Gibson Les Paul Studio

I aquired a Gibson Studio Gem Series. With the P90s it's unbelievable the dynamics and harmonics I am able to get from this guitar. By aquired I mean that I traded straight across a Vintage Gibson 335S Custom for the LP Studio Gem. For us it was a win win deal even though the 335S is worth more than the LP.

It suits my style as I play a lot of blues flavored licks.

Tight and awesome finish. It is Amethist.

Well built and heavy like a Les Paul should be.

I've always played Gibson and Fender with either Fender or Marshall amps. I've been playing for 43 years. Gibson is the best.

This is a 2000 as far as I can tell. It has the half size inlays which look ridiculous. What were they thinking in Nashville? The neck is a Gibby boatbottom which is just meaty enough. I love it. Everything is Stock. Came with the Gibby case (brown one w/pink veil & plush.) The finish is black with chrome hardware.
I sold a 1990 LP Standard, bought this one and pocketed a nice chunk of cash for other projects. I'm totally satisfied with the choice I made to switch to the Studio version.

I'm using either a Fender Blues Deluxe RI (2006) or a Laney LC 30 with this guitar. Pedals are Bad Monkey and Jimi Hendrix purple Wah-Wah. The Studio has a much warmer tone than the LP Standard and it seems to sustain a lot more. Pickups are 490 and 498 so that's all alnico.
With the Fender (2 X 6L6)it really kills. I use the volume controls a lot when using the Fender because that's just how a Blues Deluxe has to be played. There is no loss of tone with the volumes at 3-5 save for a little bit of the very top end. Those 6L6 tubes are the best! Love 'em.
With the Laney (4 EL 84 tubes) it shimmers more and has a depth of tone to die for through a Celestion GB speaker. Really, it is just beautiful. Great for jazz and works well for a more country sound, too.
Overall the tone of the LP Studio is all I ever wanted. My preference is warm and smooth tone with good sustain, whether clean or overdriven. I find the sound is better than the LP Standard I sold.

I've owned 5 Gibby Les Pauls over the years including this one. Ironically, this is my favorite and the cheapest one. I highly recommend this model to anyone who loves the warmer side of the Les Paul tone curve. Bear in mind that it has a thicker neck but you'll probably like it just as much or more than the slim neck.

Made in the USA in 2008, 22 frets, mahogany top, back and neck with rosewood fret board, 2 volume, 2 tone controls and three way selector. Burtsbucker pickups, "green key" kluson tuners, neck is somewhere between 50's and 60's slim taper. Mine is worn cherry finish. Comes with Gibson's snake skin case.

I play mostly Gospel music, Contemporary Christian and some Blues. I have a Crate V50 tube amp that I play through and a Fender Princeton 650 (with DSP), clean, no effects pedals. I love the sound of this guitar. I was told when I bought it that it probably would do very well for the type of music I play but it is perfect. Don't let a salesperson tell you what you do or don't like. The Burstbucker are wonderful and you can definetely tell a difference in the sound due to the nitro finish it has. If you know how to adjust your amp and your guitar, you can get endless tone with this guitar.

This is the worn cherry studio model, so don't expect it to be a stunning beauty. It is what it is. I like mine. The action and intonation were good, the pick guard seems a little weak (I may just take it off), the nut will need to be filed out a bit, but everything else seems to be very good. I've never had any issues with the kluson tuners on any of my guitars, it holds tune very well, maybe I'm just lucky. I'm giving an 8 for this section because, like I said, it is what it is. If you're looking for something that will turn heads, then you're going to have to spend three times what I did, maybe four. I think for the price, the action, fit and finish are very good on this guitar. Besides, you're gonna pay this much for a guitar made in China or Korea, and MOST of them, just don't have the tone that this does.

This is a solid guitar, except the pick guard (like I said above). You cand depend on it but I wouldn't gig without a back up no matter what kind of guitar I had as my number one. The strap locks on Gibsons are small for some odd reason but you can change them or if you have an expensive one or vintage LP that you don't want to drill into, you can take a small rubber washer from the local hardware store and put it on over the strap button after you put on the strap and it will hold nicely.

Ok. I've used them a couple of times to check serial numbers and such, but not for warranty or anything like that.

I've been playing for 30 years. I've owned them all and some I wish I had never let get away. This is a keeper. I've had Gibson Custom shop LP's, Vintage Re-Issues Gibsons, Deluxe Strats and Teles, MIM Strats... Pretty much everything from Western Auto (if you can remember that) to high end custom shop stuff. This is an excellent guitar for the money. I used to say that I would never buy one of these cause the finish was so basic but, you know what? It sounds better that my Custom Shop LP which cost more than four times what this one did and I'm not afraid I will get a scratch on this one. It's a working man's axe. Play one and see for yourself, it's worth the money and there's no comparison on the sound.

It's a les paul!!!!! but here the are anyway!


BODY
Top Species: Maple top
Back Species: Mahogany



FINGERBOARD
Fingerboard Species: Rosewood; Ebony on Classic/Alpine Wht
Scale Length: 243/4"
Number of Frets: 22
Inlays: Pearloid trapezoid



ELECTRONICS
Neck Pickup: 490R Alnico magnet humbucker
Bridge Pickup: 498T Alnico magnet humbucker
Controls: Two volume, two tone, three-way switch



CASE
Interior: White Plush
Case Exterior: Black Reptile Pattern Hardshell
Silkscreen: Silver Gibson USA logo
NECK
Species: Mahogany
Profile: 59 Les Paul Rounded
Nut Width: 111/16"
Neck Joint Location: 16



HARDWARE
Plating Finish: gold
Tailpiece: Stopbar
Bridge: Tune-o-matic
Knobs: Black Speed
Tuners: Tune-o-matic


Strings: NOT EVEN SLINKY'S .13-56

She's is one sexy mother*******!!

I play in a stoner/thrash/metal band and this is the best guitar i have ever played. i have used ESP, Fender, BC Rich, Jackson to name a few but nothing compares to this guitar.

I use this guitar through a Peavey 5150 and Marshall Mode 4 cab and it sounds great. It has so much balls, even with stock pickups it cuts through like a knife. The other guitarist in my band plays a Gibson flying V through a dual rec/genz benz cab and this les paul sh*ts all over it (ok i am a bit biased, but it ******** does ok!!)

When i'm playing on the lead channel this guitar demolishs walls, melts faces, leaves people running for there lives. Then i wind the volume down, switch to clean and all of a sudden it sounds like an angel. People start crying and reminencing about the good old days.. If I switch it to the neck Pickup the old boy down the road brings his rocking chair and starts singing about his woes.

This guitar has as much filth/lushness as you could want.

Best guitar ever..................who know;s.....but for me.....

I ******** LOVE IT!!!

Perfect no faults what so ever!!

to early to say, but this guitar will outlive me thats for sure!!

I have been playing for about 15 yrs and as i mentioned previously i've used a variety of Guitars but nothing quite like this.

If some one stole i would remove their testicles with a blunt knife. Then go and buy another one.

2005 Wine Red Gibson Les Paul Studio (Gold Hardware)
Made in USA.

I won't go into the detail, as it's the same as everyone else said.

I got this guitar used. The pick-ups are not the greatest you can get from Gibson (obviously) but I do like the sound I get from the Bridge Pick-Up when I have my distortion pedal on. I would rather a Seymour Duncan Jazz in the neck.

I run this through a Marshall Microstack with an Old Digitech Death Metal pedal. Gives me a really good Thrash / Old School Death Metal sound. Perfect for what I play.

The pick-ups are really quite on this guitar, even when I have my distortion cranked there is very little noise.

This is where alot of people have problems with these guitars. It seems to be pretty hit and miss with flaws in this Model from Gibson. I bought it used, so I do not know how it was set-up from the factory. The guy I purchased it from said he had a pro-setup done on it, so there is no fret buzzing. The neck is straight and the fret board has no humps and the finish is fine. (Few dings in it, but that is to be expected from a 5 year old guitar.) The previous owner said that the input jack was really flimsy when he bought the guitar, so he had it replaced.

I have owned a 2000 Gibson SG Standard, 2003 Gibson Les Paul Custoum and 1998 Gibson Explorer. Compared to all those Gibsons, I would say that this guitar holds its ground. Obviously, it's not as flashy looking at the Custom and has weaker pick-ups and "lesser" body wood. But overall it was worth the money.

My advice is make sure you inspect the guitar closely before you purchase it. Especially the neck and fretboard, that seems to be where people have the most problems with the Studio's.

*My rating is based on the guitar after having a Pro-Setup.

This guitar has been kicking for 5 years, un-gigged and is in great condition still. Few dings and scratches, nothing I can't live with.

The hardware has some wear on it, the finish is coming off on the bridge and bridge pick-up corners. (Picking hand rubbing against it, palm muting alot :P).

The finish on this guitar is beautiful, really nice color and goes really well with the gold hardware. I can't find any flaws in the finish.

I would definitely use this at a gig without a backup, it's a solid guitar and well worth the money spent on it.

Never had to deal with Gibson. But I have always heard good things from people who have.

I have been playing for about 8 years on and off. (Didn't play very much during college, started playing daily again about 3 years ago.) I currently own a Jackson Dinky, BC Rich Jr V and this guitar. I have owned other Gibsons and Epiphones in the past.

If it was stolen, I would probably buy a Les Paul Standard or Custom. Just because I don't know if I would find another Studio that is as good as this one or without any flaws.

I love the look of the guitar and the feel of the neck is great. Has really good action and the pick-ups are decent enough for what I need right now. If I gig this gutiar, I will be putting some Seymour Duncans in it.

I don't really hate anything about it. I hate the fact that people have had such problems with these guitars. For a $1000 price range guitar from a USA made Company, there shouldn't be so many problems with the neck on these guitars. I'm glad I got lucky and found a good one.

2002 USA made ebony 22 fret 490 498pickups, V V T T controls. Durable Gibson Case with pinky lining and coffin blanket.

Nice understaed les Paul look, the chrome on the tuning pegs, pickup covers and other hardware looks sharp on the 'blacked out' LP body. Nice combo

Sound is very good. NOT near as full as my standard fitted with burstbuckers so this guitar is NOT a suitable tone alternative. The pickups are quiet, tone controls are quiet. This guitar is a bit beatup and its has taken it all. BLOWS AWAY the newer really light feeling studios - night and day difference in feel. The stock 490R pickup is too woofy and moddy to my liking. I have found I have to tweak my amp a bit to be happier with that sound. I'd BET slapping burstbucker pros would make this a GREAT alternative to LP standard at 1/2 the price :-) There are weaknesses to the stock pickups but thrugh a Mesa Boogie or other real tube amp, i bet it will suffice most purposes.

everything on the guitar works as it should. been dropped a few times due to the tiny strap knobs, and the neck is not snapped just dinged. bridge is slightly mis placed i.e. 1st string does not go over the saddle right in the middle where as on a standard the bride to pickup pole alignment is perfect. The saddes come 'non-notched' for this purpose i believe, for the less care in the process on teh floor. Everything else is good and accurate i..e placement of nut, strings run parallel to the fretboard edges nicely ... fret edges just needed a bit of emery cloth to improve the feel, which is nothing that a half-decent setup tech would do for you anyways.

very solid guitar, can easily gig without a backup

been playing 25 years. Was curious about the "Studio is just like a Les Paul" and while the feel is similar the mojo of the new burstbuckers just is not there; A good solid usable guitar that stays in tune. I would bet, puting in burstbucker pros would give the studio a real run for the Standards money, with some finishing and fit issues. I have seen some very cheap feeling later models 2007 and 2008 and they are very very different thant the older heaveier ones. For someone playing in questionable neighbourhoods and don't want to see their 3,000 standard get stolen, no one in the crowd would really know you were playing "just a studio".

Mine is a Wine Red Les Paul Studio, about 3 or 4 years old, bought it used, but as new condition. Came with the original Gibson hard case. Usual standard Studio spec - 490R neck pickup, 498T bridge. Very nice maple top - lovely wood grain, just beautiful finish when the light catches it right.

Well, it came with the standard 490R and 498T pickups, which I'm afraid to say, are utterly dreadful. I tried and tried to get good tones from them, endlessly tweaking the heights, but in the end gave up. I carefully removed the pickups and installed a set of Sheptone Tribute PAFs. Light years better. The best thing I can say about the 490R and 498T...at best they will make your guitar sound like it is out of tune. At worst...better not go there...suffice to say they are muddy, clangy, noisy, just plain awful. Why anyone who cares about their tone would leave these pickups in the guitar I don't know. I use my Les Paul with a Peavey Valveking Royal 8, which I have upgraded with a Celestion Super 8 speaker, and Groove Tubes. It sounds great now it has the Sheptones in. The neck pickup can be really thick and creamy, but without getting muddy like the horrendous 490R. Good variety of tones from this guitar, just tweak the knobs a bit. The bridge sounds brighter as is usual, but it is never harsh or piercing, just perfect. My advice, if you buy this guitar - CHANGE THE PICKUPS FOR SOMETHING BETTER.

This is, sadly, where the guitar falls down - very badly. The major weaknesses are the fretboard, nut, and pickup selector switch. Firstly, the fretboard - and this is my biggest gripe with this guitar - the quality of the rosewood used for the fretboard is downright awful, and absolutely shocking for a ??1000 guitar. What I mean is that it is rough as bricks - simply not smooth at all, it has little ridges and striations from the darker stripes in the rosewood which give a really rough texture to the fretboard. This is in my opinion REALLY, REALLY bad. My ??300 Aria Pro II PE has a higher quality rosewood fretboard than this - nice and smooth and dark, and frankly, it wipes the floor with the Gibson. The fretboard on the Les Paul is so rough that it makes smooth bending nigh on impossible. I've tried polishing and cleaning the fretboard but to no avail. The wood is just too poor quality to allow smooth playing. I didn't notice at first, but there's some really poor quality workmanship on the frets, or more precisely the wood next to the frets - which on some frets is bevelled slightly parallel to the frets and all the way along the fret across the fingerboard. This looks like shoddy workmanship to me, but luckily doesn't affect playability to badly (but that isn't great anyway). The action was badly set up, but I bought this guitar 2nd hand so thats just how the previous owner had it set up. Maybe he liked it like that, but it wasn't right for me. The factory standard nut on the guitar is shocking - the high strings constantly bind in it, such that accurate tuning is almost impossible, and when you do get it in tune, it stays in tune for all of about 20 seconds worth of playing. I replaced the nut with a hand crafted bone one, which is a vast improvement on the stock. Why Gibson puts such awful nuts on their instruments is a mystery. The nitro-cellulose finish is very nice and shiny, but beware - it is high maintenance and marks easily. It needs frequent polishing to keep it looking good. The neck also becomes very sticky quickly which really slows down your playing. In summary; to get this guitar set up properly, you will probably have to be prepared to put some work in on it - replace the nut for something better like bone or man-made ivory. Be careful to inspect the fretboard closely and pay particular attention to the quality of the wood and smoothness. Gibson stuck a real poor quality plank on this one. It's let the guitar down so badly, I'm going to sell it. Shame on you Gibson. This is more like a ??200 guitar in this state. All of my so-called 'cheap' Korean made guitars are vastly superior. I think that says it all really.

Guitar is very solid feeling and heavy. Electronics seems durable, except for the dodgy pickup selector switch which WILL work loose in time. Whether I would use it to gig without a backup is irrelevant, because I wouldn't use it to gig with in the first place. I'd use my Aria Pro II PE Anniversary, which is a vastly superior guitar at a fraction of the price of this Gibson. In all honesty, the Aria wipes the floor with the Gibson Les Paul. The finish will scratch and mark easily, but that's somewhat inevitable with a nitro finish.

No contact with them really, except a question about bridge height and tailpiece height which they replied to promptly by email.

I've been playing for 10 years. All my other guitars are Japanese made or Korean made. All are cheaper by a long way than the Gibson and all bar none are better, by far. Only time will tell if I will grow to love this guitar. It is nice to have that Gibson name...and it's a real Les Paul...it's just such a let down to what I was expecting. I thought I was upgrading to a superior instrument, but what I was actually doing was getting an expensive piece of crap. With the really inferior quality fretboard, I see no way to get this guitar playing like my Aria's do. Save your money and get a Japanese or Korean made guitar. Much better made, much higher quality AND much cheaper.

two humbuckers, fatter neck, 2 tone and 2 volume pots, gold hardware, black.

Sound is thick. Play through a Genz Benz Black Pearl with a Keeley modded DS-1. Output on the pickups is very hot, very clear and very good for rock and metal. Moves a LOT more air than my strat.

Everyone's complaining about this area - I have zero complaints. This guitar was set up PERFECTLY with 10's, right out of the box. Frets are perfect, tuners perfect, nuts perfect. The slightly shorter scale makes 10's bend like 9's on a strat which means you get a thicker, meatier tone without the rigid feeling. It's light -lighter than my hot rod 50's strat (which has a nitro-finish as well so it's not just the poly).

I'm giving an 8 here because of the headstock problem - they do break, and it doesn't take much. My SG fell face down on the carpet and the headstock broke. And that's supposedly the new, stronger headstock design. You could play cricket with a strat with no ill-effect.

Don't know.

This is a fantastic guitar. I'm normally a strat guy, but many, many strats are garbage and you really have to search and pay a lot to find a good one. This guitar is light, feels great, sounds much more "in your face" than a strat and costs as much as an american strat which, in my mind, makes this guitar a way better value.
Most beginners don't realize how much the little things count. For instance, any "real" guitar has a nitro finish. If it doesn't, you're playing a hunk of plastic with a pickup in it. The fret job, nut precision and neck quality is also crucial - I've had plenty of thousand dollar strats that fretted out when bending somewhere past the 12th when set up low, and that makes the guitar pretty much useless.
As far as LP's go, the holes in the body cavity make a big difference with weight and balance, and the maple top is a huge part of the sound.
This guitar has it all.

Same basic design Gibson has used since the 50's no surprises here. But that's what I was looking for a no frills Gibson Les Paul.

Did get far enough along in my evaluations of 4 different new Les Paul Studios to actualy plug one in.

Here is where the problem is. I went to a local guitar shop with money in hand with the goal of buying a new Les Paul Studio. Of the four they had in stock I could not find one that did not have major flaws. Major enough that I did not even bother pluging in the guitars to check out how they sounded. One had a huge hump in the fretboard around the 14'th fret. Another had a twist in the neck. The third one I checked out had a bow so bad and action so high that I wondered if Gibson or the guitar shop ever did any testing/setup at all. The fourth had many finish flaws. In addition to these obvious flaws all had very poorly dressed frets with many buzzing and intonation problems and very poorly cut nuts rendering them basicly unplayable. These guitars would best be suited for stripping them of their electronics and burning the bodies.

Don't know although they kinda felt like toys compared to my 1990 Standard.

N/A

Overall the whole experience has left me a bit upset. I was ready to buy and money was no object but I couldn't find ONE Studio that was not a complete mess and these were brand new 2008 and 2009 models at a well known major retail Guitar Center. Should have been factory rejects. I don't know what's going on with Gibson these days but I buy a new guitar at least once a year and I won't be buying a new Gibson ever again. What a shame.

I think just about everybody knows what a Les Paul is and what it looks like, right? Mine was made in 2005, Nashville TN. Mahogany neck and body (with a laminated maple top). 490R, 498T humbuckers, nitrocellulose finish (love it btw). Tune-o-matic bridge, gibson deluxe tuners, two volume knobs - one for each pickup, two tone knobs (cuts off treble, doesn't add bass) - one for each PU

I play mostly blues, blues-rock, garage-punk-rock and any kind of simple, fast and loud music I can come up with. It is no accident that two of six strings are E's and that is my favourite octave. Playing it thru a fender blues junior using a digitech hot-head distortion.

This is the 4th guitar I've owned and it beats all the others like a drumstick. You can play just about anything with this guitar, all you have to do is turn the knobs and voila!

The sound ranges from gentle finger-picking that reminds me of a certain mountain spring on a hot day - way up to a crunchy fat tone or ear-tearing falsettos, distortion mayhem, sometimes I get so thrilled while playing I have to tame myself not to break it in pieces.

I have never played a guitar that can express your emotions in realtime better than this one, you can really slide through the songs, sound angry when the time comes, then get calm and moody, then get jolly and ridiculous... it responds to the way you feel and whatever you need to express at the time, this guitar can be the medium.

Bought mine second hand in a TERRIBLE condition.
When I saw it I almost cried, the guy clearly has had no idea how to take care of your gear (intonation completely botched, rusty strings) I spent quite some time cleaning it up, adjusting the action and intonation. Neck was set up right, obviously the mark didn't fiddle around with the truss-rod (thank god). The finish has a few scratches and one visible flaw, but the wood is pretty like a picture and the guitar has a overall road-worn look.

We play every Friday and I practise every day and this guitar feels and looks like it will last (outlive me perhaps!). I intend to get the finish fixed, it's supposed to be easier to re-finish a nitrocel. than a polyureth. - donno.

I do a lot of heavy strumming, bending, altogether I like to give the bastard a hard time and the strings hold the tune perfectly unless the conditions (humidity, temperature) are too high/too low. I use and recommend straplocks, the buttons are quite subtle and I like to move a lot while playing.

I sent some mails to Gibson CS re: stopbar height and they told me what I needed to know. no prob here.

Bought it used, so good-bye gibson warranty.

I've been playing guitar since I was a kid, but my first electric came in 2004 from my first full-time salary - a Squier strat. Prior to this I've owned a Fender Tele (disliked the tin-can sound) and Gretsch Electromatic hollowbody (too flimsy and weak).

Once I played with a fella who used the same amp, we were playing without any effects and I f**king drowned his Fender Strat although I had my amp and guitar set way below his volume. Sorry Fender, but this is a REAL guitar. I also heard that guitars with a glued-in neck have a better sustain than with a screwed-in neck - ??

I hope Cuco(pron. choo'chow - I call it after a brand of a really heavy slovak red-currant wine because it resembles the colour) will stay with me as long as I live but if stolen (or accidentally smashed) I hope I would get the money together for a 2008 standard.

I really like the way it is built, and the wood texture is beautiful I think. And you can adjust it to your own needs - don't be afraid to experiment with the pickup height, string gauge, action - the sound differs slightly when you change the setup.