Gibson Les Paul Studio

Mine is a 1993, black, with gold hardwear and block markers. The 'Studio' I'm told, was produced for guitarists who just wanted a Les Paul, but didn't require the binding or fancy maple tops. All the usual Les Paul 'features'. 2 pickups, 2 tone controls, a mahogany body with a maple top. Just what you'd expect. Not overburdoned with features, but its not that sort og guitar.

I used to own a '76 Standard which sounded completely different. I also still own my '76 Custom, which is also very different, so obviously something has happened to Les Pauls between then and now. Maybe this does sound the same as newer Les Pauls, but it doesnt sound the same as mine. It lacks any of the warmth that the original T-Top humbuckers. I'm no expert, but maybe the faily thick paint job does the tone no favours. Whatever it is, I wasn't impressed.

Like nearly all Les Pauls, the action is great. The gold hardwear is mildly tarnished, but so what? No flaws to speak of, although I didn't like the plasticky feeling fretboard. It felt cheap.

Its only 16 years old. These things should last. They cost enough! An utterly dependable guitar, but take a spare as strings can break at the most inconvenient times.

Been playing since the '60's and have owned too many guitars, but at least I know good from bad. Youre probably reading this because you may be contemplating buying one. If so, they are pretty good, but not worth ??1000 new. A lot of late 70's MIJ guitars like Greco, Yamaha and Tokai are better buys. Ive had both, so I know. None of them get close to a decent 70's Gibson. Everything about the real thing is better, so dont get taken in by the hype about Japanese copies being better, or the Studio being as good. Theyre not. I bought this because I was getting nervous about using my Custom 'live', but it just didnt suit me. Not to say it wont suit you, but this is a personal rating.

- 1985
- Made in USA
- 22 frets
- Sunburst
- Bound ebony fretboard
- Mahogany 60's slim taper neck with unbound headstock
- Mahogany body with 3-piece multi-bound maple cap
- Tim Shaw PAF reissue humbucker pickups
- 2 tone knobs with 100K pots
- 2 volume knobs with (I think) 300K pots
- Gold hardware
- Tune-o-matic bridge with stop tailpiece
- Grover Deluxe tuners (swapped in for the original Gibson Deluxe tuners)

Made for only two years (1984-1985), this rare guitar is closer to a Standard than a Studio or a Custom. It has a 60's slim-taper neck that's available on a Standard. Also neck binding with unbound headstock like a Standard. The body is multi-bound like a Custom, but only on the front side. The body is slightly thicker than a modern-day Studio, though I hadn't had the chance to compare it to a modern-day Standard or Custom. And it has abalone "dot" inlays instead of the trapezoids or blocks found on most other Les Pauls.

This is a similar model to a Les Paul Studio Standard, except the Studio Standard has chrome hardware instead of gold, and the body binding is single-ply.

Oh, man! The sound of this guitar is the next best thing to a time machine that takes you back to the 60's and 70's. Really impressive vintage rock 'n' roll sound. I use a Roland VGA-5 modeling amp with it, so there's quite a variety of tones that I can squeeze out of it.

The 80's Tim Shaw pickups are not as hot as the modern 480R/498T, and not nearly as bright. They also don't feed back quite as easily as the 480R/498T. But they have this vintage edge to them that's hard to describe. The bridge pickup has a lot of bite, even on the bass end, and makes for an incredible crunch on overdrive (Marshall stack or Fender Blackface). Both pickups clean up nicely with a softer attack or turning down the volume knobs. The neck pickup is a smooth solo singer in overdrive, and very full and jazzy on a clean amp (Roland JC-120). It sounds close to an arch-top hollow-body electric, whereas the 480R/498T combo resembles an acoustic on the same amp settings. Turning the tone knobs down takes away the brightness very quickly, and turned all the way down creates a muffled "behind a drywall" sound; at this point there's no longer much of a difference between the bridge and neck pickups.

I bought this guitar used on eBay, and it's 24 years old. I have no idea how it was set up from factory, but by now the frets are worn down to almost nothing, and I'm considering a refret. The finish is a gorgeous Sunburst, and it nicely shows off the textures of the tone woods.

The previous owner replaced the original Gibson Deluxe tuners with Grovers because the originals broke. Other than that and a few dings and scratches, the guitar is very solid, with many years of life ahead. Except for the frets, all hardware is perfectly fine, though it shows quite a bit of wear.

I'm pretty sure the warranty expired a few decades ago.

I've been playing for about 6 years, on and off, purely as an amateur. I own a '00 Les Paul Studio Gothic, a DeArmond M-66 electric, a Taylor 214-e acoustic, a cheapo Yamaha C-40 classical, a Roland VGA-5 modeling amp, and a Roland FC-200 foot controller.

I wish this guitar had strap locks and less worn-out frets. If it were stolen, I would hunt down the perp and put his head through a (cheap) solid-body electric.

I'm mostly comparing it to my other Les Paul, the '00 Gothic, which is much more of a hard rock guitar (think Scorpions, Def Leppard) that also sounds like a bright acoustic on a clean amp; this one is more of a classic rock guitar on overdrive (think 60's rock 'n' roll, Led Zeppelin) and a blues guitar on clean.

Just picked this up last week I should probably wait awhile to write a review but Im so Blown away by this guitar I dont see how it could make any differance except maybe improve I was going to buy a faded brown studio for 700 brand new with HS case I had it on lay away for about a month But every time I went in to play it it seemed as the intonation was not right I asked them to fix it or change the strings and they never did. As I was getting ready to pay for the guitar I noticed a solid maple body, top and neck studio model with Gold Hardware and mother of pearl inlay on the frets and stunning finish. Just gorgeous. It had been on layaway like mine But the guy said it was his buddies and he really didnt have the cash for it and asked me if I wanted to play it BINGO ! totally different feel tone and fret action It was certainly heavier with the solid maple body It was 200 more but well worth the money and with a gorgeous hard shell case I couldnt pass it up 2 humbuckers and 3 position switch The Bridge pick ups are sooo clean Middle seems to suit me fine all around and neck for some heavy sustain when i when i need it

I play 2nd guitar in one band old school blues and rock Hendrix SRV trower clapton stones etc My Strat was not cutting over my leads guitar players ripping (strat with super reverb and about 8 effects pedals and boxes it was tinny and weak I had a fender super sixty but I couldnt get the Loud clean sound i needed I got rid of the super sixty and went with a hot rod 2-12 big improvment but still not what i wanted and was coming up short. I added a boss distortion pedal and it helped but not quiet there. Add the LP Massive improvement. No boss box just drive channels on my hot rod Playing the hot rod on 2 or 3 at rehersal Amazing difference and since i do play some lead the lp was just so easy to play and the sustain forget about it. I typically sit down some time during rehersal 3- 4 hours I stood the entire time today and had no fatiuge the balance is great I was getting some noise on the Neck pick ups But dont know if that is the amp or the lp I suspect its the lp but i can live with it. The other band is mainly an accoustic duo with original songs and some old doors kinks GFR you name it we play it I brought it with me yesterday and wow I would say it improved my sound quality about 20 %I rate myself an avg player I love slow blues however and the note bending and sustain are just awesome and the different sounds between pickups are are great help I just have to get use to volume adjustments

The first 3 times I played this guitar i was constantly out of tune pretty much after every two songs I dont know if this is normal it seemed to have calmed down today But the noise in the neck pick up I may take back and have them take a look and maybe do a set up on it It was a factory set up I personally think they should set these up in house before they are sent out

Built like a brick Sh*t house Unless I spin around and hit a building column I dont know how you could damage this ax! Again with the solid maple body with a maple top its a beast I havnt played a LP std or Custom for more then a few minutes because never had the money to even bother but I think I pretty much have found as close as im going to get If I cant be happy with this one Ill never be Again the difference between the faded studio and this one was miles apart

Been playing on and off for years Ive owned pretty much everything bunch of teles strats jaguars ( ugh) silvertone dan electro ( first) martin taylors yamahas and a gibson Es 300 about 40 years ago with my marshall 50 watt head WHEre are they now ??? My last favorite was my PRS custom 22 that was a dream to play It got damaged by being left in a trunk for two weeks in the summer and was never really the same( woops) I still have my g & l strat which i plan on selling and buying a japanese mustang to replace thats a fun guitat and I have a 1992 fender SRV Strat Im picking up next month only because i always wanted one and I found one for a great deal and it is dead mint Buying it more for collectable then anything else and a few acoustic guitars Seagull and epiphone I Honestly cant see me playing out with anything other then the lp My lead guitar player said when I walked in the studio" What the hell are you doing with and LP in this strat band ? "When we where done he walked up to me and said "That guitar sounded amazing" :)

2000 Gbson Les Paul Studio
$400 used (but never actually used just left in case)
Wine Red Gold hardware
Maple top
Fat neck
I want to put a bigsby on it but I expected it not to have one anyway

Fantastic It fits anything from jazz to metal (I hate metal though) and sounds incomparable compared to my other guitar. It sounds great on any sound level no problems whatsoever. Deep bluesy sound dominates this guitar as is expected with les pauls.

The action was a bit high but I like it that way so I was happy (only a small bit high. Pickups sound fantastic. Everything on this guitar was set up beyond expectations

This guitar can take some abuse but it comes away with dings moreso than my other guitar. You dont knotice them unless you look really closely the guitars so beautiful you just dont care. Vare dependabe guitar. One strap button got pressed into the body somehow before I owned it but It works fine.

Never had to call customer support as I said very reliable.

Overall incredible guitar for the price you get at guitar center or musiciansfriend. It's ideal for blues but is well siuted to most other genres. Holds together well. the neck siuts me very well and I can move around with ease. stays in tune like a dream. If you can BUY THIS GUITAR!

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

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

Tight and awesome finish. It is Amethist.

Well built and heavy like a Les Paul should be.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


BODY
Top Species: Maple top
Back Species: Mahogany



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



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



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



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


Strings: NOT EVEN SLINKY'S .13-56

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Perfect no faults what so ever!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

very solid guitar, can easily gig without a backup

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Don't know.

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

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

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

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

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

N/A

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bought it used, so good-bye gibson warranty.

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

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

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

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

This is a 2000 model in ebony. I picked it up second hand from the original owner. Nice meaty, thick neck with a rosewood fretboard and medium jumbo frets. The pickups are 498T and 490R with CTS 500K pots and your garden variety 3-way switch. Mahogany body with a thick maple cap, weighing in at just over 8 pounds. Chrome hardware including GROVER tuners. Standard Gibby 24 3/4 scale. Trapezoid inlays.
Excellent quality sound and feel. Playability is outstanding-no issues at all. Basically it's a Les Paul w/o binding, figured top or headstock inlay...and inflated price. LOL Short learning curve due to the fact that it sounds so good no matter where the knobs are. Nice.

It's all that you could ask for from a Gibson Les Paul. Rich and fat throughout the volume/tone pots' range in clean, overdriven and distorted modes. The pickups are excellent with a hot alnico 5 bridge and a soft alnico 2 neck. The bridge pickup overdrives my amps ever so slightly with the guitar's volume at 10. It's a cool, dirty-grainy sounding grit that works very well for clean soloing. I wouldn't consider changing it out for any other pickup. It is exactly what I expected it to be. On the other hand the neck pickup is cut from a different cloth entirely. It's very warm with about 80% of the power that the bridge pickup has. I find it works well as a full sounding rhythm pickup behind solos played by our other guitarist because it is fat and big sounding, filling up the space behind the solo without crashing into the solo. With both pickups on the rhythm sound is a perfect balance of warmth and treble.
So much for the clean side of this thing.
I like to use the volume pots to control the overdrive/distortion from my pedals. I use several pedals in my setup: BOSS BD2->BOSS OD1->BOSS DS1->->BOSS CE2->Fender Blues Jr or Blues Deluxe or Roland Blues Cube.
For songs requiring overdrive or distortion I start with the BD2 on all the time for just a light overdrive. Depending on how much drive I need I step on the OD1 or the DS1. That's it. The LP sounds great with these pedals and amps. I have no complaints whatsoever. From blues all the way up to heavy hard rock it delivers a consistent clear, rich, harmonic sound. The harmonic feedback and sustain is incredible. Sweeeeeet!
I play blues, rock, early rock n roll and jazz standards with a 5 piece band. There is not a thing I would change about the sounds I can get from this guitar. It's perfect Les Paul tone, period.

No complaints about the hardware or electronics. The finish is another story. Mine has several finish flaws including paint streaks, orange peel and areas of overspray. These are obvious factory finish flaws. The QC guy was out sick on the day this guitar was made, I guess.
Personally I couldn't care less but when you lay out the kind of cash that these go for new, you have a right to expect more. Most customers would be pissed about finish flaws as blatant as these. I'm not happy about the finish flaws but the sound and playability of this magnificent guitar more than make up for it. Nevertheless there is no excuse for such shoddy workmanship in the paint department. So: Shame on you, Gibson.
I swapped out the 3-way switch with a Switchcraft model because Gibbys are notorious for bad 3-ways. It was still working okay when I replaced it. Better safe than sorry IMHO.

Gibbys are known for their longevity. Good woods, durable hardware and build quality are hallmarks of their products. This one will be passed on to my son someday-I'm pretty sure of that. In the meantime I treat it with respect and wipe it down after each session. I thoroughly clean it and set the action & intonation every time I change the strings. I expect it will be around for a long time. Rock solid.

No comment.

I picked up up the guitar back in 67 when I was in high school. Over the years I have owned mostly cheap knockoffs of Fenders and Gibsons. I bought a Gibson L6-s in the 80s and liked it but I sold it later. When I had the chance to buy a (used) REAL Gibson Les Paul for a low price I immediately jumped on it. It has turned out to be all I ever expected from a real deal LP. I am completely satisfied. I own several LP knockoffs and a few Strat & Tele knockoffs that I'm also satisfied with but none of them are in the class of this instrument. You can feel the quality and hear the difference when you pick it up and plug it in. For the 300 bucks I paid for it (with mint Gibson H S Case!) I have to rate it as a 10-excellent, fantastic value. I'm very happy with this guitar.

This is a 2005 LP Studio. I think we're all well aware of the features. It's Alpine White with gold hardware and box stock.

It's a Les Paul, of course it sounds great even stock. Gibson may have cut a few corners on fit and finish with studio models, but they didn't spare the electronics.

I used to play LP's back in the 80's on stage and I hated the weight, this one is just as heavy as I remember them being. But that weight is what helps give them their incredible tone and sustain. I haven't played one of the newer "Light weight LP's" but I have a hard time believing they can get this tone after lightening the body.

Here is where I have a slight problem with the guitar. It's Alpine White and I've heard they had problems with this finish. I already expected things like no binding, but this finish is awful. If I'd bought the guitar for it's looks I'd be highly upset. It almost looks like spider web cracks on the front of the guitar, but close examination reveals it's just a poor finish.

It doesn't affect the playability or the sound, but for the amount of money you'd think Gibson would've remedied this before they released the guitar.

I'm just relying on previous experience with Gibby's here...they will stand up to whatever road abuse you throw their direction. Unless you fall face first off stage onto a wood dance floor using your LP as a buffer zone. They don't take that abuse well at all, but I don't imagine there are to many guitars that do.

No idea.

It's a heavy LP with loads of sustain and a great tone. If I cared about fit and finish I would've bought a standard or custom. I've played Gibby's all my life and while this isn't a 1960's LP, neither is the price.

Nashville made in 2001 according to the serial number. Black nitro finish with chrome hardware including Grover tuners (thank god!) The neck is slightly more substancial than the thin neck Les Paul, which is fine with me. I like a little meat on my guitar neck. Standard electronics and the 490 / 498 pickups, which I like. Other than that it's just another Gibson Les Paul for the low rent crowd, like me.

I run this with the volume pots around 5 and the tone pots at 3-5, depending on the song. What I really like about the 490 & 498 pickups is the sweet spot they have with the volumes rolled back. A lot of pickups lose their grip unless they are on "10" but not these. I adjust my amps to suit the rolled back volume (basically I use the Fender 6-6-6 standard) and when I want to solo i just roll the guitar volume up to 8-9. The pickups totally respond. I use a single MXR Distortion III pedal, which is on 100% of the time to give my Fender Blues Deluxe a little kick. The MXR volume and gain dials are at 12 o'clock, and the tone is up at 1 o'clock. There is no overdrive at these settings with the guitar volumes at 5. Advance the volumes to about 7 and you get a nice light OD. At 8-9 you get a solo tone with some bite. The LP Studio really shines as a tool in my hands. What I mean is, I can control my tone, drive and volume from the guitar without having to have preamps, boost pedals and EQ pedals. To me the ability to control the variety of sound all from the guitar is the most important attribute of any guitar, period.
On the other hand if you're a player who likes all knobs on 10, the guitar will deliver a full-on signal to whatever effects and amps you use. The 498 will overdrive my Fender Blues Deluxe all by itself-no problem. The 490 is not as hot but it is very warm and rich at full volume like a good alnico II pickup, which it is.
This guitar is everything I was hoping for. No need to change anything, sound-wise.

I bought it second hand but the flaws in the finish are factory flaws. It has a few slight scratches from the previous owner but the orange peel in the finish was done in Nashville. I don't care so much about the finish flaws, but it should be mentioned here. After a new setup and intonation tweak the thing plays wonderfully. No complaints.

This model is built pretty well. I have no worries at all regarding the hardware.

I bought mine for 350 bucks with a HSC. Great price/value for a real Gibson. I have no complaints about this guitar, especially for the price I paid. If you just have to have a Gibson Les Paul, try the low rent version, a.k.a. the LP Studio model. It has all the attributes of the Les Paul, but at a lower price point. At a 350 dollar price point this thing is an excellent value. I'm keeping mine!

Pretty good action and tone my favourite guitar!
I dont have much to say on it.

It is a really giid guitar for things like gnr/ velvet revolver / slash's snakepit
im using an marshall slash sig amp and cab and it sounds like slash's guitar
It make much noise with 7 dist if u try 10 dist it blows you out of your room and it makes a good bright sound pretty nice for blues licks
the guitar is a real rock master but blues sound so nice to that it wil destroy your heart

i love this guitars sound!

The wood is a fantastic kind of wood for rock or blues music
ive never opend the guitar but
so i cant say much over how the pickups are adjusted
but its a good action.

the reliability was not fantastic but but if u are carefull with your guitar theres no problem

the customer suport is super so i will give them a 9
because they are not allways friendly

got this in i think 2001. wine red gold hardware, standard les paul feaures.

i play mostly metal and classic rock. runing it straight into crate blue voodoo. the sound is great. the neck pick up is full and warm. the bridge is chunky and sharp. i love the sound of this guitar. i had a esp ltd viper with emgs and it never sounded as good as this guitar.

within the first week i had it the tunners were slipping, but guitar center gave me a whole new set for free. action was just a little high for me but that was an easy fix. other than that its great.

soild guitar, been playing it for about 8 years without problems. defintly get some strap locks cause it tends to come off the button by the neck a lot.

ive been playing for about 15 years. this is my favorite guitar. ive played les paul customs and tryed to feel/hear a defference but i cant. great guitar, i highly recomend it to anyone who wants great les paul sound but doesnt feel like paying for the white border line around the body and neck of the more expensive les pauls.

Les Paul studio in Alpine White with ebony fretboard.

I'm not a fan of Gibson pups, microphonic and muddy.

Here's the problem, the guitar buzzed horribly with high action. I sighted the neck and saw a hump on the fret-board between the 9th and 13th fret making the guitar unplayable. I took it to a Fender master tech who has done warranty for Gibson and he said the same thing, I paid him $100 to dress the frets to get me by. He did what he could but it still buzzed real bad. I sent the guitar back to Gibson and they had it for 2 months, to my dismay they did nothing but more fret dressing. It still buzzes horribly even with high action. I called Gibson and they said they would work on it again but I'm not waiting another 2 months for them to do nothing.

Don't know, can't play it.

Nice on the phone, LOUSY techs, worst warranty work I've ever had done it the past 25 years of playing.

What a waste of money, Gibson is not what they used to be.

1992 model with Ebony fretboard. bought used at a guitar show. Made in USA. Came with original pickups which were later replaced. All black finish with a gig bag. I love having separate tone and volume knobs for each pickup. The 8 is bc it'd be amazing if it came with sperzel tuners (i had to add those)and coil tap switches. My favorite feature is the slick ebony fretboard.

Suits any style i play fantastically. That would be rock, blues, and any kind of metal. You can strum my guitar unplugged and you know it's going to be good! Tone is slightly brighter and snappier than a Standard LP or a new Studio due to the ebony fretboard. The original pickups have been replaced but they sounded great while they were in there. For my style, I pretty much could have left them in there but I got curious. Now I have the EMG 81/85 set in there so it's pretty much been delegated as one of my pure metal guitars. I play through a Mesa Boogie Rectoverb and 5150 and with those in there, it sound so good for metal it's RIDICULOUS. I've recently started feeling bad about having them in, because they make it such a one trick pony. So I'm gonna throw the EMGs into another guitar and put a lower output set in here so it'll be more verstile and I get to play it more. Probably a set of SD '59s or Burstbucker Pros.

I bought the guitar used at a show but the guy who owned it must have been a tech or something. Best action I could ever wish for. Slippery ebony fingerboard, perfect intonation, resonance, tone, action. Nice thick '59 neck that fits my hand like a glove. I have another LP that I prefer slightly in terms of sound but thats because of the pickups in that guitar. The playability on this one is seriously amazing! And I thank my lucky stars because all the other Studio models I've played in stores have been crap compared to mine. I definitely lucked out. Whenever I pickup another guitar, this is the one they immediately get compared to.

Hell yes, it has withstood drunk and reckless live playing! It's got some belt buckle scarring, a chip on the headstock from getting dropped, and a few dings here and there from other accidents. The output jack got a little bent and had to be replaced. The knobs have gotten loose and had to be reset. But it's only gone into the shop twice since i've had in 10 years. Straploks got put on a long time ago. It's had every gauge of strings from .008 to .012s. Damn right, i can depend on it. Everything should be made this rugged.

no clue, never needed them.

Been playing 18 years now. I've had alot of guitars, but i'm trying not to buy anymore now, haha! I also currently have a Gibson Faded V, Epi Elite LP, Ibanez RG3120, ESP LTD Ninja V, and a Gibson Melody Maker. The Elite sounds amazing too and probably gets played the most but nothing touches the playability on my Studio. Like I said before, I'm gonna put some more versatile pickups back into it just so I can play it more. It's simply my favorite guitar and there is nothing else I wish it had. I'm just thankful, this one's mine.

This is the 2007 Left-Handed model. Typical Les Paul Studio features. I've never owned or played a Les Paul befor this one, so I have nothing to compare it to.

Again, this is th efirst Les Paul I've ever owned/played. I was expecting great things, but was extremely disappointed in the tone. It was muddy, boomy and lacked spark or clarity. Except for maybe metal, I found this guitar useless.

This was my biggest disappointment. The guitar, out of the box, had an oily almost slimy feel to it, especially the neck. The tuners did not hold the strings in tune. Worst of all, the frets on the edges were sharp and extremely uncomfortable against the hand and fingers.

It's a shame that Gibson would let a $1,400.00 guitar pass quality control in this condition.

Don't know, I returned the guitar right away.

Gibson, was helpful, through email, when I had a question.

My Les Paul Studio was made in 2004/2005 in the United States and it is a great guitar. It has 22 frets and a carved maple top. It has two volume and two tone knobs with a 3-way pick-up selector(Which I like for the solo to Bulls on Parade). The pick-ups are 490R and 498T Alnico Magnet Humbucker pick-ups(H/H). The Les Paul Studio has a Rosewood fingerboard and a Mahogany neck and body. It also has a tune-o-matic bridge with a stopbar tailpiece. The normal stuff. I just wish it had better tuners.

I love the bridge pickup for Metallica songs like enter sandman which use heavy distortion. The neck pickup is good for solos like the massive one in sweet child o' mine. It has a great slash sound. Even with my little Spider III 15 watt amp it sounds good. The pickups are pretty hot.

I bought my guitar from Guitar Center and I didn't have to setup anything. The guitar sounded perfect right after I got how.

This guitar is amazing. My cat went behind the guitar stand and it dropped. I picked it up and there was nothing wrong with it. It just needed to be retuned. I can easily depend on it. My other Gibson's neck snapped and that is why I got a new one.

I don't know. Pretty good I guess.

I have been playing for five years now and this is the best guitar I have ever owned. When I bought the guitar, I also bought Grover Tuners beacause the Green Keys are terrible. Buit you get what you pay for.

2003 model USA made Les paul studio in fireburst.
22 frets.
Solid mahogany body.
Mahogany neck with rosewood fretboard.
Tune-o-matic bridge.
3 way selector switch.
2 volume 2 tone knobs.
Pretty standard stuff, not a bonanza brett michaels.

The stock pick ups that come with this guitar, the 490 and 500 blah blahs are very decent pick ups. Classic Les Paul easily achievable. However after an influx of money i replaced the pick ups with British made and hand wound Bareknuckle pickups, which are pretty much the highest output inactive humbuckers you can get without being a dick. The rest of the review applies to the stock pick-ups aswell but be aware that the bareknuckle pick ups make distortion RADICAL compared to awesome- No guitar can hold a candle to the sustain you get from half metric ton of mahogany. Neck pick-up is easily my favourite( use for blues and slash tones), it produces a very very rich and warm tone that could coax a duck into an eggcup and undress by 11. Neck sounds excellent on distortion or clean but you wont be achieving anything anything near as glassy as a strat. Bridge pick up is a nice contrast- It has piercing bite great for metal rhythm and more shreddy leads when distorted. On the clean side of the lake the bridge pick up isnt really my thing - sounds too thin probably because of the high output of the pick up. Inbetween position is a nice balance of the 2 and some good Clapton tone with some of the tone knobs turned down a ways.

Fireburst finish looks delicious, better than wine red in my opinion and worth the extra 40 pounds or so. Action wise there was no fret buzz or dead notes upon recieving this guitar from the shop. Action was fine but i adjusted (easily)to my own preference. Stayng in tune isnt a problem, no more so than any other guitar without locking tuners. no worries here.

I bang this guitar around like tuesdays roast, the finish has a few knocks and some worn edges but that just adds to it i think. HOWEVER and i cant stress this enough: If your gonna leave this guitar about, make sure you have a good quality stand because where the neck meets the headstock is EXTREMELY THIN and is almos too easy to crack or snap completely if it falls over. So really be careful - dont let your springer spaniels run all over the house willy nilly. Secure them fast to a radiator or anvil before even thinking of E minor pentatonic. lesson learnt. Apart from that the electronics seem reliable and the jack is fine aslong as you keep it tight.

Pfff havnt a clue. I guess its good

Get this guitar if you want Les paul tone at a very reasaonable price and can live without the poncey finish's for Dermatologists with more money than sense. Sweet sweet distortion and some very nice clean tones and sustain like a *****.

I think anyone can look pretty much anywhere and find this.. It came with a hard case. It's painted black and so is the neck which I've not seen on any other guitar I've played.
I got it brand new about four years ago - 2004 I suppose.

Before I got it I played a Yamaha Pacifica 112 and that was really bright - this is much fuller and warmer. I didn't like this at first but I play mostly AC/DC so I've grown to like it.
It sounds nice at the neck position when playing through a clean amp or something more bluesy.

The fretboard is rough as bricks but I like it that way now.
The pickup selector wasn't fitted properly - the switch wouldn't flick all the way in both directions so it could easily be knocked into the middle; not good. I had to chisel bits of wood off inside to fix this. Bad!
The pickups don't sit flat - poor. The control knobs weren't pushed on straight.
There were mould marks on the plastic tuner knobs. Cheap
Bass strings buzz like hell on the frets.
The back of the guitar is not contoured so you've got right-angles sticking in your rib cage!
It same with 10s fitted and I've gotten used to bending/vibrato at that gauge. The neck is nice and thick.
I wish it didn't have the pick guard though. It protects the areas my pick doesn't go and I'd get rid of it were it not for the screw holes that'd be left behind.
Getting to last couple of frets is restricted (speshially on the bass strings).
The G-string has a problem staying in tune with the others after a day or so - no real problem though.

Well it seems pretty tough. I don't treat it like a baby - it's not an ornament.
It's taken knocks by tables, etc. I've stabbed it with pencils when I make mistakes.
But it hasn't fallen out of shape.
The gold plate has come of the metalwork where my hand rests - I don't mind this, I use it as a measure of how much I play it.
Oh, yeah, the first thing I did was replace the strap buttons. I sometimes don't wear steel toe-capped boots and I like my toes as they are.
The pickup selector needs a few attempts to make contact - very poor.
If I were to gig with it I'd need to fix some things that were wrong from the factory.

I took it back to the shop about the fret buzz. The guy was really friendly and fetched a PRS from the display and it looks like maybe I was just hitting the thing too hard.
Never actually dealt with Gibson but the website looks nice.

I've been playing for 6.63 years. Not long but I know what I like and my limitations.
It might sound like I'm whinging about the guitar - that's because when I got it it had so many flaws that I didn't expect from a 'quality' guitar. My ??180 Yamaha was set up perfect and everything just worked.
However.. I do love to play it. It feels good in my hands. My fingers fall just right to make chords. Slides and bends come naturally.
But it's been a tough love. I reckon I could've got a better copy for a lot less money.
So, subconsiously I must be a snob beacuse I would've felt sad with a copy.
A guitar from the 50s without modern Japanese improvements in manufacture.
Last word? It is part of me now, flawed like me. I see other people with sleek guitars and I think, 'Oh how the other half live'.

2008 Gibson Les Paul Studio in Fireburst with gold hardware(USA made)
22 medium-jumbo frets with a 50's style rounded neck.
Nothing is bounded, which is why it's less expensive.
Modern classic pickups (490R&498T) Passive.
3-way toggleswitch with 2 tone and 2 volume knobs.
Mahogany neck with rosewood and back with a carved A maple top.
Nitro finish on the whole body.
Tune-O-Matic bridge with a stopbar, "Deluxe" vintage tuners.
Nice and sturdy black Gibson case (without combo lock) with white plush.
Chambered body (uh oh...maybe)

Hot and powerful pickups! The 490R's Alnico 2 pickup really gives you that darker and vintage vibe, while the Alnico 5 498T is very versatile with that tone knob. I'm running it through an ME-50 Guitar Multiple Effects box and a Marshall MG-30DFX. It sounds rich and powerful, but that chambered body has lessened its attack. (which could be a good or bad thing depending on the person).
Very versatile sound, but it cannot chime like a Stratocaster.

The neck was almost straight to the strings right out of the box. I had to adjust the truss rod a bit and raised the action. Immaculate finish; no blemishes whatsoever (good for a UPS delivered guitar). Pickups are still correctly adjusted. Basically, there's very little flaws to this guitar after I re-setup the neck, action, and intonation.

This guitar will slowly gain the reputation of a relic. It seems to be "damaging" quite gracefully and slowly. It's is by no means fragile, and it can probably live through a person's lifetime. The gold hardware is stunning and is expected to last quite awhile if properly cared for. The strap buttons actually hold the strap in place so far (a rarity for Gibson strap buttons). I will always use my trusty Strat for backup, though. I haven't trusted this Les Paul just yet.

So far, all of my questions have been answered promptly by Gibson. Hopefully they will be just a quick and helpful if a serious problem arises.

So far, it's been a good guitar. I'm still a bit afraid of playing too hard on it. I'm disappointed with the 50's style neck, it's a bit uncomfortable compared to a 60's slim neck or Fender's C-neck. Chambered body has its ups and downs. If it were lost or stolen, I'd probably save up a bit to get a bounded and 60's style neck Les Paul, but if I was running low on money and I needed that tone, this guitar will do just fine.

2003 les paul not weight relieved, with ebony fingerboard
Made in USA
Standard les paul features
Everything i need

i play punk and ska mostly, but dabble in everything.
This guitar sounds great pretty versatille.
You can get a single coilish sound or a straight powerful humbucker with the tone knobs

i bought this guitar used from a friend. He was in a punk band and toured with this guitar for 4 years, and it shows. despite the wear the finish is in pretty good condition

This guitar is pretty solid. it suffered a headstock crack but was repaired and seems to be holding well

never delt with them

Some people talk bad about les paul studios, but this guitar sounds and feels amazing. i wont let this guitar go. Gear snobs say what you want but this is an amazing guitar

everyone knows what the features are on a les paul, mine has the fireburst finish with chrome hardware, i can easily say it is my favourtie finish on any guitar i have come accross

perfectly suits my style of old school rock, rhythem and lead! definantely a well built guitar you can hear it through the passive pickups, comparing it to an epiphone i had with seymour duncans (i say had because once i bought the gibson i sold the epiphone, no it wasnt a brand thing, it had to do with the incredible sound the gibson had, dont let anybody tell you epiphone is just as good as a gibson!)

action was great, didnt need to adjust it off the shelf, finish is just awesome! i just read these have a 50's neck, i love it! suits my hand perfectly, nice and solid, not too thin but not too thick either

i can depend on it, i sold all my other electrics as i just no longer used them, i obviously dont gig though!

N/A

i have been playing for 10 years now, i just enjoy sitting down and relaxing while i play and this guitar is just brilliant, i enjoy playing as much as i enjoy hearing the sound my guitar is making so that is saying something i think!

This is just a quick update to my previous review (Ram on 3-18-08)

First, I made several mods to the guitar to get it just like I wanted it. First was replacing the pickups with the EMG Zakk Wylde set (81+85). This may not be for everyone because active pickups color the tone a bit, and may seem brittle. I adjust EQ to temper this, so I can enjoy the power these pickups afford.

Second, I replaced the existing Kluson-style tuners with Sperzel locking - BIG improvement. However the most important mod was...

Third, I replaced the stock plastic nut with a slotted Gibson USA brass nut. WHAT A DIFFERENCE. The plastic nut is just garage compared to the brass nut. The guitar rings like a bell and sustains for twice as long now. Honestly, in my 30+ years of playing, I've never seen a more marked difference in tone and sustain than putting in a high quality brass nut.

DO IT!

You know the features by now. 2008 lp studio, ebony finish, 50's rounded neck profile. No binding (hence the 9 for this category) however I knew that when I bought it.

Ok, first of all, I own a les paul standard (60's neck), and in the past have owned a squire strat, american deluxe strat, japanese made strat (the best out of all the fenders i have owned by far), jackson randy rhoads (not sure which one exactly, but it was cheap with a gloss black finish), Jackson soloist (the worst guitar i have ever played. I'm sure it was a good guitar, it's just that it WOULD NOT stay in tune, i even had the guitar tech at sound control set it up 2 weeks after i bought it, and they gave me a full refund after because it still wouldn't stay in tune. Must've been damaged between the factory and store), Gretsch Malcom Young, epiphone sg, gibson sg 61 reissure, 1982 gibson explorer.

All of those guitars have been sold on/traded apart from my les paul standard.

The lp studio has a 50's neck, therefore it sustains longer than my lp standard (with the 60's neck). It really does go on for days. play one and you'll see what i mean. I always loved the sustain on my standard, but this sustains for days.

Not sure exactly what kind of pickups are in this studio, my standard has burstbuckers which give me a nice low output blues rock sound, but is capable of hard rock (and even grunge when I was in my last band). The bridge pickup is far too bassy for my liking (even with 10 guage strings), my amp is (and always will be) setup for my lp standard (it is after all, my pride and joy), and i like to have it setup for a nice thin lizzy type of sound and crank up the gain a bit for a gary moore rock sound. When i plug this lp studio in to my amp, I get an instant gary moore sound (think murders in the sky). When I switch to the neck pickup, I just instantly get a foxy lady type tone.

Great sounding guitar, but I think I will switch the pickups to burstbuckers, so i get a more comparable sound to my standard (without having to change amp settings).

this guitar was set up perfectly in store (merchant city music, glasgow). I can't stress that enough. I think I'll get all my setups done there in future. Low action, no fret buzz... Perfect.

The only problem I'm having is with the neck. I don't have any problems playing rhythm on it, but when it comes to lead, I'm having a few problems. I'm just used to playing a 60's neck, and I can't mark this guitar down for that, it's just personal preference.

The finish is ok, there are no problems, it's just that it looks like gloss black all over, it's an ugly guitar compared to my lp standard.

I think I'll change the pickup rings and pickguard around for white ones (like in the lp standard, and change the control knobs. Again this is just personal preference, this is not a bad guitar and is great considering it cost half as much as my lp standard.

No binding though. This guitar just looks so plain.

I've not gigged this guitar yet as i'm currently between bands, but i can't imagine any problems.

I wouldn't gig without my lp standard though.

Strap buttons are ridiculous. Gonna change them for dunlop straplok buttons.

As long as i don't break the neck, this guitar will last forever.

never dealt with them.

I've been playing for 5 years, i wouldn't replace this if it was stolen, i'd probably just get another lp standard.

All in all though, this is a great guitar.

Maple Top, Ugly Paint job,

Good sound not the best les Paul I have ever heard but still its a good tone.

This guitar is terrible where the finish is concerned for the same price you could pick up and american deluxe strat or if you need the hard rock style and Ibanez or even a washburn. But as for the actual guitar frets suck, neck is sticky and everything else made me put the guitar back on the shelf within 30 seconds. I have played multiple Les Paul Studios (four) and all of them are terrible in this regard. I was actually more impressed with a 100 used Memphis Les Paul Copy and that is saying something

The way they glue the body together (the drying process) gives many inherent weaknesses this guitar should be kept in 70 degree and 50% humidity just to keep the body together. If you can meat those demands its going to last forever but most people are morons and wont

Made on the 33rd day of 07. Alpine white LPS with ebony fretboard and gold hardware (Gibson Deluxe tuners). Purchased from Musician's Friend in March of 08 - has the following:
Carved maple top and mahogany back
Mahogany neck, '59 Rounded Les Paul
Ebony fingerboard
Tune-o-matic bridge with stopbar
Gold hardware
490R and 498T alnico magnet humbucker pickups
2 volume and 2 tone knobs, 3-way switch

Don't quite know what to rate "features" being that, if you buy a guitar that doesn't feature what you want, you would have to be special ed...

Awesome classic LP sustain and low end. It just thumps like a hammer, and growls and squeals. The thick mahogany neck and body really do something magical. There is no substitute. The weak link (in my mind only, perhaps) is the pickups. Once you get used to EMGs, everything else seems kind of flat. I promised myself I would leave this one stock, but alas, I have purchased the ZW EMG set and plan to install.

Warning! Once you own a guitar with EMGs it will ruin you for anything else. They're like crack!

I rate the sound a 9, just for the lack of active pickups. I know, that's kind of being a tool.

Setup was dead on out of the box, which was a very pleasant surprise. I was dreading doing the setup for yet another guitar, so big points for that. However...

The Paint. Hmm, where to begin. First, this is the Alpine White LPS, so the tiniest imperfection would of course show through. However let me say, the paint job is very good. Yet on the back of the body and headstock the paint is, ugh, ruffled(?) to the point where it looks like they skipped a buffing step. It's not bad enough to send it back, just bad enough for me to notice that it wasn't exactly smooth as glass. If the guitar didn't play and sound as good as it does, I might be bothered by this. But the thing plays so perfectly, and sounds so good, that complaining about the paint is like being bothered by your prom date's dress being ruffled... while in the back seat of your car...

It gets a 9, because 10 would be paint like glass - perfection. I built a guitar in 1987, and did the paint job myself. It was pretty close to this paint job, which makes me think that Gibson must use lacquer rather than nitrocellulose.

This is my fifth Les Paul.

No. 1 was a copy I had as a kid, circa 1979

No. 2 was another LP Studio purchased in 1999

No. 3 was an Epiphone LP Custom purchased in 2004 (really great guitar, BTW)

No. 4 was a Gibson Les Paul Standard that I bought in '06, but sold, because it really didn't do much for me. I think it was the color (cherry burst) that I never really cared for.

None of the above mentioned guitars ever had any problems, but a guitar is a musical instrument. If you drop it, you just might break the headstock off (like the car-wreck-Einstein who posted on this board, and then proceeding to bash the guitar).

It gets a 10 for this.

Never dealt with them, which warrants a 10 for the product.

It's a Gibson Les Paul, so if you complain that it doesn't have a whammy bar, is too heavy, or doesn't have enough "features", you are a complete idiot. The guitar was around long before you were born - it didn't just appear on the scene last year.

That being said, it is perfect for me. I play my best when playing an LP. For some reason, I don't feel a need for the binding, so I prefer the Studio model. However the sustain, bass response and overall tone are just perfect.

Wine red 2003 Studio, gold plated hardware, trapezoid fret markers, rosewood fingerboard, no binding, chunky (fat?) neck, speed knobs, etc. Everything you need except for a whammy bar and VariTone switch.

My style is blues, classic rock, lots of ungodly racket through a Marshall 100W tube half stack and/or a tiny Crate transistor practice amp.
The sound from this particular guitar is stupendous - a rich/full sound (to coin a phrase) which can just plain scream as well. Surprisingly loud pick ups compared to other Gibsons yet they have a great tone; my Flying V has really loud pick ups, the tone is not so hot. The sound is similar to a Gibson Lucille but has a bit more edge to it.
Les Pauls' are often accused of having a muddy sound but all you have to do is turn the volume knobs down a little bit on this one for a really clean tone.

This guitar was purchased used with really low action and 8s on it which is what I like.
The pick ups were adjusted properly, the neck is dead straight, no fret buzz, sharp fret ends or noisy controls, everything works perfectly.
The clearcoat on the finish was a bit beat up by the previous owner not being as careful as he or she should have been.

This guitar could be used to club an adult grizzly bear to death; it will survive live playing.
For once, really substantial strap buttons on a Gibson! These may not be original, though, I keep forgetting to check when I see other Studio models.
Gold plating will wear off no matter what you do, I'm afraid. I give it a 9 due to the fragile plating.

The people at Gibson always respond promptly and are very nice although I've never had to deal with them for a new instrument issue.

I've been playing on and off for 30 years and currently own a few Gibsons other than this Studio: Firebird VII, ES-335 Satin, Lucille, Les Paul Faded Double Cutaway and a Flying V.
Back in the 70s and 80s I owned an SG Standard, a few ES-335s, a Lucille DeLuxe, 25th Anniversary Les Paul, Les Paul Jr., and a Les Paul TV Special Reissue.
Those guitars were all sold off while I concentrated on other things.
When the guitar bug bit again last year, I took a ride to my semi-local Guitar Center to look at a used ES-335 Satin (which I bought) and while I was there I started fooling around with the Les Pauls.
They had a three or four Studio models there and I tried them all and they were okay but nothing really stood out except for this one, the cheap used one.
That one was magic and I bought it on the spot.
The neck on it is just perfect for me, the action is as low as you could possibly ask for and the sound through a Marshall will blow brick walls apart. Well, maybe not but it's pretty good.
Supposedly, the fretboard is rosewood and while it sure looks like rosewood, it feels like ebony to me. Very fast and smooth with a slippery feel to the back of the neck. Perhaps the previous owner did some work to it, I don't know.
Like most Les Pauls with a carved top, it weighs a ton. It also makes me look fat.
The Vintage Craze for 60s, 70s and 80s Gibsons seems kind of bizarre as I was buying them new and used back then and they were fine guitars (some were built to a cost, some weren't) BUT they weren't any better than this particular Studio is.
The quality of the workmanship is the same, the playability certainly hasn't changed but I'll bet the electronics have improved quite a bit.
To sum this up, this particular one really is a dream guitar. It's like a cross between my old beloved 70s SG Standard and the 25th Anniversary Les Paul. It's not the fanciest and I'm sure that it's not the most wonderful instrument but it's the best solid body guitar I've played. I think that I just really lucked out!

This is a Gibson Les Paul, anyone who ever spent a moment in time thinking of even playing an electric Guitar knows what a Gibson Les Paul is, and this is a Les Paul. That being said, I have a few things to point out.

I just bought this Studio from Guitar Center Brand-new in the box, manufactured in the United States, 2007. GC threw in 2 boxes of Gibson .10 strings (my request) and gave me a 70% discount on a suede Dunlop strap. Obviously, deals will vary from store to store, but I am very happy with what I got. Out of the box, the guitar was already in tune, checked with a digital tuner

The hardbody case is beautiful and doesn't let the guitar move around inside at all. It came with a very basic and generic Gibson LP owner's manual that really needs some attention. The manual covered EVERY Les Paul and even Flying V's, including their new auto-tuning 'Robot' Guitar. I wasn't very happy about this, since there were only about 2 pages of useful information about my actual Guitar. Gibson, if you are listening, FIX THIS PROBLEM! I want an owner's manual that covers MY guitar, and every tiny detail about it. Hire a college grad for 35k a year and revamp these crappy manuals!

One more complaint is the "omni-tool" that came with the Guitar. It really isn't very omni... it has a hex socket head on one end and a Phillips screwdriver head on the other. This would be great if it weren't for the fact the Guitar has all Flat-tip adjustment screws and no hex nuts at all. I'm honestly quite baffled as to what it's for. (There are phillips screws on the pickups, but I would use a real screwdriver for that kind of work).


Price Paid (minus tax): $1,200 (Guitar only)

So the features are lacking. Sounds pretty bad from what I wrote so far, huh? Well, this baby SCREAMS! I play Rock/Metal/Alternative and even a little Country. This thing does it all with brilliance that makes my 62' reissue Fender Stratocaster sound, to the best of my descriptive abilities: "un-full". This Guitar fills in the gaps that every Strat owner complains about, and it does it extremely well.

This baby screams through solos and lead anything, pop lead, and twang country with ease. I'm using a Crate FW120H Head with a Marshall 180 watt tri-speaker cabinet, and the sound is just fantastic. I'm not a fan of the 498-T pickup, and swapped it out for an EMG-89. The EMG gave this Guitar a sound that's truly awesome, shredding through metal and rock with enough sustain to hold a note until my first child is born to pass it on to.

Bottom line: Rock n'Roll aint never gonna die as long as Gibson keeps making Studios and Standards

The action out of the box was fantastic, except for notable buzzing on the G and D strings. A few small adjustments to the bridge, along with dropping in a new set of strings, and this problem was gone. As for out-of-the box, the guitar was in near-perfect tune, but who really cares about that? I dropped in my own strings about 3 hours after I bought it.

The first 3 hours were spent staring at the finish. I believe I was hypnotized, and do not recall what happened during this time, so I cannot comment on it. Mine is the Ebony with Black pickguard (removed), solid body, chrome hardware. I've heard complaints about the "fancy" finishes on some Sudios, but those aren't my style and the absolutely flawless black finish with just enough gloss to set the chrome on fire, but not too much that you're blinded by ambient light reflections while looking at it. This was the overall thing I noticed, the finish was more Satin than Gloss, but it is Gloss. It's just not a mirror, and that's exactly what I wanted.

The finish was flawless, with no blemishes of any kind. The only fingerprints on it are mine. The hardware was gleaming with a polished look that required no wipe-down. The look and feel of this Guitar is a lot like a black 1960 GTO with chrome fenders and a 455 Hemi sitting in your driveway with the door open and the keys in the ignition. If that analogy doesn't make any sense to you, then this Guitar is not be for you.

This guitar is not lacking in any of the quality of the Gibson LP Standard in terms of durability and quality. It's solid body/solid neck so that means no roughhousing with it. This guitar was meant to play, not to be swung around stage in a mock-guitar smash act or spun around to impress fans.

If you need to resort to this type of act on stage, your music might need some fine-tuning. Don't throw paint-thinner at the Mona-Lisa because you can't do as good.

On the other hand, the only Gibson's I've ever seen broken were because of A) Horrific Accidents involving dropping B) (Ex)-Friends Doing A or C) Stupidity.

I imagine Gibson customer support is one of the loneliest jobs on the planet. Call them for what(?); To tell them their guitars are awesome, or to complain about tiny problems that anyone who has any business with a Les Paul can't fix in 2 seconds?

Yes, this is a fantastic value. You get everything a Les Paul Standard has for a very fair price. You can't go wrong. This is a Les Paul to the core, not some kind of Epiphone crossover, so don't get confused on that part. You can get them used for cheaper, but my experience with my brand-new one has completely turned me off to buying used Guitars ever again.

Buy your Gibson brand-new, and you're guaranteed a Gibson. Save your money by buying used Amps and Heads rather than inheriting someone else's abused guitar with hidden problems. That's my opinion, I could be wrong. This time, however, I wasn't, and I couldn't be happier!

This is a Faded Maple Cherry Burst. Mail ordered from GC. I think the idea was to make it look kind of vintage, it didn't work. This thing looks more like a High school woodshop finish gone bad. I would call it un-finished and is more satin than anything else. I don't think they bother polishing these at all. The neck was okay but the fretts needed some dressing.

Another thing, this guitar is light which is nice seems like they must have chambered it (sombody is burning the excess wood made into a presto log). Final note: Do more to the finished product, Okay!

Here's where it shines. Sounded like a Les Paul, however the bridge pup is way hotter than most older LP's I've played, it metered on my VOM at 12.5K great for cutting metal or blowing away the drummer. The neck was about 7.6K and sounded great for Jazz. I used it through my '75 twin and a Reverend Hellhound. I think I like the 490R better than the 498T.

Had to set up the action it was never set up and came with a broken high "e" string, had to lower the neck pickup it was hitting the strings even after raising the bridge. Once I set it up it played great! Gibson what's with that, don't you pay someone to set these things up, if so fire the bastard!

Should last a life time. yes I could gig with it, good quality hardware.

?????

Well I sent it back to GC mostly because I didn't like the finish. Then I discovered I could get a Studio with a better finish and Gold Hardware for about the same price with a 20% discount, deal! After the guitar gets here I'll post that review.

2007 model; blem from MF. Two humbuckers, two volume, two tone.

Faded maple top in honeyburst. No poly finish, just a thin, matte finish. Mahoghany back (two piece) and neck, rosewood fretboard and a gorgeous plain maple top. No binding.

Fairly light; certainly chambered, but NOT neck heavy. Gets an "8" for being what it is; not top of the line, but certainly cool for a Studio.

Standard Les Paul sound; perhaps a little brighter. I also have an LP Standard Doublecut, and they are similar to one another.

Set up well, 'though I always lower the action and restring with 9-46s. I also removed the pickguard and replaced the black speed knobs with black Tele-style dome knobs, which I have on all guitars (including my Tele!).

Finish looks great, even though this was listed as a blem. I can't really find anything; maybe a "scratch" on the maple that was stained a litte darker? I don't really know why it was a blem ...

It's a Les Paul; pretty durable.

Never use them; hope never to

Fabulous guitar for $650-ish. I had been looking for an LP for awhile; I have the LP DC Standard, but wanted the traditional shape.

They have (had?) a used Studio at the local GC for $650 that they eventually dropped to $550; kinda trashed, and the ebony board had been reglued. This is certainly a much better value.

I play in an eight-piece funk-cover band, and a punk band, and also own a standard Tele, standard Strat, and two Fender Cyclones, and have been playing off-and-on since I was 6 (I'm 47).

This makes a great addtion to my "arsenal".

You have read them all by now. No frill model...

Sound, great tone, great sustain. good for all styles of music. I own 9 guitars (Fender,Epi,Hagstrom,Martin) and this guitar is my top guitar, then the fender strat..

Action was fair coming out of factorybut needed pro set up. Once setup action is good. Pickups are much hotter than I expected them to be. Finish is rich & deep color. Mine in wine Red.

So far great, no problems.

did not have to use yet...

I have been playing over 30 years, I own a recording studio(www.genesisrecording.com). I have played many different guitars over the years, thisone stands out as one of the best. Sound / tone are excellent, action VG, priced fair.
Gibson makes a very good quaility guitar...

Non-figured maple top over mahogany body, mahogany neck, gold hardware, 490/498 humbuckers, 24 3/4" scale, no binding, nitro-cellulose sprayed, Fat!! 50's neck, 3 way toggle switch. Included Canadian made hardshell case. 2 vol/2 tone knobs, made in 1997. (1st & 6th numbers)finish starting to "check" but that's normal.
But you know all this is standard and academic.

Sometimes unless my hand is touching metal on the guitar will buzz a little. Could be several outside reasons but I think it's the guitar itself. Very rich/full sound!! Single notes don't get lost! Beefy!
Sonically powerful. Very versatile tones; soft warm, blend what you want with both pus, middy bark with bridge pu will cut through any ego freaks noise. Harmonic pinches easier than my Schecter with active EMGs!! Totally satisfied with the guitars voicings.

The truss rod had no tension on it! A 1/2 turn pulled everything right into place. I like low action and it is not my lowest action guitar of my 12 by no means; but at the same time I can do anything on this guitar. It feels awkward and the neck is not straight with the body , the neck feels like a baseball bat, BUT yet it totally works for me. I can thrash full speed, rhythm all night or whatever.
The knobs are not in way, Somehow this awkward slightly heavy thing was made for me. It works!! end of story.

I baby this Gibson LP Studio because the set mahogany neck shouldn't be dropped or else. Hardware seems solid to me. I have used it out many times without any backup. A little TLC and this will last a lifetime or two. I have locking strap pins on it, and changed the single ply pickguard for a 3 ply. It makes a noticable difference.
I added gold trussrod cover and back plates for the heck of it. I'm totally satisfied with the pickups.

I've played 40 years, own 3 tube amps 3 SS amps, 12 guitars, truckload of effects. The LP Studio is my #1. Many reviewers state the studio is close to Standards, even Customs, basically. I would replace it if lost or stolen. This LP has convinced me I'm a LP man.
I'd like to try the Burstbucker Pick-ups.

Mahogany body and neck with a plain maple top. Two humbuckers etc. It's a basic Les Paul with no binding. The only thing ornamental on my guitar is the gold hardware and trapezoid inlays. If you can buy a higher end model.

It sounds like all Gibson Les Pauls sound when they come from the factory. The pickups are fairly muffled. I have replaced them with Dimarzio Virtual Vintage pickups. This was a drastic improvement. I play mostly rock/jamband music through a Mesa Boogie Maverick. The guitar can be fairly versatile. The bridge pickup is bright and the neck pickup is warm sonding.

People fool themselves into thinking that they buy a Gibson because of attention to detail. I have yet to see a new Gibson guitar with a decent paint job. I ended up stripping the paint and applying a tongue oil finish. The natural neck feels great and it looks better than the crappy black paint with the orange peel. People buy Gibsons because of the name. Plain and simple. The standard tuners are horrible. The plastic buttons strip out after a while and need to be epoxied back on. Save yourself the hassle and buy metal button tuners. The inlays are just plastic and they are not very well cut. They use a lot of filler to fill in the gaps.

Other than the tuners the guitar has been durable. It's a ten pound plank of wood. The headstock broke off during a car accident. I don't fault Gibson for that. Mine is a 1992 model and they only gave you a gig bag with it.

It's headstock was severed in a car accident I had. I sent the guitar to Gibson and they wouldn't touch it. They wanted almost $1,000 to put a whole new neck on it. I ended up having the guitar repaired by the Martin Guitars (yeah the acoustic dudes). They spliced a new piece of wood in and repainted the back of the neck all for a grand total of $300. It's worked flawlessly for over 10 years.

I've been playing guitar for eighteen years and spent six years in college as a classical and jazz guitar major. All my equipment is pro level. I have the above mentioned Les Paul, a 1991 Fender American Standard Stratocaster, a 1962 Gibson Melody Maker, a 1997 Heritage H-535, a 1998 Heritage Eagle Natural, a Modulus Graphite CMT3, and a Musicman Petrucci model. I won't even get into my acoustics, amplifiers or effects. This Les Paul was my first "good guitar". Gibson is a company that has achieved a level where they no longer have to produce good instruments for people to buy them. The only thing original about my guitar is the wood. Musicians Friend currently sells these guitars new for $1100 and up. This should be a $500 guitar. If you are a player looking for a new guitar try not to be fooled by the hype that surrounds a name brand. Look beyond the headstock. If you are a parent looking to buy your child a nice guitar don't just buy a guitar that the salesman at Guitar Center steers you toward. Ask people who play. Look and see what's out there.

Here's a 2001 Les Paul Studio for you. Made in the USA at the Nashville plant. Mahogany body & neck, maple cap, rosewood fretboard, mediium frets, Grovers, 490R and 498T pickups, CTS 500K pots. Stop tail & tune-o-matic bridge. Ebony finish, black Top-Hat knobs. Brown HSC with pink plush fur and veil, locking latch. Weighs in at around 7.5 pounds.
Bought this guitar used from the original owner. Hey, it's got all the best features of a Gibson Les Paul, namely the sound and feel of a well crafted instrument. No beauty contest winner, but she gives it up in the important categories of playability and tone.
This is a dead stock LP Studio except for the strap buttons, which I changed to Schaller strap locks.

I play rhythm guitar (and I do some soloing as well) in a 4 piece band, covering rock, surf and light jazz standards-from Beatles to Led Zepellin to the Ventures. I'm using Les Paul type guitars, mainly. I have a Jay Turser Serpent ("Chalice" headstock inlay) with GFS Dream 180 Pups, a Jay Turser Goldtop (Moon headstock inlay) with LACE Hemibuckers and the stock Gibson Les Paul. The Turser guitars have upgraded tone/volume pots as well as pickups. I also have an Ibanez SA160QT "fat strat" and a very nice Jay Turser Tele Deluxe- the model with the humbucking pup at the neck. The Tele also has upgraded pups and pots / cap. I use GHS BOOMER 009s on the Les Pauls and GHS BOOMER 010s on the Ibanez & Tele guitars.
I have several amps that I use with the LPStudio.
1. Roland BC 60 with Eminence SWAMP THING;
2. Roland BC 30 with Eminence WIZARD;
3. Stock Fender Champ 25 SE,
4. Stock Fender Princeton Chorus (Red Knob)
5. Heavily modified Peavey Transformer with op-amp, factory eProm (V. 2), speaker and
memory upgrades.

I use the LPStudio with the Rolands and the Peavey, mainly. With the Roland amps I use a BOSS ME 5 analog pedalboard for effects. For medium to larger venues I use the ME 5 with both Rolands set up on stage-right and left-in mono. The high effeciency (SPL at 102 dB) of the eminence speakers make these amps very loud and toneful.
The Peavey (50 watts RMS-solid state) is a smaller venue amp-coffeehouse type venues. The Peavey has it's own digital effects built in, but with analog preamp, gain and power sections. It's nice and compact for small venue playing and it sounds excellent with the modifications mentioned.

Okay...now for the critical stuff on the LPStudio. First of all it has that true "Les Paul sound" that you hear on a million records. (So do my Jay Turser LPs, especially my Goldtop with the LACE pickups.)
For clean tones I rely on the volume and tone pots a lot. Rolling back the CTS volume pots results in a sligh loss oh high end but I have come to like that aspect of having the volume knob on 7 instead of 10. Rolling back the tone pots is effective and useful, too.
The alnico pickups both respond well to volume and tone pot manipulations. In fact, this guitar is the most responsive of all my Les Pauls to its volume and tone pots.
As for the pickups: The 490R in the neck position is fat with a nice, warm signature-typical of what you would expect from a medium output alnico 2 type pickup. It has a classic PAF tone with a slight upper mid emphasis & fatness. Very nice.
The 498T has the more pronounced upper mid / high emphasis and alnico 5 magnets, along with a hotter output-maybe a full 30% hotter than the 490R. It will overdrive a preamp in an amp all by itself, but not nearly as much as a hot ceramic magnet pickup. For rock music the 498T is a good choice, as it tends to be rich with harmonics when overdrive or distortion is called into play, but it can cop the warmth of a PAF with the volume rolled back a bit, in overdrive situations. The middle position (both pickups on) is useable with overdrive/distortion and it is very, very musical when played squeaky clean or at the "in-between" region-clean with a bit of hair-that is often used for blues and jazz.
The guitar exhibits decent sustain and resonance. Pickups are well potted, quiet and do not slip into microphonic feedback at low to medium heavy gain levels. They DO slip into pleasing, harmonic feedback easily with medium gain levels on the amp; a very nice feature that sustains notes and chords with blooming harmonic overtones. The guitar works well with overdrive pedals, distortion pedals and compressor pedals of average quality.
Overall the Gibson alnico pickups are well behaved and toneful, but not overly remarkable. They are designed to deliver the Gibson LP signature tone and they do this very well.
My personal opinion is that the combination of the 490R and 498T is the best choice

Fretwork is flawless. No adjustment to the neck was necessary. I adjusted the action a bit and set the intonation, which I do to all my guitars every time I change the strings. I adjusted the pickups to obtain a balance of 55% / 45% for the neck / bridge relationship. All of these adjustments are "user preference" adjustments that anyone would make to suit themselves. Intonation and string height is easy to set on this guitar. Tuners (Grover kidney beans) are excellent. Good, solid chrome hardware throughout. Nitro finish was messed up in a few places-can't say if it came that way or if the previous owner was responsible. Overall fit and finish is okay for my "less-than-perfect" standards. I'm much more interested in playability and sound than in cosmetics.
Playability is excellent. This guitar has the " '59 round" profile. Just perfect for me. I prefer it to the slim profile on some LP necks.
After I did my preferred setup, this guitar performs like a champ. It is easy to play and the electronics are easily adjusted on the fly, using the tone and volume pots. Overall fit and finish is great after my personal setup was done. No complaints with overall fit, finish and action as I received it from the previous owner. I think Gibson did a good job putting this guitar together.

I use all of my guitars for live performance playing. I'm not overly hard on my guitars but I don't baby them either. For run-of-the-mill performance playing I would rate this as my most robust guitar, just because it's heavy and well constructed. My Tele and my Serpent would be close seconds to the LPStudio in terms of reliability and durability-only AFTER replacing the pickups / electronics on those guitars.
I never ever play live without at least one backup guitar, and I switched to the solid state amps years ago because of the notorious failure rate of tube amps in live performance situations. (We gigged last Friday and our lead guitarist's tube amp died before the first note was struck!)

Never dealt with GIBSON USA. Hope I never have to. They have a decent website and there are several other good websites specializing in Gibson guitars. No opinion here.

I began playing back in 1967; got serious about playing in a band around 1970 and switched from bass to electric guitar in the middle seventies. Started playing seriously in the early 80s. I've been gigging for a couple of decades-all told. I mentioned my gear collection above. I have Roland micro-amp, a wah pedal, a Metal Zone, a Digitech delay and Twin Tube preamp, an ART processor, a KORG G1 and a ZOOM G2. I have some recording gear as well.
I was fortunate to have come across a genuine Gibson Les Paul that was in good condition and affordable, so that's why I bought it. I would not pay the inflated "brand new" prices for Gibson products, as I don't feel they are worth even half of what they sell for-even discounted. I bought my Les Paul for $300.00 with a beautiful HSC so i guess I got a steal. That said, my two Jay Turser Les Paul guitars are 200-dollar guitars (brand new prices) that are made of mahogany with carved tops and decent hardware / pickups / electronics. Stripping these cheap Chinese-made guitars and rebuilding them with superior electronics (pickups, pots & switches) have rewarded me with two very fine Les Paul type guitars-each under 400 dollars.
I would buy the Gibson LPStudio for 400 dollars, as I feel it is worth that price and it needs no further upgrading. I would not pay 1200 or even 600 for a new LPStudio (or any other fancy guitar when I can build a nice Jay Turser for 400 dollars. I do not see the superiority / advantage in having GIBSON stamped on the guitar, frankly. Guitars are tools to me...not works of art or statements of coolness. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the fine craftsmanship, beautiful woods and finishes that go into older Gibson, Heritage and modern PRS guitars, for example...but for me it's about the usefulness, playability and sound of the instrument. As long as I can develop my own quality tools for 400 bucks...I'm not going to spend one penny more.
I'm comparing this LP with my other Jay Turser LPs. Overall quality of build is better, including hardware-tuners, bridge, tailpiece, nut, electronics, frets, jackplate, pickup rings, pickguard, etc. But it's not that much better than the upgraded Jay Turser stuff to warrant the waaaaaay higher price tag, in my opinion.
I love the high build standard; I hate the price tags on new Gibsons.
I wish it was a LPStandard Cherry Burst, with AAAA flamed top, gold harware, original '57 PAFs, curly maple neck and ebony fretboard-all for the same $300 bucks that I paid! (Okay, so that's a lot to ask!)
I like this guitar and I'd buy it again at $400 or below. That's just me...my buds were dumfounded at the price tag when I brought this to rehearsal. Most people would be delighted to but this guitar at 600-800 bucks-used.

Mine was born on Jan 8, 2001 in Nashville. It has that very nice ebony finish with chrome hardware, including a nice set of kidney-bean Grovers. Tune-a-matic with stop tail. Pickups are 490R and 498T. Rosewood fingerboard. Nice medium frets. Mahogany body, mahogany neck with the '59 round profile, and the standard Les Paul maple cap tops off the body. CTS pots and poly caps. What a nice guitar. First of all, this is a Gibson Les Paul. Secondly, this guitar is a legendary instrument-PERIOD. What a nice guitar. Those are the features, folks. This guitar just drips

My favorite styles are rock and blues. I also do surf and some oldies (60's style rock) and a little jazz. I'm playing this through a Peavey Transformer with the 2nd generation chipset, upgraded memory and op amps-plus a nice Eminence Swamp Thing. My other amp is a Roland BC 60 112. Both are nice amps-let me tell ya. The BC 60 is outfitted with an Eminence Wizard. I use a cheap, DOD Attacker as a boost, in front of my amps. I like it because it has compression as well as a nice 9 dB clean boost.
Okay, enough of that.
The Les Paul is nice and fat with either pickup, or both. The guitar is absolutely quiet and does not feedback except for the nice harmonic type of feedback. The alnico type pickups are warm, well defined and the bridge 498T has a perfect growl for rock and blues. The neck 490R is very warm and rings perfectly for old school rock, blues and jazz. Excellent sustain. Maybe mine is a ringer-it's my first Gibson Les Paul-but when it went up against my buddy's LP Standard, it killed with authority. The LP Standard has the ceramic Gibson pickups-not my cup of tea. The alnico II neck and alnico V bridge pickups are extremely expressive for my style. What great, pure tone and presence.
Played through an amp or even unplugged this Gibson really has a great tone, sustain and resonance. I love it.

Not bad at all. I got it second hand but the previous owner never played it much. It was brand new, truth be told. I like the 59 round neck and the "feel" of this great guitar. Perfectly balanced instrument, for sure. Fit and finish was not absolutely perfect, folks. There was some oversprat and a bit of orance peel. Okay...so you have to get up close at about 6 inches to see it...but it's there. I thought the Gibson Company was better than that. Other than the less than perfect paint job, it's pretty much flawless. I love this guitar and the way it fits into my hands. Killer.

Everything is built very well. I think the strap buttons are lame but the rest is top shelf. I always bring a second guitar whenever I play. It just makes sense.

I have been playing electrics for decades. Epiphones, Ibanez, old no-name electrics and recently, Jay Turser models. This is my first Gibson Les Paul. I owned a Gibsom L 5-S once and it was very nice too. Don't get me wrong...I like my Tursers, my Ibanez and the Epiphone SG I recently gave to a friend was a very nice guitar, too. The Gibson is in another class-it's pretty high end. I'd buy this again in a heartbeat. For the 700-800 bucks that these bring on eBay (used of course) I think the price is right.

Just read 6StringBruiser???s review. Don???t know where he???s from but I???m from South Florida. Looking at Les Pauls in 4 different large music stores in my area, I can say with complete integrity that Gibson products and Fender products are only former shells of the instruments they built their reputations upon. In other words, these manufacturers produce inferior products at inflated prices, no matter where the product fits into the marketing scheme. In other words a custom shop, high end Gibson will be just as sloppy as a Les Paul Studio-in terms of build quality. So why pay for the expensive, inferior product when the cheaper ones are built to the same low class standards? Musicians don???t work for these companies anymore-accountants, salesmen and low-skilled builders do. Long gone are the days when the GIBSON name meant something special.
My ???Special??? is a 2004 model. It has finish flaws, too. Luckily it has the Grover tuners instead of the Kluson clones that are so terrible. Best features? It plays well and sounds pretty good. It has good CTS pots. By comparison, I have a Jay Turser LP Goldtop that I picked up for 125 bucks. It was a ???second??? with a few finish flaws. I stripped the pickups and pots from it. Installed LACE Hemibuckers in both positions and installed decent 500K audio tapers pots / premier caps. This guitar kicks the stuffing out of the Gibson Les Paul Studio-PERIOD-in both appearance and sound. Playability is about the same. So???now you have some perspective on where I???m coming from when it comes to having ???respect??? for the Gibson name. It???s just another guitar in my collection of guitars, that???s all.

Nothing ???wrong??? with the LP Studio, mind you. I bought it ???like new??? for a mere $300 bucks with a perfect case AND a like-new Boss Metal Zone pedal. The guitar is actually like a new guitar-which is to say it came from the factory with orange peel and other paint / finish blemishes and a pickup switch that needed repair. So much for Gibson Quality Control. These guys don???t care because ???everyone wants a GIBSON, right????
The guitar sound good and plays well. I have no complaints because I bought it to play not to sit around and be seen. I think I paid what it is actually worth, based on my other Jay Turser and Ibanez guitars. It is certainly not better than the others mentioned, to the extent that would justify a price of 800 to 1000 bucks-street price. I never paid more than 300 for a guitar, including replacement PUPS, electronics, nuts, strap-locks, etc. My Tursers were all bought off eBay for 100-200 bucks. Replacement pickups and parts all came from eBay stores. The Gibson sounds just like a Les Paul with the 490R and 498T pickups should sound. Very good. I play it through Roland Blues Cubes and a Peavey Transformer 112-modified with premium speaker and the upgraded prom / upgraded memory / upgraded op-amps.

It's all been said here. Guitars coming out of China for dirt cheap prices are made at least as well. Fit and Finish is at least as good as Gibson. They don't "build instruments" at Gibson. Instead, they "produce revenue generating products, with high profile name recognition." Got it?

It???s sturdy.

I???ve heard they???re pretty good. No experience.

I would pay 300 again-not more. It???s worth 300 without the pedal / HS Gibson case that came with it. Bottom line is that you will get a much nicer guitar if you buy a pre-1985 guitar with the Gibson logo on it. But you won???t find one for $300! I???ll keep buying Jay Tursers and fixing them up the way I like ???em. I don't see enough of a differnce to justify paying more than 300 bucks for the Gibson name. It's just not worth it.

Alpine White, Ebony Neck, Gold Hardware. I changed out the pups for Torres Customs, had the neck tone changed to a master tone, and changed the bridge tone to a master mid boost/cut.
I'm rating it a 6/10. The hardware is good, but not the best. The paint is a little sloppy, and the gold is peeling.

When unplugged, the ebony neck gives it a really cool punchy tone. The sustain is good, but not quite as good as some higher end Gibsons.

Plugged in it sounds really good, though I am so into Fenders, I don't use this guitar as much. I've change the pups and added a mid-range boost/cut, so I don't know how much of the original/stock tone is coming out. Overall, the guitar sounds good when running clean (though not a very clean guitar) and somewhat muddy when playing with a TS9. The mid-control is very helpful for balancing things out, I would suggest getting one immediately.

Tune-o-matic brige works perfectly. The neck is nice 'n strong, I like the weight of the guitar.

The finish is pretty crappy; I'm suprise it's made in the USA. It seems like an older Mexian-made or Korean made Epiphone or Squire... but I didn't buy the guitar for the looks, that's why they make the higher end Gibsons!

The guitar gets a 9 or 10 for functionality, but a 3 for the finish and cosmetics... ave of 6

So far so good, I've had it for 2 years. The finish on the gold hardware is wearing off, but that's to be expected. No functional issues.

It's a guitar. You can't rely on the manfuacturer to hold your hand, you need to maintain it yourself or via a local guitar tech.

For me, I twisted Guitar Center's arm to give it to me for $800 instead of $1300, so it's an excellent value. I never use stock pups, since Gibson does not know what amp and effects I use, it would be impossible for them to make the guitar especially for me.

For someone who wants that true LP sound, without spending $2500, and is willing and able to do some custom work, this guitar is an excellent value.

For someone who buys is stock and expects it to outshine a LP Custom.... come on, be realistic.

Gibson Les Paul Studio in Alpine White with gold hardware. Basic 2 humbucker setup. The white one comes with an ebony fretboard. We all know the specs.

Sounds really good, but plays like crap. The finish on the neck feels sticky, not smooth or fast at all. The action is nice and low with little fret buzz.

The factory setup was good, but the fit and finish was HORRID! There is "orange peel" all around the neck pocket, Dirt and sawdust under the paint in various places all over the guitar, something is rattling inside under the top (I checked in the control cavities and found nothing, so the object causing the rattle must be inside a cavity routed for weight reduction under the maple top), stripped screws, and a small crack in the headstock. Remember, I bought this guitar NEW off the showroom floor! When I returned the guitar, the guys at the store told me that all Gibsons are like that, and showed me a Custom with the same exact problems! NOT FOR MY MONEY! The guitar was promptly returned for a full refund. I'm done with Gibson.

I wouldn't know, I never got the chance to play it live. I know the strap buttons it comes with are ridiculously small and useless.

Had to argue to return it, but that's not Gibson's fault. Building a crappy guitar and selling it for over a thousand dollars is their fault.

I've been playing guitar for 22 years, and have had my share of guitars, some great, some crap. I had lusted after this Gibson fo YEARS until I had the money to buy one. Imagine my disappointment when I got the thing home and started to really look at it. You may think I am silly for not noticing such obvious flaws in the store, but I made the mistake of thinking that because it was a Gibson, that it would be of high quality and workmanship. I was wrong.

2007 Gibson Les Paul Studio. Ya know the specs. Transparent, wine red finish with gold hardward. Gibson tuners. 490R pickup in the front and Seymour Duncan Custom pickup in the bridge. Pickup covers removed to get rid of some microphonic feedback. The rating of 6 is due to the fact that it is a meat-and-potatoes, barebones Les Paul, which is killer. The only things that disappointed me was a pickup selector switch that crapped out in 2 days and those ridiculously small strap buttons that Gibson insists on using. Got rid of those and got some Dunlop Straploks. Gibson...MAKE SOME MORE ROBUST STRAP BUTTONS PLEASE!!!!

Well of course this damn thing shines! Here's the signal chain: Les Paul to Dunlop Slash wah pedal, Aphex compressor, Digitech Screamin' Blues overdrive pedal (for solos) into a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I play guitar for my church worship team (never thought I'd say that!) and also play in a classic rock band on the side once in a while. This thing resonates like a mother!!! I actually really liked the 498T pickup but since I had a Custom in a guitar that I was selling, I figured since I paid $80 for that one I should keep it and man does it frigging bring out the character of this guitar. Pick harmonics come out easy. Funny thing. I seemed to struggle with my ESP Eclipse that I owned when it came to pick harmonics. This Les Paul with a passive pickup just makes them jump out. Clean, the guitar sounds great for jazz on the front pickup. Works well with the jazz inspired tunes that i play with the band. The neck pickup is a little dark but it's a damn Paul! This is without a doubt the best sounding guitar I've owned. It crunches like no other.

For some reason, a Paul is just so smooth to play. Billy Duffy from The Cult once said he switched from a Gretch White Falcon to a Les Paul because "it's got a bit more meat, a little more wait" and also "it's just easier to play the damn thing." The action is awesome on this thing. I like it low and it does that without buzzing out. The nut is cut properly and strings don't slide out. The only flaws I saw were the pickup selector switch, which stunk and the bridge on the low E string was not slotted deep enough. Those have been remedied.

The thing is built solid. I worry about set neck guitars dropping so that's why I put on the strap loks. The finish is well done and hasn't rubbed off. I've played this thing live for 2 months straight now. It stays in tune, which is amazing since I'm a heavy hitter. I was worried about the standard Gibson tulip-style tuners but these work great.

This is a shout out for Leroy Braxton at Guitar Center in Scottsdale. He's one of the very few G.C. employees that really know what they're talking about. He always takes time to answer my questions.

I'm not going to lie, I'm probably very biased. I play guitar guitar because of Slash and have wanted a "real" Paul ever since I started playing 10 years ago. I'll be honest, the Epiphones I've owned have been great guitars and I really don't know if Gibson Les Pauls are THAT much better, but there is just something intangible about this thing. The guitar players and the chicks both swoon over it :-) It just plays like and sounds like a dream. I don't foresee myself ever getting rid of this thing.

Ebony Les paul single cut mahogany body with maple top. Mahogany neck with rosewood fretboard and standard size trapazoid MOP inlays. Gibson 490R 498T humbuckers with 2 volume, 2 tone controls. Mine came with Sperzal locking tuners, and Schaller straplocks (2 things I'd put on the guitar anyway. Standard Tune-O-Matic bridge with stopbar tailpiece.

The standard Les Paul sound without the inflated price tag. The mahogany gives the guitar a throaty sound not found in standard alder-maple guitars, so it's definitely darker in character then a Fender. The neck pickup's quite warm, generally too warm for my taste, but it does help make the Les Paul versitile. The bridge pickup has the sound I love in Les Pauls. It's quite harsh when used with overdrive, when used clean, it still comes off crunchy; not a very clean pickup.

The finish is flawless other then a few blemishes from the previous owner. The action is perfect, and I've never had to mess with it. The frets are well set and comfy compared to the Les Paul Studios Gibson's been putting out lately (especially the Faded series).

This thing's been around for quite a while before I bought it and it will probably be around much longer. I've heard of necks snapping on these, but never had a problem with a Gibson myself.

I've had good dealings with Gibson in the past, but I've heard they've gotten quite pompous as of late. This concerns me in future purchases, but for now I can only rate on my dealings.

Great guitar, great price. Not a huge sound difference between Studios and Standards. Standerds may look prettier but the cost is much higher (especially for a guitar that's mass produced at this magnitude).

Very beautiful finish (Wine Red ( gold hardware - seeing it on GC or other websites do it no justice at all . You must see it in your hands. The difference is night & day. Studio LP single cut very fast fretboard -& 22 of 'em - tuneomatic bridge / green key tuners (these could have been better_) but stays in tune great . 59 rounded neck dual alnico humbuckers mahogany & maple / rosewood / Bought new Feb 2007 nice hardshell case Superior Gibson USA made once again - the finish is one of the nicest AA around, gotta see it live though to really appreciate it.

I play live in Christian group / but practice also country to hard rock - will handle all styles the clean pretty stuff is great and so is the distortion has great bluesy tones when needed. No noise at any level / all P/U settings great / bridge is a little bright. otherwise sound is nice & fat like a LP should be . I once owned a Custom Gibson LP / this studio sounds as well for about 1/3 the cost

Intonation was off a little . action a little high / I done a minor intonation set up / then took it to a pro for the tweaking / they found the truss rod completely loose = was rattling / after that it was perfect, everthing else was fine - If you buy one get it set up right, it will make all the difference. Mass produced - oh well they all can have problems , don't get me wrong this is a GREAT guitar.

Guitar is very durable , I have only used it live a few times, but this is not my 1st rodeo with Gibson & I expect it to outlive me = Its a Gibson, no need to say more. The finish is the finest I've seen, for the price, hardware nice / small worry about the tuning keys though, could be better. Has typical Gibson strap buttons. so go get yourself a set of Dunlop strap locks & a quality strap to hook them to, other than that - very playable & dependable / no need for a backup on my end

I have never needed CS in all the years I've owned Gibson products. I would suppose they would be great from what I hear. Warranty is lifetime but non-transferable

I've been playing 35 + years ( on & off) also use a Mitchell AE Fender amp & el cheapo Behringer I play live straight into sound board with a Boss ME-50 . I would buy another Studio if needed . Now that it has great set up it is an awesome guitar at a great value. After shopping around (reading reviews) I chose this for the name and cost was in my range. Having owned other Gibsons I knew about the quality they offer. I traded in a PRS SE w/stoptail for this - nice guitar for the $550 but had issues w/sound - distortion sounded cheesy .

2003 Gibson LP "Studio" (no binding on maple capped mahogany body).
Gloss nitro lacquer over wine red; gold hardware; retro acorn tuners; 490R/498T AlNiCo humbuckers; 22 medium/jumbo frets on unbound rosewood w trapazoid MOP inlays fingerboard. Mahogany 1-piece neck.

Nice Canadian made TKL hardshell case.

Really great and potent midrange wallop with a snarl.
Nice burbling snarl when you back it off a bit.
No hum.
Full range.
Good for any electric guitar duties on any style of music, clean or distorted. Can grind, sing, or be clean and somewhat mellow, or crisp.
Surprisingly good for Country and Jazz even.

I use it with Fender type tube amps. An Allen Class Act, for tweed sounds, and a hot-rodded BF Bandmaster for cleaner sounds. Sounds Classic with either.
Also works good with Hot Rod Deluxe, et al.

I really like the 490/498 series pickups. I had them on a previous (older) Studio too. I like their range and versatility.
I generally am not a huge fan of humbuckers. I prefer single coils. But these I like. They're not muddy.

Clean and sophisticated.

I don't see how the two I've had could be any better for fit and finish.

The frets are great.

The older one I had before had an ebony fingerboard, which I liked a lot, but the rosewood fretboard on this one is great too.

It's simple, but with an understated elegance. Kinda working class but not really crude in any way.
A nice US manufactured workhorse that's inviting to play for long periods.

Neither of mine have seemed especially heavy, but feel substantial.

Industry standard professional level electric guitar.

The gold finish is holding up better than imports do around here (Coastal California).

The toggle switch sometimes "misses" its engagement when going to the neck pickup alone, starting earlier this year. Sounds thin until you reset it. Just once in a while. When it gets worse I'll replace it. Maintenance stuff.

The strap buttons are small. I use breadloaf wrapper closures over the strap ends for safety.

Bought it used.

I've never had any trouble with any of several Gibson guitars I've owned.

I've played guitar for 45 years or so. Also have a Telecaster, and an archtop acoustic.
Played gigs for about 30 years (always had a day job), but I'm just a dedicated amateur anymore. I play out a half a dozen times a year, but there's no real money in it around here anymore, though lots of my friends are still doing the club wars.

This LP Studio is my favorite guitar of all time. I don't know exactly why I traded off the other one I had before. Thought I was "going acoustic" for a minute, I guess.
I love its sound and it plays great. Stays in tune well. Versatile.
I really like these 490/498 pickups. Really an improvement, to my ears.

Previously I always liked hollowbody "Jazz" guitars, but LP's with 490's will do Jazz fine too. And then you can turn right around and play Rock, Blues, Country, whatever.
Hella versatile.

Needless to go over all the features over again considering many have already discussed these in detail.
I bought the Alpine White/ gold hardware model... Gorgeous to the eye but lacking some features considering the price paid for...

I play Hard rock,blues,jazz,funk.. I have a Hughes & Kettner Trilogy head (This amp F%&#$%@ rocks!!!!!) with a Marshall 2X12 cab, I also have a Avatar 2X12 cab... and Line 6 POD XT...I purchased this guitar as a back up guitar, my main axe is a PRS Custom 22 (Kick ass guitar) ... I figured I really like the humbucker sound and I really cannot afford another PRS, so let me give Gibson a shot for the price...
At first I thought WOW!!! what a great tone... then after a couple of rehearsals and gigs I realized that this guitar has no "Character" compared to the PRS, it is very muddy specially when used with distortion and/or overdrive it really lacks a lot of personality, I really don't think a $1,300.00 should have this "tone" issues; some guy on one of the reviews spent probably an additional $300.00 in new pick-up's for a brand new $1,300.00 guitar??? .. no offense to you buddy but that's insane... anyhow.. Many people in my audience and sound engineers approached me and told me "Don't use the Gibson it sounds "empty" compared to your PRS; The PRS sounds so much better" That's when I though "shit... I made the wrong frickin' choice I'm screwed... ebay here I go" I guess this just shows you that the search for "the perfect tone" is a trial and error process. Luckily for me they took care of me at Guitar Center and I was able to return the Gibson... I purchased a beautiful Fender American Deluxe Ash Telecaster, butter scotch finish... great guitar.. excellent compliment for my PRS... after playing a PRS... Gibson??? What the hell was I thinking?????

The second I bought the guitar and took it home and put it in it's stand I said "what a beauty" it really is a beautiful instrument (all looks). Gorgeous finish and the gold hardware really complements well.
the first red flag came up... nasty fret buzz on the High E and B strings... I got so pissed.. I just took it back to the store and they raised the action for about 30 miles to get rid of the buzz... I got so f%$#@&* pissed I said "you want something right you got to do it yourself" so I fixed the issue myself.. the neck is one of the best parts of the guitar.. the ebony fretboard is excellent...

The string buzz really messed it up for this section of the review... I would have given it a 10 if it wasn't for that.

It looks pretty solid guitar for the most part... only with the exception of the tuning pegs... they are made out of cheap plastic and they look like they will brake easily even if you dare to put 11's or 12's on it.

I called to register the instrument and they were wonderful.. very good service.

Very overpriced instrument with huge room for improvement... I would never consider spending my money on a Gibson guitar ever again.
If you have the money... do yourself a favor and but a PRS guitar... that is a serious guitar no flaws.. full of beautiful tone... there is just no comparison.

My LP Studio was purchased on the net in December 2006. I had to wait several weeks for delivery-apparently many dealers ran out of them in the color I wanted. The finish on mine is "Fireburst", which is a dramatic 3 color burst similiar to Gibson Vintage Sunburst. It was the color that caught my eye on this axe. It really stands out with the gold hardware! As a bonus, mine came with a lightly figured top. The whole appearance totally exceeded my expections-I love it! The neck is similar to a current Les Paul Standard with '50's neck. Definately not slim, but not overly fat like my '58 VOS. The Studio does not have binding on the neck (or body) so it feels a bit less tall and bare, but it is fun and easy to play. Overall, my guitar weighs about a pound less than a normal Standard, which is probably about right since it has no body binding and the body/wood seems not as thick. All of this makes it more more tolerable to strap on for hours - it's light - at least, mine is. The hardcase that came with the guitar is a beautiful black Gibson lockable case with white furry lining (!!!) inside. It is unique and cool. I don't know if this particular case is specific to the color of my guitar or if all Studios get it.

When I ordered this guitar, I did not expect what I got. The sound is absolutely incredibly good. I have had many Les Pauls and I currently own a 2006 '58 VOS Sunburst. This particular Studio sounds so clear and articulate, with lots of drive, bite and lots of flexibility. It's just outstanding-way beyond all the previous Standards I have owned(I'm wondering if Gibson installed BurstBuckers or '57 Classics on mine by mistake???. The best way I can describe it is that it sounds like the best vintage SG you could ever lay your hands on, and it also can do the Dickey Betts thing. (As a side note-I recently acquired, but returned, a new "Vintage" SG, so I was able to compare that axe to the Studio too). I have tried the Studio with all types of music, pedals and a few amps, and it works great. My '58 also sounds great but has a different, smoother, thicker sound (and weighs a ton). The best thing to come out of all of this, is that although both guitars are very different, they compliment each other and are so much fun to play! I lucked out.

I have inspected the guitar very carefully over the past several weeks and have found no flaws, no marks, etc. The glue assembly around the neck/body joint is not as quite as neat as my '58 VOS, but still very acceptable. Construction on the '58 VOS is flawless as you would expect-difficult to compare to, against a lesser priced guitar, but the Studio holds it own. Intonation was decent-I reset it slightly with my strobe tuner and it continues to sound fine and tune up easily. String height was ok. The finish is shiny and beautiful. I would say that this particular axe was built carefully by the folks at Gibson. I am very proud of it and feel that it was built at a "good time" at the factory. Maybe the holidays have something to do with it...

It has worked flawlessly since I got it. No pot noise, good string setup and everything works. It would be dependable for gigging.

Never called them.

I have been playing over 30 years. I play guitar, bass and drums. Not currently playing in a band, I just use my guitars at home for fun through a modified Bassman top and 2X12 Mojo cab with Celestions. Also own a Fender Stage amp for lower volume practicing. I play Allman Brothers, Clapton, Cream, Doobie Brothers, etc. I'm convinced that I was lucky enough to get a great guitar from Gibson this time-like the one you would pick out in a store after trying several others. This Studio is a charm. I have had other LP Standards that were heavy, boring and quite generic sounding with no notable "character" and badly shaped necks. My '58 VOS is a great guitar and I thought you had to spend 3 grand to get that quality and sound, and fun, but this Studio ranks way up there too. I don't know if other Studios sound like mine, but I am extremely amazed and happy with it and plan to keep it forever.