.

Purchased brand new from Merchant City Music, Glasgow, UK. According to the store, this model is exclusive to this store, and is part of a batch specially ordered from Gibson directly, so is not on their current product range.

Gloss finish, single cut '54 style. Brown to black sunburst, 1 dog ear P90, Wraparound bridge, button-style tuners. I vol, 1 tone, dot markers.

Very basic and raw, just as it should be.

Through a decent amp (I use an Ashdown), perfect on clean settings for blues / ska. Sounds great with a touch of reverb - massive variations can be had from the one tone control.

On a dirty channel, the P90 absolutely howls. Great for punk or blues-rock. Lots of feedback at your disposal

Guitar was set up perfectly (bought personally from dealer). Low action, no fret buzz, all frets perfectly finished on the un-bound neck (a massive difference from my 2002 faded SG which needed to go straight in for a set up and file job on the fret tangs).

Only flaw I can find is that the edges on the single ply pick guard are a little sharp - will probably wear in given time though. The strap buttons are also absolutely miniscule, and should be replaced immediately

Gloss finish on the guitar body is superb - like glass. Paint finish on the sides of the headstock is a little thick in my opinion though

No doubts that this guitar will stand up to abuse (just the usual worries about the headstock cracking if the guitar falls)

Strap buttons are being replaced ASAP, as they are tiny and the strap breaks loose at every opportunity.

With strap locks this could be used without a back-up, after all, there's very little on the guitar to start with, so very little to go wrong!

Given the finish and the service at purchase from the retailer, I doubt that there will be any problems. Unsure of their UK distributor though, as on my other Gibson (an SG) I had to source a replacement pick guard from the USA, as price and delvery time from UK distributor was excessive

Well, there aren't many features on a Junior! But, if you have one and love it, then who cares. One P-90, volume and tone. Oe thing kinda peeved me, though. I was considering an Epiphone Junior, but it had a non-adjustable bridge. A cheapo preset thing! Besides the bolt on neck on the Epi, I figured the electronics and pickups would be cheaper too. But, for about 100 bucks, I considered buying the Epi and swaping out the electronics. Instead, I paid a bunch more and got the Gibson. It had the same old cheapo pre-set bridge! What the F#$@!?! For $600 more, it couldnt get a decent bridge!

After the disappointment of the bridge (I know, get over it), the tone was what I was after. Its fantastic through my vintage Fender amps. (Bassman, Twin). Great smooth break up and enough sustain for me. The Clean tone is no Strat, but the Junior has a deeper character. Perfect for the Blues and Roots Rock I play. I do get a little amp buzz, but its not a bad ground. If I move around it goes away. Right now, this is my gigging axe. I'm still looking for the perfect guitar, and this one is close.

The set up was surprisingly good. Intonation was perfect on 3 of 6 strings, which is pretty good with that funky bridge. The strings were probably set up average. I'd like the strings at the higher frets a tad bit lower. One very surprising thing is a hand print in the finish! Its a perfect print of the side of a hand. Its under the top coat of finish, so there is no rubbing it out. Very disappointing for a Gibson. I believe guitars are unique, and have their own personalities, so I didn't return it.

The Junior seems rock solid and nothing has broken. I always take a backup, so that is not a problem. So far, no premature broken strings. The finish seems substantial. No problems yet.

I never havce had to get it fixed. I've never had to deal with Gibson. But, from other reviewers, I figure I don't want to.

I've been playing for 35 years and have mostly been a Fender player. The last few years, I've experimented with humbuckers, trying to get a fuller sound. The Junior is a good compromise, with its fuller richer sound. I have a Tele and an Epi Sheraton and AlleyKat. The Tele has overwound pickups, but none can match the sound of the Junior. Itsnot overly neck heavy and very comfortable to play. I would say the sound is fabulous, the features are minimal and the fit and finish is average to good.

Standard production line Les Paul Junior. An exclusive to Merchant City Music. Made in 2005, according to the serial number. A bit odd, the Gibson site says their guitars have 8 digit serial numbers, whereas mine has 9. Oh well. It's got 22 frets, two controls, volume and tone. The knobs were black, didn't like that, they're now gold. The guitar is "vintage sunburst". Basically looks like a burnt egg. Vintage-tastic!

It weighs 7lbs 8oz, which I assume is good for a Junior. No idea though. Feels light to me.

1 P90 pickup. It's all you need! If you can't do it with singlecoils, you shouldn't do it at all, as my mother used to say. It has nitro laquer, which is nice. Smells fruity!

The tuners are ugly, but they work nicely. May change them if I get bored. One thing that bothers me about this guitar is it was listed on the site where I got it as having a fat ol' '50s neck, but it's actually got a '60s one. Bah. Not a big issue, but a bit annoying.

It included a PLUSH gigbag and a bag of nice accessories, which was unexpected. A lovely cable was included, and a nice strap.

I'll give this 8 for the neck issue, but it's got all you really need. If you want shitloads of extras go somewhere else.

The suits my musical style down to the ground, baby. I like big, fat, ballsy rock tones, for use in many many many varitions of rock, and punk as well. I use a Roland Microcube and a nice new Vox AC30CC. In the Microcube it sounds best with the tone on around 7, it's horribly bright on 10. Sounds kinda like a tele on horrible mode in the 'cube. In the AC30 it's a different kettle of fish. It's FAT and it's got more balls than a football factory. EXACTLY what I was looking for. It also twangs if you play it right, which is nice. It can do surf as well, if you dial it in. This gets a 10 right away.

One limiting thing is the lack of neck pickup. I wouldn't have bought this guitar if it did have one, but a good neck pickup gets things the bridge can't. However, while I'm playing it, I frankly don't care. Suprisingly versatile, as well.

Guitar was set up perfectly by Merchant City Music in Glasgow. Intonation flawless, as far as I can tell, and the action was medium, which is what I like. I don't shred, yesee, I like to sound good. Thinking about it, you probably could shred on this guitar, but the upper fret access ain't too hot.

It came with 10s, that's whats on it at the moment, but I'll go up to 11s when I get some. The local shop were out of stock.

Pretty flawless finish as well. Pretty ugly neck glue joint when looking down on it while playing, but I don't care. The Nitro is fantastic. Never owned Nitro before, and it feels great, but is worth it for the smell alone!

This guitar would easily withstand playing live. Probably take a backup anyway, nice having lots of guitars to use. The hardware is solid as well. The wraparound bridge is compesnated for the strings and is solid as a rock. Finish is solid too. It's currently mark-less. I've dropped this twice from standing so far, and there's not a scratch.

Strap buttons are solid, might put straplocks on it though just for the hell of it. I'd depend on this guitar.

Never had to deal with Gibson.

I've been playing for about a year and a half. I also own a Gretsch G3150 Streamliner, made in Korea. This is my first Gibson, and it's fantastic. I'd buy another Gibson, despite all the rubbish I hear talked about the Quality Control issues.

If it were stolen, I would rub the theif's testicles between two coarse bricks. Then, assuming I never got it back, I'd buy another. I'd be tempted to try out the Custom Shop models as they've got the thicker neck and I like that sort of thing.

I love its tone and pretty flawless playability. I dislike the neck, but hey, I live with it. I compared it to no other guitars, just ordered it online. Glad I did. I was eyeing up a Les Paul Junior for ages, and when they were aviable online I ordered without hesitation, no mucking around. I think I got a good one, not sure. They may all be this good!

So, yeah. If you're reading this you're probably wanting a Les Paul Junior. For goodness sake buy one. If you're in the US, MF have an Exclusive on them, if you're in the UK, www.guitarstrings.co.uk have an exclusive on them. They're affordable, stripped down rockers that sound fantabulous. And they say "Gibson" on the headstock if you get off on that. You really can't go wrong with this guitar.