Gibson Les Paul Studio

1999- Les Paul Studio
Bought Yanda's Music
Kearney Nebraska
Emerald Gold Software

The Guitar ever owned. Had problems with old factory strings but had set and now perfect. So good my dad bought one for him self.
We play throught a Marshall-100 amp.

22 fret US made Les Paul Standard minus a bit of binding and an expensive reputation. Stock pickups are ok but i fitted a SD pearly gates to the neck ( has to be heard to be believed, anyone like Gary Moore ) and am considering a SD upgrade to the bridge model. I listen to Peter Green, Gary Moore Paul Kosoff and this guitar has soul and feel in buckets ( anyone into shit such as Vai & Satch should stick to crappy Ibanez and trem abuse, yawn) My model is a lovely ruby red. One moan is that sweat from your picking arm is hard to get off the body but does give it a cool played in look. Trapezoid neck ( thankfully not one of those shitty ones with the dots ) that plays like a dream from the first time you get your hands on it. Neck is 59 style and nice and clubby to the feel. Tuners on mine have been replaced with schaller m6s which are vastly superior.
Finally this guitar is not one of those floyd rose style abominations and is a dream to play. Im sure you know about the tone controls etc.

This guitar has soul in a way whitney houston can only dream of. Gary Moore and Peter Green are both there. I play through Tubescresamer TS9, Boss DD3 into a fender prosonic. This sound is a religous experience, GET YOURSELF CONVERTED. I just love the sound of this guitar.

Buy this guitar 2nd hand and well played in. The 2000 models are a piece of shit. Mine was set up by a guitar builder and its previous owner treated it like a baby. Action can be used at all heights. As i said before a tuner upgrade worthwhile.

Barry White could sit on this thing.

Phoned Rosetti once, what a crock of shit. Nuff said.

i have been playing 20 yrs. this gtr kicks the shit out of toneless crap like ibanez and easily matches the outrageously priced standard. if you can afford the dream of a 59 flametop reissue buy it, if not the studio will fulfill your every need. If i hadnt got mine i would go on the drink!

1993 wine red, gold hardware studio. this is one of the real ones w/ trap inlays and ebony board. the new ones have cheesy dot inlays. essentially this guitar is a les paul standard w/o the bindings. to my knowledge, bindings don't effect the sound so having the extra fancy appeal means nothing to me. the obvious h/h p/u setup w/ 2 tones and 2 volumes.

it has that "les paul" sound so you should know what you're getting before hand. it is annoying that having one pickups volume off w/ shut off the volume for both pickups, but its really not that big of a deal. has that great fat sound that only a paul can give you. clean through good amps sounds great, it can get a little muddy at time, but that sustain and tone is something only a paul can give. not as versatile as strats but very effective at its particular niche.

set up was real nice. action nice and low and everything set up nice. the finish does chip after time and the gold hardware has tarnished quite a bit, but it gives it character. i have to admit i haven't babied this guitar as much as i should have, and the scars and chips are all there to be seen. however, lots of reviewers speak of how after time both the finish and gold do wear off. really not that big of a deal in my opinion. contrary to others, i've never had any problems w/ the tuners or pickups.

built like a tank, it has withstood more than enough falls and tumbles w/o a problem. it is very heavy and very well built. it has withstood gigs w/o a problem and i have gigged without a backup although you really shouldn't. a very dependable guitar

never dealt w/ them

for les pauls, this is by far the best value out there. there is no difference between the studio and standard except for the bindings and i'll be damned if i'm paying 1000 extra for some bindings. i've been playing for 14 years and this guitar is an absolute keeper. i've owned jacksons and fenders before and have played virtually everything else and this has outlasted everything. i like the tailpiece bridge but some options would be nice for it. if it were stolen i wouldn't hesitate to buy another to replace it. the sound just can't be matched by any other guitar. all in all, a great value for a true gibson les paul

The features of the Les Paul have been well documented, but I suppose I ought to just give them a quick run-down. Thick mahogany body and neck, carved maple top, ebony fretboard with trapezoid inlays (mine is a '92 model, before they switched to different fretboard wood and less-Les Paulish dot inlays). Two humbuckers, four knobs -- two volume and two tone), three-click toggle for using either pickup or both. My particular guitar is black with gold hardware, and a black pickguard. The difference between the Studio and the Les Paul Standard is that the Studio lacks binding on the body and the fretboard. The binding does not affect the sound. Also, I believe the Studio is slightly thinner than the Standard, although that might just be me. I haven't checked the specs on that. What I really love about this guitar is that it comes with the '59 rounded neck. Les Pauls either have the rounded '59 neck, or the '60 slim taper. Folks will tell you that slim necks let you play faster, but I don't really care about that. I can play as fast as I need to with the fatter neck. The big thing for me about the fat neck is that it seems to reduce my left-hand fatigue. I can play it forever, and it's comfortable. With slim necks, my wrist cramps up, I get pains if I play a lot, etc. The fat neck feels substantial, solid, and it is extremely comfortable to me. My guitar was bought used, for $500 off an Internet classfieds site with the idea that $500 was worth the gamble and if it sounded bad I could simply throw it up on ebay and maybe walk away with a $30 profit for my troubles. No such problems, and so I've kept it. I have chosen to interpret the number rating for this category as my satisfaction with the features, as opposed to the quantity of features. So, even though it doesn't have a tremolo bar or any newfangled gadgets in it, I give it a ten. I knew what the Les Paul was, and the long-unchanged features are able to meet my desires completely.

Fantastic Les Paul sound. It's got that thick, rich tone in everything it does, but it's not sticky. The neck pickup is really warm and rounded in tone. Clapton's "woman" tone is easily gotten by rolling the tone knob all the way down and playing through a crunchy effects set-up. The neck pickup is the one you want if you're trying to make that "wall of sound" in certain songs. Played clean, it's got a terrific warm-water kind of feel, especially with open chords. The bridge pickup is a little more nasal, and when used to play distorted power chords and palm mutes it has a terrific bite that makes it easy to articulate sounds even in a fairly complex song. If you're trying to get a funkier, RHCP type of sound, then this is the pickup you want. It's not Fender twangy, but it's got more pop than the neck pickup. The tone knobs actually function -- as opposed to some guitars where they seem to do nothing. I don't really like the volume knobs, because it's not an even volume cut-back all the way down. Between 10 and 6, it's a slight change in volume. Between 6 and 3, you can barely tell the difference. But between 3 and two is a drastic volume cut that's hard to fine-tune, especially when you're playing live and need to make the adjustment mid-tune. However, with the right touch, you can milk a lot of "classic"-type sounds out of the two pickups and four knobs. When I'm just noodling at home, I have the gain on my amp put about two-thirds of the way up and can go from a biting crunch to a subtle grainy semi-clean tone just with the guitar's controls. Also, my guitar was from a year where the fretboard was ebony, and to my ears, it sound brighter and more crisp than the Les Pauls with rosewood boards. If what you want is the GNR sound, or the Led Zep sound, or a good thicker jazz/blues/funk sound, then the Les Paul does that as well as any guitar out there. It has great sustain, a good singing voice, and the trademark Les Paul warmth.

As the guitar was bought used, I have no comments on factory set-up, etc. It had some fading on the gold plated hardware, but that is to be expected. I wanted a worn-in guitar, because the reason vintage guitars sound so good is that they've been PLAYED. I believe that the tone improves as the wood gets broken in, sweated on, vibrated, etc. It develops character through playing. A 1958 Les Paul that has never been played will not sound much better than a 2000 LP right off the wall of Guitar Center. But that's just my theory. Anyway, since it was bought used -- extensively used -- I can't comment on the new appearance. When I got it, the only flaws were the aforementioned flaking gold, and a loose input jack. Every now and then I have to use my fingers and tighten the jack, or it wobbles and cuts in and out. Slight oxidation on the metal parts, but nothing that really bothers me.

This guitar is built thick, and it can handle reasonable impacts. It is a workhorse live. Hardware is flaking and oxidizing, but that is to be expected when a guitar is played and sweated on for hours every day. The finish is hard to keep sparkly clean, so if you're someone who wants a spotless guitar 24 hours a day, get a different guitar. I would use this guitar at a gig without a backup. In fact, it is the only electric guitar I own. The one thing Les Paul owners will want to do upon getting a hold of their guitar is to put Strap Locks on. It's a very heavy instrument -- that's where you get your tone, and the sustain -- and the tiny Gibson buttons are no good. $17 Strap Locks and you can play it until you die. It will outlast you.

No clue about the warranty or customer service or anything like that.

I've been playing for seven years, have played Strats , a Parker Nite Fly for a couple of seconds, and several other guitars. All the big names, I suppose. The Les Paul is the one I love, and it seems to love me. My only other guitar is a Seagull acoustic (which I wrote a review for... great acoustic guitar). If my Les Paul was stolen, I'd mourn for a while, but wouldn't necessarily be locked into buying another Les Paul. Gibson seems to have let their QC testing slide way down, and quite simply, it's hard to find a good sounding recent Les Paul. If I did buy another Les Paul, it would be a used one, as old and broken-in as possible. Other guitars I would consider getting would be old Strats, maybe an old Tele, or one of those magnificent White Falcons. But in all likelihood, it'd be another Les Paul.

This guitar is a 99' LP studio, its 22-fret, mahogany neck, rosewood fret bord with trapezoid inlys, humbucking pick ups H/H (490r, 498t), carved maple top- mahogany back, 3-way toggel switch, and 4 knobs. Mine is in this really sweet emerald green stane. Mars was realy nice to me they give me a free gibson USA hard case, free set of strings, and poilsh. I desided not to get the gold hardware cuse i herd it comes off easly.

Fist off, i play rythm for a band and sing, and let my say what a great rythm guitar this is. I play any thing from funk, to matel, and thats why i picked this guitar. Its harder then i thought it would be, its a great matel guitar. I use a Crate 212 comdo, and a mesa/ boggie MKII head, and refiter 4x12 cab. I run it though a boss matel zone, cry baby wha, ibanez tube scremer, digitech whamey padel, and line 6 effect model, it sounds great, just like its big brothers!!!!...but it dosent compet with my PRS custom 24.

This guitar was set up vary well at the factroy. I put a jim dunlop strap lock on it, as i do with all my guitars, becuse of all the jumpn' around i do on stage. But it was set up very well i just rased the briges a bit.

I bought this guitar with some saved up money i got from gigs i was going to use it as a back-up for my PRS custom 24, so i could stop using my ibanez RG 350dx (not that there was any problem with it). The fact is i stell use my ibanez for differnt tunings most of the time drop-d, or b,e,a,d,g,b. And that works well, but i find my self playing the LP more, and more!!! I love my PRS but this guitar is right up there with it. But the pont is i can depend on it and do, i would play a gig with out a backup. Im going to have this guitar for along time. Good old Les pauls, cant bust em.

never had to call gibson, all though Mars music is great, they were very helpful.

Well im falling in love with this guitar!!! Its a great value 1000.00 bucks itsnt that much for this guitar. I cant walk by it with out picking it up. I have been playing for 7 years and im only 15 years old. I dont no what i would do if it were stolen, probly kick the kids ass who stole it, but i might just save up and buy a LP standerd or a custom, or may be a PRS standerd like my hero plays, Tim Mahlony. I wish it had more of a PRS styel neck, its hard going from a PRS to a Gibson, but its a gibson not a prs so, whatever. I hope this helped you out. thanks alot for reading!!!

I dated it on Gibson's website, and that said it was circa 1996, even though I bought it new in 1999 (?????) go figure. My LPS is black with gold hardware, full size trapezoid inlays, and gold Klusons, with a chunky '59 style round neck. A gig bag and a nylon strap were included when I bought it, but I went out and bought a Gibson Hard Shell case, because I dont like gig bags, and I damned if I'm carrying MY LP around in something which doesnt give it the best protection possible!!!!! I love my LP.

WOAH. This thing sounds wonderful when cranked up through any amp. Perfect for Rock and Blues, but it does sound really rich and warm when clean. The only thing is its a wee bit noisy during playing intervals, but I can live with that.

I had to get it set up twice after I bought it. The second time sorted it out and lowered the action more to my liking. The finish is nice, but I've heard so many horror stories about Gibsons nitro cellulose finish, that I am just really careful with it and it feels like I clean it more than I play it! Disappointed with the finish really though, as there are some minor cracks in it already.

This thing is solid. Finish is good, and I think it will last, although there is already some minor cracking in the finish. I've been told that this is normal (NORMAL?). This is my favourite of my 3 guitars. I think I could easily play it live without backup.

Reasonably good. I've contacted Gibson, and their UK distributors, and I've had good, quick responses from both. The warranty is limited lifetime, so its warranted while I own it.

I love this guitar, I love this guitar, I love this guitar, I love this guitar, I love this guitar, I love this guitar, I love this guitar, I love this guitar, I love this guitar, I love this guitar, I love this guitar, I love this guitar, I love this guitar, I love this guitar, I love this guitar, I love this guitar, I love this guitar, I love this guitar, I love this guitar, I love this guitar, I love this guitar, I love this guitar, I love this guitar! Apart from some minor finish issues, its wonderful!

This is a 1997 model, red with gold hardware, full-size fretboard inlays. Overall, the only real difference between this guitar (which my girlfriend bought me for Christmas in '97) and a Standard is the lack of binding--which feels better anyway and will save you money when it comes time to have your frets redone. It includes all the typical Les Paul features.

I'm so tired of people overkilling the 60s blues boom with these guitars, but then, I can't stand listening to Eric Clapton play the same five notes over and over and over again. Every time someone recycles that baby boomer music it makes this guitar seem so common and cheesy. The original design was for jazz. Yeah, that's right: jazz. This guitar is true to that heritage in that it produces beautiful warm clean tones. Try it WITHOUT CRUNCH and see. Learn to play the changes and try some dense jazz chords. Put 11-guage strings on it (there's no need for flatwounds though...you want to retain some flexibility) and adjust your intonation/bridge height and away you go. No, you don't need a tube amp if you can find a good quality transistor amp such as a Roland Jazz Chorus or a Polytone Mini-brute, but nothing more expensive than that. This edition and perhaps only this edition of the Studio is not a throwaway instrument. Explore what it can do. You'll be impressed. And yes, if you want to be Jimmy Page in your living room, it'll do that too. A single coil pickup in between the two humbuckers might add some nice detail to the sound and help to open up new sonic possibilities for this worthy guitar.

They spilled some lacquer on the fretboard. Very sloppy. But that's what happens when a faceless company makes a budget version of a high-end instrument. Another budget-determined minus is the annoying way they dealt with the maple top (the matchpoint is about three quarters of the way up from one side, as opposed to dead in the centre like a normal guitar...also the wood doesn't match at all). It does however still manage to be quite an attractive guitar.

The frets are starting to wear (I play a little every day), but that's a typical Les Paul drawback. The input jack is easily damaged, as is the finish (and I am very careful with this instrument). Also, I suppose because of the chemical action of the persperation on my picking hand, the gold hardware has tarnished badly on the bridge and bridge pickup. I've had to actually change my picking habits to try to avoid more of this. Inconvenient.

The input jack was easily repaired. I've never needed to contact Gibson for anything. Though, I expect because I live outside the their small-minded country and because I am just one of thousands upon thousands of customers, they wouldn't pay any attention to me if I did have a complaint. I won't rate them based upon speculation however.

I am thankful for every day I get to enjoy this guitar. Not many girlfriends are so generous. I can't find fault with the tone or playability. It satisfies both my drive to expand my musical horizons with jazz and yet allows me to revert with ease to grunge, punk, and reggae. I use it with the above-mentioned amplifiers (after dispensing with an oh-so-typical-sounding-Marshall), coupled with a Roland ME-30 pedal effects unit. I would rate this version of the Les Paul higher than the 1976 gold top Deluxe I purchased used in 1989 before I knew what I was looking for. Put the money you save by not pandering to the name "Standard" (which could be as much as $700) into a second guitar, or an amplifier, some earplugs for your neighbours, some jazz lessons, a plane ticket to Victoria (you know...in Canada) to educate yourself on how fabulous it is there, or maybe on your girlfriend (you know...the gift that keeps on giving).

This is an update of my submittal made under name "kraeut@ionet.net". I bought this around 11/98 so this will reflect how it has held up. So I won't repeat myself again. That email address is no good anymore. Most of the stuff I wrote in there is still valid.

After owning this thing some time now, I still love the rich sound it makes. No complaints about the tone at all. If you think it is too dark, try using lighter strings or maybe upgrading that amp. I bought a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe a few months ago and now my tone setup is AWESOME. The amp makes as much difference as the axe. The sound can be varied from almost acoustic to a Lynard Skynard (not with the Hot Rod though).
The neck makes a fairly clean tone, not as thin as a strat. The bridge p/u makes a darker, richer tone that can also be soloed on in some situations. Both p/us together make an awesome blues tone and can add a bunch of expression to the music.

My LP has fared well over the time I've owned it. the frets are still in decent shape after playing at least 1 hour a day (that's hard playing too - lots of bending and string vibrato). There is some fret buzz on the solid strings around the 7th fret - I have to strike the strings gently in that area if the crunch isn't turned up. The knobs, jack and tuning machines are still like new. I don't keep the action very low so that isn't the problem with the buzz (it doesn't affect the buzz much anyway). Other than the fret buzz, the fit and finish are still excellent with 1 major bitch.
I absolutely hate the nitrocellulose finish on it. Why Gibson thinks that a traditional acoustic guitar finish has to be on a solid body is beyond me - I can't see the tone being affected that much. The finish is damn near impossible to keep clean and skin oils are corrosive to it. The finish has a dull area on it where my forearm rests on that uncomfortable corner (another peeve) directly over the bridge. The neck also has some dull spots from fingerprints that couldn't be cleaned off immediately. Playability, at least, isn't affected.
I will say that the first thing you should do it pitch the light gauge strings that it comes with. The gibson brite wires suck anyway and I found that 9's won't stay in tune at all. I put 10's (D-Adderio) on and though it is a bit rougher on the fingertips, they stay in tune for a long time and aren't affected as badly by temperature.

I already bitched about the finish in the Action, fit, finish block. The hardware is still like new on mine. The finish hasn't worn off or chipped, but it is soft and does scratch too easily. The strap buttons look smallish, but they have only failed me when I put it on and the strap was folded over at the button. Now I check if the strap is on right, so I can depend on the buttons. My axe has a tendancy to break the high e string at the tune-o-breakit bridge. I wouldn't use any axe without a backup because I don't want to restring in the middle of a gig.

Haven't really dealt much with the company. The lifetime warranty, at this point, is sort of useless since normal wear and tear aren't covered.

I've had this since November of 98 and it has been my main ax since. I now plug into a Fender HR Deluxe - a tube amp. If you use lots of digital effects or crunch, the subtle tones of this guitar tone will be lost - go find something cheaper with humbuckers that plays good and you'll have more money for strings. If this were lost or stolen, I'd have to look around at what else is out there before I'd buy another one. I like the axe and it suits my playing style well. The buzzy strings annoy me and the fact that the finish is getting ugly pisses me off. I think many people buy these for the snob appeal - that extra few hundred bucks to have a gibson logo on the headstock. I really wish Gibson had the option of putting a whammy bar on, the fixed bridge limits your material.

Jet black color with gold hardware. Very nice looking guitar. Other than that, Its a Les Paul Studio model. I don't see how anyone can give this guitar more than a 5 for features.

Decent sounding guitar. The stock pickups are good. It doesn't get much simpler on the controls. Not very versitile though, It has two sounds, dark and darker. Not a bright sounding guitar. But if thats what your looking for then this is it.

bought this guitar 2 and a half years ago. Set up was ok, but the strings were a little too high for my liking. Finish on the body was very nice.

Good old durable Les Paul. Or so I thought. After owning this guitar for 9 months, this is what I was left with. The frets were worn down almost half way. The beautiful gold hardware was worn down to silver where I rested my palm. A huge crack in the finish developed under my headstock. It started sounding like crap with the worn frets. The stock strap buttons were pretty small so I bought strap locks for it to keep my strap from falling off all the time. It wasn't like I beat this thing either, In fact it was quite the opposite, I take very good care of my stuff. This guitar was built like crap.

Never dealt with them

I ended up trading this guitar in after only 9 months of playing it. It sounded pretty good but the playability was just not there for me. Its big and bulky and started to fall apart. My fingers were always sore from playing but not half as sore as my back. Unless your really in love with the Les Paul sound, There are much better guitars for the money.

1998 US model,22 frets,RZ color,

i play mostly classic rock,blues rock(hendrix,led zeppelin,deep purple,clapton...) and it suits perfectly. i use a peavey 65W and it sounds so well with the les paul! you can have really soft and bright sound as well as big sound with an incredible comfort,the neck is more than nice,it almost makes you play more easily and even better...

all is well adjusted and you can (i do) play ten hours a day without any trouble.

ever dealt with them

i ve been playing for 3 years now and this is my third electric guitar the first i had was a jim harley,then an epiphone lp100,and then this gibson les paul :you can feel the difference when you play on these guitars! i guess if my gibson were stolen or lost i would buy it again!but i like it so much that i m gonna take an insurance on it. on this guitar i just love the comfort of playing and her dreamy sound just an advice:try it!