Gibson Les Paul Standard

2008 gibson les paul standard/heritage cherry sunburst finish/ burst bucker pro pick ups/weight relived body/aaa flame maple top/ tone pros bridge and tail piece/locking grover tunners/24 3/4 scale /hardshell case and pick gaurd/manu.for guitar has 4 vol/tone pots and 3 way switch.

i play mostly 50's - 2009 rock /country/pop/hard rock/ a bit o everything/ the amp i use is a peavy 212 renowed amp with 450 watts/ no noise at all from the pickups just smoth tone and sound.the sound is bright but warm sounds just like a paf pickup but a bit hotter really full tone well rounded.i can get any tone out of this guitar with no prob at all she can be quite and she can get a bad a@@ growl to her.if you cant get this guitar to get your tone than maybe it is your fault.this guitar is built to to it all.

this guitar is the best i have ever seen /played/owned the fit and finish are amazing . the top has so much flame and it is so wow. the set up was amazing although not to my style but verey well setup no fret buzz no tinks on the frets.just an amazing fit and finish no probs at all.not a one at all just the best and most clean guitar iv had the joy of seeing.the gibson factory was just amazing with this guitar it was perfect.

i have not had it long but it feels like with a lil tlc it will last forever. it feels so soild and well built i must say i feel if you take proper care it will out last you.( dont be a moron and treat your guitar like a one night stand a lil tlc goes a long way)

i have talked with gibson guitars at 1800-444-2766 about my guitar and they are great to deal with it takes no time to get the info you want and need. they are verey smart and a joy to talk to i love it.

overall this guitar kills any epi/prs/fender it gets way more tone and looks so much better. this guitar is so amazing and a joy to own and play it is the BEST guitar i have ever played hands down and iv played all the above guitars and this one kills them all. this guitar after a good setup plays like a champ.and if it was stolen id hurt someone this guitar is the best i have ever played.and yes if i could afford it i would have not a second thought of getting another one.

Some of the reviewers were talking about the "acoustic sound" of the new, chambered Standard. But, it can come only from a guitar has a hole on its body (Hollow body, Semi-Hollow body, Acoustic guitars, etc ...) Acoustic sound cannot come from this guitar since it has not the hole (F-hole S-hole , or any hole) on it.
Well, although the sound - comes from this guitar - is different from the old Standards' sound for sure. Who likes what? that is very individual and one would say it is a great guitar, meanwhile the other one would say it is a crap.
What is for sure - it should not be called solid body guitar, since some kilos of wood was carved and chambered out of it. It is empty inside. So, it has a different sound, a different body and only its shape and the hardware what shows Les Paul feature by definition.
All the adds about this guitar starts with the sentence that it is not easy to develop a legend but we could do it ... and so on.
But there is no development on this guitar. Putting a strap lock on it is not for sure. Pek-ing the neck ... well, today I have tried two Plak-ed necked Standards at the local music store - both with that high action that playing a chord was a serious effort so, I would not consider it neither as an improvement. Chambered body? They did it, because many people were complaining about the weight of the Les Paul. But it is not improvement - it is only a solved complain by changing something. Were the typical Les Paul issues treated? No. You can still struggle with the tuning, still cannot reach the upper region of the frets, because of the old cutaway shape. Most likely, the the headstock can break off the neck as easey as it did before ... The last time there was improvement put in place on the Les Paul guitars happened mostly in the 50's and 60's. The Burstbuckers are from that time, the knobs and toggle switch also, the hardware (tailpeace, bridge, machine heads) also from that time and even the main colors are coming from that period (HCS, GT, EB, so on ...)
Let's put it on this way ... this guitar resembles the original Les Paul Standard guitars in its shape and color. It was upgraded with strap lock, Plek-ed neck, and a lock for the Jack plug. It has not solid body anymore, but chambered and has different tonal features and sound.
BTW, I cannot really follow the Gibson company. They say about the Traditional model that "you asked for it, so you got it ..." I think, nobody asked for this model! And then they call people who think the Les Paul is a solid body guitar "purists".I wonder, how they called Les Paul when he refused to put his name on the SG at the beginning of the 60's. (Actually, that is why it is called SG and not LP.)
I think, Gibson got this gift - got the Les Paul guitar and Les Paul himself and just could not deal with this. This was too much for this company. And now when the Master is not there anymore, they think, they can do anything under the Les Paul name.
So the advertisement of the new Standard should sound like this: It is never easy to change a legend, but we could do it ...

I am a Les Paul Guitar fan. I just admire these instruments. And I really hope they will survive this "improvement"!

this is a 2007 Gibson les paul standard in honey burst finish. It has a flame maple top, chrome hardware, tune-o-matic bridge and gibson burstbucker pro pickups.
it has a slim tapered 60's style neck which i prefer over the 50's as i find it a bit too chunky.
probly the thing that separates this standard from previous models gibson has produced is its chambered body which some people dont like. i personally think its a great feature as you get everything you'd expect and want out of a les paul without the back pain at the end of a gig.

the sound of this guitar is nothing short of perfect. theres nothing i would change about it at all. i use a mesa boogie solo head and the combination of the les paul and the mesa is insane!
i use mostly the bridge pickup as i play alot of rhythm hard rock music and the tone is tight and crunchy just as i like it.

bottom line les pauls are the best rock guitars.

when i got the guitar the set up was great. fairly low action but i like that. all the harmonics etc were all fine and from memory i giged with it the very day i got it!
the finish is beautiful! great colour which will only get better with age. the only slight down side for me personally is the flame top, not that i dislike it but i just think it would have looked a bit better without it so the finish looks more natural.

I gig on average around 3-4 times a month and my guitars all cop a thrashing. i previously owned a gretsch malcolm young firebird and after about 4 months or giging the pickups and bridge looked like they had been rusting for 20 years! i also had problem with tuning with my gretsch. with the les paul iv been gigint with it for the past year or so since i bought it and it still looks like its just come off the show room floor. Absolutely no rust or hardware decay at all.
The only issue i hav had with it since i bought it is having burs on the bridge causing me to break strings. but i just took it to the shop where i bought it and they'v fixed it free of chrage.
im sure this guitar will last me forever.

Never dealt with the company so i cant say.

I couldnt recommend this guitar any higher! i was lucky to get a standard in 2007 before the new '08 models were introduced as i really hate the 2008 models.
I would deffinately buy another gibson without question.

A 2008 les paul standard in a very nice 'root beer' finish, which does a bit look like your granny's sideboard, but its a wonderful colour nonetheless.

Burstbuckre pick ups, 60s style neck, 4 rotary knobs and a toggle - what more do you need?

It sounds as it should sound - like a AA maple top les paul - played through a Fender blues deluxe amp. A great variety of tones can be produced without too much effort. Wonderful warm blues tone and nice fulsome jazz tones and sustain that seems to last for weeks.

Always a bit of a lottery on whether or not the thing has been finished off by the local infant school or by crafts people. I have two other gibsons and they must have slipped out the factory whilst the quality control person was on a teabreak, but they sound & play perfectly despite this.

Anyway, this was very well finished, but a bit heavy with the lacquer in a couple of places but you really have to look very hard to find them. As ever guitars usually need setting up when you get them - part of the fun of making them your own. But more generally, there is nothing major or minor wrong with it that a few minutes wouldn't sort out.

Should last for ever - well almost.

Its very good. A tremendous lump of wood and well worth the expenditure even though they're not cheap.

My Gibson Les Paul Standard Goldtop was made in May 2007 in the US. It has a nice maple top and looks very beautiful. It has the Burstbucker Pros which give it great tone. The treble is a little bright but perfect for me. You can get so many tones from the 3 way toggle switch and 2 tone, 2 volume knobs. The body and neck are both made of solid mahogany. It has a rosewood fretboard. The guitar isn't all that heavy at all. It has to be like 6 pounds or so. It has the Nashville Bridge and and stock tailpiece. The neck isn't all that big. It is definately a super nice guitar.

This guitar is flawless for what I play, which would be U2. I can get all of Edge's sounds from this. I'm just using a Fender G-DEC with it which the only thing that changes the tone is the 3 way switch and knobs. It is only noisy with really high gain and I'm talkin' REALLY HIGH GAIN!!! In the neck position things are subtle and smooth and sweet. She is soft and mellow there. In the bridge she is just a little bright (depends on the settings). I play mostly on the treble selection. In the middle is where I get a lot of variety of sound combining the bridge and neck. I love to roll a little off the tone (about 5) and a little off the bridge volume (about 6). Things seem to go places with that setting. There is sooooo much variety of sound this guitar can make. Absoloutely magnificent.

The action was perfect when I got it (I got it pre owned). It had a new set of strings and the action was a little low, which is how I like it. I didn't do much adjusting as for they sounded nice when I first played it. Evverything was properly set up and was in no need of fixing anything. There were no flaws that I could see except for a very faint scratch in the back but other than that terrific!

I wouldn't hesitate to take this thing out live. In fact it'd be the first thing I'd grab! It definitely will last me several years, actually even more than that! The finish is right where it needs to be. It looks like it would age properly over time as I play it more and more. The strap buttons are a bit short. My strap keeps slipping from the button. But other than the button problem I can certainly depend on this guitar. I've already done some recording with this guitar. It is great.

Never had to deal with Gibson and hopefully never will.

I've been playing for three years and this guitar is the best I have out of three others (Dean ZX, Squier Affinity Series Strat, and a Squier Affiniy Telecaster). Personally if it were stolen I'd brake down and cry and then buy another. Great job Gibson! They really know how to make a great guitar! I love the easily playable 60's neck and can't get over how easy it is to bend the strings and move from fret to fret. I don't wish it had another thing. It is perfect the way it is! I love my sweet baby!

2005 Les Paul

The guitar sounds good but does not stay in tune.

New the guitar had the strings very high and it felt like a bur on one of the frets. When I got home I noticed the finish has a couple of air bubbles that looked back. Below average workmanship.

I would not use this guitar live or depend on it. I also have an ESP Truckster and that guitar is SUPER. The Gibson is just very poorly made. I have a $100 Fender I bought for my daughter that plays way better then this Les Paul!

I purchased a brand new Les Paul and found the paint had bubbles and the guitar was very poorly made. I contacted Gibson because they advertise a lifetime warranty. NO RESPONSE! I sent registered letters to the President and CEO of Gibson. NO RESPONSE! They are crooks selling junk. Be smart. Buy another brand.

I have been playing for about 40 years. I don't use the Gibson because I don't consider it fit to play. Instead I use my Truckster ESP and a Marshall Vintage Modern Combo which is a SUPER Amp.

les paul standard 1990 way before all the chambering and all that plek stuff but the features are great cherry sunburst, mahogany body neck and rosewood fretboard 22 frets chrome hardware cream binding it looks sweet!

well it sounds awesome but when i got it i got it used and she had a like a 50's reissue in the bridge which wasnt enough output for me and it sound a bit twangy so i changed it for a pearly gaters by seymour which now the bridge sounds awesome

the neck came with this seymour duncan bridge pickup in it and it sounds great i got curious to which pickup it was so i took it out and read dcl on the back still doesnt narrow it down for me but it just sounds EPIC

i play all styles of music and its rich sound is perfect for me toally well balanced its awesome

i hated the set up but it wasnt from the factory but i dont believe the factory could do a whole lot better but its the factory

the finish is great it still looks great after 18 years FANTASTIC!!!

it is a ten for everthing but the action set up but bad factory set up is always terrible

its 18 years old and is in fantastic condition still the finish is a bit faded but that can be expected

never needed them

absolutely PERFECT 100% absolutely perfect!

2008 Sunburst Les Paul Standard, chambered mahogany body with maple top, Burstbucker humbucking pickups, Grover locking tuners, special pots, old-style finish, Tone-Pros locking bridge and tailpiece, strap locks and case.

Sounds are really good, but the neck pickup is a little bassy compared to the bridge, it could be a tad brighter. Other than that, this guitar sounds really great. I play blues/blues-rock, classic and it works perfect for that. Running a Goodsell Super 17 through an Avatar 2x12 cabinet with Celestion G12H-30's with Keeley Comp, Keeley Blues Driver, TS-9 (Analogman), ZenDrive, T-Rex Mudhoney, CMATMODS Brownie, Line 6 Reverb, Boss CE-2 Chorus, Boss DD-3 delay.

The action was a bit high from the factory and I didn't like the strings they use so I had it set up by my favorite luthier with D'Addario .010's. The neck feels like a broken in Les Paul and the action is great. For a chambered body it's still a little heavy at 9.4 lbs. The locking tuners are not that great and have been replaced by regular Grover Rotomatics. The set screws on the bridge weren't tightened properly and I lost one after a day. The guitar won't stay in tune due to the nut material and the way it's cut. That also will be replaced with a standard bone nut.

Seems like it's made really well and with the extended neck tenon should be more durable than Les Pauls of the past. The pots are sealed and mounted to a circuit board, so if they ever go bad it will be difficult to clean and/or replace. We'll have to wait and see since I've only had the guitar a couple of months. I couldn't use this guitar without a backup because it doesn't stay in tune that well. It's better with the new tuners and set up, but the nut still must be replaced. Once that's done I'm sure it will be just fine. I use multiple guitars for different tones.

I wrote to customer service about all the problems and they said, "Sorry to hear", take it to an authorized repair center. I guess that's all they could say, but I really don't want the same nut material put on because it's too soft and won't last long and the grooves aren't properly cut.

Overall I think that since it has the new tuners and once the nut is replaced it will be a great guitar. It's a shame that for $2300 you still have to deal with these types of issues.

2008 Les Paul standard in Honey Burst with the 60's neck. AA maple.

Well, after 20+ years of playing it's my first foray into Humbuckers. The burstbuckers sound very rich, and I'm discovering a whole new bunch of sounds (I've been playing a Mexican Fender Tele till recently).

Through my Laney combo it just sounds fantastic. It certainly requires more fiddling to get cleaner sounds on the rhythm pickup as it can tend to get quite "muddy". I've found myself having to do a bit more work with the amp to get the sounds I want.

I love the two volume and two tone switches. As a lead guitarist I've just found it has solved a whole plethora of problems with regards to being heard over the rest of the band.

The chambering doesn't really seem to have made much of a diference to the sound, so I wouldn't let that put you off (let the price do that).

I really have to agree with a lot of other people on here and say that the finish was not what you'd expect from a guitar costing a grand a half.

File marks on the fretboard, and a shoddy bit of wood staining are evident.

The action though was very good, although the bottom E did need a bit of therapy to stop some buzz.

Dont get me wrong, the guitar looks bleedin' bootiful, it just has a few inconsistencies with the finish.

I have never enjoyed playing a guitar as much as I enjoy playing this one, flaws aside.

It plays great, and sounds awesome so that's all that matters.

Durability and reliabity wise is impossible to answer. It's still too early to tell.

By the looks of it the finish wont last long before becoming quite pitted, and I have already worn a belt mark into the rear.

Nice weight to it though, and surprisingly it is a similar weight to my fender.

Never used em.

I've waited 20 years to be able to afford this bad boy, and I'm very pleased I now own one. I bought this guitar for a very distinct reason, rather than on a whim.

The main reason was that with having two telecasters in the band, it was hard to differentiate the two guitars from each other. The Gibson and Fenders work very nicely together and our music has now taken on a very nice, rich sound.

I really need to stress how important it is to try a LOT of les paul's before you find one. I've played a load of LP's recently, and the diference between them is very noticeable. There are some real turkey's out there... actually, 70% are turkey's, so whatever you do DO NOT BUY ONE BEFORE PLAYING IT.

I found the custom far too heavy (although very nicely built), and I just couldn't warrant the extra 500 wing wangs it would have cost. The studio felt cheap, and sounded cheap, but cost 700 quid so I just couldnt understand why anyone would buy one.

When I picked up this one, I knew it was the one. It just felt right, and sounded fantastic. Sure, it has it's niggles with the build quality, but nothing is perfect. This was about the fifth or sixth les paul I had tried that day.

Cost wise.... it is overpriced for what it is, but then I knew that when I bought it. People forget that it isn't just about value, it's about buying the guitar that makes you feel invincible on stage, and the les paul does that for me. The fact it sounds gorgeous is also a plus.

If it was stolen I would probably cry as it took so long to find the right one. But I'd go through the whole nightmare again to find another one.

This guitar has made me the performer I've always wanted to be. Some people love strats, others the SG, but for me it's a Les Paul all the way.

Wonderful (if flawed) guitar.

I'm giving it an average score overall as it is quite a niche instrument. I'm sure that other people could find far more suitable guitars at a better price, and probably better built.

Mine is a 2005 model Les Paul (before all that chambering tomfoolery began) in heritage cherry sunburst. Everybody knows the spec,k if you dont you shouldnt be here jeje. Came with a set of Zakk Wylde strings on which were almost as shoddy as Wylde's technique and music.

The best feature of this guitar by a long way is the sound. Very rich and thick with sustain that will outlast religion. The clean tone is warm and vibrant, and the distorted tone is just....well its just swell. You can go from the crunch of the bridge pickup to the warm flutey slash tones of the neck.

The action was fine on reciving the guitar. cosmetically, though bought new it was not without flaw. A few specs of lacquer by some frets, a tiny bit of crappy binding here and there. Either way, this is not a bother as it is a guitar to play, not to take out for the evening in a ball gown...and maybe more ;p

Duno lol, only had it for 24 hours Lal.

guess thats something you should talk to Watchdog abiwt.

been playing 8 years, until now have only really nailed by usa strat. This guitar is so excellent, its great to play and sounds very very good. Some people weep about it being heavy, if anything that attracts me more (the same cant be said for women ahahahahaha). either way, to wrap up, fantastic guitar, fully recommend it to anybody. It will not disappoint, thats for true.

2007 Les paul Standard in Lightburst, Burstbucker Pro Pickups, 50's Neck, you know the rest, Everything I need in a guitar

This guitar Sounds fantastic, My second les paul with burstbucker pro pickups, the perfect sound to my ears (thought about 57 classics but I love the BB pro's so much) The chambering doesnt bother me at all, my other paul was a very heavy 89 standard in heritage cherry, this guitar sounds 20 times better than that one (same pickups too) and it's a hell of a lot lighter. I use This guitar with a Marshall JCM 800 head and cab, Peavey Valve king 50, and Marshall Vintage Modern 2266 combo. Im floored with how good my rig sounds!

Perfect from the factory, everything is top notch quality.

Will outlast me im sure

Ive delt with gibson on several occations, Never had a problem, always took care of me 100 Percent.

Been playing for 14 years, Ive owned many gibson and currently own many guitars in general, strats tele's Sg's, and i couldnt be more satisfied with life at the moment!

2007 Gibson Les Paul Standard - Honey burst finish with dark brown back and sides ??? stunning look. Burstbucker pickups, 50's profile neck. The rest is regular Les Paul stuff, nothing fancy.

Well, I have to disagree with some of the comments I have read here regarding the ???chambering???. This guitar has the chambers and I love its sound. Obviously, this is a pretty subjective comment, but I compared the sound with that of the Les Paul Deluxe I bought back in 1974 (real solid body, no chamber). Sure the pickups were different... but the body did not resonate as much on the older model; in fact the ???acoustic sound??? on the Deluxe was very thin compared to this Standard. I sincerely believe that the chambers do help in that regard. Now, a ???better acoustic sound??? does not simply mean that the guitar sounds better when unplugged??? More resonance means that the body contributes in keeping the strings vibrating which means more sustain. So it does have an impact on the sound of the guitar once it is plugged in. I am always a bit suspicious when I hear people say that things should be done a certain way because it was always done this way. Resistance to change is a common thing, but I sincerely believe that, in this case, change was good. Maybe the original reason for doing it (saving weight) was a bad one, but I hear Gibson is now more intelligent about achieving ???proper??? chambering that benefit the tone.
Once the guitar is plugged in my Peavey Classic 50 or via my Tonebone trimode for distortion, it sings. I also own a Godin LGXT with Seymour Duncan pickups. The Les Paul Standard???s sound is superior to that of the Godin and the Deluxe. Regarding the comparison with the Deluxe, I would say that I find the sound of this Standard to be more ???open???, especially on the neck pickup. I rarely used that pickup on the Deluxe because I was finding it too dark, but on this guitar, it sounds great and gives me so many more tonal options.

Excellent fit and finish as expected on an instrument in that price range. Action is low. I find this guitar to be really easy to play. The 50???s neck seems to do the job for me. Maybe it is the fact that my first good guitar was a Les Paul when I was 16 and I find myself at home on it. I can???t say???

I can???t say yet because this purchase is too recent, but I do not expect any issue. From what I recall, my Deluxe was very solid except for one thing that did break. It was the little square plastic plate holding the jack. I was always careful with that guitar but I guess once, while I was sitting to play, I put a bit too much pressure on the jack and the plate broke. No other problem.

Never had to deal with them.

I've been playing for over 35 years. Early influences included Jimmy Page, Tony Iommi, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, then in my 20???s, I discovered Allan Holdsworth and found out that a guitar can sound totally different from what I had heard thus far. This Les Paul can accommodate all kinds of styles from blues and traditional rock to progressive rock and jazz. The sound is full and powerful with plenty of sustain which allows playing legato without ???losing gas???. As mentioned before, my other guitars include a Godin LGXT. I love the Godin for different applications; it is my instrument of choice when I need a more ???acoustic sound??? provided by the piezo pickups or when I want to control a midi instrument or to enter data in the computer, but the Les Paul will become my main axe for everything else.

A left handed Gibson Les Paul Standard 2005. Heritage Cherry Sunburst and Flame Maple Top. Mahogany neck and body. Burstbucker Pickups. Standard features. No rating for this category. It is what it is. Nothing more and nothing less.

The guitar sounds very good. It excels at rock and blues tones and also functions as a suitable jazz instrument. Clean sounds are a bit on the dark side (meaning different, if one is more familiar with the sound of single coils)but still very clear and articulate. The sustain is also top notch. The p/ups are very punchy and powerful. The tone knobs provide a nice range of high and low frequencies for both the bridge and neck pickups. Both pickups are balanced nicely for output.

The guitar fails miserably in this category. The factory setup was poor and the action way too high.

There were many flaws with respect to build quality. The fetboard was extremely dry and light in colour. There were also deep file marks in many places along the fretboard and binding. There was a gap between the inlay and the fretboard - meaning the hole drilled for the inlay was too large. The frets were not polished, appearing rusty and coarse.

The Kluson tuning machines are horrible and less durable than the Grovers they have used in the past. Though they may look period correct, keeping your instrument in tune with Klusons will be a problem. Grovers were standard in the 90s but not anymore. Another cost cutting measure I'm sure.

The guitar is finished in nitro. However, there are certain caveats with respect to durability. It is a soft finish and if one is prone to sweating while playing, the finish will wear quickly. Body heat and sweat will cause the finish to turn a white opaque colour. This is indicative of nitro finishes. Over time the finish will begin to check. On the upside nitro finishes are easier to repair than poly finishes but are not as durable.

Quality control at the Gibson factory is severely lacking. Do not believe the hype and mystique surrounding Gibson guitars. Their instruments are overpriced and the fact that it is made in the USA means absolutely nothing. Do not let that be your blind assumption for quality.

This disregard for quality control can also be found in other Gibson guitars. Walk into a music store and check the quality for yourself. I have seen poor binding on a 58 reissue Les Paul ($5400)coming from their custom shop, along with the aforementioned problems. There is absolutely nothing custom about the custom shop. From what I understand it is now defunct and is only a custom shop in name (as told to me in an email from a Gibson representative). Instead, it is used to help fulfill orders for normal production runs. Almost every electric I have looked at suffered from horrible fretboards, poorly cut nuts and file marks on the binding and fretboards. These common defects are all too common and do not warrant or justify Gibson prices.

STAY AWAY FROM GIBSON GUITARS!

Yes, this guitar will withstand live playing. Hardware will not last and the finish is thin as I have mentioned earlier. Strap buttons are too small. Always gig with a backup.

Gibson support is horrible. Takes a very long time to answer email and they never answer the questions asked. Responses are as brief as possible. The warranty sucks for Canadian consumers. One year warranty versus a lifetime warranty in the States. Maybe the crappy guitars only come to Canada or get shipped overseas, hence the one year warranty.

I have been playing over twenty years. I did not buy this guitar. I might be inclined to buy one used, but off the rack it is just too expensive and suffers from too many defects.

However, the guitar sounds nice and gives us what we expect in the tonal department. If only the build quality matched the tone.

Gibson also charges more for left handed instruments. What a rip off. Some companies will not gouge left handed players. Gadow Guitars come to mind.

2008 Gibson USA Les Paul Standard. Gold top finish with natural back and sides. Burtbucker pickups, standard stuff - 22 frets, Tune-o-matic bridge, stop bar, crappy Gibson "deluxe" "green key" Kluson style tuners. This one has a 60's profile neck.

Ok for a semi-hollow body guitar, I guess -although I've never been that much into semi-hollow body guitars. If I wanted one, I'd probably buy a Heritage 535.

Everything about the fit and finish was good. My beef with Gibson is that they changed the Les Paul Standard from a solid body guitar to a semi-hollow body guitar by "chambering" the lower quality mahogany currently being used, so it's no longer a solid body guitar. Everybody who's played guitar for any amount of time expects a Les Paul to be a solid body guitar. If Gibson wants to do this they need to remove the "Les Paul" name from the guitar and call it something else. Les Paul himself would make Gibson take his name off it just like he did the SG when they tried to call that guitar a Les Paul in '61. This guitar weighs about 5 or 6 pounds - easily less than a Stratocaster.

They try to emphasize the "positives" about "chambering", like "better acoustic sound". Like I was getting ready to play Bob Dylan songs at coffee houses using my Les Paul with no amp...please.

When I first received the guitar I was furious. Then I started to wonder if maybe the ultra light semi-hollow body could somehow be turned into a good thing. I just kept going back to the fact that I bought it because I like a 9 or 9.5 pound Les Paul - that's why I bought it - I like the way a heavy solid body guitar sounds, feels, and plays. It doesn't sound "bad", it would just sound much better if it was a "real" Les Paul.

I've never had a problem with Gibson support - they're good folks.

I've been playing for a million years and have owned many Les Pauls. I'm very disappointed that you can't even buy a brand new Gibson USA Les Paul Standard, and get a Les Paul Standard anymore unless you are willing to pay the twice the price for a custom shop model. I always hated when Gibson starting doing the "Les Paul Faded", Les Paul "Antique" this, "Classic" that. I wish they would have just left the Les Paul Standard alone. If they can't get the right wood, then don't make them until they can. My main "Les Paul" is now an Edwards, which is an exact Les Paul copy made by ESP in Japan, not for export. It has genuine Seymour Duncan pickups, Japanese quality - it can't be beat and it only costs about one third the price of a USA Gibson Les Paul.

2004 Les Paul Standard. 24 3/4 scale mahogany set neck, mahogany body,
maple top. Kluson style tuners, Nashville bridge, EMG Zach Wylde P/U
set. Originally it came with Burstbucker Pro P/U's, and they along
with the out dated tuners and pot metal bridge hurt this rating.
The quality of the wood is a big hit and carries the guitar though
this category.

The wood and craftsmanship make this guitar. The nut and saddles
needed some help but it has great tone and clarity. It sounds good
unplugged and has a nice acoustic quality. The Burstbuckers never passed muster and were replaced. I know they're generally approved but to me they were stagnant and clouded up an otherwise great sounding guitar. I took a load of crap from the Gibson fanatics when I installed a Zack Wylde P/U set but the diffence was like day and night. Unbelievable. I love hard rock. I'm liking anything from Gov't
Mule to COC these days. I play through an Egnater TOL 100 head and a
Bogner Ubercab and enjoy some jawdropping tones from this guitar.

The action was a miss on this guitar. The nut was too high and the
high E was muted because the slot was too deep. The saddles had to
be radiused and properly slotted as well. I don't care for the
way they route the neck binding over the frets either. I know that's how the vintage guitars were made but by todays standards it's a cheap
way of doing things and a short cut. It also leaves chatter and marks in the fingerboard. God help you if you want it re-fretted in the same manner. Gibson charges a premium price for what was proclaimed to
be a premium guitar so they need to deliver a premium product. The woodwork and finish were great on the otherhand.

Sure it's reliable. Durable I don't know about. Drums are the only
things I know of that take a beating so I can't rate it there.
The finish is nitrocellulose so I polish and maintain it because
it's thin and delicate as it should be (never wax). The bridge
I'm not sure about and might eventually be replaced but it still
gets high marks because it hasn't failed yet.

Never needed.

If lost or stolen, I would have to have another. It's a sound and
experience you can't have unless you own one. I wouldn't buy new
again though because the value is not there and they're making chambered bodies again. I paid $1800 for a $1200 guitar. Instead
I would try to find a used solid body that someone did not like.
People sometimes cull what's percieved as a bad Les and actually
it just has a bad setup because they're a production guitar. The
quality of the wood and tone is still there. On sound alone it's
a 10 in my book.

August '07 USA made Les Paul Standard Honeyburst AA flame maple top. Mahogany body and neck. Tune-o-matic bridge, stop tail piece. Two burstbucker pickups. Luxury hard case w/- pick guard supplied ready to be fitted if wanted. All the standard features expected.

I love this sound. I play blues and this can go from rich round woman tone on the neck pick up to a juicy snarl on the bridge pickup. Straight into my Peavey Classic 30 on full this sounds glorious. Back off the volume for a cleaner sound or full tilt for tone heaven with a breakup in the sound that just sings.

Finish is beautiful...the Honeyburst has a real vintage vibe about it. A slight file mark on the fretboard at the 1st fret treble side is a minor worry for a guitar of this reputation and price. the lacquer has also gone into the screw post of the stop tail piece but won't affect performance. I just love the iconic look of the guitar and that headstock in my rack is great....waited 26 years to get one. The mahogany is unusual to me as the lacquer on this one is clear and most I have seen have a reddish look to me. I don't know if mine is less common but all the other Les Pauls I looked at were honeyburst or light burst etc seemed to have the more cherry looking back. I love this clear with the honey maple top. The finish and build apart from the 2 minor details is great. Action was very good, loved the feel straight out of the box....no change necessary.

This guitar is a lifetime thing and will be gigged extensively. No concerns at all. Always have a backup no matter what I am using but only because a string may break...totally confident in this guitar.

Have not needed it.

Been playing for 30 years mostly blues, country, gospel and rock. This is my 8th guitar. Have a resonator, danelectro, silvertone[1954], Epiphone acoustic, U.S.A. Fender Tele, U.S.A. Fender Strat Plus w/- Texas Specials p/u and a Epiphone '56 Goldtop w/- P-90's.
If stolen would definitely buy another. Love the tone..it is to die for. The look is classic....I tried PRS aswell and they were great too but a Les Paul has the x factor and personality if you get the right one. I played many and they vary. Be patient and get the right one for you. Even in this price range they vary in feel and sound and suitability to you.

I FINALLY GOT MY GIBSON LES PAUL, ITS A GIBSON LES PAUL SILVERBURST BUT I HAVE HEARD ITS THE SAME AS A STANDARD EXCEPT THE FINISH, I USED TO PLAY A EPIPHONE LES PAUL 100 AND THOUGHT EPIPHONE DID A VERY GOD JOB OF GETTING THE SOUND OF GIBSON. I STILL LIKE MY GIBSON BETTER THOUGH, ITS SOUND IS PERFECT, I PLAY IT OFF OF A PEAVEY CHORUS 200 WATT AMP, SOON HOPING TO GET THE DREAMED F MARSHALL HALF STACK, IM STARTING MY VERY OWN BAND SOON, AND RECOMMEND THE GIBSON LES PAUL BEFORE ANY OTHER GUITAR, IT FEALS PERFECT. IT WEIGHS A LITTLE MUCH, BUT THE 1 I BOUGHT IS A SEMI HALLOWED BODY, SO ITS CHAMBERED TO MAKE IT WEIGH LESS BUT STILL HAS A FULL CREAMY SOUND, I BOUGHT IT FOR ABOUT 2300 OR 2400 WHICH IS A LITTLE MUCH, BUT ILL HAVE IT FOR THE RESTG OF MY LIFE

PERFECT

VERY GOOD

LOVE IT

OH SO HELPFUL

LOVE IT MORE THEN ANY GUITAR

My Les Paul is an 80's model, classic mahogany w/maple top, with the prerequisite knocks and hits that a model of this age would have. Other than that, the finish is nice for the age. Top is quilted maple, regular green tuners, 50's style thick neck, which is fine for me.

Big, fat, meaty sound, quite a contrast from my other axes (Mexican Tele, Stratocaster). Drives my junk Crate amp a lot harder than the Fenders, sounds great, has nice character. No noise thru pups whatsoever, no hum. No noise when switching pups, neck pup is mellow, good for singing leads, bridge pup will crank hard when played. Has good tonal variety when adjusting vol and tone. In short, hot p-ups, upgrades dont make sense to me.

Need to get it set up, prev. owner did not do. Pups are adjusted ok. Finish is GREAT for the age. Stays in tune rather well, action is ok, but could be lower, IMHO.

This baby was a working guitar, not to be put up in a rack. It got a bit of playing time, but is in very good shape. Finish is nice, hardware is hardly damaged at all due to it being nickel, will last another 20 some years or more! This thing is a GIBSON, and will be reliable. Would be reliable without backup, but would bring my Tele so I could have a wider variety of tones and sound available.

Went to website for support, seems well laid out, had to get a part for the guitar recently, had no problem obtaining.

I like the overall sound, is fat and full. Have a Crate 30 watt amp, looking to upgrade that real soon, and a Line 6 pocket pod for practice. The weight of this thing is HEAVY. A shade over 9 pounds so be prepared if you want to do multiple set with this thing. Better get on a weight training program before gigging with this. Is solidly built, has classic rock guitar sound, but versatile for just about any popular music.

2006 Gibson Les Paul Standard - Desertburst.

Your standard LP features. Burstbucker Pro PUPs.

Love it. I give all my Gibson's a 10 in the sound department.

Finish was flawless. It's a nice heavy piece of wood. Great action for a factory setting, but I lowered the action.

BTW, Harmony should have another rating category for LPs...weight. I love a nice heavy LP.

Had it for six months, zero problems.

I've read numerous reviews on how Gibson's CS is crummy. Personally, I've emailed them many times and they've always gotten back to me...even for really stupid things. For this reason, I give Gibson a 10.

If you can justify spending $2,500 on a guitar, then buy one. You won't regret it.

I have a LP Custom (silverburst...oh, so sweet!!), LP BFG, SG Standard, SG w/EMG (Week 32), and an ES-335 Block Inlay. Playability, it's a toss up between the LP Standard and the Custom.

I love the feel of my LP Standard.

The usual Les Paul Standard features. Quick to find and simple to use. This is a U.S.A from the early 90's. Has the huge 50's neck that although daunting at first, after a while of playing I have found it really comfortable. I seem to be able to get a higher degree of acuracy on the fret board than i have with Fender necks.

The sound is exactly what a Les Paul should sound like. I am influenced by bands like Guns n Roses/Led Zep/AC-DC/Van Halen/The Who/Stones/. The sound is less versatile than other makes of guitar but play with the pick up selector and the tone controls and there are some beautiful tones to play with. I play through a Marshall ( no suprises there ) AVT 275. Some may see this as a sin but i can't afford JCM's and suchlike. The combination give the oppertunity to get close to Cream sounds as well as Slash tones. The clean sound bites hard but wind off some volume on the guitar and it's glorious.

I will struggle with this section as the guitar was VERY used when i bought it. What i can say is that this guitar has had a hard life and still looks and sounds great. The only minor problem has occured on the G and B strings. They were sticking in the nut, so falling out of tune very quickly. A small amount of pencil graphite in the grooves has stopped this, a great 5 minute fix.

Like I have said before, this guitar has been gigged regularly by the previous owner. He had not problems the harware is still good, obviously there are stap locks fitted, but she has been battered and continues to go on. The finish is great, there are knocks a plenty but none have actually removed the finish all you get is some cracking in the binding which put with the knocks makes for a really cool aged / worn look.

I have been playing for about 3 years, I also own a 52 Re-issue Telecaster which is lovely but limited in terms of heavier rock sounds. Why I love the Gibson is that I payed ??650 from ebay on the guitar and ??200 from a mate for the AVT amp. ??850 in total and the sound and tones that I want are there in bucket loads. I like a sense of soul in guitars and to have landed this one beat up and beautiful for a good price is great. I have a Les Paul that I'm not afraid to take out and gig !

Usual Les Paul features. Mine is Cherry red with a 60's neck. Does exactly what you expect a Les Paul to do!

This guitar makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck every time I plug it in! It has been my dream to own a Gibson Les Paul and play it through a Marshall Valve amp. It's taken me until i'm nearly 40 but my God it was worth the wait. I play through a JCM 900 on the clean channel with gain on about 8 and it is the absolute dogs.
I play in a rock covers band and we play everything from Thin Lizzy and the Offspring to The Police and Snow Patrol. For the quieter moments roll off the volume on the guitar and the sound cleans up beautifully.
It's everything I ever dreamed it would be.

Not good considering the price you pay for one of these. Frets needed a good polish, the coverplates on the back don't fit particularly well, the pick up surounds are a different colour to the other cream plastic of the pickguard and binding. The Pickguard didn't fit properly and neither did the toggle switch tip which eventually flew off never to be recovered at an outdoor gig in Bath a few weeks ago.

Bought it from Sound Control in Bristol (UK) and it came with a free set up. The tech did a good job and it plays like a dream. I use 12 guage strings and the neck has stayed solid as a rock and it just never goes out of tune.

I'll admit I was blinded by the Gibson logo and, having played dozens to get the one that sounded just right, I would have bought it regardless of the finish. BUT be aware that the quality is not as good as it should be for the money.

I gig every other week and this guitar is well up to the job, then again as a pro level instrument it should be. I took a conscious decicsion that this guitar was going to be played and wouldn't be kept in cotton wool. Don't get me wrong I treat it with great care, but with the thin finish these guitars will mark. Not withstanding that, thousands play these guitars week in week out and they just never let you down (as long as you intstall some strap locks) I always have a back up in case I break a string mid song.

Never dealt with Gibson

Been playing for over 25 years, and own two American Fender Telecasters one 10 years old and one 4 and a late 80's Japanese Fender Strat which I've owned from new. I play through a Marshall JCM 900 4102 combo and a 1922 cab with an MG100 head as a back up (yes I have blown my amp up mid gig!) I use some effects, usually just a Boss Compressor and an original Marshall Guv'nor pedal. Other effect are a Boss equalizer, Boss flanger, Cry Baby Wah wah, and digitech pds1002 delay.

I love my telecasters, but the Gibson is my dream. They all sound different so make sure you try lots before you part with your cash. The best advice I was given was forget about the colour, try every one in the shop/town/city THROUGH YOUR OWN AMP for 20 seconds at a time; put back the the ones you don't like (there will be some!) take a break, then go back through the remaining ones the same way until you find the one for you. You may not be successful first time round (some people take months), but persevere you will know when you've found "the one". Personal score would be 10 out of ten, but objectively with the issues with finish and the huge price tag i give this an 8.

Finish : Mild 'orange-red' sunburst 'tiger-stripe' maple. Body : single-cutaway, mahogany. Bridge : Gibson Tune-O-Matic. Tuners : Grover. Neck : Mahogany, Rosewood fingerboard, white plastic neck binding, block inlays, 23 3/4 inches scale. Accessories : Hard case, truss rod wrench. Year of Manufacture : 1996, USA. Frets : 22. Top : Laminated maple. Controls : 2 volumes, 2 tones, 3-way selector. Pickups : 2 chrome humbucking, Gibson. Passive electronics.

Great thick sound for clean or distorted single-line solos or power chords. Useable sounds for strumming; but never as clear as a Strat. Not as good for clean funk or comping. Have used it through a Mesa-Boogie Studio Caliber and Roland JC120 Jazz Chorus; plus a Boss ME30 multiple effects unit. Quieter and better than an American Standard Strat for thick solos and power chords, but not as clear (no ringing, bell-like tones); probably due to the humbuckers.

Factory setup was middle-of-the-road; came with .009 strings. Played much better after adjustment to my personal tastes (higher action, tighter truss rod/straighter neck). Sounded even better after a change to Ernie Ball Power Slinkys (.011 - .049). Finish and workmanship good, a little bit of varnish overspray on the neck binding; but nothing I can't live with.

String bending much easier than on a Strat because of the shorter scale. Works fine either on live gigs or recordings. Dependable and solid, though it needs more careful handling than a Strat due to its glued-in neck and tilt-back headstock.

Have great support from the local dealer who sold me this guitar, Melody Music. Never dealt with Gibson directly.

Been playing guitar since 1972, and bass since 1981. Have owned Fender Squires, US Standard and Japanese Strats, Ibanez Strat clones, Epiphone Les Pauls; this is a great guitar; but not as versatile as a Strat. Great for chunky lead work and power chords; though.

Les Paul Standard. Two Volume Two tone controls. This,in my view gives many tonal options along with the pickup selector.This model has the desert burst finish.The guitar is absolutley georgeos.

My music styles are rock(who,zep,rush,allmans etc...)blues.Fusion(al dimeola,jeff beck,santana,dream theater,zappa,etc..).My amp Marshall JCM 900.The tone of this beauty is unbelievable.I played over 100 guitars over the course of my search for a new guitar.I have a 40th anniversary strat that I love,but wanted a bigger fuller sound to go with.My search was initialy for a PRS (I did not want to give up my Whammy bar.)After playing the many guitars over a year long(no impulse buying,looking for total quality and tone.)I selected this guitar. It had a riher fuller tone that did not compromise any brightness or string to string clarity on the clean or overdrive on my amp.As I stated my search started for PRS,tis Les Paul had more charachter. It had more bite when needed,more response to my fingers on the fretboard for tonal variance.

I give this one a 10.I cannot say that about all of them.Like I said I played over 100.No two are alike.Some were not good at all some were ok. This one was THE ONE.This one has perfect action.Iwas expecting to take it to get it set up after playing it for awhile(after the new wore off),but it did not need it.I have played it for 9 months now without a hitch.Only addition sraplocks.

I hate to keep giving 10s but I DO NOT BABY it. I play for hours at a time.Now I don't throw it around or drop it(It's not a strat you can break it).

I give an 8 here because I don't think these or PRS should be this pricey. Having said that I LOVE THIS GUITAR!!!!!!.Ihave been playing for 30 years.My other guitars are a yamaha 300 owned since1975,guild dv52 1996,fender 40th strat.marshalljcm900.Hope it is not stolen I don't want the search to start over.I chose this over prs it had more persnality,not as sterile sounding(not bashing prs as I was looking for one).

Nice finish on the recent ones - they certainly look good. Bridge style is tune-o-matic. The tuners are OK, but don't do the job too well (more below). This one was a post 2002 model with bursbuckers. Having two volume knobs - one for each pickup is an advantage, as you can switch between a quiet rhythm line and a loud lead one from the pickup selector.

If you want to sound like Eric Clapton on Bluesbreakers (Beano album), or Cream, then this is your sound. I personally find it very muddy. Good for lead lines and with sustain, but very difficult to get definition on chords. They are a bit like the sonic equivalent of wading through mud. That would suit some, but I found it limiting and not very satisfying. Overall, I was pretty disappointed with the sound which was too dark, dull and thumpy on the bass notes. Perhaps this is what LPs are meant to sound like, but it is not a very versatile sound. Pickups are OK, but to be honest, I had been playing an old HSS squier fender made in Jap for 20 years, and I thought that sounded better.

The set up on this guitar was awful - fret buzz on most strings. Even though I sent it back to be re done (perhaps the guitar shop where I bought it didn't know what they were doing?), it still slipped back into rattling and buzzing. Playing it, it didn't seem like a well made guitar, or something anywhere near the money I paid. More seriously, it drifted out of tune, particularly on G and the other middle strings. This happened both after bending, but sometimes without that. Extremely disappointing

A very durable instrument in many respects - heavy and solid. However, not reliable for me, in the sense that it could never stay in tune, and it was difficult to get a range of satisfying sounds out of it.

I didn't approach Gibson, but perhaps I should have done.

I have played for 20 years in various different bands, and had always dreamed of owning one of these guitars. I was sorely disappointed. I would advise others to not just go for the brand name, but to try out as many instruments as possible without buying, without prejudice or worrying about what others will think about the name on the headstock. Since I spent so much money on this guitar, I have to give it a very low overall rating - I would have been better off sticking to my old and cheaper instrument (worth 10% of this LP)

I think the standards should be broken out by year and model... as
far as standard plus, classic, premium plus... some of new 2007 models
are different and called Gibson before I bought one. Some are the regular solid body and others are a combination of weight relieved and
chambered and I've been told unofficially that you can get one so that it's one step away from a cloud 9, so that is what I looked for and got.
I honestly wasn't expecting much from this guitar before I plugged it
in. I plugged it in side by side to my vintage goldtop and was shocked.
My goldtop is 9.25 lbs which sounds amazing but after an hour or so puts a dent in my shoulder, this new standard is 7.5 lbs and really surprized me.
Unlike the other lightweight 2007 models that have had wood chips or
other things rattling around in the chambers this is solid workmanship
and I guess Gibson after some complaints got their act together. Its
every bit as resonant as my solid 9.25 lbs goldtop and now I am thinking of sell it... of course I will keep the Tim shaw pickups
and maybe the knobs too.

I hate to say it but this but the ceramic pickups especially the
treble one are great... I plugged it into the Marshall and wow... and
because its lightweight I can play better, not so anchored feeling.
I am almost afraid to put better pickups in it in case it doesn't sound
as good. The neck pickup is a little muddy but a sprague bumblebee
or vitamin Q will take care of that. Its sustains and has great
resonance just like my solid goldtop and does not feedback like a
es 335 at high gain... I play my amps with every knob on ten except for the tone. I have a Marshall 1917 20 watt with mercury magnetics power transformer and a Wizard output transformer and Wizard worked on the amp so its the best amp I've ever played and is ultra low noise so
I crank everything. This guitar really shines through this amp, you
got to try one, I guess a later model since the lightweights are new
for 2007. I suspect that the amount of complaints from the initial
run might give this Gibson cause to drop the chambered version possibly making this a potentially rare guitar.

This finish fit and workmanship is every bit as good as my early
80's goldtop... I guess I was lucky and got a good one or Gibson has
worked out the kinks with the lightweight models. The new knobs suck.

Seems reliable no problems so far, this is my backup the goldtop is
my baby but am thinking about selling it for the 2007, I think one
has to go.

Very good, answered the phone, I think one guy might do all the USA
support because I called before on something different a few years
ago and the same voice answered. Very responsive good support and I
should know because I started my Software career in support.

Playing on an off for 30 years... see above for comparisons.

This review is about a Les Paul Standard 1978, natural maple top, equipped with the so called T-buckers. I bought the guitar some time ago when I felt the need for a Les Paul again, after selling my '81 Goldtop Deluxe a few years ago. Why did I sell it? Don't know, really......! Sometimes you just do that. Don't regret it, though.
The guitar has a "natural relic" look witch for me is just beautiful.
This guitar has been played and will be played for many years...!!!!
This Standard has a (60's shape) maple neck with rosewood fretboard witch is very comfortable en is equipped with Gibson-tuners, but not the Kluson-type. Don't know how this type is called but they're original on the Standards from those days. They work fine.
Though the original bridge (witch is worn out) is still with the guitar it has been replaced (without any problems or modifications) with a StringSaver SuperBridge. Great...!!!
The guitar is (apart from the bridge) 100% original and has all the features you'll find on a Les Paul Standard

I use the guitar mainly for blues/rock orientated music, together with my '62 Strat and my '71 Tele en the three make a great set. I mean, how much guitar-history can you take with you on stage...? (-;
I use a Fender Pro185 amp from 1990 with some floorboxes and am quite happy with that.
I find out that since I own the Standard I work more with the neck-pickup, especially in "bluesy solo's"... This guitar has a warm, yet very clear sound with this pickup and stays very precise, even with more distortion.
The guitar sounds like a real Les Paul, with all the specific LP sounds you expect (or hope...) to hear.
I've compared it with a lot of newer Standards and it is so much better, both for sound and feel....

When I got the guitar it had a set 09-42 strings on it. Too light for me, I play with 010-52 heavy bottom on all my guitars.
The guitar plays magnificent, no rattles and has endless sustain and the 60's style neck does the trick for me.You can see a lot of "playingmarks" on the back of the neck but that doesn't bother it's playability. It's even smoother. All the hardware (apart from the bridge) is in good condition, though I can imagine that it could do with a fretjob in the near future. But not yet...!

Well, if a guitar lasted almost 30 years without significant damage, it'll probably last a little longer... (-; Straps are OK and yes, I can depend on this guitar, no doubt. However, for musical reasons I usually have 3 guitars with me, so I don't have to worry if....

I have no experience with this subject...

I'm a professional player for over 25 years and I own a lot of guitars, though most of them I use in my studio. Among them are a 62 Strat, a 71 Tele, a 69 Strat, a 73 Martin D35, dobro's, mandoline's, a Seagull S6CW (for on the road) etc.
I have to admit that this Standard has become very dear to me in a short time and I (apart from financial reasons) wouldn't like to loose it. They are probably available here and there, but this particular guitar is fine for me.
As mentioned earlier, I compared it with many other (and newer Standards) and it's so much better. However, I couldn't do without a good Les Paul anymore and I would certainly buy an older one back.

Gibson Les Paul Standard 2002 60??s neck
Honey Burst (Beautiful)!
When I bought it I thought it was a Premium Plus. Nice flamed top it supposed to be AA but this top is like AAA. I compared it to a Premium Plus that was at Vintage store - No doubt - Flamed top of 60??s neck is better than the Premium. In this case.
Basic knobs of a Les Paul.

I??ve been playing LP mostly, Classic, Custom, Standard, etc... I had a LP Gary Moore (great guitar) I could play anything with it. Since I bought the GM I never thought to sell or to deal it with another LP,
It was essential for me. But when I saw the Standard at Vintage Store, I had no doubt, I bought it. Of course, i tried it before I buy. I play Classic Rock and original music - The Les Paul suit my style of music... I always liked the sound of LP??s. I use TS9 and ShredMaster (awesome)drive and some modulations. I can play everything what I want with this gear... I dont need more. I wish to buy more one Les Paul, maybe a Gold Top or Classic...

No flaws! No defects!
I think the former owner of guitar never played with it. It seems NEW!
It is perfect!

I??ve playied with it in several jam sessions, live gigs, rehearsal studio- It always has done the job finely. I use an Epi LP STD Plus as backup. But I never needed to use it. Whatever It is good to take a backup.

Very good!
Recently I sent a message toward the Gibson Support to confirm the serial number and model of guitar. I had a quick answer and all quastions cleared up. Thanks Gibson!

I have few words to say about my guitar!
I love Les Paul!
What else can I say?
I am very happy. I will be much more happy when I buy my new Les Paul. I live in Brazil and here Les Paul guitars are very expensive because of import duties. I will waiting for!

Se trata de una Les Paul Standard del a??o 2003. Tiene todo lo que se supone que debe tener una Les Paul.

Toco rock cl??sico y alternativo. El punto fuerte de esta guitarra es su pastilla del m??stil. Ah?? es donde da la diferencia respecto a otras guitarras con un sonido lleno de cuerpo pero a la vez con un poquito de crunch, muy al estilo de Slash en sus solos.
Con la pastilla del puente el sonido de la guitarra ya no es tan espectacular y no justifica el elevado precio de esta guitarra.
Otro aspecto interesante es el hecho de que puedes usar los controles de volumen y tono de la guitarra para obtener una gran variedad de sonidos. Eso s??, que quede claro que esta guitarra es una guitarra eminentemente roquera y no tan vers??til como una strato.

Suspenso para Gibson. Cuando me trajeron la guitarra y abr?? el estuche me llev?? una grand??sima decepci??n: el color en nada se parec??a al de la web de Gibson y me encontr?? con un diapas??n lleno de poros e incluso zonas rugosas. Creo que Gibson deber??a cuidarestos detalles.
Se echan de menos algunos "extras" que en una guitarra de 2.600 euros se agradecer??an: cierres de seguridad, alg??n producto de limpieza, una correa...
En este sentido, Fender cuida much??simo m??s los detalles.

Casi cuatro a??os y ning??n problema de electr??nica ni ning??n "chisporroteo", salvo el puente un poco oxidado debido al sudor.
La tapa me parece extremadamente sensible a golpes y rasgu??os.

No ha sido necesario.

Si me la robaran me comprar??a otra, pero no nueva, sino de segunda mano y anterior a los 90.

GIBSON LES PAUL STANDARD FLAME TOP TRANS AMBER AND AGED DETAILS.
BACK RED/BROWN MOHOGANY

SOLID TOP

finish perfect.

classic gibson body with wonderfull trans amber finish...
i got a flame top so rare...if you look it from various corners it ler you see lots of details of the wood choseed...wow!

sound amazing! i first played my baby umplgged just to hear the mohogany vibrations and she sounded very warm a with lot of sustain...

then i plugged the jack...and WHAM! I WAS BLOWED AWAY FROM INCREDIBILE ATTACK,DEFINITON AND WARM! the ground is a bluesy feel ( guys it's a les paul ! ) but when you crunch up the gain,you can get all the rock from the wonderfull burstbucker pro!
attitude and creamy sound all the way!

guitar setup perfect,eccept the strings,wounded only one time on tuning pegs poles but i changed and installed them properly...

height pickups was perfect and i found also the 6 poles of each humbucking just placed following the neck radius ( it's so rare )...

the finish and the neck surface was wonderfull.

all parts was perfect,the bridge and action in general very much confortable.

i'm so lucky if you consider my les paul trans amber got the cream binding,aged details and red/brown mohogany so beautifull!!!

ok it's one of the beautifull and well done gibson i ever seen or touched...

i know this guitar will be as just i see now...for the rest of my life...i love her.

PERFECT FOREVER.
TAKE A GIBSON,TAKE THE BEST VALUE GUITAR OF THE WORD!

she's my dream guitar came true!!!

i think i'll never use the support,but i think if necessary i should have all the help i'll ever need...

Gibson is a lifetime guaranty!

i played for 48 days and i fall in love quickly ( i waited 12 years for playng blues/rock on this lady...now i can believe is in my room!!! )...

2002 Les Paul Standard. Burstbucker Pro pickups. Black finish with cream binding and pickguard. Chrome hardware. Chrome grover tuners. I would rank it high in terms of features because of the tonal expressivity of the pickups. I can handle jazz, blues, rock with all the authentic sounds that defined those art forms with this guitar. Angled headstock allows easy behind the nut bends. Stop tailpiece and bridge assembly yields interesting and different sounds when strings are plucked near the bridge.

I'm plugging straight into a Fender'65 Twin Reverb Reissue with JJ tubes most of the time. Occasional use of Boss Super Overdrive pedal or Tubescreamer reissue pedal. I have to run the Les Paul through the 2nd input on my Twin in order to get the fullness of its sound. Through the 1st input, the sound comes out a little too dark and highs and mids get a little lost. What I like about this guitar is that when you get going and you're playing with inspiration and pushing the volume and pushing bends or fast lines or your vibrato, this thing really comes through and takes you over the top, giving an inspired tone that is hard to describe but just feels right as rain.

I bought the guitar used from a punk rocker who treated it poorly. A lot of adjustment was required to get it together. I actaully lucked out with this guitar. The former owner lost control of the guitar during a performance - you know you can't just have standard strap knobs on a Gibson- and the guitar went flying offstage. The input jack and area around the lower butt of the guitar made contact with something and was damaged, with some finish worn off. The former owner replaced the input jackand repainted the lower butt. Hard to tell that the guitar had suffered any damage there. His paint job was matte but hardly distinguishable. But there are some little knicks from this incident and much buckle rash, etc. A very worn in a well-played guitar that has taken a beating. Hence the incredibly low price that I paid for this wonderful axe that was just in need of an owner who'd treat her better.

With the exception of needing better strap buttons, this guitar is road worthy and solid. It survived punk rock abuse for about four years and came out a little scarred but with character. It will go through live playing for decades to come and I don't gig with a backup.

I'm a Fender strat guy who has been playing since dirt. I'm in my early 40s now. I'm a blues and jazz guy. I own a couple of strats and a hollowbody Heritage 550. I found this guitar while trolling craigslist and for the low price I thought I'd give it a try. I'm sold.

In addition to playability and incredible tone, I respect Gibson for creating a guitar that I don't need to instantly modify as soon as I receive it. I have no need to swap out the pickups. I love the Burstbuckers. I don't need to change pots or modify the bridge or the tuners. The only thing Gibson might do is provide better strap buttons, maybe straplocks for all the money you can pay for a Les Paul. And a bone nut might be cool.

This axe just has an incredible vibe and I have a feedback relationship with it when I play, where the tone just comes back to me and pushes me further. The shorter scale makes them easier to play than Fenders and the fullness of the humbuckers gives you heavenly sustain and puts a lot mroe meat on each and every note that you play.

I've heard awful things about Gibson quality control. But I've been to the main store in Nashville and played around with a few instruments and now I own this beauty and I definitely dispute all of those negative claims. Maybe I just got lucky and found the right Gibson -and at an incredible price as well- but I've definitely become more of a Gibson guy because of this experience.

'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.

Les Paul Standard. You know the features so no need to go over them. Mine is the Honeyburst color and it's a looker, too! Got the Burst Bucker Pro pickups and the tapered 60's neck. It's a used 2006 model and other than a mild case of buckle rash it looked brand new. Has all the features I need.

This is my first Les Paul Standard. I've been wanting one for years but held out until the right one came along with the right price. I play it thru a Marshall DSL 50 head with a 1960 BV cabinet using 2, UK 25 watt Celestion Greenbacks and 2, 30 watt Weber Blue Dogs. (Great combination. Got a Weber Beam Blocker in front of each speaker too. REALLY helps). Effects are a Barber Direct Drive SS, a Digitech Bad Monkey (both set for a low to medium crunch, an Aphex Compressor all going into the amps input. Got a Boss GE-7 EQ and a Boss digital Delay going into the loop. Between the amps clean channel, the pedals and the amps Ultra Channel I've got a good variety of tones going.

I really like these Burst Bucker pickups and see absolutley no need to change them. Once you've got the pickups set to the proper heights you can get some great tones going. Anything from Beatles to Stray Cats to Led Zep to Van Halen is no problem. Tighten things up with a bit of compression and you can go even further. Country, funk...even a bit of Hendrix. (I said just a bit!) The pickups balance out very well with each other and they compliment each other very good as well. I could gush on and on but there's no point. I think they're great as is. (And I've changed the pickups in every other guitar I've owned). Oh yeah...they are NOT wax potted so depending on how much gain you've got going you might notice a tad of microphonics happening.

Well I'll tell ya, after hearing so many horror stories about Gibsons production line quality I was a bit hesitant about buying an LP Standard. Once I spotted this guitar I looked it over and over and then some and in all honesty the ONLY flaw I found were two slight little gouges (very, very small) in the fretboard that could have been cause by anything. The Honeyburst finish is gorgeous on the maple top with not one flaw. I love the color on the mahogany back as well. Kind of a deep reddish brown. The Binding is top nothch. Very well crafted. The neck feels about as rock solid as they come. Action from the 60's taper neck is a JOY. My God, but this guitar plays so great with no effort. Once I bought it a tweaked the action a bit to get it closer to my liking, but that took about 10 minutes, along with adjusting the intonation. No sweat.

I've had the guitar for about 2 months now and I do have to take it in for a proper setup. I prefer not to take aguitar in right away but rather play it for a while to get it broken in a tad. The frets do have to be leveled off a bit because there is a bit of a high spot around the 2nd and 3rd freat on the high E string only. I know a great tech so I'm not worried about it.

As far as reliability my only real gripe about this guitar is how the tuning goes crazy with slight temperature changes. For example, the temperature differance between the upstairs and basement in my house is about 2 to 3 degrees. If I keep the guitar upstairs all the time there's no real problem. But if I take it from upstairs to the basement the high E, B and G strings go nuts for about half an hour. Sharp, flat....all over. But once the guitar gets use to the temperature change the tuning is very stable. So now I just keep it in the basement all the time, just so I don't have to put up with re-tuning it for half an hour. But in all fairness I know of a few life-long LP players who've said the same. They told me "get use to it."

Never dealt with them except for one e-mail I sent them. Never got a response back.

Okay, a slight rant here. I don't understand Gibsons business practices these days and how they're trying to squash out the little guys. Henry, what the hells wrong with you? These small store owners (the ma & pa's if you will) have been around a lot longer than the super market guitar stores have been. Doesn't loyalty mean anything to you guys anymore? I personally know of one fellow who owns his own music store, and he had to drop Gibsons because of the demands they were placing on him. He said Gibson use to be great to deal with and it seemed like overnight it went from a love to a hate relationship. That's "hate" as in THEM hating him. Why, Henry?

Gibson may make some great guitars but they have no right to slit the throats of the good people who've long been there for them by selling their products. I hope they don't start doing the same for the employees who actually make Gibson guitars. I personally prefer the small stores myself. I've been to the "BIG STORE" twice and both times could'nt wait to get out of there.

Opinion: Cruel.

Okay, rant over. As I said, this really is a great guitar and I'm glad I waited for this one to come along. Compared this one to a lot of other Les Pauls and this one just had that special something. Les Pauls just balance out so well too when playing. Nothing is in the way, like toggle switches or knobs. Makes playing that much more enjoyable.

I think this guitar was meant for me. Of what I gather from the store I bought it from, one guy bought it then returned it a about two months after owning it. Then another guy bought it, put it in layaway for 90 days then decided he did'nt want it. The ANOTHER guy also put it into layaway for about 30 days then came into some financial difficulties and couldn't buy it. Then I came along. Tried it and felll totally in love with it. Compared many others, went back a week later, it was still there so I bought it. When I was told of it's "history" I thought that maybe there was something wrong with it but there is not ONE thing wrong with this guitar. It's well made, it plays great and it sounds great.

A beautiful Iced Tea, standard les Paul features (Burst Bucker Pro picups). The only thing I miss on Les Pauls is an on/off-switch, but I usually turn the rythm picup volume down and use the picup toggle. Problem solved!

I play in a couple of metal and rock??n??roll bands, through a Mesa Dual Rectifier with a straigt Standard cabinet and a slanted Traditional cab, with a Cry Baby as only effect. I??ve been playing for quite a while and got through a lot of amps and guitars. And now I??m home! This is the guitar for me! I have a Les Paul Studio too, wich is great, but the Standard is better! Even with my amp tuned in to a heavy distorted sound, every single note is there, and the sustain is incredible. I used to break a lot of strings with my other guitars, because I had to use a lot of force to get the punch in the tone I wanted. With my Les Paul, I get the punch without attacking the strings like a furious wood chopper...
It stays in tune, no problems there.

I got this guitar from my father, and he searched through about six or seven guitar shops to get the perfect Les Paul, and he has set in to perfection. I don??t know how it was delivered from the factory.
The finnish is flawless. And for the first time in life i`m worried about belt bucket marks on the backside... I really want to keep this guitar in a perfect condition! But this is a guitar built for playing, and a couple of dents is part of metal gigs. Guitars age beautiful...

This is a dependable guitar, and I trust it to last for a lifetime of gigs. I have replaces the strap buttons to strap locks, wich is a good idea. The original strap buttons aren??t dependable (like on most guitars), and the angle of the strap button by the neck is chritical. if you rise the neck, the strap will most probably slip off with the standard strap button.
I have also changed the direction of the picup toggle. Instead ow working in a vertical direction, i have set it horizontally. That??s because I tend to switching it accidenally while playing wild solos...
Though, I will always bring a backup, but that??s only for emergency if I break a string.

I have never had any reasons to contact customer support

I??ve been playing in bands for about 20 years, and this is definitley the guitar for me. The exception is my garage band, where I use a Gibson ES-335 (another love of my life. Should I get a girlfriend?) . It seems to work better for that style. The Les Paul Standard is a classical, and there is a good reason why: It sounds great, it??s dependable and it??s beautiful!

My new Gibson LP Standard is a 2001 model that had never been purchased, and was absorbed by the internet guitarsale shop when they took over another store's inventory. Being a 2001, it has chrome Grover tuners, 490R/498T h/b, and a nickel jack plate. Nashville chrome bridge with standard stopbar. Gold tophat knobs. I chose one with the '60s neck profile because I like them. It has a honeyburst 2-piece bookmatched plain maple top that has surprises in store when you change the angle of light on it. It will change from a very plain looking flat-sawn grain pattern to a 3-dimensional shimmer with hints of "blister" and a scattering of "bird's-eyes". It appears to be an eastern rock maple from what I know. It really is beautiful in an austere way. The back and neck mahogany are finished in a sweet honey color (not red) which is the way I have wanted one for a long time, but never found in any local guitar shops. So I took a chance and ordered this one without first touching it. The sellers gave me a very nice deal on it. And lastly, it is SOLID and heavy - 9.7 pounds. I seriously doubt they drilled weight-relief spaces in this thing.

I love the sound of the 490R and 498T pickups. The bridge 498 is just hot enough to make serious crunch when used alone, and the 490 neck has the warm, fat, round singing tubular tones we love. The 498 alone has very bright top end and a solid bassy foundation and just enough mids inbetween. It will make the classic harmonic squeals when you ask it to, although I'm still working on that technique. With both p'ups together it sounds nice and fat and FULL. You can dial in all the gain available on my Marshall combo, roll out the mids, and you have the Death Metal chugga-chugg. Or you can ease up on the gain, restore the midrange and sound like Bad Company/Free/Kiss - whatever they play on your local "classic rock" station with the same 101 songs on rotation. It sounds like a LES PAUL. It satisfies like a thick juicy steak.

Here's where I take off 5 points for the neck. As you've seen in countless reviews here, the frets, fretboard, and neck binding on the fret-ends are full of file-marks, there is glue oozed out of some fret slots, and even a chunk of WOOD at the 5th fret. The bone nut was cut too low, and the G, B, and high E strings all buzzed on the first fret. This kind of shoddy work is unacceptable at the prices that Gibson demands, and makes them out to be fakers when they advertise that "only a Gibson is good enough". Bullsheet. Carvin will turn out a flawless instrument for $1000 less. My '05 Epiphone LP Classic has a nearly perfect fretboard and setup for $375 new. The Gibson USA production line apparently has some lousy employees who are NOT luthiers working one of the most IMPORTANT parts of the guitar. I almost sent it back because of this, but I will explain more later.

The body is beautiful, and was made well. With the exception of the bridge saddles - the slots were cut way off and so the string spacing is OFF - again, I associate this with the people who finish the neck/fretboard/strings - the setup part. As for the body and neck woods, it all appears to be solid as granite, and finished very nicely. The top was polished to perfection. There was some ripple on the neck heel as others have noted here as well. But overall it is very, very nice, and SOLID.

So - body woods great, fretboard, neck binding, finishing, and bridge saddles very poor. Shamefully bad setup.

Typical nitrocellulose finish that looks great so far because it's still new (even though it's an '01). The strap buttons feel solid, the hardware all feels solid, and I love the nickel metal jackplate. It has the feel of a strong, solid guitar that will last long beyond I will. I won't be using this at a gig. I am a bassist in my professional musical life - the guitars are all for my use at home - I love making sound with them, and I am enamored of the FAT HUMBUCKER sound that comes from a good Les Paul. I play almost every day just for my own entertainment.

No contact with Gibson yet.

OK, here's where I'm fortunate - one of the USA's best luthiers happens to run his shop in my neighborhood (Mike Lull) and he is an authorized Gibson repair shop. So before I sent the guitar back, I took it to him. The guitar is now being set right. Gibson will pay for some of it, the guitarsale shop will kick some $$$ for some of it, and I will have a perfectly dressed and set-up neck and bridge when they are finished. I will post another review after I have it back for a few weeks.

I own an Epiphone LP Classic that happens to be one of the most resonant, sweet solid body electric guitars I have ever touched. I bought it immediately after I first held it. Unplugged, it sings like magic. Plugged in, it sounds as sweet as can be for stock Epi components. With volume kept down, it has a voice like an angel. For $375 US brand new - yeah, go ahead and laugh. If you could play it, you'd quit laghing and start making music. I will play around with different pickups as time moves along, because it's a keeper. The fretboard is 100% better than the Gibson I have, and there was nary a flaw on it. Just the usual cheapo electrical components which are easily replaced or fixed.

This Gibson - time will tell once I get to play it with a proper setup. I mostly play bass, and have been gigging with a number of local bands in the Seattle area for years. I own a Carvin LB75 that's all mahogany, I have a nice acoustic bass, a few nice acoustic guitars, and a Modulus Q5 that's only a few weeks from completion. My bass rig is enormous, powerful, and clean. I will play music as long as I can move my hands. Out gigging with the bass, or at home with a guitar, stringed music is my passion. I've always wanted a Gibson Les Paul Standard, and now at age 45, I've got one. Yes, they are overpriced, but - It's an American rite of passage, like owning at least one Chevy small block V8 and one Ford small block V8, or a Harley Davidson. It's an icon, and when I find the right one, I'll keep it until I pass it along to my son someday. I hope it's this one, but who knows - maybe I'll get myself one of those '59 Custom Shop Reissues.....

Les Paul Standard Gold Top 60's neck profile
USA made 2006 - 222nd day
Deluxe Tuners
22 frets, Mahogany Body, maple top and rosewood fingerboard
2 Burstbuckers

I play mostly metal and occasional blues depending on my mood. I prefer palying the old Metallica especially the Kill em All album. I ran it through Korg AX3000G and and a 30 watt Fender speaker. The burstbuckers are just on the right blend for me. Blues on the neck and and screaming solos on the neck. I dont hear any unnecessary noises at all but the sound is fat and ugly. The uglier it sounds, the better it becomes. Apart from shoulder breaking weight of the guitar, evry single appointments on the guitar is a luthier mastery. Nothing on this guitar happen by accident and i might add that its probably the oldest guitar design on the planet. Though, some improvements can be made like the tuners, straplocks,ebony fretboard without spending ??200 more and less heel on the neck. Nothing is perfect and everyone have always something bad and good to say. Eventhough its a flawed guitar, i would still buy it, over and over again.

The way i see it, there were like 15 Les pauls hanging on the wall. All the color options were available. Gold top had always been my home for a very long time for no particular reason. Im just lucky that the factory set up is not that bad. The action is low and there might be some buzzes here and there but i can live with it but the frets needs to be dressed slightly. you can feel the roughness of the frets when you string bending. The 3 switch selector screw was a bit loose. Noine of thse problems exist on a ??1500 guitar. Gibson should double check their guitar before leaving its factory. remember, an instrument poorly set up will always fail. Only thru professional set up any guitars can turn into an instrument you love to play.

This guitar should outlast you. Dimarzio cliplocks is on the way to replace the stock strap button. I dont think its big enuff to hold a heavy guitar like this. Like any other equipment and toys you have, care must taken to ensure the guitar is in perfect working condition. A visit to the guitar tech from time to time would be highly recomended. Protect your investment.

Dont need em yet.

It took me 5 hours to get this guitar and that would mean an endless argument and price matching with the sales people in the shop.I knw alredi what I wanted and as soon as I hold and played the gold top, i knw it was the one. Been playing since I was 6. Started with a ukelele and progressed to the 6 strings. I saved for 8 months to buy this guitar and if ever somebody stole her from me, il beat the shit out the bastard. Folks, buy this guitar. Its too much for a price but dont worry. Youll earn it back.

The finish is notr perfect, you can see some textures. Not big deal. But it should be perfect, this is a Gibson!!!
Tuners are pretty steady. No problems with the truss rod.

Just perfect!!!!

It came with a normal set up, now i do my own set up. No problem at all.
I think the wood is not the best but the sound is awesome.

Finish is a really boring sunburst, Dont like the finish, its top quality but boring to look at. Had the bridge changed for a floyd rose original to make it more versitile and make a shit tuning reliableibility a lot batter. Changed the Kluston tuners for grovers because they are much better and accurate. 24 3/4'' scale which originally had a fat neck until i got some sandpapper and gave it a Zakk Wylde natural feel and made it into a slimmer neck. Came with a gibson hardcase which IS solid. 2005 model with 22 frets and set neck. Has a nice slab of mahogany with a really boring flame top(wish it was quilt). Has two volume and two tone with a three way selecter. Two gicson pick-ups are gone and are in another guitar of mine. Now has EMGs, 60 in the neck and 81 in bridge.

Original pick-ups were very muffled and wooly under hi-gain but sounded much better under low gain and clean but they had to go cos they weren't an option for the heavy style i play. It goes through a peavey valveking head and marshall 1960 cabs and sounds great, for heavy crushing riffs to clean stuff and nearly everything in between. With the floyd rose, I can do a lot with it. middle switch setting gives a sound almost like the mighty metallica from the puppets, justice era. 8 with the EMGs, 3 with the Gibsons.

The set up from the factory was worse than i expected, but i expected perfection, But everyone has different preferences. I would say that the action was ok because it wasnt high but not low enough for me. The pick-ups came out easily and the thick body easily took the battery clip for the EMGs. The top is bookmatched perfectly but is boring grain. Tuners were a little flimsey and not very accurate or solid. Aprt from that, good.

The guitar stands gigs very well and i have dropped it a few times at practice sessions, nothin happened, very robust finish. The orinignal hardware is gone but the strap buttons have served me well, but i mite get strap locks at some soon, just in case. I always have a back-up, an epiphone standard with same set up, just in case it goes wrong. Its my second main guitar, alongside my ESP JH-2 explorer. I also have an ESP EC-1000 and thats just as relaible as the Gibbo.

Never dealt with them, EMG are helpfull tho, if thats any use

Ive been playing for about 6 years and have a maverick X-1 (old shape, the better one) a V a built myself, ESP JH-2 and an ESP LTD EC-1000VB and an Epi LP standard. This guitar is good but not brilliant, despite the price! If it were stolen or lost then i would save the money and build myself something better.

Standard issue pickups and hardware, with a so so sunburst finish. And a Gibson hardshell case, with a pick guard thrown in.

I love the sound. I've been playing Strats (from no names to Fender's) for years, and it was a joy to finally play a Les Paul. I love the weight, the sustain, the solid feel. My kind of guitar. As someone else said, eveyone should own a Les Paul. Just maybe not from Gibson...

The first Les Paul I got had a bad neck. I took it to get set up, and there was nothing they could do with it. The results of tightening the truss rod were uneven, and they advised me to return it, which I did. Damn shame, as the Les Paul I was given in exchange doesn't look as half as good. Where the first had a nice tiger stripe sunburst effect, this is the typical mis-matched two halves plain looking sun burst. Very disappointed. It also has a loose tone knob, and other poor touches to the finish. This is not a guitar I would have chosen to buy cold in a shop. I haven't taken it to be set up yet, but if it has a dodgy 60's neck again this will be the last Gibson I touch.

It's a solid guitar, and I'm aware of the chances of the neck breaking if I'm not careful. But why Gibson don't fit strap locks I don't know. When you're spending this a mount of money (??1300) on a guitar, small touches like that leave you feeling short changed. I would gig with it, but I'd prefer to gig with a Tokai at a third of the cost (or even a Japanese Tokai at under two thirds).

Not had to deal with them, only the shop that sold me the guitar and through them their suppliers (not Gibson). I wouldn't use either again. And I curse Gibson for shipping a guitar with a great body but a useless neck that wasn't fit for purpose.

I've been playing for 22 years (ouch, that long already?), and own and a handful of other guitars (no name Strat copy, Tokai Strat copy, Fender Strat Deluxe, Gibson SG), and I really wish I had bought a Tokai Love Rock instead of this Gibson. I'd always wanted a Les Paul since trying them way back when, and the sound and weight is great, just not the actual product Gibson sell. At half the price it wouldn't hurt so much.

I think you know what she has - standard issue pickups and hardware. Classic.

Started with a Starforce guitar in 1998, which was fine, especially with a Zoom pedal.

Got into a band at Uni and got a Les Paul Standard (1990/91) Cherry Sunburst.

I used to play it with the Zoom until a friend kindly pointed out "You've got a Gibson Les Paul and a Marshall amp. What the hell do you need effects for???"

He was not wrong.

Flawless finish. Has picked up a few dings here and there over the 16 years we've been together.

Started to lose her sparkle in the late 90s, and the cover of one of her machine heads came loose.


A trip to a luthier spruced her up a huge amount, made her like new.

Used to play in a couple of bands quite regularly, and she always always ALWAYS came through and made me proud.

Very dependable (if bloody heavy) guitar. A real workhorse.

Been playing on and off for about 18 years. More off than on to be honest, but have got back into it big time.

Currently own a Marshall Amp, a Zoom G2 effects pedal thingy, that old Starforce guitar and a Jem 7VWH replica.

She's called Soo

Love the neck on her. After learning something on any other guitar I can come back to Soo and she'll make it damn easy to play anything I sruggled with before.

If I lost her, or she was stolen, I'd be devastated. My grandfather helped me with the money to buy her. My uncle went with me to the shop to buy her. They've both dead now, but I think of them fondly every time I play her.

She's so much more than the metal, wood and plastic she's made from. A constant companion through life.


I have a feeling Soo will be in my future family for generations to come, and that every time she's played she'll sing just as beautifully for them as she does for me.

Mine is a modified 1978 from the Kalamazoo Factory. I got it used about 2 years ago and it had different pickups and different tuners. The pickups were Seymour Duncan Seth Lover humbuckers, which I have since exchanged for overwound Golden Age humbuckers. I also added a Bigsby B-7 and am going to put in a passive overdrive cube on one of the tone controls. It's got a tobacco sunburst finish with a good deal of playing wear in a few spots and the usual dents and dings. It also has a maple neck and rosewood fret board.

The usual Les Paul sound. The Overwound Golden Age humbuckers are pretty fat sounding compared to the Seymour Duncan's that were in it when I got it. Sounds pretty good clean and sounds great through some overdrive. Has nearly endless sustain, even with the Bigsby.

When I got it, it had .009-.042 strings tuned to E flat...I promptly removed them and put on a set of .011-.055 (now .012-.058) and tuned it back to standard. The intonation was fine and the neck didn't budge when I switched to the heavier strings. The finish was in pretty good shape when I recieved it. It had a bit of buckle rash on the back and a few dings on the front. Now I've worn through the finish in a few spots on the top and I've added to the buckle rash on the back.

It's pretty sturdy. I'm sure in it's 28 years it's been tossed around and it's still in one piece. It has some jumbo strap buttons on it which hold any strap on pretty well, too. The finish wore off pretty quick, but I play harder than most people, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Haven't dealt with them and I don't think they'd do anything for a '78 anyway.

It's a Les Paul...you buy them because they're Les Pauls. The '70s are often considered the dark ages for Gibson, but I'm happy with this one. I play the hell out of it and it keeps on going.

1992 model, "Heritage" Cherry Sunburst. Much pinker looking & less subtly flamey than the more recent Ice Tea, Root Beer etc finishes. Canadian hardcase with the plush pink Bishop's gown style fuchsia drape. Purchased new in '92. Crappy strap-buttons were the first thing to go. Replaced with Dunlop straplocks. I remember the Dunlop screws were a little too small so I solved that by filling the screw-holes with industrial strength super-glue. Hey, it did the job. That was at least 13 years ago & they've held like a rock ever since. Took me a longtime to remove the stock mudbuckers & 300K volume pots, though. Wish I'd done that WAY sooner. 5 points off for the 300K pots & crappy straplocks. Does that seem harsh? I paid the equivalent of $1500 for this.
Very heavy guitar & I'm in no way convinced that this improves tone or sustain, as a previous reviewer claimed. I have a poly-finished Jap Burny LP Custom that is at least 2 lbs lighter & sonically pisses all over this in every way imaginable.

I made do with this as my main axe for many years, but if I'm honest with myself I was never truly happy with it. I guess I wanted to justify having spent two summer holidays working in a sawmill while in school to treat myself to this, so enamoured was I with the myth of the Gibson Les Paul. No fool like a young fool, I guess. Over the years I've used it with just about every type of Marshall (ah, how those myths die hard), toured in a punk rock band (how quaint it all seems), played blues covers, you name it. Just always sounded too dark, muddy & strangled. Harsh too. Convinced myself this was normal, not knowing any better. Upon finally getting a Tokai that sounded & played approximately 23 times better (having cost a third of what I paid for this Gibson) I was embarassed into springing a small fortune for a pair of Duncan Antiquities & some proper 500K audio volume pots to make Americas's finest sound worthy of it's gilded name. And.....................
The Tokai still sounds better.
Weirdly, the stock 498T/490R pups sounded great when I put 'em in an alder bodied Epiphone Flying V, so I can't blame this solely on the pups. The Les Paul with the Antiquities meanwhile sounds like warm mud as opposed to cold mud so you could call it a partial improvement.

Always been a little buzzing here & there. I use 11s & I like a fairly low action but I don't exaggerate either, y'know? Had to do some filing on the saddle of the A string as it was a butcher. Many tuning issues, particularily on the G string (oo-er missus etc). One of the knobs (oo-er missus etc) kept falling off at one time but it hasn't done so in a few years now, so we'll call it a draw. I must be on the 12th toggle switch cover by now.
Still, it's been a fucking Volvo compared to a Gibson Les Paul Special I had for a few years, that I thankfully managed to sell a few months back (no, I'm not proud).

Ok, it definitely shines here. Very well made. I've toured with this guitar all over Europe in all seasons & all sorts of atmospheric conditions & though I've taken good care of it, she's obviously high quality & you can feel it as soon as you pick her up. This should definitely not be a taken as a given on all Gibsons however. My $900 special looked ill & fucked by the time I sold it with 9 years of use on the clock. Finish on this one has only recently started to age to that nicely worn look which looks even cooler with the Antiquities. Strap locks are MANDATORY & Gibson should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves for not making them standard issue. As per any Gibson, watch the headstock.

Another reviewer said it best:
"Never dealt with the company. I'm sure they've more than earned their reputation as complete assholes though."
Not sure who said it, but it was in this thread. Poetry!

Been playing 17 years, 14 of them with this. It's been with me through it all & I've the muscles to prove it from lugging the bastard around. Have thought many times of selling it, but the bitch of it is I'm quite attached to it after all this time. If lost or stolen I'd be more pissed off about the monetary value than the sentimental one though, to be honest. And I definitely wouldn't replace it with another Gibson unless it was an original 50s job & I found myself in some parallel universe where I could afford one.
I don't exactly HATE anything about it (nothing that I haven't already replaced anyway) but what I love most is the fact that it's worth enough to get me an early 80s Tokai Love Rock if I sold it. For now.
I still love Les Pauls, but I'm too experienced to give a shit about the name on the headstock.

Gibson Les Paul Standard 2005, 60's neck, slim taper neck, Rootbeer Finish with Nitro-cellulose lacquer, Honduran Mahogany body, Maple top, Mahogany neck, heavy weight but all the better sustain
Burstbucker pro pickups in H-H configuration
Tune-o-matic bridge (aka the string chewer) for extra short string lifetime
standard stopbar
Original Gibson tuner: it can withstand massive load and stay in tune
Hybrid Strings for maximum combination between playability and tone

bought it second hand, it has been set up previously. whoever did it, did an incredible job doing it. it's so smooth so playable without compromising the sound

Feels amazing, very heavy and yet very very balanced. the neck length complements the body shape, maximum playability. You know it when you hold it!!!

My current setting at the time this review is written: my Les Paul, Boss OD-3 Overdrive with Monte Allum Modification, Fender Tube Amp 15 Watt (Yes, I know, this doesnt do the guitar justice at all...)

I tried playing all kind of Blues, Rock, and Rock n Roll with it. the sound that it produces is beyond words.

play it clean, the tonal coverage is amazing. the combination of two pickups with individual tone and volume settings result in one of the most versatile guitars i have ever played.

through the pedal even better. you can feel the kick of its tonal definition and its incredibly fat sustain. the sound is so full, rich, and mature. it reflects the material from which it is made, and you can almost hear it resonate from within the body of the guitar. simply the sound from heaven.

However i have to give it a 9 because I can only test the sound when plugged to at least a 30 watt amp to test its full capability

I bought it second hand, it has been professionally set up (or feels like it). the action though high, is very playable (this is not a shredder's guitar so dont expect anything of that sort. I bend a lot, and the action setting was just the right balance between playability and sound. I can bend easily bend because the action is low enough for this, but the sound that it produces is not one bit altered from the bridge adjustment.

I needed to reconfigure the pickups adjustment. I like my pickups to sound proper hot so i brought the pickups closer to the strings. apart from this I needed no other adjustments.

It's very sturdy but it does have an Achilles Heel. drop it on its neck or headstock (and thereby putting its own bodyweight on its weakest point) and it's dead. I've seen it happening and it aint pretty. Having said that, this is a high-end guitar from a high-end class of a manufacturer with over a century of history. It is designed to outlive you. All you have to do is spend fifteen minutes a day maintaining it. giving it proper wipe, polish it and clean it. If you treat her like you want to be treated, she will live forever.

the strap buttons are a little dodgy. It has never fallen off the strap but it is very likely to happen due to the size of the button. you are strongly advised to purchase straplocks with it

The nitrocellulose lacquer requires special type of guitar polish or otherwise it will react with the polish and wear off. Also, you do not want to put it on a stand without layering the stand first. it does react with the rubber on the stand and the produced chemical will penetrate deep past the finish and into the wood. this is an irreversible process and once its done the value of your LP will drop a lot

I will base my opinion based on my own experience contacting them. I have done so twice. first, regarding serial number verification and secondly maintenance.

for the first one they verified it within 24 hours. very satisfactory
the second one, the guy responded so well. he gave precise advice and even referred me to local luthiers in my area.

excellent guitar that requires patience before you get the best out of it. If you are prepared to treat it like you would the love of your life, then she will live forever. Very pricey, only buy if you are prepared to spend quality time with it and spend a bit of money, time and effort maintaning it. But what you get out of it is an unbeatable playing pleasure.

2003 Gibson Les Paul Standard Wine Red Finish. 60's Neck.
Burstbucker Pro Pickups. Tuneomatic Bridge. Beautiful trapezoid inlays. Gibson Original plastic key-stone tuners. Maple top and Mohogany Back. Rosewood Fretboard.
Made in good ol' Gibson Nashville Factory U.S.A.
Key points to mention in this review is that I did buy it used on Ebay. This guitar has the basic double tone, double volume top-hat knobs and can let you work with your tone a bit. No push-pull no crazy piezo nothing like that. You have to keep in mind that this is a guitar originally designed somewhere around the 1950's. It's really not supposed to have all those technological breakthroughs of today. For what it is it is a classic, working musicians, axe. Very sturdy body for gigging but one accidental neck drop and it's all over. I would recommend just like all the other reviewers that you do install strap locks but I kinda like to keep things as original as I can. Since this guitar was used the one of the saddles was really filed down and it might be a reason the E string is buzzing a bit. Also when I play the open D string it buzzes but I read that it might just need the nut replace. These issues are from the guitar being used alot live from it's previous owner so It doesn't count against my overall score for the features. All in all a very sturdy and a little heavier than usual guitar. But the heaviness helps with the sustain. One little gripe is that the tuners do seem a little old school for playing the heck out of the guitar but they still do the job quite well. Don't let the plastic fool you they manage to keep the strings in tune.

I play this guitar straight trough a Marshall JCM 200 DSL 100 with only a Dunlop 535Q Wah and it sounds phenomenal.This amp might suit your music style if your'e into having a brighter, crisper, bridge distortion and a not so muddy rhythym pickup. I also love having it in the middle position too It's the best of both worlds. I would say it suits most if not all styles of music. From jazz to metal. The reason I say that the les paul was orginally designed as a guitar for jazz, and the majority of professional artists using this guitar range from Maroon 5 to Zakk Wylde. The internal hardware has not given me or what seems to be the previous user any problems. Pretty quiet guitar. You only get feedback if your WAY too close to your amp which is natural. But also if you like fiddling around with feedback this guitar can help you because the pickups are just the right amount of loud and defined. Oh and before I forget, the reason I bought this guitar was of the acclaimed sustain that it can provide, and trust me, they weren't kidding. You can literally "go for a bite to eat and the note would still be playing." I read somewhere that this is partly due to the neck being so perfectly joined to the body and probably just overall craftsmanship.

This guitar was bought used on Ebay but it was throug an action Guitar Shop so they set it up very good. The only thing wrong was that the E String Saddle is pretty filed down and the nut might need replacing as I mentioned earlier. Other than that the Maple top is mathed well. One small problem I saw and I hate to knock on the Quality Control department becuase that's all you hear about on these reviews and even when I was in the market for a Les Paul Standard that's all I would read on this web site is that they overlooked some glue on the side of the nut probably from putting too much in the nut channel. This shouldn't be the case on a guitar that is now valued at 2,300 U.S. Dollars new. Everything should be perfect.

I have officially gigged with it about 10 times over these past months and if it can withstand a full four hour gig like we do here in Texas it can withstand anything from the bedroom rocker to the professional musician. My recommendations for the lack of bigger strap buttons (Gibson likes to keep things original as they can so theyr'e still the same sized 50 or so years later)is you replace them with Strap Locks or buy a Kepur Guitar strap that I have personally been gigging with and that seems to keep the guitar from falling of the strap.Lastly I have always liked to bring only one guitar to gigs and this guitar is no exception to my rule. It stays in tune as much as it can from my heavy picking hand and it can stay in tune for you too.

I have been playing for 12 years and I own a Marshall JCM 200 DSL 100 Watt head, Marshall 1960 Angled Cab, Dunlop 535Q Wah, Ibanez Delay/Echo, Ibanez Chorus/Flanger Pedal's, Dunlop Picks, and Daddario Strings.If i lost this guitar or had it stolen I would probably kill myself and haunt the person who stole it and his family for the rest of their days. I strongly feel that this is the last guitar I will ever have to buy because of the durability, tone, and craftsmanship put into this guitar. The only way I would ever buy another guitar is if it was another Gibson Les Paul Standard maybe in the Root Beer Color.

Second hand 23-09-2002 Nashville,USA, 22 frets, Mahogany body, flame maple top, rosewood 50's fretboard, transamber Standard with the usual trimmings in a black hardcase but sadly without the shroud.

Sounds like nothing I've ever played before, then again it's only my second electric so I've yet to fing better. I only play in my bedroom so a 38 watt Bullet Reverb amp is just fine. I have also a Zoom 9002 which i don't really use anymore. Boss metal zone, Dunlop crybaby and that's me. Guitar plays well, though some strings rattle a bit and bug me when I'm not plugged in. When she's got electricity flowing i can really rip the house down with this guitar. Yes, Rich, Powerfull, Bright everything i expected from a us standard. Soundwise I really cannot complain, My first electric is a Strat copy and though i promised to play her, she does spend most of her time in the gig bag in my wardrobe sob sob :(

Setup, was okay, nothing great, rattling strings here and there, i believe the previos owner didn't fiddle with anything apart from changing the strings. He might have put a slightly heavier guage tho.
The pickups seem fine the top is well matched but the flames are not that prominent despite a clear finish, doesn't really matter that much as she's still a beauty and more importantly sounds GOOD. I believe Gibson cheat abit on the Archtop by applying rather thick layers of Nitrocellulose on the top, reason being there is a clearly visible bending of light in some parts of the top suggesting thicker Nitro finish. I don't agree with that. In fact I don't agree at all with Nitro finishes, as some guitar making dude once said, Nitro is like a condom. I prefer to actually feel and smell the wood. I prob will end up selling this one and finding a fully natural finish. Gibson Standard tho.
The finish i must say was not as goo as i had anticipated. The binding can be felt in the sides of th guitar when i don't think they really should. Tht annoyed me a bit. Other than that, all is fine, oh yeah, apart from the loose pickup selector which without tools is a bit of a bummer to tighten.

Those strap buttons are absolutely $%^&. Who would be silly enough to try their luck on stage without doin sommat about them???? Locking straps naturally are the way out. But you need to sort that out Gibson!
If i don't sell the guitar it will hopefully one day be owned by my geat grand children... It appears to be well solid, I wonder how well the glue will age?
I don't tend to do too big bends but a spare guitar is always useful.

Gibson have diligently dealt with my queries. nothing bad to say about them. I don't think its under warrenty anymore.

Played for about 8 years on and off but a whole lot more recently, I wonder why, hmmm.... Gibson?
I feel like i should have asked over a score of 10 what the finish was. But come to think of it, everyones percepion of good is slightly different and as the guy say it was imaculate i went with it. No regrets tho, I called her Laura. I love Laura.
Definitly buy another one but without the laquer condom, lol
I love everything about her apart from the slightly dubious binding finish. As nother reviewer said and i'll reiterate, they are trying to get as many guitars out of th factory as they can and i believe it shows.
I with it had a bisgby tremolo, but i can get that added myself.
One last thing I'd like to share with you all.
They say material things don't make you happy, well my Laura does and will for a long time. That and:
God is my hero

Made in late 2005. Has all the usual features of a Les Paul Standard. Has the Burstbucker pickups in it. Honeyburst. Included Gibson hardshell case.

This guitar has THE Les Paul sound. i played quite a few different LPs before I settled on this one. Its a keeper. Clean it sounds really full and round when using the neck pickup and has more snap to it when using the bridge pickup. When I play distorted it sounds ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Each note in the chords really stand out and it has an unbelieveable crunch to it. I play indie rock mixed with some metal and it suits my needs perfectly. Currently I'm playing through a Mesa Single Rectifier head and a Mesa/Boogie Mark III red stripe head and it complements these amps perfectly. The guitar has BALLS!!

Here's the downside. The guitar was set up HORRIBLY from the factory. It's pretty obvious that whoever sets these up just sets them up to spec and doesn't actually play them. First the intonation was WAY off. The placement of the saddles was so severe that by just looking at it you could tell it would be off. The nut and the bridge slots were both too high and needed to be filed down. When I would play an open chord it would never be in tune because the nut was so high! Also the action was way too high and when I went to adjust the truss rod I first had to clean dried glue off of the truss nut. Looked like someone was in a hurry to finish!

That said: These were easily remedied problems that took a grand total of 15 minutes to fix. My point it that on a $2000 guitar the set up should be right. I've played Mexi Strats and Squiers with better factory setups. it's obvious that Gibson is more concerned with cranking out a product then making sure that the product is perfect. ou should be able to pull ANY Gibson guitar and have it be able to represent the company but unfortunately most are set up so badly that it makes the guitar sound bad.

Other than these glaring negatives the guitar was structurally sound (which to me is more important than a great factory setup). I could tell just by playing it unplugged that it was a great player. The flame on the maple is also very amazing. this was actually my second Standard. the first one that I bought from Guitar Center had a bunch of scratches on the back so they ordered me a new one and i played the scratched one until the new one came in. I was amazed at how inconsistent they are. The first one had a very dark honeyburst finish while the second finish looked more like a vintage LP would look after the red had faded from the burst. Also the flame on the first one paled in comparison to the second one.

This guitar is definitely solid. Obviously I'm going to be concerned about banging around the headstock, but other than that I have no worries. The nickel hardware will age nicely and not flake like chrome does. Also the nitro finish will age beautifully and eventually he guitar will have an amazing vintage look to it. The strap buttons on these things are a joke though. They're so small that there's no way I'd play live with it. I replaced the original strap pegs with Dunlop Straplocks so I'm not sweating that. I would definitely gig with this guitar but not without 2 backups. Hey man, strings break on the highest of high end instruments. This one is no exception.

Never dealt with Customer Service. I've heard mixed reviews but I won't know for sure until I've dealt with them personally.

This is a great guitar that I will enjoy for years to come. I have 10 other guitars, some high end some mid level and this one is certainly the best. Everyone should own one Les Paul. I have an Agile and it is like comparing apples and hotdogs when you compare them. Accept no substitute!

I'm gonna guess it was made in 2006, I just got it. Gibson les Paul Standard, WOW!, 60's neck, Mahogany body, BurstBucker Pro type 1 and 2,Rose wood fret, all the bindings, Look fabulous.Cayenne with nickle hardware.

This Standard sounds just what you play for, I play through a Marshall JCM 2000 TSL 100 with 1960bv and tv1960. Nothing but tight, Rippin leads with a rhythem thats clear and precise. Very distictive sound that you wanted out of every other guitar you bought.I own a Gibson sg standard, sg61, Gibson lp studio plus, songwriter deluxe. These are all fine sounding also, the standard just screams with playability and The best sound lead,Clean, and crunch I've played. The BurstBucker Pro's 1 and 2 are great in this guitar.

The set up was the best of all guitars I've bought, I have heard others say less, but mine was just right. Binding, Finish, Nothing loose or buzzing. It is what I expected in a new guitar. No flaws. Nice.

Seems pretty reliable and The finish, paint, Seems durible. Never had any problems with a gibson Product. No back up needed with this guitar, But who plays only one guitar. Put straplocks on as with any.

Never had use for them and don't want to go there, I hate problems.

I.m giving this lp Standard a 10, because it has just impressed me with the sound, playability, and just feels so good in my hands. As with every Gibson guitar I've purchased, This just sounds the best, more of what I want in a guitar. Don't settle on less if you can afford it. You won't go wrong. It's a beautiful Guitar!

2001 USA Gibson Les Paul Standard Bass,still in production as of this writng,specs on mfr. website.In general,a Les Paul guitar in 4 string bass form;mahogany body and neck,maple top,ebony board,two humbuckers with vol/tone for each,toggle on upper bout,tune-a-matic stoptail bridge,34" scale 20 fret set-neck,Grover tuners,shaped hardshell case.

Through a GK with EV 15,this bass sounds fantastic;similar to J-bass but more powerful,more even response across all strings and the entire scale,better sustain,more punch and less "clack";capable of tones from Jack to John Paul to Jaco,Felix to Funky,even Ric-like progressive.As versatile as you are,and no batteries or artificial preamps to mess with.Drive effects well,too.

Again,a Les Paul in bass form,built to last.High quality hardwoods resonate beautifully,10k passive humbuckers,heavy-duty bridge and tuners,medium jumbo frets finished smoothly,nitro finish shows lotsa tree.Neck shape very comfortable,not too wide,thick round back,very fast low action.Excellent attention to detail throughout.

Great for stage or studio,stays in tune,thick round neck very stable.No pickguard,too pretty to beat up on;not recommended for players with "violent" technique.

Gibson was remarkably responsive and helpful regarding this bass,in spite of the fact that I was not the original owner.Very impressive.

Played bass and guitar for 33 years,have had Jazz,Precision,T-Bird,EB-0,and Dano basses.Wish I had gotten one of these sooner,it is a superior instrument in the price range of better known,vastly inferior basses.Albeit slightly heavier,if you can haul around a bass amp you can handle 10 lbs on your shoulder for a couple of hours;you'll love playing it so much you won't notice the weight.I would replace it if lost or broken.

Whats to say us made les paul standard in cherry sunburst (a darkish one) no need to go into detail about its construction, as the man says "if ya don't know by now, well,)
has a very nice flamed top on it supposed to be AA top but this top is more like AAA- lovley

sounds like a les paul, you know, the balls, the sustain etc etc

no complaints here, everything as it should be apart from the nut which is very badly cut (in fact, hardly cut at all)

Rock solid

Never used em'

Playing about 30 years, also own Fender standard U.S strat, Fender delux U.S strat, Fender lite ash strat, 2 Aria Mac 60 guitars (very nice these fitted with Di-Marzio tone zone humbuckers and locking tuners) Fender modern Twin amp (also very nice but weighs a bloody ton)Damage control Demonizer and various Boss pedals

made in usa
22 frets
2 tone 2 volume
mohogany neck and back
comes with a black scale covered case
50s neck its a standard les paul what can i say
nothing special but great!!

It suits all styles from rock to jazz but if its a guitar to drop in to c or b then it isnt for you.
its quiet and clear its perfect
pickups are loud and responsive and perfect,you can get great tones and a range of tones if you play around with its settings.
absolutly no dislikes
once again nothing special but nothing bad.

action is fine and clear
setup was perfect,pickups were level and fine.
colour looks perfect!and sexy!
no flaws that i can see or my mates so its all good!
Like all gibson as long as they are looked after the more there used the nicer they get colour and feel wise.
The neck on mine is still still brand spanking new so neededs using to get it to its full potential!

ITS TRUE WHEN THEY SAY THIS GUITAR IS STURDY,STRONG AND WILL OUT LIVE YOU IF TAKEN CARE OF!
hareware is fine no worrys.The finish is durable and wont go without a good fight!
as soon as i bought it i went next door and had some strap locks put on,as it isnt safe without them.I havent done a gig with this guitar yet but no doubt it would be the best you wouldnt need a back up but if your like me then ud take a spare anyway .

Never had to deal with them still brand new but i have heard great things about them they are the Gibson company after all!

i own nothing special an old valvestate 65 watts and a few pedals. i asked and inquierd everything before i bought it it as i say its all good.if it was stolen i would without thinking twice.what did i love about it?what DIDNT i love about it!theres nothing to hate as long as you play them all in the shop and chose the one that suits you and you only no one else!Its a great lovely guitar no problems(yet) and im not planning on having any! i love it!!!

2005 model Les Paul Standard, Iced Tea colour.
Came with case, strap, lead, a few picks, polish and cloth, string winder.

Usual Les Paul features.

This is the 50's neck version.

Fantastic.
I also have a few Strats and other guitars, and by adding this Les Paul i now have a great range of tones and sounds.
This Les Paul is very versatile, the bridge pickup is growly and biting, though still pretty hot and rounded. The neck pickup is maybe a little too soft, i have moved the pickup a little closer to the strings to compensate and this helps.
the sustain is amazing, and the guitar just sounds so great you cant put it down.

Mine is really well put together.
The action on the bass strings is slightly high, but i might just leave it and get used to it, as it does give it a nice meaty tone.
The finish is perfect, and overall i would say it cant get much better.

I dont know, i have only had this a short time, so cant tell if it will fall to bits.
It seems very well constructed, solid and high quality.

Again, i have yet to contact them, but pretty good website

Well, im totally happy.
This is a great guitar.
I had one of the Epiphone Les Pauls 17 years ago and although it was a fast and nice looking guitar, it fell to bits - the tuners were rubbish, the wood under the volume controls crumbled and the fittings were very rough, this put me off Les Pauls for years.
I've been playing Strats mostly, and Strat like guitars, and only recently started looking longingly at Les Pauls again. One of my fave guitarists is Jimmy Page, and Slash has a good sound from his Les Paul.
So..... after admiring them from a distance my girlfriend offered to buy me one.... WOW, and thanks very much.

Im totally blown away with this now, the sound is just so strong and rock oriented that it makes me smile when i plug it in. This is soooo much better than the Epiphone and even the Classic models.

I also have a Strat Plus with EMG DG20 pickups, USA Strat, Starfield Custom.
I plug this into either my Peavey Classic 50 or Fender Twin Reverb.
I also use a bunch of pedals (Boss NS2, CS2, Mojo-vibe, Big Muff, ReezaFRATzitz, Barber LTD, Boss GE7, Electric Mistress, Phase 90, SPF Ego Booster, Boss DD20, Ernie Ball volume pedal).

This IS the classic Les Paul sound you always loved, buy it and love it.

brand new 05 heritage cherry sunburst 60s neck ordered from AMS guitar is flawless im used to a imorted jackson. it took some tweaking to get it where i like but i cant stop playing this thing. sounds awesome without a amp.

im using a stage 212 amp and a ampeg head through my 212 stage also.
im considering a different bridge pickup but would not touch the neck burstbucker sounds incredible.

good general setup.

definetly get some shaller strap locks if you get a les paul.

ive always thought this was the cadillac of guitars now i now this is true.

It's LP Standard from 1994, cherry sunburst. Made in USA.
Has all the standard features.
The designer of the "Canadian made" case could be Elton John, as it's all in pink plush...

The sound is awful muddy.
We tried in with various Amps:
A fantastic Vox AC 30: no way
An old Rickenbacker solid state amp: no way, too
A Fender Blues de Ville: ok, the sound was a little bit better, but far away from being good

Honestly: I once bought a Yamaha Pacifica 112 at ebay for 75 Euro.
It sounded far better.

Action is perfect. No flays at all. After 10 years the guitar is still in perfect condition, well made finish. OK, the tuners are cheap, but it's a vintage guitar, so this is ok.
It's too heavy, of course.

Everything is made very durable. There won't be any problems in 20 years.

%

Playing for about 15 years now.
Other gear: Rickenbacker 330, Hofner Nightingale (A Gibson 335-copy, but better ;-) ), Fender Telecaster (Highway model), Hofner HA-43 Flattop, Hofner HZ-27 Classical guitar

The LP Standard is a really well made guitar, beautiful with a nice finish. But the sound is horrible. I don't know what to use it for.
Never had such a bad guitar. It's all muddy and washed, the Humbuckers really suck. Afer 2 minutes of playing I plug it off every time.
I never understand, why people spent >2500 bucks for this. I got it for free from my father, but wouldn't even spent 100 for this one.

2002 les paul standard in cherry sunburst
22 frets
solid top
lots of controls
oh, and a nice case

i play mostly rock and blues and this suits it perfectly.
i have a rwally poo amp at the minute but the sound is still great.
its a nice bright tone, which can also be mellow.

brilliantly set up by the shop in london.

have only played this guitar a couple of times live before because im worried about dropping it on the floor. its generally excellent, and i would use solely this at a gig. my only quible is the pickups started to corrode a little, but i suspect this is becuase i play it too much and its quite humid where i am.

have not needed to use this yet.

been playing over 5 years, and this is by far the best guitar i have played on. the other gear i own is pretty basic, a westone warlock, an sx custom acoustic and a kustom 30watt. (hoping to upgrade to a vox :P) if it were stolen i would do whatever i could to get a new one. and i would cry, lots. i think only a few guitars beat this and they would have to be: prs24 custom, and the very pricey fenders.
gotta love this axe!

2005 USA made 22 thin fret 60's neck. Satin Heritage Cherry Sunburst was ordered but I received Lightburst finish. It looks great so I'm keeping it. Single cut. Stop Tailpiece, tune-o -matic bridge. Passive Burstbucker H/H pickups but very hot, almost too much when overdriven. Kluson tuners. Maple solid top bound on mahogany. Neck is thicker than my 2003 American Standard Strat. Came in form-fitting TKL case, boxed. Two volume, two tone controls, three way switch.

I like blues and R&R. I use it with a Boss ME-50 foot pedal unit and a Marshall AVT 50. Sounds rich and resonant , even when not overdriven. Sustain is incredible. I think that with the hot pickups it can be used for any style. It sounds great on any of the 14 overdrive settings on the Boss, and just as good on the Marshall overdrive by-passing the Boss. I'm keeping this guitar, for certain. It's rich, warm sound is incredible.

Set up perfectly from the factory. Pickups adjusted right on. Not one flaw on it. Frets all crowned perfectly. All mechanical parts and electronics are great, not any defective parts. However, it did not come with the "Standard" truss rod cover, and no pickup covers as they're advertised. I ordered a "Standard" truss rod cover from Music123. I think the pickup covers are needed on this particular guitar to cut the presence a little bit because the pickups are so hot. It came with a pickguard unattached. I ordered a clear acrylic one from WD Music and installed that one. I'm waiting for the pickup covers. It's such a perfect sounding and finished guitar that I'd give it a 10, but without the right truss rod cover and the fact that there's no pickup covers, are minor errors (plus the fact it was a differnt finish from what I ordered.

The finish is very good, but a bit dull. My Strat and ESP EX-351 both have a nice sheen on them comparitively. I needed to install a pickguard because of my picking style, I'd definitely scratch the finish. I can see why others wouldn't install it because it does look better without one. I think it would scratch easily, though it's so solid an instrument I don't see any issues with needing a backup and that it will last for years. I always put it in the case when I'm done with it to protect it from dust and scratches. I don't gig so it stays in a protected place. If I did, however, I don't think a backup would be necessary.

I bought it from Daddy's Junky Music in Salem, NH, and they got it to me quickly, rather than having to wait a couple months for it. They're a Gibson authorized dealer and they fixed my son's Takemine GL really quickly and right. So I believe I bought it from the right dealer. As I said, I liked the Lightburst, it's flawless, and it sounds great so I decided to keep it

I've been playing for years off and on, but now definitely on with this instrument. I would definitely buy another if it was lost or stolen, though it's pretty unlikely. There really is nothing i don't like, other than the aforementioned truss rod cover and pickup covers. My favorite feature is the sound, which is what it really comes down to. It blows away my Strat (with Dimarzio Heavy blues pickups)and the ESP, which has SD Invaders on it. It's a great guitar, and I recommend it to anyone, if you can afford it.

2003 Nashville made Les Paul. Features are well known... Simplicity and effectiveness combined with immense beauty! It came with a standard black molded case, with nice plush & a silk veil (!). Moderate weight. A scratchplate was also included, but not installed, so I put it right on, before I started playing, in order to protect the (very sensitive) nitro finish. Mine has a very extreme, almost tigerstriped, maple top, that really puts the beautiful honeyburst into the shade: Almost everyone (including myself) gets stuck at the flame grain!! Also, the (100%) quartersawn pattern is extreme, and, being totally vertical on the flame grain, it drives the top to a graticule scheme, and the light, yellow finished part in the middle is hard to see, through all these lines!!! Gibson's decision to upgrade the LP Standards with those nice tops without raising the street prices, is to my opinion, their biggest hit in the last 25 years...
The heel is relatively small, the headstock also, the neck profile is meaty (50's one), all in all a nearly perfect replica of the late 50's Les Paul, with a (virtually initial) cherry sunburst finish turned to honeyburst (as it really happened ot many of them).
The guitar is equipped with those new Burstbucker pups, they seem to have unevenly wound coils, exactly as it was the case by the early PAFs, and should be more authentical sounding... Let'see..

...if this is the case in real... Well, first of all, unplugged, the guitar delivers that punchy, loud, focused sound, with the immense sustain. Plugged in, first of all I say that: You have to workhard to find an amp setting where this guitar does not sound well.. Maybe only through some crap combos could be that case... Clean set, you get that full, but not mud sound. Surprisingly, the bridge pup sounds very open, sweet and well balanced, nothing to do with some 70's PAFs and their middy sound... The neck pup is pure sweetness, you may get jazzy, bluesy, even funky sounds through that. And, last not least, the combination of both, which, combined with the double-vol-pot feature, delivers a variety of useful, nice sounds. When overdriven, things become even more serious, this is the guitar, which, side by side with the Strat, defined the Rock Guitar sound in the past 5 decades, and still does!!! Actually, due to the unevenly wound coils, Burtbuckers show a little hum, but still of very decent size.
Really astonishing also, the effect of the twin-wood design: Pick a tone (works best on unwound strings, especially on the b, and on higher frets) and let it ring: You clearly hear the maple part of the sound ringin out and the mahogany part still being there: Within some seconds the sound becomes more round (almost as when you switch pups from bridge to neck), and that mahogany part is the sustain and controlled feedback leading one... Simply wonderful!!!

Action and finish were perfect, though I changed (as on all my axes) to .011 gauge, and so I re-set it up from scratch. The guitar plays butter. It is perfectly built, all joints are 100% perfect. The only thing to complain is the traditional nitro finish. It's very thin, thus the axe vibrates to hell, but it becomes scratched and/or damaged very easily: Mine has already some marks on the back due to my belt buckle. There isn't really that much to do here, this is the traditional Les Paul finish, Gibson decided to retain it.

Apart from the finish problems (see above), these axes come to stay! If it wasn't like that, Les Pauls would be already out of history...

Don't know, never needed them...

Playin' for 25 years, mainly a strat player (own 5 of'em), but, being a guitar tech also, and coming from Classic rock, I alway respected that Les Paul as a rock icon. That's why I wanted to have one in my collection. I mainly use it on that stuff (Southern, Thin Lizzy, Blues), but also on more jazzy/fusion style (think Robben Ford). There is really nothing, that I wish this particular Les Paul had more... There is really not much to say, in general, about it... It's simply, a 10!!!!

Gibson Les Paul Standard Lightburst 2003, made in USA.
Typical LP with 60s neck, burstbucker pickups (I don't know how they differ from PAF?), solid body with AAA mable top.
Gibson's original case included.

Sounds just like it should be, LP has its own unique sound
and that's why I bought it.
I use mainly Hughes&Kettner Edition Tube -combo.

In general, the guitar was quite well adjusted, but the
strings were 009" and in my opinion they don't sound so well.
So after the strings changed the neck has to be adjusted again.
Finishing is correct.

I think due to Nickel plating (not Chrome)the surfaces in
bridge and back/bridge-pickup are slightly faded.
I presume that the "Old Ones" have had the same kind of finishing?
No problems with wood parts and playing.

No need for that.

I have played about 32 years and I've have had tens of guitars.
Nowadays I'm thinking that a good LP and a good Stratocaster
are the only guitars that I need in my playing today.
Now I have very fine LP, it took some years to find it!

2003, Made in USA
9.6 lbs; heavy but not a back breaker
Light Burst 50s neck
Flame Maple top, Mahogany body and neck, rosewood fretboard.

Standard features (including the case) as it left the factory. I haven't fitted the pick guard.

I rate the model pretty high because of the efforts over the past few years to get the standard closer to the original specs.

Nothing goes crunch like a Les Paul. Hearing a good guitarist letting a Les Paul rip is a history lesson in blues / rock sounds over the past forty years.

I play blues / rock style and useall pup positions but neck most often.

The Gibson Burstbucker Pro pickups sounds are the best standard pickup combination I've heard in a Les Paul and certainly more versatile than the 496 / 500 pair in my Flying V.

My setup is Boss SD-1 -> DS-2 -> OC-3 -> Fender Hot Rod DeVille 2x12. When playing the Les Paul my amp is setup to cut bass and middle on the amp settings and up the presence. Typically: Treble=6; Middle=3; Bass=1; Presence=6

Providing you haven't got a lemon and have a good amp setup, most people, especially owners, would rate the sound pretty high.

The guitar was setup in the shop where I bought it from so its hard to comment on the factory setup.

I've had not no problems with the finish or setup.

The fretwork is very good but not as good as my PRS Custom 24.

There is a small area just above the bridge where the flame fades out. I guess this is why it is a AA rather than AAA top. I've seen be

I've fitted Strap locks, and they are essential for all Gibson's but especially Les Pauls. It wouldn't survive a trip to the floor and neck breakages are common.

The plastic panel mounting the output jack had a slight crack and was replced by the dealer.

Otherwise, Les Paul's are solid and will last a lifetime.

I wouldn't play any gig without a backup.

The only contact I've had with Gibson is via email, asking general questions about my Les Paul and Flying V. They answer my questions within a couple of days so I was pretty happy with the response.

We don't get the "limited lifetime guarantee" in Australia. I fact it seems that warranty matters are left up to the dealers.

I've been playing off and on since 1969, playing my strat occasionaly since the 76. I've just become really interested in guitars again in 2004, buying a long time want, the Gibson Flying V

I've played Les Pauls before but didn't really understand what the fuss was all about preferring, flying Vs and SGs. I saw this guitar for sale on ebay. The shop was nearby and while I didn't intent to buy the guitar I did want to see what a "Light Burst" looked like in the flesh.

Bad mistake. The moment I picked it this guitar, I knew I had to have it. It's not only the look, sound but it's feel really put the hook in. The Les Paul is an easy guitar to play and rewards good playing. I'm playing better than I ever and enjoying guitar more than ever. The only drawback being the weight. (Not many chicks play Les Pauls.)

The relatively cost of guitars has fallen over the years. I couldn't afford to buy a Les Paul in the 70s. Today they are more affordable than ever. While, I probably paid a bit too much for it, (I seen new standards for as low as $3500 in Australia) the cheaper ones don't seem to have as much flame as my guitar.

The Les Paul Standard is (with the strat), the definitive rock / blues sound and a must have for my guitar collection which includes (PRS Custom 24, 74 strat and Flying V). I'm now an unexpected Les Paul convert.

This review is for a Black (Ebony) 2002 Les Paul Standard. Made in Nashville, TN USA. It has the usual LP appointments so I won't bore anyone here. It has all you need.

I have owned this LP for about 9 months now and I have played it almost every day since I purchased it off ebay. I have been playing for about 32 years and have owned several guitars over the years, but this is the first one I have owned that I just can't seem to put down. I have been able to get just about any sound I want out of this LP, it's amazing. It even sounds great unplugged. The 2002 Les Paul is the one that Gibson uses on their website for sound bytes. The stock pups on this guitar are great, very versital.
I play through a Marshall jcm900 4502 2x12 combo amp with EL34 power tubes. With this setup I can do everything from Guns and Roses to Blues and Country.

I have read several reviews on here that trash Gibson quality. Unless I just got lucky, I have no complaints at all about the quality of this guitar. The fit and finish is great. Of course, I had to set it up to my liking. I don't think any guitar comes set up to suit everyone who plays it, you have to personalize them.

This guitar will last the average guitarist a lifetime if given a little TLC. I have added strap-locks, I suggest you do the same. Playing without a backup guitar depends on the importance of the gig.
Use your own judgement.

I have called customer service twice, they were very helpful.

Overall, this is a damn nice guitar. I have owned and played several different brands of guitars like Fender, Kramer, Epiphone, Ibanez, etc. The Gibson Les Paul is by far my favorite. I have played rhythm guitar for about 32 years, and for about the last year I have been working at playing lead guitar. At this time, I plug into a Boss tu2 tuner and then straight into my Marshall jcm900. In the future I plan to add a delay of some kind and maybe a vintage Marshall overdrive pedal.

I own a 1999 American Les Paul Standard in Heritage Cherry Sunburst

22 rosewood frets
Solid Body
2 Volume, 2 Tone and a 3-way Switcher
2 Humbucker Pickups
Tune-O-Matic Bridge and Stopbar Tailpiece
Cream Surrounds and Nickle Hardware

I play at home usung a Marshall Valvestate VS30R and on stage, a a Marshall DFX100 Full Stack. Through both set ups, the guitar sounds awsome. The bridge pickup gives a crunching sound, typical of the 70's guitarists and the neck pickup has a smooth sound which is complimented well by using a 10 guage string.

To start with, the guitar is very fast, even for a Les Paul. i have the action set quite low so it does play super fast but it was still fast initially. There are no dead spots on the frets and all the bends sustain perfectly. Becuase i got the guitar second hand, the scratch plate was not the original and i am not willing to pay #35 for a the authentic one but it still look fine. The top is not not a perfect bookmatch to say the least but I think this adds character to the guitar.

I also own an Epiphone Les Paul Custom and this is my ultimate gig guitar. Because it was made before 2001, it has not had the alterations the new models have. This means it is heavy! Even though it is heavy, it is still my #1 gig guitar. I does hurt your shoulders but it is worth it for the sound you get out of it.

Never had to use this service

I have been playing for about 2 years now and this by far is the best guitar i have tried. I have quite big hands so the SG was just far too small and not an option. The other models(Classic, Studio etc...) do not have the same feel as the Standard. If the guitar was stolen, i would not hasten to get another one, however, i would get an older model and not one of the newer ones. I think the shops rip people off on this guitar which is why I advise you to get one second hand. My one was as good as an ex-demo and it was 5 years old so it was a real find!!!

Made in 2005 in Nashville. Desert burst top, 50s neck: great looking & playing. The rest is like any other standard. Came in a Canadian-made black LP case, whose guitar cover (black) cloth stained the top of the 3-way switch handle (cream). The older cases with pink guitar covering cloth did not do that, thus a point off. Also, these American-made guitars could have come with a strap, a chord, a pick, and a wiping cloth to be ready for gigging right out of the case, like American-made Fenders are: another point off.

Playing blues, rock & jazz most of the time. This guitar covers these styles with excelence. Playing it through Gibson (super) Goldtone amps, using some effects on occasion: VOX Wah, Marshall Guv'nor2. To my taste it sounds best via GA-60RV: very sweet and balanced on the clean, and crunchy/screaming on the dirty channel. It will play nicely through Fender amps as well. Marshalls are the way to go for heavier stuff, of course, but for that I have my Guv'nor2 pedal. This guitar tells a story everytime I play it. It can sing, cry, bark, scream, talk, you name the rest: very versatile. Sustain is what you expect from your LP: even on clean settings it is virtually endless. The guiar can be bright (especially on the bridge PU) or deep&dark on the neck PU. The Burstbuckers Pro are vintage sounding, but not as sweet as PAF'57s.

That's where the problems are: Gibson quality control dept. is not doing their job. I had to (re)order the guitar 3 times before they sent me the one with no apparent defects. The first one had a lousy fretboard with some scratches along the frets and excessive glue around the inlays. The second one had the neck binding all screwed up: fret ends were 1-2 millimeters above it. The third one had no apparent problems. Only later I have noticed that the nut is far from perfect, but that I could easily fix myself. The tops and finishes on all three were excellent, though. I will not buy the "it still sounds great" argument here: if you want the LP sound and don't care for the looks, go with LP Studio; however, when you are talking about LP Standard ($1K more), it had better be both good player and good looker.

The Les Paul design has proven itself over 5 decades. I can certainly depend on my LP Standard, but won't take it to some casual gigs or questionable clubs: the thing is too expensive and beautiful for that.

I mailed to customer support regarding the nut issue, and they responded prmptly giving a list of authorized repear shops in my area. Repair shops had inconvenient hours (something like 12-4: that's when I have to work, too) and were so overbooked, I did not bother going there.

I've been playing for over 15 years. Own & play primarily American made guitars and tube amps. Long wanted a Les Paul Standard. Too bad I had to go through painful multiple re-ordering to finally arrive at what I wanted. All three guitars sounded good, but different from each other. The first one sounded most inspiring. The final one had least defects. If lost, I'd certainly buy one gain, but with a plain top or a solid color: flamed tops are exciting, but too tiger-like;) This guitar defines the LP tone we all came to love. The fat body and the maple cap make a difference compared to e.g. an all mahogany thin bodied "The Paul" model I have, bringing more sustain and briliance to the tone. While in the store, I had a chance to compared LP to PRS McCarty and 22Std, which beat LP in the build quality, but sounded thinner and did not have separate PU controls. I like my LP's predictability and its wide tonal range. It is a great musical instrument both in the studio and on the stage. If only Gibson Quality Control Dept. worked...

2004, Root Beer. Gorgeous flame, in dark brown.

'60's neck, and standard LP hardware. Burstbucker pickups.

I've changed a couple of bits - the plastic hardwear is now black, and there are chrome tulip tuners rather than the plastic "vintage" ones it came with. The tuners make it feel much more solid to me, although changing them did involve drilling the holes in the headstock to be slightly larger.

The only feature I'm not a huge fan of is the slightly smaller headstock on the newer Standards. It's a minor point, but the larger design did look better.

Came with black hard case (at last, a black case as standard!), and an accessory pack.

Nothing spectacular, but everything you expect from a LP.

I mostly play old punk through a Boogie Single Rectifier. Ideal guitar for the job. The bridge Burstbucker is extremely powerful, and generally needs the tone rolled off a touch to save it from being too brittle (though that has a lot to do with my amp settings).

The neck is fantastically warm. And the two together gives a whole host of sounds, if you play about with the volume and tone controls.

It compares very favourably with previous LPs I've had, by far the best of any with humbuckers (Voodoo, Smartwood, and one of the original Jimmy Page models). I personally prefer P90's/P94's given the choice, but I wouldn't change them on this one, as it sounds excellent.

And it'll overdrive an amp, no problem. My old Marshall Super Lead generally needed a fuzz box to get a good distortion sound out of it, but the LP would make it dirty at normally clean settings.

I play a few different guitars live, all for distinctly different sounds (Tele, Rickenbacker), but it's mostly the LP, and I can get three or four different sounds by using differnt pickups and tone settings. Much more versatile than it's generally given credit for.

I always liked the slightly clubby, chunky necks on previous Les Pauls, above slim, fast necks. But the '60's profile is the best of both worlds - really fast, but still substantial.

I changed the set up slightly, as I play with 12's, so the intonation needed a slight tweak, and the action was raised slightly, as I prefer it a little high. I'd expect to do that for any new guitar, since they're usually set up as low as possible and for 9's or 10's in the shop. But it's a real pleasure to play.

The finish on the guitar is excellent - changing to flamed wood as standard without adding a few hundred quid to the price was a brilliant move by Gibson. I don't really like sunburst, even the more gentle, faded ones, so the Root Beer finish really appealed to me. It does look and feel like a really top quality guitar.

For all teh fanciness of it's finish, it is built like a tank, and performs like a workhorse. I've gigged with it constantly, and it's my main guitar live, and has only ever let me down when I break a string (which I do constantly on all my guitars - I have a fairly agressive playing style, and use hard tortex sharkfins, on the textured side).

I've no worries about it failing while playing, but would never gig without a backup, for the string problems.

I did swap the buttons for Straplocks, which is a pretty standard change - why don't most manufacturers fit them as standard.

never had to go direct to Gibson over this one.

I use a US Tele, and a Ricky 360, and I've been through a string of LP's since I've been playing with a band (really I'm a bass player, who got collared to play guitar when a mate's band needed a replacement leads guitarist - bass is still a far better vocation if you ask me). It's by far the best LP I've had, and it's even making me wonder about my previous preference of playing my Tele for amusement (as opposed to the band, where a LP is better suited for the sound).

You know when you just know a guitar is the right one? I tend to know instantly whether I'll like a guitar - I bought my Tele based on it's feel, and then changed everything on it bar the neck.

I chose it initially for it's finish (the shop had all the Standard colours hanging off the wall, and this was the prettiest to my eyes), but first the neck, and then the sound, were just perfect. It was better than my then LP (a Voodoo), and far better than any of the other options (Studio, Classic, etc).

I'd replace it with an identical model if it ever got stolen, no question. It's never going to sound like a fender, but that's not what I got it for.

2004 Standard in Root Beer (with cherry back and neck). Standard features......

All Les Pauls sound little different, and mine has a particularly thick maple top on it so it is really bright. The Burstbucker in the bridge is nice and clear and has that vowel sound to it, but I'm not too wild about the neck pickup, it seems a little weak and muddy. This guitar is a little thin sounding to me because of the thick top (I've played Studios that sounded alot warmer than this) but it equals out with the extra sustain in provides.

As most people know, you have to find YOUR Les Paul. I went a while not being wild about them till I came across this one. The neck has a great slim feel and the piece of rosewood is one of the best I have seen on a Les Paul. It is really moist looking and almost has a 3D effect to it. The inlay job is nice and clean, which seems to be a rare thing with Gibson nowadays. The inlay on the headstock though has some bubbles in the finish over it. The finish and the flamed top look awesome, especially in the right light. The binding job is pretty good as well. The hardware tarnishes very easily though, but besides that I am very impressed with this particular guitar. As far as the playablility goes, I was surprised that I could rip better on this than on my Music Mans (which IMO are the best quality guitar out there right now).

The hardware is already tarnishing, and the finish gets worn down pretty easily. I guess a Gibson is supposed to age, but this is a little ridiculous.

I have been playing for 4 or 5 years now. I own three Ernie Ball Music Man Petrucci Models, which I love more than anything. The Les Paul has its own unique character, but still takes second place to those. I love the look of it, I love the feel, but I am so so on the sound. If it was stolen, I would buy another Music Man. In its own right however, it rocks. BTW if you are looking to get one of these, shop around and try out several of them so you can find a good one.

My Gibson LP Standard #01844454. I think it was made in July of '04. I havent completely figured out how to read the serial number. I ordered it from the factory through a Gibson dealer. I chose Heritage Cherry Sunburst. The neck is mahogany slim 60's tapered with 22 frets and pearloid inlay fret markings. Rosewood fingerboard. The body is mahogany back and sides with a flamed maple top. chrome stop tail piece, tune-o-matic bridge. Pick ups are burstbuckers which I think used to be called the alnico V's. The case is very nice with the logo embossed on it plush interior and a black satin flap cover. Mine too came with the pick guard and hardware uninstalled which is kinda nice because I think the pick guard hides some of the guitars' natural beauty. I also got a truss rod wrench. It also came with a QC tag that listed the stages of production- not everyone signed the tag so Im not sure if all QC categories were checked before shipping.

My style is classic rock. I like alot of Humble Pie, Alice Cooper and Bad Company. I also play alot of blues, Im heavy into Robin Trower at the moment and this guitar is perfect for it. just the guitar and amp alone produces some nice tone. I like to play it clean with the pick up selector switch at the mid position. try Mark Knopffler's "sultans of swing" using that tone and see what you think. I really liked it.

To tell you the truth, I dont know. I never had the dealer set it up for me when I took delivery. The action is low and smooth. there is a couple minor flaws i found. On the body it looks like id was bumped by something before it went to be painted- its miniscuel, but you can see it if you look really close. controls are solid and turn with ease, selector switch is fine, no noise or static when switched. You know the more I think about it, the more I think I should have it looked at. At least make sure that the truss rod is in proper adjustment. Ive got the same problem other LP owners have with the g string, it tends to drop out of tune. I was told it has to do with the nut.

Its my main axe. I have a fender american standard strat, but I cant imagine myself without my LesPaul. Ive had it a year now and everything seems solid.

I have had good response from customer support. I wanted the veneer headstock cover to be replaced because it has a small nick in it when I accidentally nicked a ceiling fan with it. Its not a glaring mark and the nick is not into the wood, but it does disturb the integrity of the guitar. I was told it could be repaired for 200$. Thats when I decided to learn guitar repair.

Ive been playing 20 years. I also have a Fender American Standard Stratocaster and a Washburn LA-60 thats in pieces. I play through a Mesa/Boogie 50 watt studio amp, but Im going to purchase a B-52 AT-100 before christmas. I love tube amps. I love my Les Paul. I really didnt compare it to any other guitars in the same price range because to me there is no substitute. I love american made guitars. I dont mind paying more for one because it keeps Gibson where it belongs- in the U.S. (though it didnt have to move from my hometown of Kalamazoo)
Piece of advice- never buy off the rack- you dont know who's played the guitar youre looking at, how its been handled. Audition the guitar, but have the dealer order you the guitar you want from the factory. Lastly Teach a child the wonder of music.

This is made in USA, AA top burst-buster pickups. 2004 model. Laquer finish. Came with case, tool and manual but missing other case candy even though I bought it new. The features spoken of for a guitar like this are usually about appearance. Keep in mind this guitar costed 1900 plus shipping. The laquer is not flat, wavy orange peel on headstock. Bubble under the finish at the nut. The frets were not very level. Neck was bowed enough to go sailing. Why do I need to take a 1900 guitar to my tech for a level, crown and set up right out of the box? At his recommendation I played it for a year to wear it in then had the work done. The guitars hardware needs to be cleaned regularly as it easily tarnishes and the laquer picks up fingerprints like crazy. The top grain is so-so. Looks good from certain angles. The mahogany grain is nice and tight, however. The color on the mahogany is very nice, very pleasing red hue. The light burst paint job also looks well-done. The binding is good, it covers the fret ends on the neck. The tuners seem adequate, the nut didn't need any work and the guitar holds tune and intonates well. It only gets a seven because for this money everything should work/look well. Offsetting that it has quality pickups and electronics and Lacquer finishes are not common.

Sounds like a les paul. That said, every les paul sounds a tiny bit different. I was looking for a sweet brighter sound. The burst buckers do that well, they also have decent volume, I won't be changing them. Great sustain as Nigel Tufnel will attest too, and no humming or noise problems.

I guess I covered this already. This was my first new Gibson product. Something I wanted badly for a long time and had high hopes for. You will need to have it leveled/ crowned / set-up. It will be much better for it. After this work the action is very low and even. It came with playability that would be unremarkable on a $500 guitar. The finish should be flat but it isn't. The flame is unremarkable, faint in some areas. The inlays are plastic though they look well enough.

The frets seem to be made of a quality alloy. Low cost guitars will choose cheap, soft metal. It is dependable. The lacquer will age and the metal will tarnish if not looked after.

never dealt with the company.

I have been playing for 15 years and own several guitars. I have a vintage BC Rich Mokingbird and an Addams II ovation on the high end and a korean Schecter and an epi les paul on the low end. I guess the gibson is in the middle. The Rich and Ovation look feel expensive and play well enough to befit their respective prices. They also look stunning, both use uncommon/exotic woods and premium, feature laden electronics. The koreans cut corners anywhere they can. The Gibson is expensive but doesn't have the same intrinsic value as my other expensive guitars although it is a much better instrument than the asian guitars I have. I bought it because I badly wanted a Gibson Les Paul. It is an emotional purchase, there are better values. A PRS McCarty comes to mind. Heritage seems worth looking into. Ibanez makes good giutars. My epiphone was only $300 and that was probably about right in 1992. It plays great after a set-up. It sounds great for rhthm pick up leads with the Seymour Duncans. So, as a practical alternative it is OK if the price is right.

2005 Heritage Cherry Sunburst. ?1400 new. Pretty limited sound types of course, but what a sound.

I'm really a strat man but got this for recording some specific songs. Try www.doonicans.com. I've owned two Les Pauls before from new a 88 Standard and early 90s 57 Gold Top. Sounds better than either of those - the new pickups make a difference and this guitar is the most resonant Les Paul I've played.

Terrible really, and much poorer than late 80s/early 90s Les Pauls I've had. The top is perfect, but the fret binding is shocking, too many file marks that simply didn't happen on older Les Pauls. They turn out so many now they don't take their time and QA is poor. The frets were also not polished sufficiently so bending was a scratchy experience. I've had this sorted of course. But for an expensive instrument its shocking if you compare with Anderson, PRS etc. I actually think my Fenders are better (albeit) more simply made. Action is nice though.

Lets wait and see. I won't gig with it as I use an old Clapton/57 Strat hybrid on stage.

No idea. If its like their build quality I'd be worried.

Great sound, great feel, shocking nexk finish.

Made in '97, 22 Frets, Rosewood fret board, mahogany neck and body with maple cap on body. Finshed in ebony. Dual humbuker pickups with 2 volume and two tone controls. Came with hard shell case.

This guitar was baught in absolutely original condition but I have carried out a number of changes to it recently, these are: Upgraded tuners to locking 18:1 Grover Rotomatics, Changed bridge pick up for Bare Knuckle Nailbomb, Upgraded wiring to braided, cloth insulated throughout, top quality capacitors and of course Schaller strap locks.

The guitar has all the featues I wanted.

This guitar is one of only a few that is appropriate for my style which is goth/punk/rock/metal all mixed up together. I have used an SG previously but the deeper tone of the Les Paul is the way forward.

The original bridge pickup sounded a little thin for metal tones so I changed it for a very carefully selected pickup. The neck pickup sounds very hollow but this is useful to me for clean stuff, or blending with the bridge pickup when playing high up the neck.

It should be noted that the tones are to an extent dependent upon my use of a Marshall JCM2000 DSL 20, or DSL 50 (dependent upon venue) through a 1960v 4x12. The DSL 20 has upgraded Mullard preamp valves, so is definitely the sweeter of the two!

THe sound of this guitar absolutely rules and I will not put it through crap PAs!

Well, any factory setup will be conservative, intonation takes a little while to do and it doesn't entirely surprise me Gibson don't really seem to bother. That's OK because people that are scared off by that buy PRS or something...

So the setup is not coming into my rating, though it was OK(ish).

The quality of the joins, The woodworking, the paint and the laquer are great. There is a flaw around the Gibson logo.

The head stock face, with logo is actually a thin veneer glued on. This is made by taking a peice of MOP, cut roughly the shape of the gibson logo. The front side of this rough cut is then sort of stencilled to cover up the area of the actual logo and leave the edges exposed which the get painted. A neat Gison logo in exposed MOP is the result, this the set in the head stock veneer.

The logo on mine is nice and sharp is made of a nice piece of mother of pearl but right at the edges of the peice of MOP some of it is showing. Looks just a tiny bit dodgy very close up. Can be seen on lots of Gibsons. If i worked for them I would sort it out!

Hows that? Two paragraphs on one tiny niggle! That's how good this guitar is!

This guitar is built to last a lifetime and will. Battle scars will not diminish it's beuaty to me! But it is 8 years old now and the finish isn't broken anywhere, though it does have some dings!

I only ever own one or two guitars at a time and always go without a backup. I use locking tuners and take a spare set of strings, spare cables and some valves. I have never been let down by a Gibson.

They are OK. Dealt with them about other things, they respond in a timely manner and point you in the direction of answers

I have been playing about 7 years. last 3 years, weekly rehearsals and monthly gigging.

I would replace this guitar with the same, if something truly disasterous occured and I would carry out precisely the same upgardes.

2004 Made in US model.
Received in a swap against another guitar (which I won't mention - on purpose)
Desert burst, decent flame top, nitro finish, chrome hw, vintage tuners, burstbuckers, OHSC with anti-theft code...the usual stuff

I play really a lot of styles...it can be jazzfunk, it can be rock. I guess this one would cover the territory quite fine. The pickups actually sound *different* one from each other - which wasn't soo obvious in the past.
The guitar is lighter than others I tried in the past and more resonant too.
Overall I believe improvements have been done in making the LP a "playable" and toneful instrument again

finish:
the binding on the fretboard sucks big time
the fretboard looks rough
the stop tailpiece post holes...what did they use to drill those holes? Where did they do that job?? On an offshore drilling platform??
the stop bar cannot be lowered all the way, otherwise the string will go over the saddles at a ridiculous angle - and the action is already as low as it can go (none of my other guitars - Hamer US, BC Rich, etc - has this shortcoming)

No wonder the kid wanted out so badly....

Guess it's durable enough, really. That is not the issue here..the issue is QC
Q U A L I T Y C O N T R O L

Have had no experience

I own anything between 15 and 20 guitars at any given time.
Many come and go...this one will, that's for sure.
I've been playing for the past 15 years... Page was a reference point in my early years and I always dreamed about the day I would own a Les Paul. Now I hate Gibson for what they're doing to the market. They're flooding it with what appears - and it's not just MY opinion, mind you - to be overpriced crap. Else said, the intrinsic value of many (not all) of their instruments is way lower than the retail price, and probably still lower than the second hand prices. If this review seems to be a bit hard on them - well, HC doesn't ask us to wax poetically about our instruments, right? We're supposed to show what it is really about - and sometimes it is unpleasant. I wish Gibson (and Fender too) stopped flooding the market with overpriced instruments. There is such a glut of guitars being built - it's really unneccessary. and there are so many models.. .it's just too confusing. I suppose the aim of Gibson is to become the hegemonic leader in the field. As many posts on user groups (thegearpage.net for example) may attest, the more Gibson et al churn out their industrial products, the more guitar lovers are attracted by the small, passionate, guitar-loving luthiers. 'Nuff said.

Born in Nashville, TN, on May 5, 2005 -- the first-made guitar that day (you can tell all that by the serial number).

Desert Burst, hi-gloss nitro finish, LP Standard, "fat" '50s neck option (also available with the "slim-taper" '60s neck).

Mahogany back and neck, AA flamed maple top, Burstbucker Pro Alnico V pickups, vintage tuners, nickel plated hardware.

22 frets, bound body and neck, rosewood fingerboard.

Comes with plush lined, locking, hard-case. The black LP Standard comes with the pickguard attached to the guitar. All other colors come with the pickguard and mounting bracket (but no screws) in the case. There are no pre-drilled body holes for the screws. There is a trussrod adjustment wrench in the case, as well.

I rated this a 9, and not a 10, because of the tuners. Granted, Gibson is trying to preserve thea vintage flavor of this guitar, but I would prefer something more substantial, such as Grover Rotomatic tuners instead. I have had no problems with the vintage-type tuners, but they look "cheap" on this very classy looking guitar.

I play mostly blues, classic rock, folk rock, old soul, and some modern country, in addition to contemporary Christian. This Les Paul Standard with the Burstbucker Pro PUPs can cover all of that and more. It even sounds great on jazz. I play this through either a 30-year-old Marshal Model 1959 MKII Super Lead 100 half-stack, or -- more often than not -- a Fender '59 Bassman LTD, and it sings through both. I use no effects, other than a tuner. There's clarity and fullness in the sound, and the resonance can be felt and heard unplugged. The bass end is tight and chunky, while the highs are bell-like. There is no hum or noise at all.

Gibson QC has taken some hits over the years. The best guitar I ever owned was a Les Paul Standard that I bought in '76. It wound in pieces, thanks to an accident, 12 years later. I bought and played (briefly) two other Gibsons -- a used ES-335 and a Les Paul Classic -- in the years since, and both were disappointing. The necks were too thin, too flimsy, and would not maintain any semblance of tuning stability. I gave up on Gibson, and vowed "no more," but there IS something about the sound of a good Les Paul, so I sucked it in and took another chance. I'm glad I did.
This guitar is nothing short of amazing. The finish has depth -- an almost 3-D quality to the flame (if you tip the guitar body around in the light, the flames seem to shift and move, and it looks like bits of gold in the grain). The neck joint is especially tight. I could find no marks, mars, drips, nothing.
The set up was perfect, but that may have been a product of the guys at Sweetwater Sound running through it's own 40-something-point inspection and QC check before shipping it out to me. Regardless, it played great right out of the box. There is no buzz, the nut is perfect (the strings are not pinched in any way), the controls are smooth. I might lower the action just a bit, but that's just my preference.
The action on this thing, even with the supposedly more chunky '50s neck is very fast. I have smaller than average hands and shorter fingers, yet the neck feels "right" and very comfortable to me.
Gibson does have an even more hefty '50s neck that it uses on its Historic LP Standard series. Those do feel like baseball bats or tree trunks in my hand. But the carve on the '50s necks used in the average Standard is more of a modified "C", and compares very closely if not exactly, with the neck that was on my beloved '76 LP Standard. There is no play in this neck at all (better tuning stability), and I suspect it adds to the resonance and tone.
The attention to detail is very noticeable.I can't find a flaw anywhere.

I played my old '76 for 12-15 years without any problems. It was a true road warrior. Thisnew Standard has much of the same feel to it. Certainly, at 9 pounds on the shoulder (give or take a few ounces) it feels solid. The stability of that '50s neck only adds to it.
I'm not a big fan of nickel hardware, but the stuff on my old '76 withstood everything it was exposed to. If it tarnishes, big deal -- it's an easy replacement.
I love this finish, and I'm sure in time it will age and probably show a few battle scars. I don't abuse my instruments, but I do buy them to play them, and not to collect or hang on a wall. Any future battle scars will just add to its personality, and I'm okay with whatever time and use does with this.
The stock strap buttons are on there solid enough, although they look kind of small. I ALWAYS replace the stock buttons on every guitar with strap locks (Dunlops). It's pretty cheap insurance, IMHO.
Dependability? No issues with that. I would have no qualms about gigging on this without a backup, although I usually carry a Robert Cray Strat for certain songs. I played my '76 LP Standard for those 12-15 years without a backup -- pure, rock solid dependability.

I haven't had any issues regarding this guitar, but I had several concerns regarding my two not-so-great experiences with Gibson instruments. I mean, if I'm going to sink a couple of grand into an instrument, I wanted some assurance I wasn't going to encounter some of those past QC ghosts.
So I emailed Gibson's Customer Service, and in both cases I received a quick responce (24 hours the first time, a couple of hours the second). I had a person's name and numbers and all the assurances I needed to go forward with the purchase.
Anywabody who puts a name to something is okay with me. That's accountability, and I think it's proof that Gibson is trying hard to turn around some of it's past reputation for questionable quality.

I'm 56 and have been playing guitar for 40 years. I might be alittle older than some guys slinging these beasts around, but I'm not dead, and I still love to crank up the Marshall half-stack and wail. I also have a '59 Bassman LTD RI amp, as well as a MIM Fender Robert Cray Strat, and two Ovation acoustic-electric guitars. The Les Paul is my main guitar because of its total versatility.
All my questions were more than adequately answered by the folks at Gibson, and by the sales engineer at Sweetwater.
Lost or stolen -- hell, yes, I'd replace it.
I pretty much love the whole package, except for the appearance of the tuners. Those things with the plastic buttons just look so dog-gone cheap, even they work okay on my guitar.
Gibsons are not cheap, but when you find a good one, such as this one, you don't mind digging deep to pay for it. This is a workhorse and an investment. Anyone in any line of work knows that without the right tools, you can't get the job done right. If you buy cheap stuff, it won't hold up. A good guitar is a musicians best tool, and this Gibson Les Paul is among the best.

2002 made les paul.... It's a standard, so has the same features as every other paul. Bustbuckers. Heritage Cherry Sunburst with a gorgeous flame.

Burstbuckers, thin neck, hard case, strings, strap, straplocks and picks thrown in.

Got a pretty good deal.

Would have preffered it if Gibson made half of their guitars with pickguards and half without, or at least include the pickguard, brackets and screws in the case. I love the look of a Les Paul with a pickguard.

I'm knocking a point off for this.

Couple of nicks that I didn't notice in store, but you have to stare closely to notice them. Also, inside the cutaway, the binding has quite a bad smudge, looks like someone really messed up and never bothered to do anything about it. Also at the neck joint, there is a slight flaw in the finish. Don't know what caused it.

I play a lot of music styles. So I use a lot of amp setups. For example, Lynyrd Skynyrd (Clean or slight overdrive), Zep (You all know), Gun's n Roses, (Overdrive and clean) with reverb.

Other influences are AC/DC, Kiss, Ash, Thin Lizzy etc

I also play a lot of original material with my band. This Les Paul does it all. It does feedback a little, but not much, and sometimes I like a tiny little bit of fedback when playing heavy vibrato or during a solo.

Nicely done.

Don't know how it was set up from the factory. The shop I buy my guitars from sets up their guitars before putting them on the shelves (excellent service).

It was set up perfectly when I picked it up. Everything was fine except the tunomatic. The high e string seems to pop out of place when under pressure. I've owned other Gibson's and this hasn't happened. My guitar tech adjusted it though.

Another problem is with the G string. It seldomly goes out of tune. I have changed strings several times, and it's only on this string.

I'll have me tech look at it.

Everything else is fine... Except the nut... It's plastic... Does the job, but could be better.

This guitar is only two months, so I can't really comment on it's reliability. The finish will probably last, strap buttons were replaced, it has been great with every note I've hit.

I'd never gig without a backup though.

Never dealt with them.

I'm giving it a 10 overall, even though it has it's flaws, It just keeps on giving. It sounds amazing, looks amazing, plays amazing.

What more could you want? It's the last Les Paul Standard I'll ever buy though. I'll stick to custom shop from now on.

I've owned a squire strat (sold) Epiphone Sg (sold) Gibson 61 reissue sg (stolen) a Gretsch Malcolm Young sig (amazing) and Now this.

It's my favourite of the lot. I wish it had better tuners though, and in a perfect world, a fishman powerbridge (which is next on the list)

I'll be installing a pickguard. Maybe adding gold hardware and grover tuners for that vintage look. I'm also considering turning this into a 3 pickup guitar.

the standard 50's neck is absolutely amazing. It has everything I would ever want in a guitar. The tune-o-matic/stopbar bridge makes it so easy to play by lifting the strings up so you never touch the guitar. Everything about it blows my mind.

The guitar has the richest, sweetest sound of any guitar i have ever laid my beedie little fingers on. With distortion, it gives a full blast of power, and clean it produces a full sound that no other guitar can match. I love it.

Flawless, gibson never fails to astound. The guitar is absolutely beautiful. I have it in trans-amber, and it stuns me every time I open the case. I am baffled how someone can create something so beautiful.

The finish doesn't wear easily, but there are a few scratch marks on the back from my belt buckle while standing up playing or on stage, but it is pretty durable. As long as it is taken care of it should last forever.

The warranty is a year(I think) and the customer support is very good.Within the first few days I got the Guitar, I dropped it and cracked the neck. They were nice enough to take it back and send me a new one.They always give a hard case with their les paul standards, because they don't want you hurting their pretty guitars(though I seem to astound them by doing it in the first few days).

Though I don't have that much expierience buying guitars because I only have a few others, I have done extensive research and have played over seventy guitars, and this is by far the best one i've ever played.I love the bridge, because,unlike fenders and other companys, you don't ever touch the guitar while strumming. This is my favorite guitar ever, if you are a guitar player and have $2000 to spend, this should be your first priority.

Les Paul Standard 2004. 2004 model features a AA Flamed maple top, get a good one (as I did) and it looks gorgeous, it really does (looks like silk.) A solid mahogany body, so if you like your guitar to be heavy (or put it another way) if you like to feel you've got your moneys worth then this is the wood for you. I love a nice weighty guitar but it?s just my preference. Mahogany is also used for the neck, something that I would (given the choice) not have but it?s not that much of a problem. The finish on it can get a bit sticky from the sweat of your hand.

It?s the standard L.P controls, 3-way pickup selector with two tone and two volume controls but with the old style knobs as apposed to the speed knobs. The pickups used on the new Les Pauls are two BurstBucker Alnico V humbuckers (originally used on 57' Gold Tops). These pickups are very special and give you that great vintage edge over the old pickups and a bit more bite. I love them to bits and would not swap them with any Seymour Duncan muck and certainly not EMGs. Both the neck and bridge pickups get even amount of use from me, something that didn't happen on my old Les Paul.

Anyway, the L.P also features the usual Tune-o-matic + stop bar tailpiece in the bridge, Kluson type tuners and some good-sized frets (fairly narrow). The fingerboard is Rosewood, not as fast as Ebony but, again, if you get a good one it plays really well. The pearl trapezoid inlays look very good as does the pearl Gibson decal on the headstock. The headstock is quite narrow but set at a good angle that keeps tuning better. All binding around the body and the neck looks very good (get your guitar from a respectable shop and they won't give you any shoddy work from the Gibson Factory.) The action on the L.P is nice n' low which is great.

The neck is of course a set-neck as all Gibson's are. Some people say there is a difference in sound with set-neck, through and bolt on necks but none give you a bad sound its down to your needs. The 2004 model does not come with pick-guard attached nor does it come with the screw hole in the body to attach it. It also does not feature the "Standard" engraving on the truss rod cover. Something that would cost you a lot (#15 from Gibson in U.K) if you wanted it.

Feature wise it?s full of stuff to keep you happy whatever style you want to play and definitely deserves 10 out of 10.

My current set-up: is Gibson Les Paul Standard > Boss TU-2 Tuner > Dunlop Crybaby Classic > Ashdown Class A Peacemaker amp. The 2004 model suits me very well. As with many people here I don't have a particular style or should I say music that I mainly play, I play Heavy, soft whatever takes me at that particular time. I could be playing Metallica one minute and Cat Stevens the next. This guitar does all of these genres proud and has never let me down and only inspires me to develop further. The bridge pickup offers a sharp and full sound that just begs to be wailed on and at the other end of the spectrum the neck pickup offers you a dark seductive tone that has you looking like Gary Moore (The Spaz Faced King of Rock) whenever you play lead through it. The flexibility of this guitar is immense and played through a good all Tube amp it?s a match made in heaven.

Obviously if you were looking for a bluesy (Keith Richards, Eric Clapton) twang to your guitar then your first stop would be with Fender (aka the enemy). But if your looking for a rich full sound that could persuade even the most beautiful of women to take her top off and do some kind of crazy sex dance for you while you play Iron Maiden's "Genghis Khan" (sorry that was a dream I had) well then Gibson's your brand.

Just make sure you buy pedals that are True Bypass, as you can get quite anal about loosing any of the fantastic tone you have just acquired.
I love every second I play this guitar and I actually miss it when I'm at work FACT!

Factory set-up was good. Gibson go through quite a rigorous Q.C check before any guitar is sent out BUT! There are always a few that are not up to the standard you'd expect for the price that you have to pay. Your best bet is to go to a respectable shop that checks every guitar they receive for any problems with finish or hardware before putting them up for sale. Remember, if you order over the Internet you cannot see what you are buying. It maybe you are buying items that wouldn't sell in the shop or at worst items that are damaged in some way (sometimes not noticeable at first). If you are planning on buying from eBay be prepared for disappointment there are a lot of people out there you just want to unload broken goods.

The action (as stated above) was just right no problems with it. Absolutely no problems with pickup height or adjustment, just right. Although I have heard some L.P stds have a bad book matched top mine was well done. The binding was also level all around the guitar (a problem Gibson have rectified since some of their older models had uneven binding at the neck.) The shop I bought my guitar from went under their own Q.C check and paid close attention to frets (filing down any mistakes from the factory). The nut was also correctly cut and all controls run perfectly.

I haven?t used this guitar for all that long but the construction of it is enough to tell of the strain this guitar will withstand. Just look at all the great guitar players who have put their trust in a Gibson L.P standard, Slash, Jimmy Page etc. I haven?t used this guitar live but I would not doubt for a second that it would be up to it. The hardware is solidly built and nothing is flimsy.

The nickel finish on the hardware is prone to go a bit off colour as does the pearl inlays, but it all adds to vintage look of these great guitars. Remember some (very rich) people spend #5000 and up for a Historic aged Les Paul, so it?s not a bad thing at all. The finish is prone to bit of buckle rash on the rear but that?s the price you pay for an awesome looking guitar.

The strap buttons have always been a bit of a mystery amongst Les Paul buyers. Why are they so small? You definitely would not want to hang your strap on them. It?s possible Gibson are trying to influence you into buying some strap locks without actually putting them on at the factory. But for whatever reason you do need strap locks.

I would never go into a live situation without a back up, but if I could only take one guitar I would definitely rely on it.

I've only ever contacted them once and they were very friendly and quick with their response. 10/10

I have been playing for around 7 years now and have been gagging to get one of these babies for quite some time. I originally got hold of a cheap Les Paul studio but didn't like the 50's neck and really wanted the whole hog that you get with a standard. I'm not going to be one of those guitar snobs and tell you that to buy one of these you should be at a high level in your playing because that?s not true. If you have the money and really want one GET IT, simple as that. This guitar will improve your playing, how? Because it will inspire you every time you look at it or even think about it, the sound you get from this guitar will make you want to become better and better at your playing.

Built so well that it nearly brought tears to my eyes when I first set eyes on it. Make no mistake; this guitar will make you look GOOD! The ultimate chick magnet, even the hunchback of Notre Dame could get the lady's with one of these. And not only that it sounds so damn good it?s beyond belief. This, people, is my perfect guitar and I couldn't have asked for anything more.

I do miss having the brown reptile skin hard case instead of the black, but it doesn't really matter (guess I could buy one). I also would have liked the pick guard screw holes to be drilled in the body, but again that?s just minor.

Compared with other guitars the L.P kicks them to the kerb. The sheer build quality on these babies makes them worth the price tag in my eyes (I know others don?t agree.) I'm very, very happy that I know have one. Okay that?s my rant over, Bye.

well anything you need, everybody knows 'em. two humbuckers, mahagony back and neck, maple top, vintage tuners, tall but narrow frets, case included. mine is a ebony one. removed the pickguard. loaded with burstbucker pros, #1 in neck position, #2 at bridge. one toggle, two volume, two tone, everything regular.. it's been build in the very late 2001, and is featurde like the latest series.

i mean some want to split their humbuckers or anything. but i don't need any of this so this is just perfect for me.

it's with 60ies neck, feels better to me

i play heavy rock, and i'm playing it with an orange rockerverb 50 combo and a wah. so it just nails the sound that i want.. it's the fattest sound i've ever heard from a good sounding guitar. typical les paul like, i just love it! well the neck pu is so sweet, slash!! and the bridge DOES rock!! enough variety then.. you can perfectly shape the sound with volume and tone controls. and clean, uff, warm in every position.

set up perfectly, everything alright, except the binding was sometimes weird. it ok, nothing to really claim about, but it's a difference to the custom shop models..

well, you know how les pauls survived for 50 years and i'm sure this will too! nothing ever happened to it. i only need a backup guitar in case the strings...

well for me the best customer support is one you'll never need!!

well i haven't been lucky with the price, because some months later the ebony models went down to 1900?. but apart from that i really love this guitar.. i never want anything less! as soon as i got enough money, i'll get another one, just because i love it. this really rocks. i played thousands of guitars testing. but it's just perfect to me. i don't like these other high priced one like prs. don't look like rock'n'roll. and the historic are, well just not the real nothing special but very special ones:-)

Gibson Les Paul Standard, made in 2003, heritage cherry sunburst finish, came with hardshell case.

I love the sound of this guitar. I never was a big fan of humbuckers, but I've started playing some lead, and my single coil guitars just sounded too tinny. I had a Les Paul Special and an SG, both with the 490R and 498T humbuckers, but the Burstbucker V's in this guitar sound a lot better. The others were nice, but kind of dull. These really have a "sparkle" that most humbuckers don't have. In fact, in the middle setting with both pickups, they almost sound like P-90's. Very rich and full. The distorted sounds, of course, are terrific (especially the neck pickup). I have to say, though, the clean sound is what really sold me on this guitar. They're also great for keeping up with loud bass players!

I bought this as a "scratch and dent" item, but the only flaw I could find is a small 1/8 inch ding in the finish about the pickups. Nothing that's going to affect the sound, and hey, it saved me $200! I'm not crazy about the tuners. They are the greenish, plastic "keystone" tuners. I know they more closely resemble the originals, but my Epiphone Les Paul came with Grovers and it stays in tune better than the Gibson. Everytime I do a bend, it goes out of tune. Everything else is great, though.

Les Pauls are tanks. They will last forever, if you take care of them. As with any Les Paul or SG, you have to be careful with the headstock. That is its only weakness. If you drop a Fender, the worst that will happen is that you'll scratch the finish. If you drop a Les Paul and the headstock hits the floor, it may snap off. Has something to do with the angle of the headstock, or something like that. Straplocks are probably a good idea if you jump around a lot.

I've heard good and bad, but haven't dealt with them, myself.

I've been playing for 20 years, now. The Les Paul and the Fender Strat are the most versatile guitars on the planet. I always knew I wanted a Les Paul, but it had to be a Standard. Well, it was worth the wait. The special and studios are ok, but they're just not the same. Gibson was smart to put the Burstbuckers on the new Standards. They should put them on the studios, too. The price on these things goes up every year, it seems. In five years, they'll be $3000. My advice is that if you want one, get it now, while they're still under (although barely under) $2000. You'll thank yourself. A great guitar, though. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

2004 Les Paul Standard in Ice Tea finish. The maple top is very nice and has a great flame to it. Seems as if Gibson is getting a little better. I won't go thru all of the tech stuff on this guitar, as it has been listed in other reviews several times. Overall, I really like the ability to control the pickup tones and essentially have 2 guitars in one. I say this because I'm used to one pickup guitars with no tone knobs.

This guitar sounds as beautiful as it looks. I've balked for years at buying a Les Paul. Too heavy, clunky, etc. As I've gotten a little more mature, I gave the Les Paul another chance. The sounds are amazing. You can have sweet jazz tones, great rock, overdriven metal, punk, etc. This really is a great utility guitar. I have an Epiphone doubleneck that I have always really liked, but the tone from this Les Paul just blows it away. Perhaps it is the pickups. I run this guitar into a Peavey 5150 combo, with some reverb, sometimes a Boss CE5 chorus, and a Boss SD1 SuperOverdrive. With the SD1 kicked in, you nail Slash's tone. Kind of cool. The neck pickup is the real gem on the Les Paul. Smooth and Buttery. I just can't say enough positive things about the sound here. Does everything very well.

From the factory, Gibson has of late had a less than stellar reputation. I've seen lots of slop come out of their factory..ie glue drops, running paint, poor inlay installation, and very lame maple tops. But because they are GIBSON, you pay for crap and like it. Well, I guess Gibson has gotten the message, as most of the 2004 models that I looked at were very fine guitars. The Ice Tea top on mine is fantastic. The flame moves depending on the light it's in. The inlays and the neck look great. It needed some tweaking at the store before I took it home, but that is to be expected. Overall, I'm very impressed and happy with it.

This is where I become slightly annoyed. The input jack and the pickup selector keep coming loose. For a $2000 guitar, I expect a hell of alot more. I tighten them down, and it's OK for a while, but it is something that does need attention. I have Ernie Ball guitars, Peavey Wolfgangs, telecasters, Ibanez, and other guitars that have never had this problem. I just find it slightly insulting to pay that much for an otherwise great guitar, and have stupid hardware problems that less expensive guitars (in my exeriance) have not exhibited. For shame Gibson. Other than that, the finish seems great, and I'm very happy with the rest of the guitar.

Oh God I hope I never need it. My music store has told me that Gibson is about as fun to deal with as herpes.

Overall this guitar is great. The variety of tones is amazing, and in my opinion, well worth the price of this guitar. Tonally, it does sound better than my Epiphone, which for the price difference, it should!!! But I'm not knocking Epiphone at all. Very good guitars for the money...but once you get into Les Paul Standard territory, there is a tone that they get that just seems all Gibson. This guitar is a beast of many colors, and does them all well. Love that neck pickup.

Features - It's a Les Paul, Burstbucker pickups, stunning lightburst, chrome hardware.

Standard LP setup, 7 for features, it's plain and simple.

Got it with fitted Gibson hardcase.

Sounds wise, amazing. People say an LP does one sound only , pah wrong. This does anything you want, of course it's perfect for blues. But you can play anything you want one this (unless you want a thin Tele like sound) I mean this guitar was designed for Jazz.

The sustain is amazing, it holds a note forever, just amazing.

The set up from Coda music was spot on, I haven't changed a thing.

It's a LP, should have no problems provided you don't give the headstock a good smack.

N/A

Been wanting one of these for 16 years, and as soon as I played it, it just felt like I always managed a guitar should. I play it straight into my Tech21 trade mark normally. This guitar sounds so good a month after getting it I just sold my effects.

All those little pedals to mask your guitars sound and make it sound better were just not needed. Great guitar if you just want guitar to amp playing.

1993 wine red LP Std, which I got on a trade for a Dr. Z Carmen Ghia amp. The pick ups (490r and Duncan Distortion) were changed to a set of Duncan '59s and later to a Jazz&JB, which is optimal for this guitar. I also changed the deluxe tuners to Grover and bought a new hard shell case. There's a bit of wear and tear, but it looks plays beautifully.

I play mostly rock (Oldies, Classic and Hard) and some blues - and it works well in both genres. The Jazz neck pick up is bright, so it doesn't muddy up the sound and allows you to play clear chords and singing leads (which wasn't possible with the 59 or 490r). The JB is perfect in the bridge and really rocks. In comparison with my SG Special Faded (490r, 490t), the LP is smoother and the SG has more grit, so I get really good variery in sounds from both. I play through a Marshall half-stack (50 watt plexi ri and 1960AV cab).

I had a lot of work to do on the guitar before it was to my liking, but basically paying $900 for a used LP was a really good deal and I will now keep it for a long time.

This guitar is gig worthy and a good companion to the SG. The finish isn't mint, but it will last and won't affect playability or tone. Startp locks are a must with any guitar, but especially with such a heavy piece.

n/a

I love humbuckers and always liked the look of the Les Paul. I don't regret getting one in any way and would not hesitate to purchase another one if I had the money for it.

?It was very well made in america, nashville. in 2003
?It has 22 frets
?it's solid top
?a volume and a tone controle for each pickup so 2 volume controls and 2 tone controls and a regular les paul 3 way toggle switch
?Pich up configuration h/h
? Gibson burtsbuckers
?passif electronics
?Maple top, mahogany back,1 piece mahoganny neck
?it's a flamed honeyburst top
?it's a regular les paul boddy shape
?tune-o-matic chromed bridge
Non locking green vintage gibson tuners
?it's a 50's fat neck w/ jumbo frets
?It cmes w/ a hard black gibson case

?i play mainely hard rock/metal but come funk and blues and it really fits nything cause you cane (w/ the bridge pickup) get some really heavy agressive chunky sounds and some shimerring but a bit too bassy clean sounds and with the neck pickup you get a nice growl w/distortion or a very sweet clean sound
?i use a peavey classic 30 -->ibanez de-7 delay echo-->mxr 10 band eq-->boss bf-3 flanger-->boss ce-3 chorus ensemble-->mxr phase 90-->mxr wylde overdirve-->mxr double shot distortion-->dunlop rotovibe)-->dunlop jimi hendrix wah wah-->digitech whammy-->electro harmonix double muff-->dod fx-25 enveloppe filter-->the guitar
?it's noisy only when i use my amps distortion plus de mxr overdrive too boost it but taht would make noise with any guitars but it gets noisy when im close to a computer or tv but it's a rather quiet guitar (exept when im playing it !!)
?it's a very rich sound but not too bright a lot of mids and low mids
?That guitar can go from metal to blues and funk r'n'b to shred i mean it's really reliebale sound wise
?i love the way the bridge pickup sounds but the neck pickup is just too bassy so for rythtme sound si put the selector in the middle.

?when i got it it was just perfect!!!
?perfectly adjusted !!!
?yup properly routed bridge and bookmatched top
?no just the screw where the jack goes in was loose buts that all!!!

?of course just a bit heavy but hey it's a les paul
?yup but i changed the bridge pieaces to graph tech cause i was breaking to muff strings but exept that it's great
?no solid has printed
?yeah but i put strap locks cause i wont like to drop my baby on the floor !!!
?yeah baby !!!
?Well maby if i used the same tunings for each songs

its an awsome guitar really if you dont bealive me ask jimmy page, zakk wylde and slash they will make you change youre mind !!

Standard LP features. Mine was an '87.

I sold mine in 2000 after 8 years. I got tired of the sound and thought I wanted to hear something else. I needed the cash to go back to school so I sold it. Now after looking around at what is out there for sale I wish I had it back. I was using it with a Mesa Boogie Cal 50+. Like I said, I tried out many other guitars and none of them compare really. I went into a store and they were playing one through a dual rectifier and I almost cried. This is the sound man we all want if we have any sense. A full sounds especially through the mids and bass. The tone "flows" from the guitar in a cohesive way. I am not too articulate at explaining it.

Finish on the wood and the gold wears with time otherwise rock solid.

boy, none of u guys pick up on the obvious-the les paul standards from 2001-till now have a very hard non-woody sound-i am sure les paul would be pleased

but for raunchy blues--a woodier sounding lp would suffice

i firmly believe that the cheaper classic series lp more aptly captures the lp sound, in that the sound is woody and it comes alive-w/ adjustments in picking attack
the standards to me have a plasticy hard sound probably dudu too nitro-cellulose

matter--of -fact, i am selling my lp on ebay-to purchase a classic
the lp

2002 USA LP Standard - Heritage Cherry Sunburst
22 frets, MOP inlays
Maple / Mahogany
2 Alnico V Burstbucker Pro pickups
Tune-O-Matic bridge
60's profile neck
2 volume
2 tone
3 way pickup selector
Black Gibson snakeskin case plus all the trimmings

THE SOUND!!!! OMG the sound!

Play a bit of jazz, but mainly 70's-90's style rock with a few old and new covers thrown in.

Current set up:
Les Paul > SansAmp GT2 > Crybaby > 1970's MXR Phase 90 > TC Electronics G Major > BBE Sonic Maximiser > 1959 Marshall SLP Reissue w/100W Cab.

I have just now started uning just the LP straight into the SLP with a Phase 90 on occasion - sounds amazing and loud. I need a Marshall Powerbrake as I am not playing stadiums!

Bridge pickup: great bite... these Burstbuckers are sensational! Clarity, great highs, punchy bottom end. Good cleans with volume rolled off. Screaming leads are just jaw dropping.

Sustain for days... and harmonics jump off the fret board.

Neck pickup: smooth as silk, best neck pickup I have heard on a solid body - period. I have spent more time on this sweet little baby than I have on the bridge. Something almost magical about this pickup, clean or dirty. You just want to keep playing.

Tone knobs actually DO something and, simply put, broaden your palette of useable sounds.

This is my first LP after trying over 20 Pauls. What has taken me so long? (actually I do know, it was the $$$).

This baby is in a class all by itself.

I bought this 2nd hand from a guy who used it 6 times and put it under his bed.

Set up perfectly with 10-46's.
Barely visible playing wear.
Frets / inlays perfect.

Top is not bookmatched correctly - my only gripe... still...can't tell from 5 metres away

These guitars are tanks...9.6lbs...do need straplocks just to be sure. Already had to do the "emergency grab" on more than one occasion as the stock strap buttons are quite small.

I've read about (and am now very cautious of) the neck / headstock, they apparently have a tendency to snap off if dropped. Not like my Tele that you could drop from a great height and it would still be in tune! I am VERY wary when handling the LP.

Every thing about this guitar says "Play me - live" I use it with my DiMarzio-loaded HRR Strat or my 5150 Kramer Custom as backups.

Never had to deal with them.

Playing guitar for 15 years, live and studio work. Have Tele/Strat/Kramer, bunch of vintage pedals, Aphek Peanut Butter distortion, great multi-fx (G-Major), BBE Sonic Maximiser (if you don't have one of these - you must get one!)into a white 100W 1997 Marshall Plexi reissue with matching 100W custom cab.

This LP is making me neglect my other guitars, I can't imagine losing it, I've insured it along with all my other gear and would replace it without question.

Very expensive although I got a bargain I believe. Most LP Standards start at $3700 AUD new. 1/2 point off because while I think they are very high quality instruments, I believe they are overpriced and you are paying for a name. 1/2 point off for the non-bookmatched top.

2004 Les Paul Standard with all of the typical Les Paul features ....Mine has a 60's neck and is the "Latte Cream" finish....I gave this guitar a "9" for features because is fills my needs great, in spite of its simplicity...I own a Suhr Classic if I want something different or more versatile, but this comes to most gigs with me because it is like a security blanket...easy for me to play and I can never get a bad sound out of the guitar...

Les Paul Standard 2004
Manufactured in: Nashville, TN

BODY
Top Species: Carved AA maple
Back Species: Mahogany
Binding: Single-ply top

NECK
Species: Mahogany
Profile: '50's Rounded or '60's slim taper
Peghead Pitch: 17?
Thickness at 1st fret: 0.818"
Thickness at 12th fret: 0.963"
Neck Joint Location: 16th fret

FINGERBOARD
Species: Rosewood
Scale length: 243/4"
Total Length: 18.137"
Nut Width: 111/16"
Width at 12th fret: 2.062"
Frets: 22
Inlays: Pearl trapezoid
Binding: single-ply

HARDWARE
Plating Finish: Nickel
Bridge: Tune-o-matic
Tailpiece: Stopbar
Knobs: Gold Top Hat
Tuners: Green Keys

ELECTRONICS
Pickups: BurstBucker Pro pickups with Alnico V magnets
Controls: Two volume, two tone, three-way switch

I am a working player, so this guitar goes to cover gigs, rock band gigs, blues gigs...not too many thing I don't bring it to. The usual suspects for amplifiers are my 1971 Deluxe Reverb, 1965 Silvertone 1484, and 1964 Fender Bassman. Other amps that it works well with include a new Line 6 Duoverb and my 1964 Vox AC50. It doesn't seem to like my Z-vex Nanoamp (way too much input into the front end of the amp).

I am a pedal effects kind of guys, and I mostly use an Analog Man modified Tube Screamer and an Analog Man Blues driver. Most of the pedals on my pedalboard were selected for my Suhr Classic and the Les Paul tends to be more guitar into the front end of the pedals than they can handle. A huge, simple but pleasing sound for me!

My only complaint about this guitar was how bad the fit and finsih work were. The setup, intonation and fret dressing on this guitar was horrible. My wife and I were on vacation in San Diego when we discovered Center City Music next to our hotel. Naturally I had to go see what they had was pleasantly surprised to find a Gibson only music store. I have owned a 1980 Les Paul Standard (had to get rid of it....bad neck) and a 1979 "The Paul" model that sounds better than most Standards that I had played, but I have wanted a good standard for a long time. I start talking to the salesman, one thing leads to abnother and I am trying all of the Standards with '60's necks on them. I have always thought that a cherry sunburst was the way to go, but none of them did anything for me sonically. My wife points out what I thought was a pretty ugly instrument (the Latte Cream finish is still growing on me) and to make her happy I played that one too. Turns out that it was the best sounding Les Paul that I had played in a long time...maybe ever. So after some soul searching (I wasn't planning on buying a $2000.00 instrument...we were a month away from opening our own music store back home) and prodding from my wife (she thought it sounded great and didn't want to hear me complain bitterly about the "one that got away"), I asked the salesman how much. Turns out to be a bargain at $1595 with the original case ($400 cheaper than Guitar Center or any of the other "street prices" that I had seen).

Beautiful sounding, horrible playing....more on this below...

This guitar is about 6 months old and has 50-60 gigs on it already. One strange thing about the guitar is that if I sweat heavily on a gig the frets and other hardware start corroding. I don't have this problem with any of my other instruments, but usually monday morning is spent cleaning the neck and using a Dunlop fretboard cleaner. On several occasions I have had the pickup selector switch loosen and fall out of the guitar (usually on stage) and the same with the input jack. I am usually pretty careful about tightening things and once again, I don't have these probelms with my other guitars. I did my own setup on the guitar when I got it and have had it professionally set up this month. Part of the set-up was a fret dressing partially due to wear and tear and partially due to an uneven fret that has been causing an annoying speaking sound that you only hear when the guitar is being played without an amp. The bridge saddles are like other Les Pauls that I have owned where they seem soft and gouge easilly if the string is not place carefully in the slot when you are restringing the instrument. I am the paranoid type and never gig without a second guitar.

Haven't tried to contact Gibson......

I have been playing almost 20 years...my rambling in the other catagories has given a pretty good picture of the kinds of gear that I use on a regular basis.

If this guitar were stolen or lost I would be searching for a replacement in something of a panic....this went from an impulse buy to irreplaceable in one gig.

My favorite feature of this guitar is the tone....I played six other Les Pauls with the same features that day and this one jumped out at me. All of the pickup selections sound great. I think that I have most of my other problems with the instrument ironed out. It is heavy (9.3 lbs) and I am getting old enough where having that on your shoulder for four hours can be a drag but it is worth it to me in the long run.

New 2004 Les Paul Standard, with the usual Les Paul appointments. Does have vintage tuners, and the vintage style "thin" binding in the cutaway. Two Burstbucker V humbuckers, AA top with Nitrocellulose lacquer finish. Heritage Cherry Sunburst finish. Came with black Gibson reptile skin case and unmounted pickguard. If you like more vintage style appointments (tuners, thin binding in cutaway, smaller peghead) then you will like the features on this guitar. If you like the better Grover tuners that they were putting on the previous Standards, then you may not like this one. I owned the previous Standard model, and I think that the new ones are a better value feature-wise, so Ill give it a 9 here.

I do have some gripes about this guitar, but none of them involve the sound. As mentioned earlier, I owned a 2001 Les Paul Standard, made just before they switched to the current model. It had the 490r and 498t pickups in it, and I never was completely happy with how they sounded. In a word, they sounded very muddy, and I wasnt happy with the clean tones that were available. Now, the new Burstbucker pickups in my new Standard are AWESOME. To my ears, they have what I would call a more vintage tone. They sound very articulate, and open. They crunch very nicely, and sound fantastic clean. I have always been a huge fan of Seymour Duncan pickups, and have two custom built Heritage H-150CM guitars that are equipped with them. I think that the Burstbucker pickups sound just as good, if not better than the Duncans. The Burstbucker pickups are the first stock humbuckers that I have not wanted to replace. They are brighter than the Duncans in my Heritage guitars, but still smooth and warm. I play classic rock, blues, and 80's metal. This guitar suits me just fine for these styles, and sounds good overdriven, distorted, and clean. For me, possibly the most variety I could ever acheive with a Les Paul style guitar without going to coil taps and other mods.

Here is where I have issues with this guitar. As mentioned earlier, I own two Heritage Les Paul style guitars made in the original Gibson Factory in Kalamazoo Michigan. Both of these guitars were custom ordered, and are flawless. They both cost LESS than my Les Paul Standard. Now, my Standard which cost me more money, has some finish flaws. Finish flaws dont affect the tone of the guitar, but when you pay close to $2000 for an instrument you expect a little more. The top of the guitar has a spot about 3 or 4 inches long where it looks like the fibers of the wood stood up when they applied the finish to the guitar. Not a huge deal, but again, this guitar cost about two grand. The rosewood fingerboard had two or three large spots where the wood is chipped and discolored. One of the trapezoid inlays is discolored and looks like it has glue or something all over it. My pickup selector switch was loose, and I had to tighten it. These are all small things, but things that should not happen on a guitar of this caliber. I will say that the guitar has a nicely bookmatched top, and the binding is cleanly installed. The action was adjusted by my tech before I actually played the guitar, so I do not know how good/bad the factory setup was. It plays very well right now though. This guitar is not a piece of junk, buts its not as well finished as my Heritage guitars are. The other Les Paul Standard that I owned was similar-a nice expensive guitar with some flaws that should not be there considering the price and prestige. I have looked at several new Gibsons and have seen similar problems. Gibsons are very nice, and I still like mine, but I think that we deserve better for $2000. If Heritage can build a near perfect instrument in the original Gibson factory-and for less money than a Gibson-then I think that Gibson should be able to do the same.

Guitar is solid, but the vintage style tuners will probably fall apart at some point, they feel very fragile, and are not that smooth. The finish is Nitrocellulose lacquer, so it will eventually wear down over time, and is hard to keep clean. I take care of my guitars, so Im not too concerned. Would use it without a backup.

I emailed Gibson and asked them if the finish was Nitrocellulose lacquer, they responded the very next day and were informative and friendly. I have heard bad stories about Gibson customer support, but my experience was positive.

Have been playing for about 10 years now, and have owned several different kinds of guitars (Fender, Jackson, Charvel, Ibanez, Guild) but have settled on Les Paul style guitars. I currently have two Heritage H-150CM's, a Gretsch Chet Atkins Tennessean (given to me by my grandfather), and my Les Paul Standard. I play through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, and an early 70's Fender Deluxe Reverb. If it were lost or stolen, I might buy another one, but I would probably buy another Heritage because I feel that they are better guitars. My Les Paul sounds and plays great, but just lacks the refined feel my Heritage guitars have. I just feel like Gibson can do a better job with the quality control, especially considering what they charge for their guitars. I purchased this guitar because I wanted at least one Gibson in my collection. I like the features of this guitar, I just wish it was more refined in the fit and finish area. For now, Ill keep it, I may sell it in the future if I think I can find one thats a little nicer. Overall, a great sounding guitar, nothing to be ashamed of, but it could still be better for $2000.

This is a 2002 Les Paul Standard, with a flame-top and cherry sunburst finish on it. This one also has a fiftys' neck profile. These are American-made, and VERY highly crafted at that. The spec sheet says that the flame-top is rated "AA", but the consensus is, with everyone who should know, that this one is "AAA". It has the Burstbucker pickups, which I am simply blown away by. I have several Gibsons, and have upgraded to '57 Classic pickups on a couple of them, which I really like. The Burstbuckers are a class above. Everything is stock on this guitar; Tune-O-Matic bridge, tulip Machine Heads, and nickel pickup covers. I bought it with one of the newer black Gibson cases

I play in a Blues/Rock band that gigs regularly. Using a Boogie Mk.IV amp, this guitar more than fits the bill. Even wide-open, I don't have problems with noise. You can play quiet passages, then go full-bore, without the extraneous noise I've experienced with other guitars. The rhythm pick-up is absolutely creamy, at high gain, while the bridge pick-up has a real bite to it. This is the tone I've looked for, for twenty-some years now.

I looked at a lot of these guitars, before buying. My father & I saw this in a Guitar Shop, and played it extensively. The action was set a bit high, but we lowered it in the store, and were impressed with the results. I've not done any adjusting to the pick-ups. The flame-top is book-matched, and the Cherry Sunburst is a brilliant, unique shade that I haven't seen before. As this one was new, I examined it quite closely, and have yet to see even a minor flaw.

I've played this guitar hard, for a year and half now. I have used it as my main guitar, and even though I always take a back-up, in case of string breakage, I trust this guitar on it's own merit.
The finish seems to be tough as nails. I do tend to be rough on the hardware, however, and the nickel plating does scuff on the pick-up covers, and bridge assembly, however.

I've not had to have any contact with Gibson, concerning this guitar, even though it has a Limited Lifetime Warranty. As far as I'm concerned, that should be the point.

I've been playing for 30 years now, and have owned several guitars. My father has played Les Pauls, since before I was born, so I've always been addicted to them. We have some dating back to the 50's, and this one is crafted as well as any of them. Gibson has really got their act back together, and I'm extremely pleased with this guitar. Of the many Standards that I looked at before buying, though, this one felt, looked and sounded the best. I was glad I held out for it.

2004 Made in Nashville, TN. USA
22 frets
Solid mahogany body w/ flamed maple top.
All the standard construction.
50s neck, maple w/ rosewood finger board and crown MOP inlays.
The finish is called Desert Burst and it's a beaut. Brownish-amber sunburst fading to deep, deep brown. Black back.
Burstbucker Pro Alnico pups (chrome-covered).

Came with a mock reptile hardshell case w/ combo lock.

I play mostly doomy, dirty rock and roll rooted in blues and bordering on metal. This LP is perfect for this sound.
I use a minimum of effects and play through a Kustom 30 watt solid state amp.
It requires little gain on the amp since the bridge pup has a beautiful, organic crunch will well defined highs and rich, full lows.
The neck pup is as smooth as butter with a warm tone that is perfect for blues and clean enough for most jazz.
Running both pups together offers a ringing, bell-like tone w/ just enough distortion to add a little spice to the sound.

Both pups play clean with little hum but neither offer a very glassy, brittle tone (You don't look for that in a humbucker anyway IMO).

I was used to playing on an imported Agile LP copy. While it is a solid guitar and a great deal for the cash, it is no Gibson. The Gibby is ten times as loud and has the classic sound that the model is known for.

Both pups ring for days

The Gibson Les Paul Standard is just that, the standard. It IS the sound of classic rock and dirty, soulful rock and roll. There's a reason that so many great guitarists play this model.

The guitar came set up w/ 10s and the action was a little low for my tastes. I like a pretty high action as I find it easier to bend strings and I don't really play very fast anyway, so I raised the action a little. I added GHS TNTs (10-52) as I like a little more heft to my sound and usually tune down a step. No problems with the gauge change.

The tune o matic bridge makes tuning to correct pitch very easy.

Perhaps even as much as the sound, Gibson is known for quality finish and workmanship. This guitar is no exception.
The bookmatched maple is spot on and the maple itself is beautiful.
Along with the brilliant tiger stripe there is a natural grain pattern running opposed to it creating a very subtitle graph pattern that is quite interesting.
The sunburst is beautiful and the light amber created an almost gilded look to the stripe.
The intonation is solid and the fretwork is flawless. There is a small blemish on the rosewood toward the nut, but it's not a big deal and does not effect the sound or feel at all.

This LP is built like a tank. It's solid and heavy and feel very substantial in my hands. Weighing in at 13 lbs, this is one serious axe.
The hardware is good and the tuners have proven reliable.

The strap buttons were average, but they were replaced by Dunlop strap locks immediately anyway. Anyone who relies of factory strap buttons is asking for trouble. Protect your investment y'all.

The finish seems reliable and the neck joint is solid. There are no flaws that I can find, so I imagine it will last for years.

I would depend on this guitar live, but it's always a good idea to have a backup handy.

This Gibson is built to last and I fully plan on handing it down to my kids some day. But if one of them puts a sticker on the guitar, I will haunt them from the grave.

I haven't dealt w/ Gibson (but it has taken a long time to get my warranty card).

I bought it from Guitar Resurrection in Austin, TX and they are a fine bunch of folks. They were great throughout the buying process and I feel confident that their service will be good should I ever need it. They offer one free set up that I have yet to take advantage of.

Support your local independent shop!

I've been playing for a little over two years and have owned and assembled many guitars. This is by far the best of the bunch.
I had heard some reports that Gibson's quality was sinking but this guitar is very high quality. I'm not some wet-behind-the-ears, numetal teenager either. I know what makes a great guitar. Don't believe the rumors, play a Gibson for yourself.

There is a reason that Gibson has the great reputation they do. The high price is the only thing keeping this from a score of 10.

Made in 2003 in USA (of course).
I think you know the features of this baby, it's a 50 years model man!!

I play mostly metal and hard rock.Most of the time my distortion pedals are on so I can comment on the dirty sound.It's Fuckin' PERFECT!!!!Man, I have never played another guitar with so much bottom end!!!A full sound with either pickup.But I can assure you that in the clean section also sets the standard!It's perfect!!!

Absolutely flawless setup!Well done!!

It's a Les Paul man!!!

Never dealt with them...

I have been playing for 3 years.I also own an Ibanez RG470 with the EMG 81 in the bridge, EMG 60 in the neck.Boss Mt-2, Korg Chorus Chr-1, Boss Sd-1, Dunlop Dimebag Darrell Signature Wah and soon a Marshall TSL-122.

I LOVE EVERY ASPECT OF THIS GUITAR!!! PERFECT!!!

I dont know the exact year of it.....
I think its from 54~59 or something~
of course 22frets. 3piece cherry sunburst maple top. nice..~
Tiger flame maple top; Honduras mahogany neck and body; Brazilian rosewood fingerboard
pre67' Gibson Pickups.

but I dont like the 3pieces top...looks cheap..weird.

Best.
pre67' pickups kills......man
full warm sounds....
What could I say.~ It's Gibson Les Paul from the 50s!!!

I own Gibson Les Paul Custom 89 Ebony and played several Gibson Custom guitars.
Well like all the vintage models this one is little weaker than the current standard models. but more richier sounds!
Action is low no buzzing~
finish is very light~

It's a Gibson.
It's a Les Paul.

Just be aware of the neck and head dudes

WTF~

All perfect.~

You know the features. Although they are terribly overpriced, Les Paul Standards are some nicely crafted instruments. Im not crazy about the feeling of fretboard inlays, but the rosewood in the board is beautiful.

Ive owned a strat, a tele, a couple of les paul special types, a couple of super strats, and a semi hollow.

I only ever reached for the Standard when I wanted a monster distortion sound.....big marshall ac/dc whooomp! Otherwise, there was always a better instrument choice for ANYTHING else.

I know that once you find a guitar style thats your 'thing', you tend to hold onto it and make your fingers do the different tones youre looking for...Im sticking to jazz boxes because my long arms feel better controlling a larger-bodied guitar.

But those pickups are good for one thing: A big, huge, unsubtle, non-versatile WHOOOMP!


Nothing better in the world for pounding out a huge metal sound with a LP standard, but absolutely second rate for any other application.

This one I have was a bit sloppier than the usual Paul, and I paid less for it because of it. Some of the inlays dont look like they quite fit the spots cut out for them on the board.

There are minor intonation issues at the nut for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd strings....I seem to be able to go sharp on this guitar more than any other ive played.

Although this isnt a normal standard for a LP std, this one got to the stores. It should affect the LP's ratings here.

No problems with its durability. It HATED steel strings...my fretwire started denting quickly.

No idea.

THE ultimate bitchin hard rock guitar. But I wont pick it up to play any other style. Im all about tele twang, or big smooth complex jazz box sounds I guess.

But LPs are WAY OVERPRICED!

Usual Gibson features, AA top (although mine is better than some of the 'premium plus' axes i looked at). Mine is the 2004 model. read others for full spec

oh my god! it blows my Fenders away with power (2 of my sambora strats have dimarzio pafs in the bridge, but they are glassy in comparison to the Gibson cream!) using it with a marshall dsl 50 and 4x12. It does my gnr, zep, early clapton amongst others to perfection. love the neck pickup for soloing, yes soloing, lovely and SMOOTH!

Awesome finish. Heritage Cherry Burst is sublime, maple is gorgeous, mahogany is heavy (a good thing, more power). As i said earlier, the AA top on mine should really be an AAA or higher, it is superb, the kinda thing you would see on a PRS Private Stock. NICE ONE GIBSON! one small thing, my pickup selector was loose, but nothing that i couldn't fix. Give it a 10 for the top alone!

How can i put it? It is like a freakin rock, im telling you! Unless I drop it over the Empire State Building, this axe ain't gonna break! One word of warning, never EVER gig without backup.

never dealt with

I LOVE MY FIRST GIBSON!

Gibson LP Standard 2002.
The guitar is practially new - only has tiny buckle rush on the back.
This example of Les Paul is beautiful - AA flame top in a red wine finish. I read somewhere that some regard the red wine as a waste of a colour - I could not disagree more - it it simply stunning. Personally, I did not want another sunbusrt LP - I mean, everybody ownes one. I was really keen on good looking bindings and the bindings on this guitar are truly fantastic - makes the guitar look like a piece of art - they are cream (which gives the effect of a vintage, faded instrument). The scratch plate is also cream, but I have not installed it (could not bear the pain of drilling holes in this baby).
Tulip tuners, all the rest as per catalogue.

This guitar is a piece of history. I've wanted one since I was 15 years old. Now (twice that age) I finally decided to get one. Paradoxically, I don't even play much any more, but I had to own a LP before I got too old to hold one. And good Lord, is it heavy. I own a Strat and the difference in weight is incredible.
The sound is very powerful, I mean VERY powerful. I had to change all my effects parameters in order to get this thing to play.
The sounds is full, very bassy but can scream when the bridge pick up is selected.
The pick ups are Burst-buckers, i.e. the pick ups that Gibson began installing on their Standards since 2002. Quite frankly they do sound a bit harsh, but that could be due to the effects I use (which are currently set up for the Strat).
This guitar can play any style, but I feel it is more suited to rock, punk, blues. I tried to play funk with it, but the sounds is too powerful and I need to roll back the volume knob constantly.
I have only tried it with a Marshall AVT 50, through a GT-5 Boss multiprocessor and it sounds fine (no excess noise).
I've also tried it clean and it is very rich.

No problems here - great action. Good fretwork and a beautiful fingerboard with different mahagony colour nuances.
If I was a perfectionist I would be a bit critical about the inlays (not the highest quality IMO) but I am happy with what I got.
The fingerboard is fast and the dark colour is stupendous (gives a totally different feel compared to the maple fingerboard of the Strat).

This guitar looks like it was built to last a third World War. I would not hesitate for a second to choose it as my number 1 guitar when gigging.
I have no problem with the hardware.
The strap buttons could be a bit bigger, but I have no particular problem with them.

Asked one question and got the (right) answer.

I've been playing the guitar since I was 15. I began with Punk, went through Rock, then Blues and now enjoy playing Funk.
Like I said earlier, I've always wanted a Les Paul - not so much for teh sound, but for the feel of owning and playing a historic instrument. If this one got stolen/damaged, I would immediately buy another one. Hell, I would buy another one anyway - why not have 2 LPs!

You guys all know the drill...
2004 LP Standard Premium Plus
H/H (Burstbuckers)
2 vol 2 tone
AAA Flame maple top Cherry Sunburst
Mahogany body, set neck
Included hardshell case and truss rod tool

I gave it an 8 because i think it would be nice if gibson wired the volume controls so that they could be used individually with both pickups on (middle pos.) from the factory.

I play metal to zeppelin style rock and this guitar nails both perfectly. the rhythm pickup is nice and warm without being muddy, it responds nicely to any amp, clean, crunched, or screaming. the treble p-up is the perfect rock tone, from the warm crunch of a vintage marshall to the primal scream of a hot rodded JCM800 this pickup can play it all. imho it isn't the best for a clean channel but thats just me. with both p-ups on you get a sweet mix of the warm neck p-up and the trebely bridge p-up allowing you to go from background rhythm to out in front for a fill without changing any settings.
I can dial in perfect tones from Jimmy Page to Zakk Wylde and everywhere in between.
all around the tone from this guitar is amazing, through my MG10CD 10W marshall to the JCM2000 TSL100 full stack, not to mention the fact that it'll ring for about a min. and a half

The action from the store was well adjusted, slightly raised on the low strings while tapering down to a close, low action for soloing on the high strings. no fret buzz problems
the p-ups were well adjusted for height, i did adjust the pole pieces a little, but thats just a personal preferance.
The bookmatch on the top was flawless, no flaws that i have found anywhere on the guitar, except the toggle switch and jack nuts were a little loose, but what can you expect it was shipped from tennesee

my only complaint here is that the strap buttons are a little smal, but if you're using a strap you shouldn't let go of your guitar anyway so it shouldn't drop.
Finish is great, nice deep red to a honey color in the middle, a little soft but all nitro finishes are.

my only contact with gibson was thru e-mail, i asked for some pix and they sent them to me within a day, huge and hi res

overall a 10 i love this guitar.
if it was stolen i would hunt the jacka$$ down and beat his head in with my stolen LP and then get a new one.

2002 Les Paul Standard Made in The USA.
22 Frets
Mahogany body with AA maple top
Volume and tone for each pick up (2 humbuckers)
Gibson Burstbucker pickups, passive.

A basic straight forward Electric Guitar, no fancy stuff.

The original pick ups were very classic (ie 1950's) sounding, which didn't suit my needs, but if your after that sound this will do it.
With the pick ups replaced it delivers a much more modern tone - i'm using dimarzio tone zone in bridge and airzone in neck.
Acoustically this guitar has lots of natural sustain and a balanced natural sound. With the stock pick ups there is quite a bit of treble in the tone at the bridge, and i found the neck pick up to be a little weak, for the kind of big blues/jazz honk i want.
Whatever the pick ups used the ability to select both and blend them with their seperate tone and volume controls gives some fine results.

I'm giving it 8 because the classic PAF sound aint for all of us these days.- and these prices a choice of Classic or Modern pick ups would be a good idea.

There are two choices of neck, a chunky 50's or a slimmer 60's i opted for the 60's neck.
From the day i bought it the set up was perfect, the finish perfect, nothing wobbled, buzzed or hummed, and it's still that way 2 years later.

These guitars are sturdy, theres a known weakness on the headstock but thats been there since the first les pauls back in ye olde days.
But as long as you dont go all
Pete Townshend with it, it'll last 50 years or more.

id never gig without a back up, but this guitar is 100% dependable.

no problems, no need to call gibson, no support required therefore its a quality product.

give it 5 cause you dont need to use it!

I tried a PRS at the same time and the PRS just didn't seem to be in the Gibsons leauge in terms of vibe and mentality.

i've played for 15 yrs, use a flextone 2 amp - usually set to marshall plexi or soldano pre amp.

also have a SG special and a Ibanez 550
If stolen i would want another.