Gibson Les Paul Standard

'Iced Tea' finish (lovely amber sunburst) with great stripes. Burstbucker Pro pickups. All the features are pretty well known so I won't go into all the detail

I play in a 'classic rock' covers band (some self-penned songs too) covering 1960s - 2000s. Until now, my main guitar has been an exceptionally lovely 70s Aria LP with Bare Knuckle 'Crawler' pickups, and I was happy with that. But the chance to get my dream guitar (this Gibson) came up and I took it. Let me tell you, the difference between my copy - excellent as it is - and the real thing is very noticeable. The Burstbucker Pros are not as powerful as the Bare Knuckle Crawlers (still awesome pickups, by the way), but sound sweeter through my valve amp. The guitar sounds very full and rich, with perfect mids and very clear highs too. The tonal balance is superb; the sustain is fantastic; it cleans up beautifully when you back off the volume but with no loss of richness. Every string sounds out clearly and evenly, and whilst I've commented on the output of the pickups, stamp on an o'drive pedal and the roar and scream is there in abundance for heavier rock solo work. In short, it really is my dream guitar - even better than I thought (after playing a number over the years). This is an awesome sounding guitar.

Very very good. I've just bought it at 6 months old (from a mate - who I was with when he bought it new). The only marks are small belt-buckle blemishes on the back (and this will continue no doubt, due to the nitro-cellulose finish). My guitar has the 50s neck (fatter), and is very comfortable indeed to my hands. It has a beautiful 'tiger-stripe' on the bookmatched maple cap and looks stunning - I'm getting loads of comments from others on that too. The action is a tad higher than on my Aria (which is incredibly low) but I like it - it seems to work very well. There is a tiny buzz on the top E at the 17th fret (!), but only acoustically - no sign of it when amplified. The top E, though, can 'zing' and squeal a bit when "going for it" - I'll have to keep an eye/ear on that.

I haven't had the guitar for long so in all honesty I can't give a rating. But experience from friends supports the general truth that quality is quality, and unless you're unlucky a Gibson Les Paul is solid as a rock. The finish will wear but with care will only do so gracefully and tastefully. Mine has strap-locks on for peace of mind. I gigged it for the first time last night and no problems whatsoever; I don't foresee any either. I'd never gig without a backup, but that is mainly to cater for string breakages; I have no reason to think this guitar will let me down.

No idea.

I've been playing for 30 years, never able to (justifiably) afford a Les Paul until now. I'm like a dog with two d*cks - this guitar is everything I hoped for - and more. I mainly play it through an Ashdown Peacemaker 60w valve combo (great amp, contrary to some dodgy reviews on this site) and my other guitars are Aria, Gordon Smith and Squier. No pedals except overdrive - Les Paul + valves - brilliant, who needs to muck that up with effects? It plays great, sounds great and looks great and so I couldn't want for anything more. If it got stolen, I would be heartbroken and wouldn't replace it with anything other than another good Les Paul (when I could afford it).

Les Paul Standard, 60's Neck (nice and thin), Trans Amber, Single Cut, Tune-0-matic bridge, Gibson delux tuners, 24.75 Scale, 22 frets, Alnico Burstbucker V pickups. AA Flamed mapel top with Mahogony body and neck, the usual features off the shelf.

This one has a light body as Mike describes, only 7lbs 11oz compared to the normal 10 lbs plus, yes, a weight relieved body with hollowed out cavities, a semi hollow body in other words.

Sent 1st one back, as ithad a major flaw on the neck where the binding of the neck meets the sanded round of the neck, where my thumb runs along. Can't be seen by the eye but gets sore after a while.

lookin for that rich full Les Paul sound
playin in a 3 piece using a Parker Fly Classic through a Boss GT5 floor unit into a Boogie F50.

want a Guitar that I can use straight into the Amp with little more than a Wah pedal.
it should give me the classic sounds I require.

only worry is the action and the lighter weight of the Paul, not sure yet if it has " The Tone" its famous for.

fret buzz, rattles almost everywhere on the E & A strings,
high action, the neck looks ok to me but poor action. waiting to have it set up by a pro.

i hope this can be fixed with a lower action or else it goes back too.

if anyone can re assure me that this can be achieved that would be great.

action and finish seem to be problematic and vary from super to brutal, be careful, don't stand for the old hand built unique story. I've played better feeling cheapies for under $300.

cellulose finish can be softer than the plastics that others use, the neck feels a little sticky as did my SG X when new. It got better.
strap buttons a joke. use some form of strap lock system.

emailed them a few times. they eventually said that all the newer Standards are now being weight relieved and only the Customs will be full 10lbs. they were friendly enough oncre they knew what I was about.

playin over 20 years.
did ask about neck and other finish issues but was left down.

should have insisted on a pro set up with lowish action and no buzz z

be careful of the finsh quality espicially the neck binding, action and setup.

remember that most new standards made from September 2006 are weight relieved, good for the back but make sure u are happy with the Tone.

I sent back my first one ant think that it played and sounder better even though it was lihe the Leg of A Dog the way the neck, frets and neck binding was finished.

still, it looks the part and Some will say Sounds it too even the light ones. up to you.

The usual Les Paul features that we all know. maple cherry burst - mahogany back and neck - burstbuckers. This guitar is very light, and there is a reason for this which I feel is important to share. Read on.

Almost everything I play is blues or based on blues, so Robert Johnson to Cream. I play in the house at very low volume, and it's been a challenge to get quality sound this way. I've had the most success with: various Tech 21 products, Peavey Classic 30 with volume pedal in the loop, Fender Cyber Champ. The burstbuckers are a pleasure. They have a brightness and edge without being harsh that my old [50] ears crave. The guitar feels alive and resonant and has the famous sustain.

This is the reason for my posting. I've been reading these posts for several years and have found them very helpful. I feel a responsibility to share my experience with this guitar. I mentioned the light weight. Gibson will tell you that the body is "weight relieved". Well this body is HOLLOW. How do I know? Because I extracted the little scraps of wood that were ROLLING around inside. NOT inside the control cavity, but inside the hollow inaccessible main body. I removed the bottom strap button and enlarged the hole. Yes I know that I voided the warrenty. The noise made by the scraps rolling around made this instrument feel like a fragile glass vase that had broken inside. Otherwise the guitar feels and plays beautifully and the fit and finish is excellent.

The guitar is very well put together with quality components. But the traditional Les Paul solidity is not there because of the condition descibed above. And yes, this is a Standard made at the end of 2006. Of course the light weight can be seen as a good thing.

Gibson customer support was courteous and said that weight relief was being done differntly now, but was "hard to explain" Well I can expain it - the body is HOLLOW.

Been playing 43 years. Have a Tele, Elitist 335, various amps descibed above, a bunch of pedals. Bought this at the Mega store we all know. Could not hear the little scraps rolling around because of all the NOISE in the store. I agonized over keeping this instrument, but it really does play and sound beautifully. I just decided to fix it myself. I posted this to make people aware of what they may be getting. It's not the traditional Les Paul body.

FINALLY!!

well after all those months (a year and a half to be exact), I finally got what i would have wished for if I had only one wish to make.... a LEs PAul!!! God knows how hard i worked for it... and now she is giving me its reward...

First of all, I live in Pakistan, (nowhere near where Gibsons are made or even the dealers). I couldn't find any way to bring it home... until i found this guy who was ready to get me the Gibson but for list prices (way too much). But my need was much more than what he asked for... any way ... you pay for what you get...

the thing just arrived a couple of days ago, so for "features",

Well, its HoneyBurst 60s neck, single cut.... God you know all of them.... unless, i want to state that the whole 3-way selector pickup and the 4 controls arte just genious. The case is awesome too, my code is 215 :P

well i am SO not in the mood to go through the features PLEASE forgive me..

NOW, the highlight.... when I was in the store, I played it unplugged first, sounds crispy, distinctive and beautiful unplugged. Then I plugged it into a fender amp... The clean stood out of the world, especilly the neck pickup... The distortion was not great.... This freaked me out... came to my flat, played through a 3 watter pocket amp, nice cleans, but the distortion just got worse... now I was a bit more freaked out.. BUT when I came home and plugged it into my 15 watter solid state amp, RANDY!!!!!!

now I could hear it in my room what all the fuss about les pauls was about...

Bridge pickup:-

Crunchy (and i mean ozzy ozbourne's crazy train's crucnh), deep, thick, bright... well everything that means 'good'. Perfect for rock n roll. sounds vintage, raw, disctinctive ... you know les pauls!

Neck pickup:-
Oh awesome, with a little gain and played above the 12th fret... perfect for your blues. SEXY

Both pickups on, I mostly do that for clean strumming chords, nothing more...

Well, I did not expect it to make a bad unknown 15 watt solid state amp such as that I have, shine! I dont think I'll sell my amp until I get a Marshall tube amp. (which is what les paul is made for actually).

I like the sustain on it, performing feedbacks and harmonics are easier than on my ibanez.. Oh, and by the way, it distorts amps easier than my Ibanez could ever do. the gain was on 5, which is like a clean channel and I was surprized, I was playing Back in Black. Performing feedbacks and harmonics are easier than ever.

A good amp will make it shine, duh! I still hear how im missing a tube amp... but hey, Marshalls are still around no?

It sounds FULL... RICH... in general... and the variety is nice too... you can go from blues to hard rock, no problem.... with out even touching your amp

well, for those who need an example of bands which this will sound like:-

AC DC, Green Day, Ozzy Ozbourne, GUns n' Roses, Trivium (well you need quality amps for quality metals), Ozzy Ozbourne, Thin lizzy, Led Zep, and all those who use LPs (how obvious, damn me)..

She is built for blues, classic and plain out rock, but will do a bit metal too. Heavy extreme metal is not exactly where this thing shines, neither is a great clean country tone. For everything else, nothing compares.

The action was set by the store I believe. Nothing short of low enough. I can hear fret buzzes, but thats not a great issue, will get that fixed soon. OH and by the way, The playability on it was TOTALLY unexpected!! I was expecting some huge neck, big body difficult to play like guitar but I tried it on and ... WHAT?!! Its just a cute little guitar with awesome playing!

Every fret is fun to play at. Bending is a joy; like another dude said "I am no longer fighting my guitar, I am actually playing it" which wasn't that obvious with my old crappy $200 ibanez (doesn't even desrve to written with the review of a classic)

Finish is great too. Just some microscopic flaws.. well there is a reason you buy PRS for. Sound? no, the Finish!

OK, for all those shmucks who are like "OH, this guitar is damn heavy, I think I am better off with an SG or whatever". Such people made me think like i would be holding a truck..

unexpectedly enough, LP turns out to be pretty nice on weight. It is a bit heavy ok? But nothig to put you off your playing appetite for her. So weight was unexpected too.

Oh, be careful, it reacts to temperature changes dastically, and to direct exposure to sun too. I have not had any experience with it, but the manual says so.

to scared to take it to a gig right now..

You cannot have it living for a long time unless you take great care of it.

Fucking guys.... wont reply to my emails. but i don't know how it works for the rest of you in US.

An achievement of my dreams... Its an emotional purchase really. Definately not at all worth the price I got it for (list price).. but its worthy of what you will pay.

If stolen or lost.... well don't really wana talk about it. I have worked hard enough to commit suicide if thats the case.

Once I pick it up, I don't feel like putting it down. Oh and please! if you are a sloppy player (noone admits it I know, but think about it) it won't instantly make you sound good. I witnessed an ok guitar player playing on my LP and i thought how I have wasted that much money... :D

You get what you pay for. There are other guitars out there that are worth the money (strats especially). But Les Paul is a Les Paul, and a Les Paul is, I think necessary for every guitarists to keep in their collection. Nothing can nail your les paul heroes better than a les paul itself.

as Zakk wylde once said "I'll play Les Pauls beyond forever".

At the end of the day.. Just a guitar man, which sounds and plays beautifully. DO try them out, I just got lucky without trying, but you guys should. Nothing can make me happier now (oh but a Marshall tube amp of course)

Les Pauls forever!

contace me if you need further info.

2005 Gibson Les Paul Std. in Heritage Cherry Sunburst finish. Funny though, the top really looks to be AAA instead of AA that it's supposed to be. Maybe somebody had a rough night and grabbed from the wrong pile that day...

Originally when I walked into my local Sam Ash dealer I had no intention of buying an LP. However, I spotted this beautiful LightBurst std and asked to play it. It was the one. I began paying it off in chunks as to not cause a problem at home. I already have WAY to many guitars. Then one day I get a phone call from Ash telling me the guitar was stolen! They also told me they had scoured their stores to find me a suitable replacement and to please come in and check this other one out.How bizarre is this?! So I did. When I saw the replacement I was absolutely floored. It was stunning. Anyway I had to replace a whole bunch of shit to get it to my liking. It sounded great but needed a few tweaks

I bought the guitar and changed a bunch of stuff on it. Removed pickguard as to not obstruct the incredible flame on the top. Installed all gold hardware including Grover 106G locking tuners, TonePros Superbridge with locking studs and Graphtech StringSaver saddles,Gibson custom shop NOS tailpiece and studs, jackplate, Dunlop dual design straplocks,and a matched calibrated set of Seymour Duncan Full Shreds in zebra. For the most part, the factory set-up was pretty good and my tech didn't have to do much to it. Everything was clean. Good solid workmanship

This guitar is a serious weapon, solid as a rock, and sweet as molasses. I only ever take one axe with me to gigs. All my guitars get beaten pretty good but they're also well maintained. Take care of your babies and your babies will take care of you. A little tough love goes a long way. 100% dependable. No worries.

Never had any major issues with Gibson, but everytime I had to call them they seemed eager to be helpful.

Playing for 34 yrs. This is, by far, my favorite. It goes Gibby LP> Boss TU-2> Dunlop Crybaby> Tech 21 GT-2> Rocktron Hush> Digitech X MultiChorus> Digitech X DigitalDelay> 2 Marshall 1959slpx heads> 2 Marshall 1960A cabs> 2 Marshall 1960B cabs> Monster Rock cable throughout. Talk about Mowdown At the Hoedown! This is a wonderful, solid instrument that is a great platform by itself or if you need to mod it to suit your needs. In my opinion, build quality is the most important thing and this guitar has it in spades. Rock solid!

Finish Translucent black, AA maple Top, mahogany body and neck,
2 burstbuckers pro humbuckers, 2 tone controls, 2 volume controlls, three way toggle switch

This ist definitively a rock guitar. John sykes and Doug Aldrich would be proud of it. There were several les paul standards in the music store, where I bought it. I tested them all, some of them had a nice bluesy sound, fantastic if you are into the led-zepp thing. The one I picked up had that punchy and loud tone, that fits perfectly for highgain shredding solo flights.

The action was very high, which is probably normal when a gibson leaves the factory. To me this is more or less a matter of taste. So this is nothing to be concerned about. The top is AA as I pointed out. The finish is translucent black, which means it is black and the grain of the top shines through.

No problems so far

No problems so far.

I play almost 30 years guitar. I own a fender strat 50 anniversary limited edition from 1996, which is absolutely great. I have also a hamer archtop limited blue. I think they only made 20 worldwide. I also own a gibson les paul standard DC from 1998 in trans green. My new one makes my collection "complete". Hopefully my next Gas - attack (gear aquisition syndrom) won`t come too soon.

The tone, the look, the feeling of the new one is great. I play it over two marshalls jcm 800. My favorite kind of music is classic rock. I listen to all kinds of rock (from jimi hendrix over led zepp to zakk wylde and steve vai). My new gibson gives me that classic rock tone.

This is an update to my previous review dated 12/1/2006. I purchased a new (not previously owned) 2001 Gibson Les Paul Standard in Honeyburst (read about it in the older post). One item I got wrong there was the neck profile - it was advertised as a "60's neck" but after I did some research, I learned that the 2001 Standard had only ONE profile: the '59 "rounded" which is between the fat early 1950's and the thinner 1960. It has a very lovable round character that gives it a vintage vibe.
After I got it, I took it to my local luthier for some repair and finishing work on the neck and bridge, plus a complete pro-setup.
I like the features - It's a LES PAUL!

It sounds even better than before. It really sings and sustains now. I can hit a chord and it rings out long and loud; individual notes stay with me through loooong and wiiiide string bends, and are still there for some tremolo at the end.

As I said before, the body was perfect, but the fretboard and bridge were a mess. I took it in to my local pro luthier (Mike Lull of Bellevue Washington) and he did the following:
*Installed a new bone nut, to replace the original nut which was cut too low.
*Gave the frets a crown and polish - they had tarnished from the guitar just sitting unplayed for six years.
*Reworked the fretboard to remove the glue that oozed out and dried, polished out some file marks, etc.
*Gave the trussrod a tweak to get it right.
*Installed new bridge saddles with properly spaced slots (Gibson paid for these on warranty).
*And a new set of .10 strings.

After I got it back, the thing came to life - the resonance had improved another 50% as did the sustain. It felt and sounded like a different guitar acoustically. Sounds great plugged into my Marshall combo. It really is a keeper now. The only little items are that two of the gold top-hat knobs would slide right off the shafts if turned over. Easily solved with a bit of putty. And there is something in the control cavity that rattles a tiny bit if I shake the guitar, and I can't find it with the cover off - seems to be under the metal plate. Not a big deal, but still shows the sloppy finish work from Gibson USA.
I should not have to get this much work done to a world-class guitar with a high price tag.

It feels as solid as a guitar can be. I do not care about the short neck tenon. The thing is rock solid. It's heavy, and feels like a serious piece that will easily outlast me. I don't gig with this - it's just for my own entertainment. I'll will this to my son when I depart.

I've called with questions, and they answer every time. They paid for the new bridge saddles on warranty, so I'm happy.

I love this guitar. It has the right LOOK, the right SOUND, and feels as solid as granite. As I said before, I play bass with gigging bands, and most of my gear is pro-level bass. With bass, I prefer to go with MODERN - which is far superior to vintage for my tastes.
I wanted an electric guitar just for the pleasure of playing at home or with friends. With guitar, I prefer the vintage vibe. The Les Paul is the one I have always wanted the most - I prefer the sound, look, and feel far more than Fenders. A Gibson Les Paul played through a Marshall amp is one of life's great pleasures, and is iconic - like a Harley Davidson, or my old 351 V8-powered Ford Torino. I just wish it had come from the factory finished like it is now.
If I ever lost my Les Paul, I would look for another one - maybe next time I'd look at a Historic '59 reissue.

it's a les paul standard... 50's neck, lightburst finish, pair of burstbucker pro V's, wieghs 9.8lbs, you know the drill....

I don't know why I kept bypassing the Les Paul...(probably the weight of the damn things!) but this is THE tone for my solid body axe.

I've been playing ES-335's for years now, and have grown very favorable to that rich gibson sound. However, the search for a solidbody guitar has been one of 3 years of trial and error. I've been searching for something specific, and I finally found it in the stock LP standard.

Clarity, but with big huge bottom filled bite, and some nice clear top mids. This guitar will sustain for days (hell you can feel it the first time you smack that E chord!) and even when playing 'expensive' jazz chords that only Andy Summers wouldn't find daunting with a pretty heavy overdrive you can still hear every note!

I play my electrics like an acoustic gutiar and I often use awkward chord voicings (piano trained...so powerchords aren't really part of my approach) and every other solid body I've plugged into just came out muddy or too bright... one extreeme or the other, but never int the middile.

The LP gives that all to me.

I give it an 8 because sometimes it can get a lil muddy when I really start to dig in, or too bright on the bridge pickup when I'm crashing on the first position open chords.

Installed a Graphtech 'Ghost' piezo bridge to get more tonal options out of the guitar (as my Es-335 has the same bridge...unfortunatly the Paul dons't like the piezo as much as my ES)

I did an action/intonation adjustment right off the shelf (which it was sitting on for two years), of course I tune a half-step down, use 12-52 gauge Elixers, and like my action closer than what Gibson's 'facotry spec' is, so it took a little work.

Once I was done I found a bit of a buzz in the first through thrid positions on the 3rd and 2nd strings. A lil fret crowning from my local tech helped solve that problem though, and all is well.

The finish is georgeous, and really shines depending on what the lighting conditions are. The flame top is stunning, and the light-burst finished really brings out that flame!

I lowered the pickups a bit to match the output of my ES-335.

A gibson isn't a gibson until the headstock is broken off.... it's just a rule of thumb that I have learned to accept....

n/a

I love Gibson's to death... I've grew up with the Fender flag flying high in my household, but my first guitar was an Epiphone, and since them almost all of them have been part of the Gibson family.

But getting to this LP has been a long and trecherous journey of pickups, solder, wiring, and headaches. I've gone with Fender HH Telecaster DLX's, Gibson SG Supreme (with super distortions), Gibson SG Standard (with P94's), to Godin LG's (both P90 and HMB's), to Fender '62 Tele Reissues (with EMGs or Noiseless's), and even rocked a PRS Custom 24 (stock...but the worst of the bunch for sound in my opinion...great playability though!....but the LP has got to have the most defined tone, and the one that compliments my ES-335 the best.

Stolen? Lost? Busticated? hell...as soon as I could afford it...another LP Standard would be coming home!

features are kickass. just like all the greats say (beck for example). you can coerce any sound out of this thing, you just have to know how and where to push it. it's like a supercar... just owning a ferrari doesn't make you a good driver. but put a good driver in a ferrari and watch out!!

tone and volume for each pickup. toggle switch. what more do you need? set neck. arch-top cap. setting the intonation on LPs has always been a little more tricky than a strat... but strats are kind of the LEGOs of the guitar world... remind you of your childhood, easy to switch around. fun to throw all over the place and smash. how many strats have you seen that HAVEN'T been modified?? and they're EASY as hell to modify too. i guess that's one draw to the fenders. LPs aren't quite so easy to modify, but they're rock solid and versatile... more the swiss army knife of the guitar world. require a tad bit of maintence and know-how, but it will get you out of any bind.

like all good guitars, get some strap-locks installed, strap on a long piece of leather, and grab your choice of pick, and you can rock outta the box (if you got any skills).

i play it through a cranked bassman or marshall.
only effects are a roger mayer spitfire (and a korg tuner).

ok, so like any guitar. SPEND THE EXTRA CASH AND GET IT SETUP RIGHT BY A LUTHIER!!! unless you're very good with setup yourself, just get it done right. NO guitar comes "setup" from the factory. each player likes his action lower/higher, pickups hotter/colder, etc etc. sometimes you just get lucky and find a strat hanging on the wall that's setup how you want it, so you may buy it. but maybe the next guy to come in hates the way it plays and puts it back. so if it isn't "perfect", take it to a luthier and tell him how you play (unless he knows you and knows how you play... then just take it in).

so my girl is the most beautiful, singing, resonating piece of wood i own. unlike a strat, if you're going to buy a LP you HAVE to search for one. all guitars are not made equal, and LPs are no different. you may be able to buy a $500 strat and be ok having it sound mediocre compared to his brothers, but you do NOT want to spend thousands on a mediocre LP when you could take a little extra time and search for "the one." i kept my 2000 in the bank for almost 2 years while i serached and played and listened. and when i found "her" it was the best feeling i've had associated with music. that's what the greats did, and that's where people fuck up. they didn't have the Les Paul myth to sway them back then... "ohhh LPs are so great." that shit didn't exist back then. they picked up an LP, plugged it into a cranked tube amp (and if the LP was a singer) said "OH MY GOD!! this fucker can SING. BAM!!! they were hooked.

so there was nothing wrong with the sound. i'm not not a tone-junky, like a lot of LP owners (looking for that gary moore, jimmy page, blah blah blah sound) but i do love some good tone. so the tune-o-matic ate my strings up. the nut, like all my other guitars pissed me off a bit on big bends. there wasn't anything wrong with the tailpiece but i was sick as hell of it falling off and hitting my guitar everytime i changed the strings that the tune-o-matic chewed the shit out of. the burstbuckers and 50s neck made for a thick meat and potatoes rock sound. but that's not what i wanted. i wanted nasal and grinding (ala billy gibbons). so cleaner pups were the verdict. so here's what i changed: grover tuners (i don't care about the holes on the back of the headstock where the originals were). tusq nut. polished frets. lowered the action on a new string saver tonepro bridge. aluminum locking tailpiece. pups went to a crystal clear Seymour Antiquity 6.5k. and then a Gibson '57 Plus neck. (i'm not really sure if i like the Antiquity that much yet... but the '57 plus is ROCK solid). 500k pots and RS guitar works wires/caps (so what if i changed the pots, i'd do it on a $2000 custom shop strat too). the results... exactly what I want. i don't care how you think it sounds. i don't care if all the collectors say it's not worth as much anymore. an LP is a guitar. guitars are not one size fit all. guitars are meant to play the shit out of... unless you're a collector... then you put them on your wall. don't be afraid to change it to how you want it... and then you can make music how you want it. period.

you can make almost any guitar setup the way you want it. my LP was super close to how i like em tho (that's why i bought her... DUH!!) so it wasn't too hard to do the extra bit of tweaking. LP standard appointments are enough to make any guitarist's mouth water.

built like a pornstar

i don't care... all large companies are pricks. and some small companies suck ass too.

a million. no, just kidding. but to me,it's my dream guitar, cuz i made it a search and a quest for the guitar that made my ears and fingers happy. and she's it. she's just great. more than money or metal or wood or plastic. it's got a soul now, and makes me smile everytime i see her. i started as a bassist. and still am at heart. i played lots of older fender p-basses. so for a guitar i don't like it light and double cut quite as much. (double reminds me of basses too much, and light doesn't feel right). so heavy and single cut makes me feel "at home." that's just me. that's why LPs are my favorite. not for everybody tho.

what then do you spend the extra money on? proper setup? perfect sound? best wood in the universe? fuck no!! yes, some of it's for the name. just like custom shop fenders are "for the name." what you spend the money on is irrelevant. it's owning a guitar that makes you want to play all the time. i have teles that do it. an SG that does it. a Jazzmaster that does it. all slightly tweaked to make me happy. and my LP is the same... it fits me fine.

Mine's the desert burst finish which loows ace. All standard straight from the factory kit. I bought the 50's neck model as I like the chunkier feel.

Obviously you know what you're getting with a LP. Not the most versatile of guitars but it does offer a very rich full bodied tone with bags of character. The pickups have so much output it's unreal. Both humbuckers sound real nice at high volume with the tone rolled back.

Finish is generally good but there were a couple of minor imperfections that I didn't expect on a guitar of this price. Some minor marks and scuffs of the binding and a couple of lumps and bumps, all be it very small, on the back of the neck. Obviously none of this impacts the sound or playability of the guitar but still, when I spent this much on a guitar I didn't expect these little flaws. "My other guitar is" (sounds like a bumper sticker!) a vintage strat and that was perfect. I'd say the build quality of the Fender is much better than the Gibson and I really didn't expect that to be honest!

I don't know if this is normal but I'm having real trouble keeping a nice shine on the hardware. It's all got a bit of smudged look to it which sucks. I need to find a good metal cream or something to bring back the shine.

Also, each string has cut a small groove in each of the saddles. This may be normal, I don't know but it just makes me think that maybe Gibson have cut a few corners and opted for a cheaper metal or something.

It plays well straight out of the box. The action was easy to lower and all controls etc feel solid.

It all seems very solid (judging by the weight). The only thing that worries me is how long the finish will last. I know guitars are for playing and not looking at but hell, I want mine to look fresh for a good while yet!

No comment really. The only info I requested was a serial number check to provide me with some more information about the guitar as the dealer didn't know a huge amount about my model. A fella from Gibson got back to me pretty quickly with a whole bunch of info so I was pleased.

I've always wanted a LP so I was pleased to add one to my (small) collection. The strat is definitely a nicer guitar to play (obviously this all comes down to personal preference) and it just feels better than the Gibson. But, as far as owning a piece of axe history, it rules. Sounds great and is nice to play, especially for rhythm work.

If it was nicked I'd definitely replace like for like as it is an awesome guitar. As far as reccomending one to a friend I'm not sure. It just depends how much of a Slash / Joe Perry / Peter Green freak they are. That was my inspiration.