Gibson Les Paul Studio

Made in october 2001, in the Nashville factory. Arrived at the local shop a few months back, collected dust for a while(most Norwegian guitarists seem to be terrified of trying out Gibsons. No wonder when looking at the insane prices...)and then I bought it after having borrowed it for a few days.
Came with a brown exterior and fluffy purple interior Gibson hardcase(What`s the point of that piece of cloth you put on top of the guitar inside the case anyway?). Stock 490R and 496T humbuckers, nicknamed "modern classics" according to their web-page... 2Xvolume and 2Xtone potmeters. Single piece Mahogany neck, except for the added "wings" on the headstock. Proper glue is usually stronger and harder than wood anyway, so I don`t see why people complain about laminated materials in guitars...One piece "correct thickness" 9 Lbs/4 Kg Mahogany body w/nicely carved/dished wine-red laquered 2 piece AA flamed maple cap. That`s the strange thing, it`s not a LP Studio Plus, (it`s got a black pickguard, Plus models don`t have pickguards) but the top is a very high grade flamed maple... Looks like the same grade as on the Gary Moore LP, with slight cross-patterns as well. Maybe some employee mixed up the pieces at the factory, i dunno. At the price of a normal Studio, it was a steal! Pale rosewood fretboard, it darkened quickly and nice grains appeared after I had played it for a week. Large Trapezoid plastic/fake mother of pearl inlays with too much filler around them. Nice looking and stable vintage-style tuners w/green candy coloured ears. Gold-plated hardware. Nitro laquer. Standard `59 shaped neck. Came with 09s, gonna put 10s on it. Lots of versatility, but not more than you can expect from a 2Xhumbucker-loaded mahogany plank w/o a trem. Useless strap-buttons, getting strap-locks ASAP. Came with Gibson 09 strings, were fitted with 010s immediately after purchase.

It`s a LP, you all know what that means. Great massive wall of sound. The tone-pots are somewhat strange - at about 7 there`s a big leap in tone. Below that there`s nothing but mud. That so-called "woman tone" is IMHO grossly over-rated. The volume pots have nice response all the way down though. The jack-input is firm and sparkle-free, and so is the selector switch. If I use contact spray on the electrics regularly i assume they`ll stay that way too.

The neck pup has a surprisingly capable jazz-sound when strummed with the long side of the pick (or the thumb) between normal and tasto positions and tone dialed down slightly. Full blown Gary Moore-style melodic minor-runs are available as well, but i had to be careful not to dial in too bassy/middy sounds. Being a Fender-guy for years has given me some bad habits... Crunch or fuzz with this pup provides a wide palette of sounds, depending on a lot of things, E.G. strings, action, pick, attack and volume-pot setting.

The middle setting brings out the Chet Atkins in me :) Chicken pickin`all the way... Mentally challenging Robert Fripp runs sound great here too. Through a top-boost Vox it can jangle quite a bit. Not quite like a Rickenbacker, but it`s quite sophisticated for a solid-body.

The bridge pup gives me EXACTLY that Led Zeppelin sound... No kidding! I used to own a LP Studio years back, and I always remembered it with fondness, but I thought that was only nostalgia. My new example delivers the goods, definately. I wouldn`t use it for Nu-metal Flogging or 80s mullet-metal though.

I give it a 9 only because of the fact that I`m used to the fender twang. It`s unfair to compare the two sounds, but none of them are perfect for anything. Having one strat and one LP covers just about every imaginable sound.

It felt like there either was a too high cut nut or too high frets at the end of the fretboard, first 3-4 frets felt almost scalloped, I needed to beware of the amount of pressure I applied to the strings, or else the the pitch became sharp as I pressed them down too much...Barely noticable, as I tend to have a more gentle left hand touch on this axe. As that was a problem the store would remedy for free, I did not take it into consideration when deciding wether or not to buy it, but it gets a 6. (that problem disappeared after I had them adjust it for 010s, so I didn`t need to have them lower the frets.) After the set-up it immediately became a definate 9. High action on it feels great. The neck fills my hand nicely. My thumb sticks out over the top of the neck(bad habit, I know) but as I never play thumb-chords the fat neck is no prob at all. Feels very very nice now. I give it a 6 only because of the factory set-up.

The neck is straight with no choking. Nice high action enabling me to really dig in when needing to. Holds it`s tuning well.

The finish is deep dark wine-red. Very tasty indeed. Perfectly applied apart from the ususal microscopic blobs around the neck-joint all too common on low end set necked guitars. (and let`s be honest, the Studio IS at the low end of the Gibson range. Not necessarily compared to other brands though.)The nitro-cellulose laquer gets sticky after a while, but just rub it down when you`re done and it`s no prob. I don`t polish my guitars at all (i have a `57 reissue strat finished in nitro as well), i just breathe on them and rub them gently in small circles("Wax on, wax off. Catch fly with stick"). That keep those infamous polishing marks away. Don`t believe the polish-manufacturers- all polishes are more or less abrasive. Use cotton cloth and breath moisture to rid yourself of marks on the top, only use polish on the hardware, the backside and the back of the neck.

Built like a WW2 Panzer Tiger Mark V, but I need to remind myself all the time that this is a set neck guitar. Don`t press your luck by keeping it placed so that the neck supports the body. Get a stand which supports the guitar on the body only. Preferably, keep it in the hardshell case. If your studio doesn`t have a case, get one! SKB makes great cases, but don`t go for the original Gibson ones. They supposidly have bad hinges and locks. But they sure beat the useless Gibson Gigbags that used to be supplied with Studios. One strap only- whatever were they thinking? I opened the back-plates and discovered neat layed out wiring with heavy duty soldering. The wires themselves seem thin and fragile, but as long as I keep the covers on I can`t see that posing a problem.

Flawless! I e-mailed them asking those same old questions they must find incrednibly boring by now(serial no, model details and stuff like that) and they replied within the hour with a long and in-depth answer. I have no idea what they`re like when it comes to warranty-issues though... I guess that`s no prob as long as you deal with a professional dealer.

Amazing look, neck and sound, but a steep price. Factory set-up flaws remedied free of charge. I`ve been at this for about 7 years and this is my second LP Studio, and by now I have a pretty good idea of what I need in my guitar-arsenal. I`m definately gonna keep this one and have it adjusted to my taste. The secondhand value is outrageously low, so don`t buy a new one if you think there`s any chance you`re gonna sell it later on. A secondhand model, preferably either an early 90s model or a new 2001-02 model, can be the steal of a lifetime. I bought a new one for warranty reasons and just `cause i felt this example presented a better potential than many others I`ve seen. Buying new is never a gamble. Every dent in it will be made by me.

From reading the reviews here on the LP Studio, it seems that there`s a wide variety of quality. I`ve struck gold because cause of patience and lots of testing. Be sure you do the same and don`t necessarily jump on the first Studio available. That said, I`d like to add that it`s nice that Gibson has listened to their customers and re-designed the LP Studio-model so that it resembles the early-mid 90s examples which are kind of already collectors items. The 1/8 inch thinner-than-standard carved maple top and full-size trap-inlays really resembles those earlier Studios. Also, its great that they`ve started including hard-cases. A real necessity for a guitar this quality and price.

It is an 91 model, standard features, black with chrome hardware. Deduction results from terrible tuning pegs and the gigbag that gets an F (read below).This is not acceptable for a guitar that cost that much, and definately not for the ones they sell now, here in Germany for 1500 EUR (=$)!!! Please notice: This is not a standard without binding! The neck is very fat and (I believe) not as broad as in actual pauls. There are les pauls with this neck (i dont know which, 58 or 57 or else) and I don't like that. The other neck is much more up my alley. This guitar is very heavy, unlike me, and it took me years to get used to the weight. This is an important factor: Carrying that much weight around costs energy, you get tired after a couple of hours of playing and lose your concentration and inspiration.

OK, I really dig the sound. I play rock and experimental stuff through a Mesa S.O.B. and this guitar sounds very good. Mine has very high output which will give a lot of amps trouble staying really clean. I guess I should lower the PUs. The bridge pickup is really bassy and although I love Bass, I had to turn down the bass on almost all amps I played so far. My SOB can handle the bass pickup cranked only since I installed sylvania power tubes. It does not cut, but the sound is something else. For me, neck PU is gorgeous for cleans, and bridge is for overdrive. I had to use a 82 standard with PAF's in a studio, and it sounded tame compared to the studio, but with more definition

I can't remember the Action when I purchased it, so this will not be rated. The finish is subpar, as a lot of guys have already pointed out. The tuners are a joke, take them off immediately and try to sell them to some idiot who wants to replace his broken ones with originals! (He will be doing that about every six months). These cost 145 Euro here and this is not a joke! I broke them in no time, replaced them with Schallers (they build these, just put their 'S' on the back instead of 'Gibson (bullshit) DELUXE'. they cost a third of the Gibsons and of course they broke just as fast. My 20 Euro Gotohs last 4 Years now. The Inlays are all a little cracked, I saw a new one in a music store the other day and it was the same. The Epiphones were flawless in that aspect! This is the only guitar I play, but once I play a Strat or a Standard, I know that I could play better on them in less than a month. This has a lot to do with the neck. The Gigbag is 95 Euro new and it busted while I was riding my bike with it. So the LP fell to the ground while I was speeding! Imagine my horror! The guitar survived, a few dents in the frets from the high strings, the strap lock dent the wood, some scratches on the bridge and intonation a little off, that was it. I am still pissed.

Ok, I am still impressed how it survived the bike incident. I could have played a gig with it after it! Still, I rate it with the original tuners and strap knobs, and you cant play with it live that way. It will fall down constantly and detune. I play this guitar for ten years and apart from breaking a string, this thing is definately a ten, it delivers every time (with strap locks and good tuners).

Never dealt with them, hope I will never have to (except they plan to make a signature model for me :)). I base the 1 on theyr prices for replacement parts which really show what they think about their customers. The plastic pickguard with brackets is 70 Euro? 1 gramme of plastic aka Switchplate is 13 Euro? Asf. This is customer ripoff; please check out 'Smart parts' (I think thats their name), they make replicas of these parts. They aren't cheap either, but still they cost less.
Overall Rating: 4

Ok, please don't get me wrong: I love this guitar. I have it for ten years, it is my first guitar and I think the only one I will replace it with is a reasonably priced LP standard. I bought it because I was a huge Led Zepp fan when I was 17 and I didn't know anything about playing or guitars. I just picked it up, didn't compare and just laid down the cash. As a salesman I would hate people like me. I haven't played that many guitars, but it is definately my favourite among the SG Standard, Framus Diablo, Fender Strat (just my taste) LP Standard and Gordon Smith Les PAul (This guitar is a piece of art, is really cheap considering it is custom made for you and it is made really well, but the sound is not for me). I learned on this guitar and it has definately influenced my sound. It is an inspiring instrument everytime I use it. Still it frustrates me when a company that lives from a couple of great guitar concepts they had fifty years ago puts out something like this for 1500 Euro. There is just a lack of care that went into this product (Of course a lot of this flair is destroyed by bad quality). LPs have a flair that no other guitars have. You pay for that, and thats ok. I wish I could be more rational about this, but I can't. Its sad that at least in Europe there will be no young people anymore like me who can learn guitar on a real gibson, because it has become too expensive. Wisen up, Gibson!

Ok again not my guitar, doing a setup for a customer. Approx. 1996 Gibson Les Paul Studio, made in USA. Standard LP features so I can save my typing. Looks like upgrade off gold hardware. Has Gibson Deluxe Kluson style tuners(yuck). Mahogany body, but lighter than an LP standard or Custom. Gloss black paint. Its a LES PAUL, OK!!

Ok not my guitar but I like LP's, this one sounds good for a studio. This is their cheaper(yeah right, $1200)model so you don't expect alot but for that $$$$$ you do. Classic LP sound but not thrilling.

Ok here is why I took the time to write this. This is a USA made guitar and even thought it is a low end ($1200??) model the action was HORRIBLE!! The strings were at least .1 of an inch at fret 1. The nut was glued and then painted and clear coated over so could not risk replacing the nut for a setup. The A string tuner was very stiff, tuneomatic adjustment was hard had to use soft pliers to adjust. Frets were ok at best. Good quality for say a $300 guitar but not $1000 +!! I had the customer compare it to a Fernandes Monterey Elite. He wasn't too happy he paid $1200 for the Gibson.

Not trying to be a prick but for that kind of money it should be much better setup and constructed. 4 because its USA made.

Durability?? UHMM?? It's a LP, Dammit!! The quality and craftsman ship are sub par as well as quality control but it is still built like a tank. Dependable and BETTER playing after I do the complete setup on it. Give it a 9 cause the tuners need to be thrown away for something better.

Not mine but have dealt with Gibson customer service before, or at least they say they have customer service. Toss up between Gibson and Ibabnez for worst support. Fender is third.

Been playing for 25 years, been a tech for 10 and this isn't the worst LP I've seen. It is a very nice guitar except for the setup and tuners(all LP's). My gripe is my can comapnies like Fernandes or Dillion sell a guitar better made, for 1/3 the money?? Again try the smaller names out there. Sorry to burst your bubble but Gibson and Fender do not make the Best guitars any more. E-mail me for any addition info, I tell it like it is.

The finish on mine is white and the fretboard is ebony. Gold hardware.

The sound is immensely deep and thick. I can play anything with it. I love to use it for blues. I use it through a Fender Blues DeVille 212 amp and marshall Bluesbreaker2 pedal and a few other effects. It sounds amazing with the bluesbreaker, gets that early Clapton sound. And if I add a phaser, a compressor, lots of overdrive and wah, and if I tweak the vol and tone knobs, I get that Hendrix sound from the Band of Gypsys album. Great guitar.

It was set-up alright when I got it.

It's a Les Paul, next question please.

I rate this guitar 10 because it suits my taste very well. I also love how it looks.

My Studio model was a quick solution to jump into the Les Paul world, and let me tell you, if you want that true Les Paul sound without paying for the name "Standard" on the headstock, go after a true Studio. The guitar was made in 1997 in the US. Solid maple split top with mahogany back. I bought the wine red/transparent finish. Two Alnico humbuckers, 498T & 490 for bridge and neck. I have had the pickups tweaked just a bit to get more resonation on the high end, which the 498T is pretty hot to begin with, but other than that, they are factory stock. I love these because they are so close to the old 60's style humbuckers. When you have them both switched on, there is no sound that will EVER come close to that Les Paul sound. When set to the bridge pickup, especially when plugged into a real meaty amp, you get a high end that is unspeakable. I can plug into my JCM-800 and get a tonal quality that Fender can't come close to. If you want a nice, subdued and mellow sound, back the bridge tone off a bit and switch both pickups on. Mahogany neck with the old style 1959 rounded cut on the neck. Bridge is the standard tune-o-matic with the stop tail piece. The only part of the guitar that I had to immediately change was the tuning machines. The standard "Gibson Deluxe" tuners are junk. I switched to the nickel plated Grovers and the guitar stays perfectly tuned; can't really beat Grovers. LP came with a Gibson hardshell case, magenta fur interior lining with satin overlay.

The Les Paul is in my opinion the most versatile electric guitar made because it can play so many many styles and appease so many different expectations for sound quality. My music style is blues/rock, and the LP fits the bill to the T for that sound. I use two main amps: A Crate 1950's reissue tube amp, and a Marshall JCM-800 halfstack. I find that on the Crate, I can get a much crisp clean sound than I can with the Marshall because of Marshall's natural ability for sheer sound and power. The Crate is the one I play 99% of the time. On the Crate, I can get a nice rich body or a smooth mellow jazzy sound with the neck pickup, and if I want a loud overdrive, switch to the bridge. On the Marshall, the Les Paul's characteristics change dramatically. No matter where the pickups are switched to, it has a real meaty crunch to it that just brings the ghosts of Led Zeppelin out. If I want an overdrive crunch, I can flip the neck pickup on and get plenty of it. The only dislike on the entire guitar would be the weight. 'Pauls are heavy guitars and you'll pay the price for that solid body sound.

From the factory, the action was a bit high, which I adjusted promptly. The pickups required just a tiny bit of tweaking for my liking. The construction of the instrument was flawless. As I stated above, the quality of the "Gibson Deluxe" tuners is mediocre at best and I had to change mine quickly.

I would and have used it at a live gig with no backup. Guitar is without a doubt a quality instrument. I changed the strap buttons to the locking straps so I wouldn't drop the guitar.

Been playing now for 12 years, along with all my other gear, this is one of my centerpieces. I love the guitar because it fits me, my style of playing, my abuse, and it adapts to my mood seamlessly. My favorite feature is knowing I am playing the best guitar made, but musical feature would be the versatility of sound it can achieve. I really compared the guitar to the Les Paul Standard and chose this because of money concerns.

2001 USA
22 frets
2 vol 2 tone
HH
490R 498T
The finish is like trans green or trans emerald, not sure really. its not on the gibson site
body style is les paul....
im sure you know the rest, nothing too fancy shmancy. I'm used to my brian moore having a butt loud of features compared to this so this kinda gets a "low" mark BUT it did come with a hardshell case (WOO!) which saved it a bit

I play a lot of Oasis type stuff and a tiny bit of shred and emo and jazz and blues and other stuff, but I mainly play stuff that was heavily influenced by oasis.

It has a rich and FULL sound, which is why i got it. My brian moore is super comfortable and easy to play but it doesnt have THAT sound, ay know? The lead tone is really great.

Action is perfect, i bought it used and i guess the guy set it up personally and it couldnt be better

the finish is great, has a scratch but i cant blame gibson for that. The trans green/emerald is gorgeous and i love the wood grain, looks great.

This is my 3rd gibson, never had a problem

like i said, this is my 3rd gibson and i never had a problem

I go through a lot of guitars but i'm keepin this one along with my SG and my i8. I wish it was coil tapped, i like that option. If it were stolen, i'd cry like a little bitch and collect the insurance and buy another off of ebay i spose or just buy a recorder cos i dont like buy a guitar without playing it first but itll be hard finding another lp for $600 ($643 with tax) 'round here. I love the tone, the feel is really good but the tone is great. Great guitar.

super nice american made gibson, 95 i think... plays and sounds like butta. features, basic gibson design alpine white finish, gold hardware (which oxidizes over time) and gibson deluxe tuners which i am not too fond of, i'd definetly switch to grovers. this guitar is heavy with its maple top and mah. back. GET AN OLDER MODEL, THE EBONY FRETBOARD MAKES A DIFFERANCE!!!

no complaints here... plays anything flawlessly... jazz to hardcore, with ease. i really like the 490 pickup in the neck, super warm if you turn the tone knob down a bit. and nothing beats the hot 498 in the bridge! fingerstyle or strummed the guitar has a gorgeous full thick sound that will please anybody.

action was a bit high, fix real quick with the tune o matic. bending notes is like you wouldn't believe. finish is gorgeous, the mid ninties models are superior than the ones today!! features and they are built very well!!!

like i said the gold hardware oxidizes... wipe it down every time you finish playing. get straplocks... as with any gibson. survived gigs well so far, never gig without a backup even if you think your guitar will never fail you... better safe than sorry... :D

super fast and accurate... odd, gibson isn't supposed to like their customers...

buy the early nineties models... very high quality product will last longer than any other guitar i owe... i am a sax playa so guitar is my doubled instrument. gibson is awesome

1995 USA maple top.
2 PAF's
Could be better with Iommi series pickups with coil taps.

I use a Fender Blues Deville 212
and a 30 yr old New Zealand made Holden Wasp 50.(very similar to 50w Marshall.
I have a Marshall Guvnor2 and a Rocktron Gainic.
Playing blues and classic rock music(Led Zepelin, Rolling Stones Black Sabbath, BB King, jimmie Vaughn etc.) It sounds awesome.
Could be nice for Stevie Ray and Hendrix etc with coil tap.

Finish is excellent.
Pickups, intonation and action needed adjusting because I bought it off some plonker who had been playing around with it.
Nice translucent wine colour too.

Will this guitar stand live playing?
Will it ever!
I had a drunk guy fall into me one night and we both ended up lying on the floor on top of the Gibson.
It ended up with broken 3 top strings, dints in the frets from the strings, and a small nick on the cutaway from the mic stand that we landed on.
I polished the dints out of the frets, re-strung, and the neck and intonation was still perfect!
I also have Jim Dunlop Straplocks on a big old heavy belt for a strap.
This baby aint gonna come off!

Gibson was helpfull when I wanted to date my guitar from the serial no.
Nothing else has needed repairs but even if it did,
It would be a bit silly to send it all the way to America from NZ.

I have been playing for about 12 yrs.
I also have an Epiphone Nightcat for Jazzy type work and swing blues,
and a early 90's Ibanez Talman with Paf style Pickups.
This is a really sweet sounding guitar with a coil tap enabled and the pickups wired out of phase.
It also has one of the nicest necks I have ever played. Its very fast without being too thin, and I like to set the action a bit higher so I can do big bends without the strings slipping out from under your fingers. Also I like to use slightly heavier gauge strings 10.5 to 46 or 11 to 52, although my epiphone has gold plated flatwounds in 13 to 56! Its a really nice warm sound, to say the least!
Gibson would still be my favourite for that natural, overdriven rock sound.

This was the 1998 les Paul with wine red finish and gold hardware. Its got two one knobs and a volume knob for each of the humbuckers. This is truly a beautiful guitar. I compared the Studio with the standard and custom but could not find much difference (except the binding) and didnt think it was worth an extra $500 & $1500 respectivley The body is really thick and made of select wood that gives it a AWESOME sustaining tone. You can tell this guitar is solid by just picking it up and seeing how much it weighs. This is an excellent entry level Les Paul.

I can discribe the sound on this guitar with one word...BEEFY. You can really tell the difference the wood makes on this guitar when you play clean or distorted because you gets some vibration in the neck. If your looking for a rich and full sustaining sound, without taking a second mortgage out this fill the bill.

Good quality instrument. The action is set reasonably near the middle, but I like mine as low as it will go without buzzing. This studio can adjust fairly low because of the saddle Gibson uses.

When this guitar is maintained and setup properly it will deliver and then some. The strings stay in tune once a new set has settled in. The finish is fairly rugged, but I would recommend using a wax on the back side to keep the finish from wearing down to the paint. This guitar is very dependable but not steal proof, if your playing a gig you should have a backup.

Never had a need to call customer support.

I have owned this guitar for 4 1/2 years. I thought it was a solid guitar when I bought it and used it as my main guitar. A few months later, I switched back to my old Epiphone for kicks and then I realized I would never go back. My Epiphone felt like a toy compared to the Paul! All in all a great quality instrument for a good price. If your serious about playing guitar, I highly recommend making the investment.

1991 model with ebony fretboard and LARGE pearl inlays. the body on mine is slightly thicker than newer models. 490r and 498t alnico pickups.

it does jazz pretty well, blues very well, classic rock very well, and modern rock is only so-so. the pickups are only moderate in output (the neck pickup especially) so under higher gain you loose bottom end and definition. basically the tone muddies up. but if you are interested in distortion sounds you could just replace the pickups with gibson's 496r and 500t pickups or find some seymour duncans you like. this upgrade is still cheaper than getting a more expensive les paul with different pickups. UNDER TUBE OVERDRIVE THIS GUITER SOUNDS BEAUTIFUL, just not distortion.

i don't give a shit what a guitar looks like, and i insist on setting up the action MY WAY. there is no perfect factory setup because everyone has their own preferences. this guitar is heavy though.

how do you break a guitar on accident?

i loved strats, then pauls, but now i love strats again. but i understand what all the fuss is about. this is a legendary guitar with or without a flamed maple top and body binding. it's the tone you should be looking for.

This is a 2002, Black with Gold hardware, and it came with a Gibson hard case. Standard LP pickups and Gibson vintage style tuners. If you're reading these reviews, you know the rest of the details.

I play a little jazz, blues and classic rock, and this guitar suites me fine. If I had bought this first, I'd have never bought my American Strat. The tone is really amazing, and you can get a bunch of different sounds from these pickups, from the standard LP growl to thin. Way more versitile than a strat with standard pickups.

Factory setup was fairly good, and I haven't felt the need to change anything. Shipped with 10's, which was nice, because I thought they all came with .009 strings.

There are a few visible flaws in the finish around the edge of the headstock (should have used a little filler), and a the paint is a bit gloppy at the neck/body joint, but you've got to look close to see them. I didn't notice any of this until a buddy and I went over it with a microscope. Not a big deal, because TONE IS EVERYTHING.

As mentioned above, this guitar has Gibson vintage style tuners. During a 30 minute session, the tuner on the G string popped twice, and again later that day. NOT GOOD! If I were playing live with this, I'd have Grovers on it. Might do that anyway if the problem persists.

The finish seems thick, and after bumping the body against an amp corner, it left a small indentation, but no finish problems. Did that the day after I bought it. It was bound to happed sooner or later, I'm just glad I did it, and not someone else. I would suggest strap locks, unless you're sitting on the couch.

It seems dependable (except for the tuner problem).

I emailed Gibson about the tuners, and they got back to me in about 36 hours with two options: Take it to an authorized service center, or they'd send me a new tuner to install. That works for me, so I'd say the service is pretty good so far.

It's under warranty until I'm toasted in the urn.

I've been playing long enough that I should be better than I actually am. I own an American Strat, a Samick jazzbox, a couple acoustics, and soon to add a Garrison A/E. If it were lost or stolen, I'd get another LP immediately, but I'd get one without vintage tuners. Might step up to a classic, but for now, a Studio is enough for me.

I looked at some LP wannabe's, but let's face it . . . if you're getting a Paul, get a Gibson.

Well you can read this from all the other reviews, but basically 2 humbuckers on a large slab of well-contoured mahogany w/ a (thin on the Studio models) maple cap. Variety is where this guitar is at, so many great sounds available yet the insrtument is simplicity itself - no Jackson or Ibanez monstrosity.

Like everyone I play everything from blues to metal yada yada. I've had this Studio for a year and it is gorgeous. Clean sounds on the rhythm pickup are sumptuous - full and clear. But of course you buy a genuine Paul (tried an Epi version before this and there's no comparison as to the stock sound) for one thing - dirty rock! And that's where it shines, this guitar was made for distortion, and while sounding heavier than a very heavy thing, it's so warm and full and you hear every note clearly! This is the sound to fall in love with if you play rock, it is so gorgeous.

Gibson are not particularly great at setting up their axes, had problems with tuners going loose, the intonation, the strap buttons being poor (must replace immediately). Plus the finish is lacquer, so it scuffs and smudges like no other. Annoying, but the guitar sounds SO sweet I have to forgive Gibson!

See above

Dunno

This guitar is great, I only wish I had more money so I could buy the Standard (not that there is anything other than a slight improvement in sound quality, the Studio is still gorgeous, besides its a cosmetic thing more than anything else!) It is a great instrument, the king of guitars, you must own it or one of its brothers, it makes sense.

This is a 2001 studio in grey pewter finish. I used my telecaster as a partial trade in. Every guitar player has seen a Les Paul so you know what it looks like. It has two humbucker the 490 and the 498t. All in all, a beautiful piece of art.

I like to play everything from Buddy Holly to Everclear. It covers all tones. This was the first Gibson I ever played. The same day I bought this one I played a LP Standard, LP Classic, a PRS, and a few other 'high quality' guitars. The only difference between this and other Les Pauls is the price and finish. I rarely use the Treble side but the rythm and middle position rock. The crunch is amazing.

I bought mine at a Gibson retailer. They put new strings on it, set up the action nice and low, and polished it up for me. The best service I have ever received. The grey pewter finish is fairly new to Gibson and they did one hell of a good job with it. Everyone that see's it falls in love with it. Imagine if they played it!

In a span of eight hours, I went through two sets of strings. It sounded better at the end than when I started. It's also much easier to switch the strings not having the string through body.

Like I said before, the best service I have ever received on a guitar.

I've been playing about three years now and have a decent collection of guitars. The LP, Strat, Fender acoustic, Ibanez SR800 Custom Bass. After playing the Les Paul, I could not imagine playing anything less. Quality instruments only want to make you play more an more every day. Don't sell yourself short, buy it.

2001 Black studio, features you know em if you know pauls. came with a case. Got this from the Guitar Center for 850.00 with an SKB case included

I play old and new metal, blues, experimental christian metal, and whatever else I am in the mood to learn. This guitar is flexible enough to handle everything I need it to do. The sound can be ballsy to crystal clear even with the stock pickups. I play this through a 1974 Peavey Duece and I use a POD 2.0 for creative exploration. I bought a Ibanez RG570 first but I took it back because the neck was to thin and had a tendency to bend when I started to really break loose. I went to the store for 2 weeks straight before I made my decision to by the Paul. I played just about everything in the store and the Paul was the extension of the way I wanted to sound.

The set up was perfect from the store. the guitar contained no flaws I could see. The tuners are fine, If it goes out of tune adapt and keep jamming. The finish was perfect, I'm a basic black kind of guy and once you have black you never go back. The guitar will need straplocks for stage play

This guitar is heavy and I love it. I hate to see these whiney ass players complaining about the weight. If it's to heavy for you then start lifting weights and eating steak so you can handle it. The guitar is rock solid. I havn't had this very long but Gibson makes a good product so I'm not to worried about it. If it does break I'll have it fixed. This will now be my main show guitar, I always have a backup because you never know what could happen.

have not had to deal with them yet.

I have been playing off and on for 15 years. I just started getting serious again about 2 years ago. I own a 2000 Fender American Telecaster, Dearmound M65C, Martin DX1 acoustic. The Gibson Les Paul is the Harley Davidson of guitars without the oil leaks. I love this guitar it's heavy and solid like an old Dodge Challenger and it will flat rip the roof off. I was going to purchase a Les Paul Goth but it felt to thin and the paint job was just not me. This is the guitar for me my suggestion is to buy something that you are going to keep if you are serious about playing. A guitar is an extension of the player so if your a Paul person this is worth the money.

This was the 2001 les Paul with cherry wood finish and gold hardware. Its got two one knobs and a volume knob for each of the humbuckers. This is truly a beautiful guitar. I compared the Studio with the standard and couldn't find much difference (except the binding) and didnt think it was worth an extra $500 for the Standard. The body is really thick and made of select wood that gives it a AWESOME tone. You can tell this guitar is solid by just picking it up and seeing how much it ways. All in all a very FULL sounding instrument.

I can discribe the sound on this guitar with one word...THICK. You can really tell the difference the wood makes on this guitar when you play distorted because you gets some accual BALLS instead of just high endy distrotion. If your looking for a tich and full distorted sound, worry less about what pedal you play thru and more on what guitar your using.

The clean played thru the Les Paul sound great too. Harmonics stand out more and are brighter once again due to the good wood quality of the body. Very balanced tone as well.

Like you've heard before, you can achieve a wide range of tones with this guy. Great for Blues - Hard Rock, works for them all. Overall a great sound.

Good quality instrument. You might need to mess with the action a bit when you take it home but other then that...

when I play live I tend to play sort of heavy on the instrument so it kinda pulls it out of tune. If your very concerned, you might want to upgrade on the tuners from stock to whatever. Not that the tuners are horrible, but they could be better.

At irst, I was hesitent about writing a review on the Les Paul because Ive owned it for only about 6 months. I thought it was a solid guitar when I bought it and used it as my main guitar. A few months later, I switched back to my old fender for kicks and then I realized I would never go back. My Fender felt like a toy compared to the Paul! All in all a great quality instrument for a good price. If your serious about playing guitar, I highly recommend making the investment.

2002 wine red w/ gold hardware model. Made in the US of A of course. Features are the same as the other Studio models except for the standard gold Grover tuners and smaller inlays(it's a SamAsh exclusive), which I think look unique. Came with the Gibson hardshell case with the satin cover..makes opening up the case a classy experience.

I play blues to metal and this guitar handles it very well. This might not be the guitar for shredders out there cause of the singlecut and the nitrocell finish tends to get sticky when sweating. I'm currently using a Randall RG75 (75watt) amp and no effects, I try to keep things simple for now. I had an Epiphone SG before this guitar and that one squealed like a bitch during high gain,but the Studio is quiet. Whenever you hear other Les Paul owners talk about the guitar's sweet tone and everlasting sustain, every bit of it is true. This guitar is amazing and fun to play. Even when it's unplugged, the sound is rich and full, almost like an acoustic feel. This is because of the guitars mass. This ax is heavy, but you'll soon forget about the weight when you start playing. Overall, a versatile guitar with heavenly tone.

I can't really rate action since everyone has their own preferrences. I like to play with a fairly low action, so I had it setup. This is what's great about Gibsons, they can be easily adjusted to your likings. The factory setup was good though. Intonation was correct too. The wine red finish is gorgeous and the gold hardware contrasts beautifully. Overall, the guitar is perfect.

Definitely withstands live playing. Gold hardware will tarnish with age, but will give it a vintage look. I have no problem with the strap buttons. But if you're a guitarist that goes nuts when playing, I suggest getting strap locks due to the weight of the guitar. This ax is made to be heard. Very dependable

I've emailed Gibson a few times before purchasing the guitar and they replied promptly with informations everytime.

Been playing for 4 years, 2 as a hobby and the last 2 seriously. This is my first high quality guitar. I got rid of my other two guitars(Fender Strat and Epiphone SG) to pay for this one. This guitar made me a Gibson fan. Now I see why these guitars are expensive...well worth the money. I love everything about this guitar. Before buying, I compared this guitar to an Epiphone LP Custom(good but doesn't compare), PRS Singlecut(whoever says that these guitars have the Les Paul sound are nuts), Fender American Strat(I love the humbucker sound more than singlecoils), Gibson Standard SG(came close to buying this one instead). I chose this because it just felt right once I first played it. Serial number even says that it was made on my birthday..coincidence? I think not. If it were stolen or lost, I would be a very sad guitarist. I would definitely buy it again or go for a Standard for the gorgeous flame top. Always try out different guitars before buying because they are different from each other, so find the right one for you.

This is the 2001 model, wich is the thicker one than the recent models.
I emailed gibson about it an the told me that this one is back to the original thicknes wich is something like 3/4 of an inch thinner than the standard.
The other feautures is the same as the standard exept for the binding...
It came with the original Gibson brown outside purple inside Case...

Man, i love the sound of this wonderfull guitar, i play it trough a Marshall JCM 600 + 1960 AX greenback Halfstack, and a Peavey Classic VT, and i tell you, the sound this guitar produces ROCKS>>>>>

Its great, i dont know why everybody is complaining about the gibson quality of the past years,

I brought this guitar to hell and beack, from the hot damping practice rooms right into the freezing cold outside... it just stays good

I mailed Gibson for about 20 times to ask questions about this 2001 model since no dealer in holland knew annything about it.
The took the time to answer my questions every time and i love that about the gibson customers support.

Prety sweet guitar. Just a regular, 22-fret Paul. I bought it in April of 2001. The only thing I would change with the features would be to take the black plastic around the pickups, the pickgaurd, and the pickup selector and make them the creme color like on Standard and the Deluxe. The part that I really like about my guitar is that they took the Grover tuners off and put on the plastic Gibson Deluxe tuners, which I think look a lot cooler. The pickups are standard Gibson stock and sound pretty good, even through my Crate solid state. The neck pickup is a 490R, and the bridge is a 498T. Played through tube amps is incredible.

The sound is pretty much flawless. There's a lot of flexibility with this guitar. Pump up the overdrive and put on the bridge pickup and you get a great hard rock sound. Through a clean channel, the middle and rythm pickups sound great. The one problem with the sound that I dont like are the tone knobs. I compare it to a shower. If you're trying to get the right temperature, and you turn the knob a little to the left, its too hot. If you go to the right a little bit, its too cold. That's the way it is with the Studio. Its either too warm or the sharp.

It has the standard action of other Pauls. I raised the stopbar a little bit just because I like to play with the strings up a little bit higher. The finish is really dull, though. But that's what happens when its 1000 dollars less than the step up. It really makes no difference. Its just the white plastic binding around teh guitar and neck and a sunburst finish. I have a wine red finish which I like a lot because it looks a little like the Deluxe and the Custom. The other thing that I wish was on the Studio would be a slim tapered neck. The neck is just a little fat for my taste.

Really had no problems except the pickup selector becomes loose, and I have to tighten it. Sometimes, a while ago, I would switch from Treble to Middle and it would still have the sound of the Treble. That problem is fixed now, though.

They have been really nice. The only problem that I called them about was with my case, in which the lock wouldn't open. I got it open after it was broken, so they are going to send me a new one because of the lifetime warantee.

ALL AROUND PERFECT PRO GUITAR AT A GOOD PRICE.

Perfect Les Paul Studio with black finish and gold hardware. Made in Nashville in 2001. Everything about it is the best. Great for the price. No binding and pearloid inlays make it cheaper. It is great.

Sound is perfect. The hot alnicos are great pickups. i can get any sound out of then out of my peavey and fender amps. my korg pedal and distortion sounds make it sound better. No dislikes

Everything was perfectly set up. had low action with hardly any buzz. the toggle switch is a little loose though. finish is great. I give it a 9.

never had any trouble with anything except the toggle switch. i dont understand why some people have trouble with the strap buttons. my strap has to slits so it holds very well. never gigged with it but if i did i would not use a backup.

never dealt with them.

The best guitar ever for the price. if it was lost or stolen, i would definately buy a new one. i own 5 other guitars and this is my favorite. i love this guitar 10

Standard Gibson Les Paul Studio. For more see the other eviews or check Gibson's web site.

Full, mellow and quiet in the "rhythm" setting ... good blues tone. "Lead" gets a bright tone without getting shrill. Overall, the Studio delivers a good range of tones with very little noise that should cover everything from Blues to straight-up rock without hesitation.

Here's the rub. The two, yes two, Les Paul Studios I examined were, without compare, the most poorly finished instruments I've ever held. The finish on these instruments is so thin it had actually worn to bear wood in some places and raw, unfinshed wood was visible around the cavity covers on the back of the guitar. The fingerboards on both guitars were sanded unevenly ... to the extent that it looked like they had been poorlu scalloped between some frets. Additionally, the frets were poorly finished and felt sharp enough to cause injury. I'd really like to have a Les Paul but for $1100 Gibson can keep these ... a Standard Mexican-made Strat puts these to shame.

See above. I wouldn't expect this guitar to last 6 months from what I saw.

Really, do yourself a favor & stay away from this one. There are far better guitars out there at a better price. I'm just astounded at how poor the quality was on this instrument.

Has all the features of a standard, but a little more mass produced. classic humbuckers, maple over mahogany, 2 tone and 2 volume controls.

I play alternative bordering on heavy as well as mellow clean stuff. I use a Boogie Trem-o-verb half stack, and when she's having a good day, you can't beat the overdriven sound this guitar puts out. Clean is also impressive, but better sounding through an amp more geared for a clean sound.

the action is a little high, but only because it is due for a pro-setup. My only complaint is the frets near the headstock. they are too tall and it is way too easy to get over zealous and press the note out of tune. It is a common problem on the studio models (not just mine). I think a fret job would remedy this, but It shouldn't be required on a brand new guitar

everything but the finish is rock solid. I have already rubbed some of the gold off the bridge

N/A

Playing for over 4 years. I also own 2 LTD MH-300's. They are 24 fret jobs with EMG HZ pickups. sound good. The gibson plays a little better, epecially for lead work. It will probably be unbeatable once a pro has straightened it out and filed down those frets.

1996 uptown model,plum with trapezoid inlays and gold hardware. What sealed the deal was the brown/pink fur case which even the suckers buying Historic stuff don't get. That's $100 just for the case which is nice a case as you can have. Anyone who got stuck with one of those hard plastic cases with the plastic latches knows what I'm talking about. Haven't taken the pickup covers off to find out the exact humbuckers onboard but don't really care what they're named cause when I've tried as hard as a guy could try to make this thing sound bad and I have failed. Tuners are the Klausens I happen to prefer. Neck is rosewood not ebony but I cannot for the life of me imagine what I might be missing with the supposedly-mystical ebony. Frets are big and grippy. '59 contour neck is straight as an arrow. Intonation is perfect. I'm rating Features a 10 because the essentials are included and if I wanted some bizarre features like you'd find on a Sixties Vox with built-in delay or some such I'd buy one.

This is the first night I've owned it and I have to say I'm stunned. Normally a Special would not appear on my radar screen cause I figured I'd have to spend at least $1500 if not $2000 to get the combination of feel and sound I was looking for in a Les Paul. I almost didn't play this guitar because it was only $650. That would have been my loss, because the reviews that follow saying we just bought a Les Paul that feels like a Les Paul and sounds like you want a Les Paul to sound for half the price (or less) than people buying Standards or Classics or whatever paid are completely true as far as I'm concerned.

The pickups through my POD II are a little mushy on the bottom strings, but I attribute that to the POD because I don't remember noticing this when I auditioned it through Laney and Traynor tube amps. It's so in tune and intonation that chords just ring and you hear notes you didn't know were in the same chords you've always played. Octaves seem especially true. The nice setup - I haven't touched a thing - helps it sound so creamy.

If you blindfolded me and told me it was a $2599 Historic what-have-you I would have been really impressed.

The sound has clearly made me very happy. I was sick of my Custom Shop Strat and my '55 Les Paul Junior. I haven't had this much fun playing electric guitar in a while.

Guess I already touched on this. I'm lucky - whoever had this before me might as well have been me cause even though I'm compulsive I can't find anything wrong with it knock on wood. I feel very fortunate to have stumbled upon this instrument. It doesn't look particularly soulful, it's basically new which is a negative to me, but it plays and sounds soulful so that'll work.

This one's been in Colorado and has no degradation of gold hardware whatsoever. It will probably spend more time in the studio than on the stage so sweat shouldn't be a problem with the finish as others mentioned it might. We'll see.

I'm going to editorialize a little. The present buying climate is really weird with the emergence of eBay, the glut of Historic bogus cllector's items with hugely inflated prices, huge superstores that make you listen to someone else playing in the background while you're trying out a guitar, and smaller retail shops dying out.

To think that when I had Les Pauls on the brain and was in the market to buy one I stumbled upon one this good at a small retail shop for $650, I'm thrilled. That's THRILLED.

A complete blast for $650. With the money you save, pickup a great tube amp and you're so far ahead of the game it's sick. 10!

1994 Studio, made in Nashville. This one has the rare ebony fretboard. The '59 profile neck' features the large trapezoid inlays and medium frets. It has a thick body. Finish is Black (ebony) with chrome plated hardware. Stop bar tail piece says "Gibson Made In Germany" on the underside. The tuner knobs look sort of green, almost like Jade. They turn smoothly and have no backlash. Two stock humbucking pickups, a metal jack plate and everything else that comes standard on a Studio.

With the addition of Schaller strap locks and a strap, it tips the scales at 10 pounds. (22kg) Pictures of the black & chrome Studio model do not do it justice. It is a gorgeous instrument.

I don't play Mariachi, Middle-Eastern, Polka, Porn, or RAP (Retards Attempting Poetry) but, I play just about everything else. I've owned 2 '70s Les Paul Deluxes, (too heavy, bad tone, bad action & bridges) a 90's Les Paul Special SL with the crummy 1960-style slim taper neck (microphonic pickups, action & frets too high) and have sold them off. The Studio model is a keeper.

Great jazz tones, blues tones, clean tones, punk, crunch and of course, classic rock tones. My fingers fly on the fretboard. Another reviewer described it as '...playing on silk...' The ebony fretboard is truly incredible. The stock pick-ups are great and they aren't muddy or thin sounding. Cool tones using my homebrews or any of my other tube or solid state amps from Ampeg, Fender and Peavey.

With distortion you can hit clean harmonics on every fret position that has a marker on it. Very cool. For overdrive, I use a 'TS808 modified' Tubescreamer, for medium distortion an Ibanez Slam Punk (my favorite pedal) and for heavy stuff and Ibanez Classic Metal. For those singing/violin/thick solo's I use a Big Muff Pi with lots of reverb. Most importantly, the pickups are not microphonic.

Notes and chords speak with authority. It contrasts my acoustic guitarist's sound nicely. My Telecaster sounds muddy compared to this LP Studio.

The pickup sound is changed dramatically with only small adjustments to the pickup height and string balance screws.

The fretboard and neck are very comfortable. I bought it used so I could not tell what the original setup was like but, the G string nut slot was not cut properly. The string would go 'ka-chink' when tuning because the slot held the string too tight. A nut file fixed that. No other factory flaws were visible.

I measured the old strings with a micrometer and they were a set of 9's. Not wanting to file the bridge slots wider just yet, I put another set of 9's on it. I'm used to playing Strats with 10's. I warm up on the Strat, then pick up the Studio. Boy, can I play fast now!

The truss rod needed a major adjustment. The wood has cured (dried) with age and the neck had never been adjusted. The intonation was way off. After a pro setup, the tuning is rock steady even with the stock tuners. All guitars should have a pro setup before posting a review. Age, humidity & temperature all have an effect on guitars. Truss rod adjustment, intonation, bridge height and nut slot trimming are not mentioned by other reviewers who complain about tuning problems. Just had to point that out.

5 of the 6 strings had red silk wrap on the ball ends. I suspect that these were the original Gibson strings from 1994! (This is being written in 2002.) They were blackened & sounded awful. With the bad setup, bad strings and jacked intonation, this guitar still had a sonic beauty all it's own. I compared it with 2 new LP Studios in the store and this one sounded superior. The others had rosewood fretboards... (and $1K price tags) I don't know if the wood made the difference or the age of the instrument.

Since it lacks neck binding, it will be easier to replace frets in the future. Bound necks are more difficult to refret. The frets have no sharp edges or high spots. I can easily reach the highest frets and have rediscovered soloing above the 14th fret. I can bend strings across the neck and the notes don't choke out.

To check out a guitar's finish, step back about 10 feet and observe light reflecting off of it. This trick will reveal wood blocks, laminations and finish imperfection. There is no perceptible blocking or flaws on the back of this guitar. The top on mine is 3 pieces spliced & balanced symmetrically.

Being used, the guitar looked like it was only a year or two old. It had some minor finish marks from normal use. This is a '94 model so it has fared quite well. No corrosion or rust on the metal hardware. A soft cloth cleaned up the chrome stuff nicely. There is a bit of visible blistering in the clear coat on the headstock face. Strange.

I installed Schaller strap locks because of an unpleasant experience I once had with a 70's cherry SB Les Paul deluxe with mini humbuckers. It slammed a 'G tuner first' head dive onto a concrete floor while I was standing still. Listen to the experienced players & put strap locks on
that Paul!

Gigged with it for the first time on a Saturday night last month. It played & sounded great. Packed it up & took it home. Came back Sunday morning for two more services and the tuning only needed very minor tweaking. A couple of strings were off only 5 cents. This after 12 hours and a 20 mile trip in the trunk of the car. The tuning is never off more than 8 cents after taking it out of the case and traveling. After playing a month, there are no broken strings or other problems with it.

I emailed Gibson the serial number and asked for the manufacturing date and location. They replied in 5 minutes. Try that with any other company & let us know the results.

Regarding Guitar Center, I happen to like them. Does anyone else have lower prices? The next day I returned the gig bag & bought a SKB hard case & Shaller strap locks. No hassles.

The only rip off was the state sales tax. For what Governor Gray Davis robbed me for, I could have bought the Gibson cream hardware dress up kit, or ten sets of strings, or another distortion pedal, or taken my wife to dinner and a movie, or 3 tanks of gas, or more RAM for my computer, or shoes for my kids...

I thank my Wonderfully Intelligent Financial Executive for helping me acquire this axe. She said if I got 2 more guitar students signed up, the guitar would be paid off in a few months.

I have been playing rock guitar since 1964. I build & mod my own tube amps and SS effect pedals, I teach guitar and I read music. I play Contemporary Christian rock. But, back to the guitar...

Around 1990, Les Paul Studios went for about $500 new. Today, they go for about $1,000. A Gibson Les Paul is a good investment. Get one today, or pay more tomorrow.

I prayed for guidance to a great guitar before going shopping. I was looking for a low end LP Special or LP Special HB SL because that's all I could afford. GC was sold out of those but I spotted this LP Studio on a floor stand marked 'USED - $699.' It had grimy fingerprints all over it, giving it that 'oil slick on the parking lot' look. It was not what I was looking for. I picked it up and it turned out to be more than I'd hoped for. Moral: 'Don't judge a book by it's cover.'

The selector switch works every time and makes no noises. The volume and tone controls have a nice taper and work good. I don't know why some people report problems in this area. Mine is fine. Tuning stability is great, after the neck adjustment, cleanup & lube of the nut slots. The stock tuning gears work fine. This guitar is stock and I don't plan on changing anything.

Unfortunately, the 4 conductor cable from the switch to the control cavity did not have the shield wire attached to ground. The folks at Gibson snipped it off at both ends. I stripped the insulation back a little and grounded the control cavity end. This reduced hum when using distortion pedals. This was my only gripe with the guitar.

If it were ever lost, I would sell my Stratocasters & Telecasters to get another. But it would have to sound & play just like this one.

For $500, wouldn't you rather have a nice American made Les Paul than an imported copy?

This is a review for a 2001 Giobson Les Paul Studio, made in the USA. 22 jumbo-type frets, arch-top and no binding. 3 way toggle witch, 2 humbuckers(490R and 498T). the finish on this bad boy is the new "pewter", basically a flat grey - very nice!! Deluxe tuners and came with the Gibson pink-fur lined case.

Man-o-man!!! God himself could not have created a guitar this incredible. I play covers like Fuel, STP, Bush and Foo and this covers the bases. I play though a Peavey GX212 solid state amp and use a POD 2.0 as my effect. The sound is remarkable, I played a PRS Singlecut at the dealer and there was no contest, this Gibson rocks!! The sound is so full and the leads are effortlessly played. It's also very quiet.

The guitar was hanging on the wall at the dealer and was perfectly set up. The pickups needed some adjustment as I like them almost hugging my strings. The overall fit and finish was near perfect! The only problem here was the following. I always take the pickguards off my Les Pauls, when I went to remove the pickguard off this one there was a dent in the wood that came from a bolt underneath the pickguard. During shipping it must have pressed itself against the body and dented it, this went down to the wood and looks like a crescent-moon-shaped dent about 1/4. The guitar does not have a thick lacker finish, just a light nitrocelloluce coating that's easy to dent - so be carefull and check under the pickguard before you buy it to make sute there is no existing dent.

Other than the sensitive finish, this guy can definetly go live for years. I've only had it for 2 months and have yet to gig with it. CHANGE THE STRAP BUTTONS ASAP!!!! They are terrible! My strap fell of the upper button 3 times! Luckily I caught it all 3 times. I'm in the process of putting Schaller locks. Otherwise a solid guitar! I never gig without a backup, you know, strings tend to break...

No contact yet.

I have been playing since 1990 and have gone though about a dozen guitars since. This is by far the best one I have purchased and the one I'm most content with. I saved for 4 months and it was either this one or a 2001 PRS Silver Singlecut, this guitar was the clear winner. The Singlecut may look like a Les Paul but feels and sounds way different. I opted for the Studio instead of the Standard because they are identical. The only noticeable difference here was the binding around the neck and body, which I dislike anyways. And the tuners, Stardards have Grovers. But these Deluxe tuners are very reliable as well. Plus I saved $900!! This guitar is well worth the price and would definetly buy again if it were stolen or lost.

I bought this studio as an upgrade to my Epiphone Les Paul standard. Its one piece mahogony wood. Two Gibson humbuckers, two volume pots and two tone controls, with a 3 way pick up selector switch. I was made in the USA

I bought mine with a wine red finish, which features black pick up surrounds, tone-volume pots and scratch plate. It also came with a Gibson hard case, which I've been told retails at #160 itself.
The guitar also has a stop tail-piece.

The neck is quite chunky but feels nice. I wouldn't recommend it to the speed demons out there, but generally it feels nice. One prob though is the weight of the guitar, but this helps with the sustain.

I play alternative rock music, which tends to be heavy in parts (but not in a metal sense). Generally speaking the parts use a clean guitar sound with lots of effects. Other tones include a slightly overdriven sound and a heavy distortion. The amp I use is a Carlsbro GLX series 80 watt amp. Effects include Cry baby wah wah, Line 6 DM4 distortion modeller,Marshall Super Vibe chorus, Boss Flanger and Boss Digital Delay and reverb.

When I first plugged the guitar into my setup it sounded wild compared to my Epi Les Paul. The pickups are really powerful and can distort on the clean channel if you turn the volume up. On a dirty channel they really cut threw the mix, and there is a lot more note defenition. Also pinched harmonics sound alot clearer and fuller.

There are a range of tones that can be produced by this guitar. When tapping I use the neck pickup, otherwise its generally the bridge and center positions. I find I can't really use the neck pickup for the way I have set my amplifier because the sound appears to be way too muddy.

One of the main characteristics of Les Pauls in general is definaletly the sound, and if your looking for power this is the guitar. It sustains brilliantly when doing lead lines and bends with wide vibrato. Its great for all styles from bluse threw to metal.

I tried out a load of Les Paul Studios, and the one I bought had to be the best in terms of set-up. Initially I tried the guitar in the shop with a high action but the guy there lowered it for me and it played a lot better. Its fine at the moment but I plan to take it to a specialist to get it properly set up. Also changing the strings was beneficial. The guitar came with .9's but .10's stay in tune better and sound a lot better as well.

One problem I dod have is that when playing the open 'A' string there was a rattling sound coming from the pick up, and a screw was loose on the headstock which in turn made the open 'E' string rattle. Tightening the screw solved this but occasionally the 'A' string rattle appears when playing.

As soon as I got my guitar I got rid of the nasty cheap looking strap buttons and replaced them with strap lock buttons so I know the guitar won't fall off on stage. (A WORTH WHILE INVESTMENT FOR ALL GUITARS---GET SOME STRAP LOCKS FOR THEM!!!!)

I could definately depend on this guitar live, but I'll be taking my Epiphone as a back up to be on the safe side.

The finish is good on the body and neck, but i'm a bit worried with the finish on the head-stock. The cheapy Gibson print job is a bit disapointing but it's STILL an original Les Paul, accept without the Pearl inlay in the head stock and the binding. I prefer mine without the binding anyway.

I haven't had to deal with the company as of yet as I just purchased it a couple of weeks ago.

Overall this guitar is good, the prices of Gibson guitars has rocketed in past months but I think I managed to pick up a great deal. Guitar plus hard case for #799 in London where they are generally going for #900-#950.

The guitar speaks for itself. Great tones, especially for Rock. Stability, good looks and the Gibson name.

I personally would not pay an extra #600 for a pearl inlay in the headstock and the binding, which I never liked anyway.

'97 USA Les Paul Studio, standard LP layout, propper thickness mahogany/maple body with full size trapezoid inlays. Red Wine finish with gold hardware, already fading but it's got character. Came with Gibson USA gigbag. Strap buttons are TOO SMALL, she (Felicity, I named her) fell off the strap at a gig and the headstock hit the floor first, didn't appear to be damaged but since then the headstock laquer has flaked off, all around the edge of the head, not nice. I like the 2 volume controls as most of the time I use only the bridge pickup so I can use the toggle to switch it off with the neck vol on 0.

I play in a punk band and a hardcore band and it can give me what I need for both bands. I need more bottom end for the HC stuff which it has, by the bucketload. I'm also taking jazz lessons and the neck pickup is really nice and warm for those clean jazz tones. I have a Marshall JCM900 4101 100w 1x12 combo, which she sounds nice through, maily for home use. My gigging rig consists of a Marshall 1971 100w "Superbass" head, usually with two valves (tubes) removed for a smoother 50w, Boss NF1 Noisgate, Boss CH1 Superchorus and a Boss MT2 Metalzone (CH1 and MT2 only used in HC band, prefer not to use MT2 if I can drive the Marshall) and a Dunlop Crybaby original, Planet Waves leads and a 1976 Marshall 4x12 loaded with original Greenbacks. I'll be purchasing a Mesa Engineering Dual Rectifier Rackmount head very soon, which should mean I can ditch the MT2 altogether. I used Mesa Single and Dual Reccis on tour in europe and she sounded AMAZING through them. I'll keep the Marshalls for practice and recording respectivly, the Superbass can cause problems being so old, It'll be good to retire it to the studio i think. One problem I'm experiencing is that I don't think the guitar is earthed very well, if I'm not playing and a hand isn't touching a metal part then I get a very loud buzzing, it happens with all leads and all amps in all venues so I know it must be the guitar, need to get that sorted out. I know someone who was almost killed by a mains surge though a Boogie DC5 whilst on tour in Poland, so I really don't want to take any risks like that.

I was promised a set up by the shop before they sent it out to me, delaying the delivery 3 days, when it arrived there was a dead spot ath the 12th fret on all strings and the action was so low I couldn't stop the strings buzzing. Raising the bridge up helped but it was way too hight to play. One pro setup later and she played like a dream. I havn't had to raise or lower the pickups, they were about right for the output I want. Finnish...now here we go. Not at all happy with the thin laquer on the headstock and the fact it's comming off in big flakes after ONE knock, the body finnish takes some beatings, (and believe me it has) but the headstock is positivly upsetting to look at. it looks alrightif you look straight at it in low light, but at an angle under the light I wanna cry looking at it. I take pride in my guitars and it looks horrible. I Can't have it re-applied without loosing the Gibson and Les Paul logos, so unless I can find someone who can re-create them (illegaly probably) I'll have to live with it. I'd like it to have a white pearloid Gibson logo as although it's a no frills guitar, I think it'd look classier with a propper Gibson logo instead of the gold. I chose the studio over a similarly priced '75 Red wine custom and an 81 Tobacco Sunburst standard because I prefer unbound guitars, but the Logo is the the cheapening factor, along with the now blank "Studio" truss rod cover.

Played live at every show I've done since I bought her, the tuners can be a bit unstable at times, I think that's due to them not being tension adjustable. I intend to replace them with Gold Locking sperzels with the Tulip style buttons.Like I said before, the finnish on the body is very good, withstands knocks very well but the headstock finnish is very fragile, anyone buying this guitar NEEDS straplocks, I have them now, but now's too late. I can depend on her to sound good every night but I try not to go without a backup. It seems when I forget the spare I always break a string. I recently toured europe with one of my bands for 3 weeks and I couldn't take a spare due to space limmitations in the van, needless to say I oblitorated more strings than I care to remember, all bottom strings and I play heavy gauge, 0.52 bottom E in standard tuning so.... Thing is, my perfered spare guitar (Ibanez RG548) has a Floyd Rose so if I break a string on that then I'm really knackered.

Don't know, I havn't had to contact them, doubt I will as I carry out most of my own repairs or have them done by trusted professionals.

I've been playing almost 12 years and I've gradually built up my gear to the ultimate "LES PAUL" dream that I've had since seeing Slash for the first time. As I've said already, I own the two Marshall setups, the Boss and Dunlop pedals and an Ibanez RG548. I also hav a Washburn Mercury series and an Ibanez EX170. I've also got a Korg AX30G multi FX that I don't use. I'll soon be aquiring a Boogie Rackmouted Dual Rectifier, Korg DTR1 tuner and a Custom made thru-neck guitar with Tune-o-matic/strings thru and EMG81s, based on Jim Root's (Slipknot #4) Jackson SL2s, with a few of my own specifications.

I compared Felicity to a '75 LP Custom and an '81 LP Standard and to my ears the Standard sounded no different, and the custom was a bit too toppy (probably due to the bigger 70s maple cap and maple neck) I chose her over the others for her looks, as the tone was pretty much identical (jesus! I sound shallow!!). If I lost her or she was nicked I'd be very upset, and I'd definitly get another, I'd maybe have extra laquer sprayed on the headstock to prevent it flaking off again.

1991 Les Paul Studio
White finish
ebony fretboard
gold-plated hardware
Grover tuners
...everything else is about the same as on other LP Studios

Previous owner installed strap locks.

Sounds wonderful! I have NOT had this guitar long, but I can tell that it has a better overall sound than my ES-355 does...although I do like the 355's Varitone system. The mahogany lends more warmth and the solid body resonates evenly and sustains the way you would expect with a Paul. Now that I have the Les Paul, I realize how much I dislike needing the stereo-to-mono adaptor with my 355.

Of course, this guitar cannot do the single-coil twang (it would be great if it could). However, it fits my style with the robust rock and bluesy tones and with the rich sound it has on the clean channels. I love all 3 of the general tonal qualities provided by the 3-way p/u toggle. This is not a true jazz guitar, but I am not a true jazz guitarist...so to me, this thing sounds pretty jazzy.

I play at home and in *very* small crowd/party situations. I have a Fender Blues Junior and a Marshall 5250(?).

I need to have the guitar set up. I made a bridge height adjustment, and the action and sound are good, but the neck looks like it might have too much relief, and the intonation is not perfect yet.

I am not sure if I want to use .10's or .11's in the long run. It seems to go out of tune a bit more than my 355 does (the 355 has stock 70's Gibson tuners versus the LP's Grovers), but that's partly due to my changing strings a couple of times (i.e., always playing on very new strings) and the fact that the guitar just isn't set up yet.

The finish is beautiful and I see no factory flaws at all. From head to toe, this looks like it passed QA with flying colors before being shipped out. The white finish has been slightly stained by guitar stands. I am not worried, because I tend to keep my guitars in the case.

I LOVE the combo of white finish/gold-plating/black plastic parts....this is perhaps the sweetest looking of all the Studios (at least that I've seen). Looks almost as good as a Standard to me...in some ways better.

The neck feels superb!

There is no way (barring a real accident) that I'm going to mess this guitar up. I am suspicious of the finish being hard to maintain, but I haven't had the guitar long enough to know. I don't REALLY gig, so I expect it to be very dependable. Even if I did gig, I would feel confident.

I haven't contacted Gibson about this guitar yet.

I HAD to give this a 10, because I gave my ES-355 a 9, and this is a much better value. This is a true Les Paul at a very affordable price.

I love the look and feel (I happen to like heavy guitars). More importantly, I love the sound.

I may someday go for a single-coil electric (perhaps a G&L?). But if I ever lost this LP, I would definitely look for another one. I used to think the same for the ES-355, but now I'm not so sure. Just too expensive.

'91 wine w chrome parts; Kluson Deluxe tuners; chunky but not clunky neck ('59 profile).

Wallop and sustain, with excellent harmonic content.
Rock machine.
Used with Marshall 9100 power amp and processor/preamp.
Can also do Jazz and Blues well.
Love the unbound ebony fingerboard and substantial neck.
The Kluson machines are sloppy, but it stays in tune ok.

11 years old.
Doesn't show wear.
Everything is fine and still works.

Strap locks a good idea. I still use the stock strap buttons, but they are small and treacherous.
Finish still intact.
Neck perfect.
Frets durable.

N/A

Playing guitar since 1961.
Also have a Martin.
I would get another in a heart beat.
Great rock guitar. Perfect sound and playability.
I have seen quite a few LP Studios that seem like wonderful guitars at a great price, used. Also Studio Lite seems good, from the examples I've seen.
I like the general tone clean, and all the harmonics when distorting.
Seems like the perfect electric guitar to me.
I've had a Les Paul Custom, and LP Junior, as well as SG, but this model is a no frills Les Paul with the full on Les Paul w maple cap character, crunch, and a great ebony neck feel.
I love it.

Your standard Les Paul Features just striped down to a sold color body. Pearl Inlays. Medium fret. 2 volume knobs, 2 tone knobs. Rosewood Fretboard.

My Setup goes like this:

Peavy Ultra Tube 112 Amplifier (3 channels) - Pedalboard (Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner, Boss DD-5 Delay, Sustain Punch Creamy Dreamer/Sustainer, Vox Wah) - Gibson Les Paul Studio

The studio is a great gigging guitar, it gives you a very high quality sound for gigs that you wouldn't want to do with a $2000 guitar. Played clean it can do anything from classical to jazz, distorted it can go off on bluesy tangents or thrash with the best of todays rap-metal wannabies.

I play everything from Smashing Pumpkins, Matthew Good Band, STP, Tool, to softer stuff like Sarah MacClaclin, jewel stuff (we do shows with a female singer too) So it's a very diverse instrument.

The Bridge Pickup is great for lead, with distortion it gives solo's a vicious bite, especially when run through a DD-5 and a wah.

The other pickup is a solid rhythm pickup, great for fingerpicking, clean sounds, or when acoustic songs with an electric.

The studio is a very comfortable guitar to play. Some complain about the weight, but i don't notice it. The action is pretty fast, but for some odd reason there are just some licks that i can't pull off as well as i can on a $200 mexican strat. Mind you the sound quality sounds a lot better, but when doing faster stuff it can be a little trickier due to the medium action.

The finnish is a 10, you can't go wrong with a pure black guitar with Chrome hardware, very conservitive, simple, and easy on the eyes.

I have played this guitar in every live situation, with my high school jazz band, gigs, senior formal dances, and it has held up quite well, no problems as of yet. I installed strap locks to ensure my guitar doesn't hit the stage (i encourage everyone with a guitar priced over $1000 to do the same).

I would definetly use it without a backup, although i do bring along my mexican strat for songs tuned 1/2 step below concert pitch

Never had to deal with them

Overall, it is a great working guitar. It's sound quality is great, playability is great, and an overall excellent guitar, are there better guitars out there, of course! But don't overlook this baby, if your into anything from Blues, to jazz, to modern rock, this guitar is perfect for you

2001 LP Studio, Made in USA. Standard features, came with hardshell case. Ebony finish with gold hardware.

Doesn't have all the little bells and whistles of the Standards and Customs, but I saved several thousand $$$. I also prefer the simpler look of the Studio.

Suits my style perfectly, I think you could play ANYTHING with this guitar. Excellent axe. Here's what my setup looks like. Guitar -> Danelectro Delay -> Ibanez Turbo Tube Screamer -> Dunlop CryBaby Wah -> Boss Stage Tuner -> Volume control -> Fender HotRod Deluxe amp.

This baby has a FULL sounds that absolutly drips with tone. The clean channel on my amp paired with an LP is unbelieveable...nothing like I've played before. For so long I know the sound I've wanted, but lower quality guitars never let me attain it.

The only thing I don't like is that I had a hard time getting a good thick rhythm distortion, but that was my fault. I tweaked my amp settings, my pedal settings, flipped the switch to treble and started soaring.

I ordered from APlusGuitars (EXCELLENT guys, btw) and they double checked the action before they shipped it. It was all nice and adjusted for the gauge of strings I play when I got to my door.

The pickups are awesome, I thought they weren't quite hot enough when the music gets to jamming, but again...I tweaked my gear and everything was fixed.

The action is amazing as well, since this guitar is quite hefty, it really feels like I'm playing something and combined with the rosewood fretboard, my fingers feel free to run wherever I want them to go.

The hardware, fininsh, body, etc was flawless and I'm doing my best to keep it that way. Carved body with the ebony finish and shiny gold hardware is immaculate.

The only downside, it's hard to keep clean!

This guitar feels like a tank. The case is also very solid. It will withstand just about anything I throw at it.

The hardware is durable, my only worry is that the gold hardware will dull over time, but hey...that just gives it character.

One thing about the strap buttons...invest in some sort of straplock. The strap buttons are tiny, and since it's so heavy if you move around at all this guitar will go flying. Definltly something you don't want to happen. I bought some Dunlop StrapLok stuff and didn't have to drill any holes or anything. Just screw and go.

I can depend on it. Very reliable so far.

I wolud never gig without a backup, what if a string breaks or something? Last week was my 1st big gig with the LP and I was so excited I left my backup at home....well what do you know, I broke a string...my 1st in about 8 monhts. ANyway, the jist of the story...always have a backup.

Not had to deal with Gibson, but the reseller I bought from, APlusGuitars, was EXCELLENT. Buy from them, you will not find a cheaper price on Gibsons.

www.aplusguitars.com

I've been playing for 5 years now. I also own a Fernandes Monterey and a few acoustic guitars. If it were stolen or lost, I would buy another. After playing on such an amazing instrument, I would be sick to settle with anything else.

For a while I thought maybe Gibson LP's were expensive just because of the Gibson name. But I was proved wrong when I plugged this baby in. You get what you pay for, and this is well worth the investment. At some point I will get a Strat for some of the songs we play, but for all around playing, this is very versatile.

This guitar was built in 2001. For those of you who want to know the exact birthdate of your Gibson, you can go to the website and it will tell you how to read the serial number to the exact day it was made. They also have records of older models for specific years. This Studio has all the basic features with gold hardware and a red-wine finish. A hardshell case was included. Warning: The nitro-cellulose finish reacts to certain types of rubber and sweat. When my guitar first reached the store, where I purchased it, they hung it on a tilted guitar rack. The rubber used on this rack ate right through the finish. Gibson has known about this for a long time. It was promptly replaced with a brand new guitar untouched by store employees. All the hardware and looks are excellent.

This guitar does everything I need it to do. I like the fat tone and the fact that it can sustain a single note for soooo long. I generally would not use it for country style playing; I've got a tele for that. As a matter of fact, I prefer not to play anything with single coils, but that's just me. The Studio is extremely quiet and can create just about any tone I desire. The harmonics or overtones it produces are really cool, it kind of gives that ZZTop feel when he does the solo in LeGrange. Anyway, the sound is bitchin' all the way around.

The action and intonation was virtually perfect straight from the factory. However, I like the action a little lower so I had to make necessary adjustments to suit my desires. I would not recommend anyone to adjust the trussrod unless you absolutely know what you are doing. It is extremely sensitive. The guitar is absolutely beautiful.

This is my primary guitar and has done well for over the past six months. The tone is awesome and it plays like a dream. However, the finish where my right arm touches is almost completely gone. The nitrocellose finish does not hold up to my sweat and neither does the gold hardware. The upper half of the gold plated saddle has worn off along with part of the bridge pickup. I wipe it down frequently to prevent this, but to no avail (and I won't be the guy who is so in love with his guitar that he wipes it off ever few minutes). The finish won't last, but who really cares as long as it plays well.
The first thing I did was buy strap locks because the ones the come with it are undersized. I saved them just to make sure I have all the original parts for future purposes. I trust that this guitar will stand up well to a night of playing, but I will never go on stage without a backup. There's not much worse then breaking a string in the middle of a performance and not having a backup.

I love their website. Check it out sometime.

I've been playing for well over 15 years. I own tons of equipment, but currently prefer my Marshall and Les Paul Studio. I want to keep things as simple as possible. By the way, my initial intention was to purchase a Jackson neck-thru guitar. I played at least a half dozen of them. I love Jackson guitars, but that Les Paul happened to be sitting near by. When I picked it up, it felt just exactly was I was searching for.

'93 Wine mahogany w maple cap; unbound ebony fretboard; trapazoid inlays; Kluson "acorn" tuners; chrome hardware.

I haven't been impressed with Gibsons for a while now, but THIS particular guitar feels great, sounds very good, and plays fine.

Bought it used, but mint, recently. They threw in a nice (non-Gibson) LP size hardshell case.
There was only slight fret marking in the first position. Seemed NEW!

I've been playing Fenders (mostly Telecasters) for the last 20 years, but before that had a few various Gibsons.

It's fat but still has enough highs for me to be crisp and the sustain is great.

This model doesn't twang like a Tele but does have a nice snarl to it.

I play many styles and this guitar covers them pretty well. I have had trouble getting a good Jazz sound from Les Pauls, but this one seems OK.
It'll do Country too, and of course excells at Rock and Blues.

I like that it's quiet, so in high gain situations I don't have to turn the guitar volume off between songs.

I adapted to the shorter scale fairly quickly for an old dog.
Sounds good clean or distorted. Delivers a good strong signal to the amps or processors, pedals, etc.

My amps run the gamut from Tech 21 to Marshall.

Previously owned, but felt OK when I bought it. Had 10's on it I think, I changed the strings to 0.11" - 0.48" Everly's nickel.
Intonation fine; everything lines up straight and the frets are big but not ridiculously so.
I had an old LP Custom once that was "fretless," and didn't appreciate it. These are nicely finished and pretty comfortable.
I like the ebony fretboard.
The Kluson machines are a bit lumpy feeling, but I've had worse and they stay in tune OK.
I lowered the bridge pickup, as the previous owner had it very close to the strings on the bass side and my hand was chunking the strings into the cover.
Finish is flawless. Very pretty.

I worry about a mahogany neck with no volute behind the nut, so I would never leave this guitar on a stand. I've played maple bolt-necks so long I need to be conscious about this guitar, whereas I never worried about anything but nicking the back of the neck, before.

Don't like the stock strap buttons, so I use Strap-Loks.

Beyond that, it's solid, and the components are good stuff.

Sometimes I gig it without a backup, but usually I have another guitar handy for "different sounds," anyway.

Finish seems durable. Hardware gets tarnished around here no matter what it is (seaside resort town).

I do all my own work. This ax is way used anyway.

42+ years experience, all styles. Plenty of jobs, even some demo-studio sessions. Variety is my calling card.

I'd look for another LP Studio if something happened to this one, but it seems like 50% of them don't appeal to me, usually. Affordable though, for a Les Paul.

I love the chunky neck feel and the chunky sound, and that it still has enough highs for Country work (though that's not my forte anyways).

I also have a Gibson ES-175 Jazz guitar, but this is way more versatile. I still like Fenders too, but this lil' ol' guitar brings good manners to the party and feels good to play (doesn't "fight" me).
There's several solidbodies floating around the house of various designs, but this one is my "grab and go" ax, lately.

Nice fat tone. Power to spare.

Acoustic guitars are boring.

2001 USA Gibson Les Paul Studio with H/H pick up(Alnico 490R at the neck and 498T at the bridge) configuration and seperate Volume and Tone pots for each pick up and 3 way selector. Nice laquerd maple top and mahogany back and a nice fat mahogany neck. Single cut away body and set neck with a 24 3/4" scale. Stop Bar and tune-o-matic bridge and Kluson(i think) tuners. Came with a hard case.

This guitar suits my style perfect. I usually play classic rock and the variety of tones I can get is unbelieveable for a H/H config. It tends to slightly distort(unlike my strat copy) on my AVT100 on the clean channel if I pluck the strings hard or have the gain too high. Nice bright sound too. I just dislike that it distorts slightly on the clean channel. Probably wouldn't happen on a full solid state amp though.

The action is slightly high for an electric but it's easy to live with and can be easily changed. Slightly heavy and tends to slide off my right knee if I'm not holding it right. Also, the intonation was very slightly off (not noticeable by ear unless you've got a really good ear) but it had been sitting in a box since August with the same strings on so they made need changing.

Seems very reliable to me. I would expect it to withstand giggig easily. The strap buttons are a little small though so consider strap locks if you consider buying one of these great guitars. I doubt the finish will last through the years if you do a lot of gigging because of the nitrocelluose (spelling?) laquer which isn't the best of finishes at lasting (unless you clean it with special polish and look after it well) but it sure does look good. Just give it a wipe down with a cloth (100% cotton) and it should last well.

Never delt with them.

I've been playing just over a year and I play it through a Marshall AVT100. If it was stolen I'd murder the SOB that stole it and steal enough cash of them for another. I love the distorted sound you can get out of this guitar but the clean isn't so special. Very versatile too for a H/H config. Before buying this guitar I was planning on getting a Jackson RR3 but because of the Floyd and shape which isn't good to site down with I looked at Gibson's LP Studio. At first I was going to order the `97 LP Studio for #599 but the store I was gonna order it from had sold out so I went for the 2001 model which they highly reccomended because it sounds and looks better than the `97 model. Only thing that's a problem with it is the finish(which isn't too durable) and the strap buttons (which are too small) but I love everything else about it though except maybe the head stock angle which is quite far back so It's not a good idea to leave this guitar lying on it's back. God help you if you drop it on it's back.

My Les Paul Studio was (of course) made in the USA in 1994. It's the standard LP set up - trapezoid inlay (done meticulously), absolutely great tuners, rock solid tune-o-matic bridge and two covered humbuckers - 490 (N) and 498 (B). The finish is ebony with gold hardware. Everything about this guitar is stock.

I'm in an emo-core/punk band as the only guitar player. We do alot of dynamic melodies, i.e. fragile clean melodies to hardcore, and this guitar covers all territory very well. I use a Marshall JCM900 100 watt head and a Marshall 1960B straight front cab. I use a E-H small stone phaser, Boss OC-2 (octave) and a Dan Echo in the loop. This guitar is not at all noisy actually produces something of a darker sound in the middle and neck positions, with brighter tones coming from the bridge pickup. The LP's crunch is unbelievable.

I bought this on Ebay, and the guy before me had it set up very well. The action is low (I actually raised it abit) and the neck feels fabulous. Every other guitar I play feels like a toy in comparison. The hardware is in great shape, but I know gold hardware has a tendency to pit overtime. The only complaint in this category is the pickup switch. It's a little noisy sometimes (it pops rather loudly) and it occasionally manages to turn itself 180 degrees so the bridge is on top and the neck is on bottom. This is very irritating, especially in live and studio applications. The finish is flawless other than typical wear and the pickups don't move out of adjustment like some guitars I've had.

I have and will continue to gig with this thing. It's great live - I've had some guitars that were horsey in the live application but not this guy. The Studio's bridge is also free of burrs that cause string breakage on a lot of Les Pauls. As people have noted, the strap buttons are way too small and strap locks are a must if you thrash around a lot. The finish stands up to my uber-heavy right hand attack and seems to be very thick and well applied. It's a Les Paul...would you expect less?

Never dealt with them, and I hope I never have to.

I've been playing for 6 years and I own a lot of gear, and the LP is by far the cornerstone of my arsenal. If this were stolen, I would become a sad, vengeful man and takeout my frustrations on family, friends and house pets. This guitar is a heavy black masterpiece of luthiery and is sonically and aesthetically beautiful. I've owned an Epiphone Les Paul and it is no comparison whatsoever. The body is thin and light and the sound is total crap. They don't even deserve Les' name on them. The Studio, on the other hand, definately does.

Mine is a 1994 model, wine red, trap inlays, chrome hardware, all stock.

Sound is very complex and very characteristic Les Paul-full deep. I play it thru a Fender Frontman 15G-Still sounds good--(Wish I got the 15R at least)I also own a Wolfgang Special--The Studio's sound is not quite as defined as the Wolfgang. But I really believe your sound comes from your head and fingers more than what you're playing.Randy Rhoads would make the cheapest guitar sound like the best.

I bought the guitar used and had a local pro--set it up. After that it was better than ever!Everything on this guitar is solid-

I only play for my dog-Bella Duke--She likes it! But I know this guitar will last.

Gibson is very good at answering questions.

When I got my Wolfgang, I thought I don't need two guitars ( I'm no pro by any means)I'll sell the Studio- The Wolfgang has the Floyd and the fast neck but their's something about that Les Paul sound. I decided to keep both. I shopped very long before deciding on my guitar-I tried everything! I felt the Studio had the sound.If it were lost or stolen--I'd get another one--maybe one of those Les Paul Studio Standards from the early 80's.

It was made in 98 or 99 in USA.Got it used with a flight case.
normal studio features with dot inlays but cum on you dont buy a guitar to stare at the inlays. if you wanna stare at something go up abit and look at the GIBSON name and be proud.=)

oh my god...so amazing. even on a crap amp its AMAZING sweet child o mine is just wow.email me at lickwid_brayley@btinternet.com if you know what the best amp is for this guitar im just using an old one right now.

the set up was from the man i bought it from and was really well done.

very durable im the 3rd owner and it has not 1 scratch or anything. would definatly use for giging. says in tune.

never dealt with company.

Amazing sound dont waste money on standard, this is just as good if your buying a guitar for sound.

Handmade in USA '99
22-frets
2 volume, 2 tone, 3-way switch
Passive Gibson 490R/498T (H/H) pickups / electronics
Nice slightly transparent ruby red finish with rosewood neck
Body is classic Les Paul
I got a case with it

I play mostly rock/metal, and this suits me very well.. I'm running it through a Crate GX2200H and a Marshall JCM900 cabinet. Only effect I use is Dunlop Wah..
I'm very pleased with the sounds.. this guitar rocks, never had a better one =) though I'm thinking of upgrading the pickups to EMG's Zakk Wylde set.. then it'll be a killer!!

I bought it second handed, the string were a little high but I fixed that..

I think this guitar could withstand a fucking war, it's as reliable as a hammer.. Only complain on Gibsons are the bad strap buttons, at least on Les Pauls, the strap just falls all the time.. I changed the strap buttons to Dunlops straplocks and that side is also taken care of.. now I can through the guitar as much as I want =) and still it holds!!

I give 7 for the stock strap buttons..

Never dealt with 'em

I've been playing for about 11 years now.. with this baby for about a week, My other guitar is Gibson SG-I, a very good guitar but it feels as a toy compared to Les Paul.. so I think I'll buy couple of more Les Paul's in the near future for sure!! It's the first guitar I'm completely satisfied, I've owned Ibanez, Hamer, Jackson.. but they all sucked someway, they felt somewhat plastic / weak.. but this one feels as a guitar should!
I compared it to a Epiphone Les Paul, and I don't know how Epiphones are built, but they are very light and feel very cheap.. so if you want a Les Paul, buy a Gibson.. or a original japanise made Tokai.. but avoid cheap replicas..

2001 Wine Red Gibson USA
Carved Maple Top/ Mahogany body
490R Alnico Humbucker
498T Alnico Humbucker
Tun-o-matic bridge

1.) Rich full sound. I think Les Paul guitars rock !
2.) I am using a small Fender Champion 30 amp and playing mostly classic rock.

1.) There were two scratches on top, but they are hard to see as the Wine Red covers them.(So much for Gibson QC !!) Hence the "4" rating.
2.) Two of the volume control knobs were defective. One was missing the number "3".
3.) The Gibson case had a slit in it and the gold plating is coming of the metal straps. It is a piece of garbage.
4.)

This guitar seems solid, but the finish seems like it could take a beating. The Nitrocellulose laquer is very sensitive to just about everything. I polish the darn thing with Gibson polish after I play it everytime. It looks sharp and I hope this will slow down any checking that may occur. (Remove the strap after you are done playing or your strap could also ruin the fininsh!!!!!) Gibson needs to invest in some R&D, to come up with a finish that gives the Nitrocellulose tone and the durablity of other finishes.

The strap buttons seem small as other reviewers have noted.

I get the feeling this thing would not last long when gigging in some enviorments.

Never used.

1. I have playing 5 years. I own a Fender Strat(Made in Mexico ! When bought new it didn't have one flaw in it !) I think Fender quality beats Gibson by a mile.

2. The Les Paul has a wonderful sound, but it is too expensive ! I wish I would have bought another Strat.

This is a 2001 Studio in the new pewter colour, all the normal features,2 humbuckers, 2 volume, 2 tone knobs, and 1 three way switch pretty basic but everything I need.

I play mostly rock, Manic Street Preachers, Stereophonics with Pink Floyd and the Cure thrown in. I really enjoy the sound, a little dark but "smooth".
I play through a Traynor YCV40 tube amp. I prefer the sound of this to my Strat clone, I find it is a more fluid sound than my other guitar, that might not make sense but the notes seem to blend against each other better, maybe because the neck feels better so I am just using better fingering position.

The set up was great, I had to choose between this one and a teal flip flop one. The action on mine was a little higher and I liked that.
Everything was great except the tuner for the b string was loose (wiggley), and that is being replaced under warranty.
The paint on the teal was shiny and really nice but I prefered the more basic look of the pewter one, also I liked the "feel" better.
The neck feels brilliant, frets nicely finished. I am giving a 6 because of the tuner otherwise it would get an 8

This guitar should last me for ever, my wife says it must.
The only concern is to put strap locks on due to the weight. I will not gig without a back up no matter what guitar I use.

Can't really comment here, the local shop was good about the tuner, but then they should be, thats one of the reasons you spend the big money.

I have only been playing for a year, my other guitars are a Jay Turser Strat type, and a Seagull S6 acoustic guitar(brilliant).
I mainly use a Traynor YCV40 amp, but also have a Digitech RP200 and a Marshall G10 Mk11.
I prefer to play with just the guitar straight into the amp.
I love the "feel" the wide and flat neck, and the sound is amazing.
I tried tons of other guitars trying to find one that sounded and felt as good but cost less, my second choice was a Godin LGX, but I am really glad I got this one.

made in 1997,made in u.s.a i give this guitar a 10!!!!
has 22 frets,laminated top,
volume,tone,3way selector

i love the style it is a very heavy tone
i use a crate 212 and an fx processor
no
full sound
screaming sounds and dark heavy sounds
love it all

nice
i adjusted them
yes
no

Mine was a Gibson Les Paul Studio made in 1995. Of course it was made in the USA. Beatiful wine red finish with chrome hardware. Rosewood freboard. I'm sure you folks know the rest of the features of a Les Paul: 2 humbuckers, 2 volume knobs, 2 tone knobs, 3-way pickup selector switch, hard-tail 2-piece bridge, etc.

I no longer own this guitar because I'm an idiot and I sold it a few years ago in an incredible fit of stupidity that I still kick myself for today. That having been said, at the time I owned this guitar, I was playing in a one-guitar trio creating wall-of-sound, droning, sort of psychedelic rock and roll with loads of effects echos and such. Since I was the only guitar player in the band and all we had otherwise was bass and drums, I endeavored very much to have a full, textured, BIG sound (not necessarily distorted, just big in terms of the sheer amount of sound coming out of my guitar). The Les Paul Studio was excellent for that sort of thing. I mean, c'mon, two fat humbuckers stuck on a thick piece of mahogany? That sort of gee-tar can produce an incredible amount of pure sound, yet I was always amazed at how I was still able to get such articulate tone out of my it at the same time. That, I think, is the real strength and beauty of a Les Paul right there- they can roar, but they still have pure golden tone while they're doing it. The sound is definitely very rich and full. My favorite pickup setting was the neck pickup with the tone knob turned way towards the bright side. It produced a deep, clear, ringing tone that I nicknamed "The Cathedral Tone."

This guitar was ready to play right out of the store. I would put the action at a good medium (not too high, not too low) I didn't ever have any action adjustments made during the whole 3 years that I owned it. Basically, this guitar was perfectly set up by the people at Gibson, at least for my tastes. I'm not a big lead player however, so you burning masters o' chops out there might think differently of Gibson's factory set-up. There no flaws in the construction of this guitar.

My Les Paul Studio was definitely a work horse and I felt confident to gig with it frequently. It never gave me any trouble onstage, and I would've definitely gigged without a back up (in fact, I did gig without a backup most of time- it's call being a poor college student).

I never had to deal with Gibson concerning this instrument, so I can't rate it in this respect.

I've been playing now for about 6 years. I currently own a Fender Telecaster and a Rickenbacker 330, playing them both through quite a few stompboxes and out of a Fender Deluxe 112 plus amp. At the time I bought my Les Paul Studio, I'd been playing for about a year and was using the same amp that I still use today. This guitar was a joy to play. The tone was always warm, but I wouldn't say it was muddy, as some people accuse the Les Paul to be. The sustain is just about the best of any guitar out there. Period. Hit a note and it just keeps singing. If it had been stolen or lost while I owned it, I would've been so bummed I wouldn't have known what to do with myself. And then I would've miserably saved my money penny by penny and bought another one. I would like to say that I bought my Les Paul Studio in 1995 and it was made the same year. According to my observation, the Les Paul Studios that Gibson tries to foist upon the consumer nowadays are total crap compared to the way they were made just 5 or 6 years ago. The newer ones have thinner bodies than the Les Paul Standard, and that's just highway robbery. The Studio should be the exact same dimensions as a Les Paul Standard, only not as cosmetically fancy (i.e. binding and figured top). My 1995 Studio was this way. However, these newer models are just cheap, shoddy, thin, bullcrap guitars that should not even be called Les Pauls. Shame on Gibson for putting out such an inferior product and then attempting to pass it off as a genuine Les Paul. My advice if you want to get a Les Paul Studio is to try and find an early or mid-nineties model, they're fantastic guitars for a relatively low price.

I have used the user reviews so often to rate before many purchases and strongly encourage contributions to the database AFTER you have lived with the equipment for a few months.

I am not going to bore you with the features offered on this model. It is a 2000 LP Studio - translucent wine red finish, flamed top with trap inlays.

I have owned LP standards and customs previous, but this was my first Studio. I was not disappointed. In some ways, read weight, it is an improvement. But let's face it, an LP Standard is a gorgeous instrument with the binding, etc. You just have to decide what you consider to be important........ unless $$$ is no object, then I would buy one of those friggin beautiful Gary Moore signature LP's!!
Friends, it sounds great. Nice lead tone. It is always a throw of the dice on the sound of the two HB's together, but I lucked out and got one that makes those clear bell-like tones. The sustain is classic LP with that blooming sustain rising up out of your amp. Oh yeah, play it through a nice amp, or don't blame the guitar.

I play so many styles and let's face it, an LP can deliver the goods.

Factory set up was unacceptable...... but then again how many are? I realize that I am very picky about set up, but this was not a function of my standards being too high. I had to adjust the nut considerably to keep the first few frets intoned correctly. The saddle compensation was WAY OUT! I had to flip the bridge 180 to provide enough compensation for the low E. Action was high, neck relief was acceptable. The good news is that after several hours I was able to walk away from the bench with a perfectly intoned and well set up instrument. This is the bottom line, because I have owned instruments (even expensive ones!) which could not be set up without MAJOR (read - expensive, out of the ordinary) work. I am going to give it an 8 because of the fact that the quality of manufacture allowed for normal adjustments to result in a well set up instrument.

Definitely reliable within the realm of sound judgement and care. I take care of my guitars and this one will be around a long time. I always have a backup at gigs (broken strings, etc..) but that has little to do with the durability of the instrument. After reading the reviews and owning other LP's, I put the strap locks on before it even got picked up for the first time. A decision I suggest everyone make.

Don't know. For the price of the instrument,they damn sure better take care of any legitimate issues.

I have been playing for 25 years or so and have lots of gear (guitars, amps, drums, PA equipment, etc...). If you have the jack, buy the LP. The better you sound the better you play.......the better you play, the better you sound...... it is a beautiful cycle. Get good gear, Play often, Play with feeling, Enjoy the gifts you are given and use them in a positive way.

This is a great guitar........ you could do a hell of a lot worse!

2000 Les Paul Studio bought in 2001
It's color is Ebony. The pickguard, knobs, pickup mounts were black, but I exchanged them for cream and gold knobs. Nice!
Pickups: 490-neck/498-bridge. 2 Volume/2 tone knobs (normal LP)
I made a deal with the guy at the local music to get a deluxe case with it, and still get some bucks off.

I play a hard rock sound (Nickelback, Fuel, Alice in Chains, STP, Creed, etc.). I like the pickups a lot. The brigde is great for any ol' distortion, very versatile. It handles even a Staind-type tone. I like the dark sound it has. I play it through a Boss DS-1 distortion, a BOSS MT-2 Metal Zone, a BOSS EQ-7, a DOD phaser, and a Original Crybaby to a Crate Vintage Club 6112, which runs a Fender Stage 85. It's rocks. Simple as that. It's work for even a Jazzy, Bluesy tone too, but I use my G&L Legacy Strat for that.
Overall, I love thing tone. It wails.

The action is great, it plays great too. (Not as good as my Fender Tele Elite!)
----but, here the but----
The finish is a pain in the a$$. I doesn't clean up easily, and I don't like the finished neck thing. It's gunks up pretty easy.
I don't like the hardware (pickup mounts, pickguard, knobs, etc.), but that's easily fixed. I bought new ones.
It's gets an 8 because of the finish and knobs, but I plays great.

It would definity handle a live gig. I'd never gig without a backup, but I think it would hold up.
Haven't had it long, but if can handle the beating i give my G&L, I think it'll be fine.

N/A. I'm sure there okay

I've been playing for 5-6 years. I own a Strat, two Teles, two acoustics, and now a Gibson Les Paul Studio. It's by far my favorite of the 6 guitars.
If it were lost or stolen I think I'd step up to a Standard or a PRS 22CE, but I'd still miss it.
Great bang for the bucks (I'm still poor)

I bought this guitar new in 94. Other than that, if you've come this far you already know what it has.

I have bought and sold numerous guitars since I bought this one, and it is the one I keep coming back to. I don't really have a set style, but I've been able to get just about every sound I've wanted out of it (IMO all LPs should have coil taps for the neck bucker). If you like Strats or Teles, you should already know to stay away, becuase this guitar doesn't scream, its much more mellow. That said, I have also always played through Marshalls (JTM30 right now), which also adds something to that sound, but if you boost the mids on your amp (scoop it), you can definately get it to scream...

I honestly don't remember how the guitar was set up when I bought it. Probably like crap, but I don't think set-ups should be a factory concern, it should be the store's responsibility (although anyone can tell you the stores will disagree). When I bought it, it was perfect and absolutely gorgeous to boot.

This guitar is the fucking rock of gibraltar. Many people would cringe if they knew what this guitar has witnessed (and many others would probably be in jail). Anyway, I can't really see how anyone with some thread of sanity could possibly break one of these. The two things that suck are the strap buttons and the tuners. Before you leave the store with one of these, get a new set of tuners (I really like the Grovers) and a set of straplocks. If you drop this guitar on the headstock, the tuners will break, and without straplocks, you will drop it on the headstock...

I don't know anyone who's ever dealt with a guitar company (other than lining their pockets), do you?

I've been playing since middle school, I'm in college now. This guitar was stolen, but I got it back, hehe... If I hadn't recovered it, I would definately have bought another one as soon as I had the money. The neck is the best part of this guitar, it has a really deep C profile that I have come to love. Like I said, a coil tap for the neck pickup is a really great thing to add to this guitar, it really helps fill out the lead role, cuz it can get muddy with the neck humbucker in full swing. Also, if anyone has a Paul that they are looking to get rid of (carved top only) cheap, let me know. I don't care how beat it is as long as it has a straight neck.

This 2000 Red body with chrome hardware (Tune-O-Matic), rosewood finger board, duel humbucker guitar was given to me as a Christmas present. It came with a nice cardboard box w/ plastic handle.

I play blues and classic rock; Eric Clapton, Jimi, T-bone Walker, B.B., G.Dead, Who, etc. I played it through a Blues Jr. and a Marshall 30 watt ss amp. The first thing I did when I tuned it up was to play without plugging in for a while. I noticed a surpising sustain and musicality for a solid body guitar. Once I plugged it in I was greeted by the normal "Les Paul-humbucker" dark sustain. It was everything one would expect from this type of construction. I was a little disappointed in the sameness from neck to bridge pups. Sure, there was more bite in the bridge, but the variation was so much less than the strat I had been borrowing. Bottom line: wonderful tone but limited.

The guitar was right out of the box from G. Center. Set up was good, a tad high but well intonated. You couldn't tell much about the wood with an opaque red color but the finish was smooth and well done. Tuners and hardware worked fine, electronics were also quiet and smooth. The neck was something else...I actually cut my finger on the frets. Not just one, but every fret had rough, razor edges. The frets were also very high, almost like playing a sitar! I was astounded that something as simple and obvious as this could get out of the factory.

This guitar weighs a TON. It had to weigh twice as much as a strat. With that said, why does it come with these cheesy itty-bitty stap buttons? You'll need to buy strap locks if you're going to gig with this instrument. Otherwise the Studio seems pretty rugged...very stable, stays in tune, even with a lot of serious bending.

Never delt with Gibson...I took the guitar back to Guitar Center where the manager gave me a lot of crap about "all Gibson's are like this". After he ran his fingers over the frets, even he had to admit they were horrible. They offered to file and polish the frets. I told them to forget filing, it needed a whole fret job just to lower the frets to a playable height. They agreed to replace it with another Studio.

I've been playing for over 30 years, mostly acoustic guitars and a borrowed electric every now and then. In those 30 years I've played just about every level of guitar from $200 Asian imports to $2,000 Martins. This was my first electric guitar and it broke by wife's heart that I couldn't stand the thing. While the tone was exactly Les Paul, it was not nearly as versatile as a Strat. You'd have to hook it up with a lot of effects to change that tone. Still, I could have delt with that except this thing was the most uncomfortable instrument I've ever played. It slides off your lap if your sitting down (which you'll have to do since the thing weighs so much). The 24.5 inch scale is really cramped above the 12th fret. I've got short scale acoustics that are easier to play above the 12th than the Studio. The frets on the other Studios G. Center offered to replace mine with were only slightly better. When I buy a guitar tone is 40%, looks are 20% and playability is 40%. The Studio had a one dimensional tone, OK looks and horrible playablility. The only way I'd ever get one of these would be if I wanted a second electric guitar for that "Les Paul" tone. Even then, I would really look around before I bought a Gibson. I compared the Studio's with an American Strat and ended up with the Fender. By the way, watch out for those sales guys at G. Center. The tried everything in the book (including personal insults) to get me to buy the Studio even though the Strat was the same price!

Okay, right up front, I'm going to be a bit of a spoiler here, because I wasn't altogether happy. Anyway, if you don't know what features a LP has, then you probably need to play bass or something.

I'm a fender guy, and I prefer single coils, but even I have to admit that these pickups were pretty killer. The neck gives a great warm rhythm sound, and the bridge gives a brighter, bluesy lead sound, which can also make a good rhythm-lead ala Pete Townshend. Besides a little overdrive and stuff like reverb, delay, and wah, it really doesn't take to effects very well. Chorus, flange, distortion, phasers, they all sound bad. And though I can admit that sound quality is good, I don't like the sound itself. It doesn't fit my style.

Okay, terrible! The 3way crackled, and it spun around a lot. The finish was pretty beatup, and it looked like someone had touched it up poorly. But it is a pawnshop guitar, so I'll let that go. But it played so badly. Okay, short scale, not my thing. But the strings bit into my fingers like shark's teeth. Twelves, eights, it didn't matter. I played with the trussrod, the bridge, the nut, and it never changed. Those strings fretted harder than anything I've ever seen. I'd put the action low enough to rattle, and it still hurt. This guitar tore right through my callouses and made me bleed a couple times, if I lost myself and played for more than a half-hour. I'm soured on Gibson forever now.

It's not the toughest guitar in the world, but it would be hard to kill it using anything resembling good judgement. I've only used it as a studio guitar, because quite frankly I need my fingertips in tact at live shows. But I don't see how the guitar would fail you. I never once broke a string on it. Of course, I never played it for hours on end like my Fenders. Electronics were sound, and even the switch wasn't too bad.

No clue.

I traded this straight up for an American Tele, which is my favorite guitar now. Good riddance! It sounded like quality, and people were always like, "Wow, nice Les!", but everything else was all wrong. Now I have a great Tele that sounds good, looks good, plays good, and wouldn't do a thing to hurt me, so I guess the experience got me something.

IF YOU ARE A DIE HARD GIBSON FREAK READ THIS!!!!!
1989 with 22 jumbo frets. Very carved maple top, Standard 3-way toggle, has a sidewinder stacked humbucker in the neck and an L-8 humbucker in the bridge, both hooked up to a coil split.
Has one volume and one tone(no need for more). Maple top, mahogany back and neck. Has alpine white finish with black hardware. Grover seald tuners, black metal knobs and a STINEBERGER single locking tremolo system that can lock into a fixed bridge.
Very thin (for a Paul) neck with ebony fretboard.
Also includes Gibson deluxe hard shell case.

I play any thing from Black Sabbath to God smack to Led zepplin.
This guitar just can't sound bad! I use a verity of different amps but mostly a Hughes & Kettner Thirty for practice (awsome!) and a Yamaha G100 112 with a power lead soundtank stomp box. I know I should get a Marshall but I keep buying more guitars (you know how it is). You cant get this guitar to make annoying feed back squeals witch i think is great because it will still give you those Zack Wylde harmonic sounds. You couldent ask for better tone! I can get the 60's tones like Iommi, Page, Clapton (cream) and 90's hard rock tones like Cantrel?, Morello, and Cobain.
But this guitar is not limited to distortion. It has the sweatest sounding tone when you play with the distortion off. I just flip the coil split and 3-way to the neck and you could sware you where playing a tele only you dont have to feel like an ass because you own a fender.:)

I got it used and the action was very high. It must have been for alot of slide but I've got it perfectly low now with no buzz. I use ernie ball super slinky strings (of course) and with the ebony fretboard you can bend the high E all the way to the low E with ease (no kidding!!).

This is my #1 guitar and I play it everyware and its great. The original strap buttons where very small and almost cost some lives so I put strap locks on it. I give a 9 for this reason only.

I've been talking to Gibson about this guitar for awile and they are surprisingly helpful.

I have many other guitars that simply take the back seat to this butiful pice of art: 1986 Gibson Invader, B.C. Rich Warlock, Hamer Standard (explorer), Samick W/Floyd and EMG's, and some westones and hondos and some others. If this was stolen I would literaly kill that bastard, take it back and at his funeral I would set his casket on fire!
I love this Paul needless to say and wouldent cange it for the world.
If anyone has something simalar to this description please contact me!

2001 Les Paul Studio with the blue teal flip flop finish - Made in USA - 22 frets. It has a carved maple top with a mahogany back. Rosewood fretboard with trapezoid inlays. 2 volumes and 2 tones, a 3 way switch, and 2 humbuckers - a 490 at the neck, a 498 at the bridge. Stop tailpiece w/ tune-o-matic bridge. Grover tuners (not the chrome ones) and it came with a hardcase.

The sound on this thing rocks (compared to anything I'm used to, anyway). A very rich and full sound, awesome sustain. It's incredibly quiet on any setting when not playing, I couldn't be happier. I play it through a Boss GT-3 into the return loop of a Mesa Dual Recto. It sounds fantastic that way. At first I went right into the front input of the Recto, but I got a bit of a hum when I wasn't playing, so I put it into the return loop and it was as quiet as a bar of soap. Awsome. I play punk and hard rock (original, i know) and it suits me just fine. I use the GT-3's COSM setting for a MESA sound and just play the amp clean. I can barely tell the difference from the red channel on the recto and the COSM setting on the GT-3 (obviously, I had to tweak it a bit) - which rocks in case a tube goes during a show, I can just switch channels on the Recto and I'm back in business. (Depending on which tube goes, of course). You can pretty much make this guitar sound like anything. I freakin love this thing. I have a Gibson SG Gothic which I though was the shit up until I got this LP. Now the SG is definitely a back-up. Sorry SG.

Guitar was set up very nicely for me, almost perfect. Pickups are adjusted perfectly as well. As I said above, there is absolutely no noise coming from them. A+. Absolutely no physical, electrical or mechanical flaws on the guitar. None. The finish on this thing is insane. It's the blue teal flip flop finish that changes colors when you look at it from different angles. I couldn't decide whether to hang it in a frame on my wall or play it. I opted for playing it. But every time I look at it, I get that fuzzy feeling. Hehhhh....

This guitar could definitely withstand live playing. Duh. Hardware seems fine, no problems. Finish is fantastic and seems very durable. Strap buttons.. well, I never even tried them. I purchased strap-locks and put them on before I even played the guitar at home. I suggest you do the same. I can definitely depend on it. It's top-quality. I would gig without a backup if I knew that strings never broke, but they do, which is why I have that SG I mentioned as a backup. Sorry SG.

I dealt with the company when I bought the guitar. The rep (L.V.)couldn't have been nicer. A fantastic guy. He set up the guitar for me and gave me some extra sets of strings too. Bonus. That's the only time I've ever dealt with them.

I've been playing off and on for 15 years - the past few have just been "on". As I mentioned, I also own an SG Gothic which is also very nice, but the LP sorta blows it away. Sorry SG. If lost or stolen, I'd get the exact same Les Paul in the exact same finish. It's awesome. I love everything about it. I hate nothing about it. My favorite feature is the finish. I did not compare it to other guitars, I just knew it was time for me to own a Les Paul. I love it, and have no complaints.

2 pups, 2 tone, 2 volume. Passive electronics. Got it for 650 with a case

i play a noise rock-prog-metalish style stuff. To me it suits pretty well. not noisy at all. Only a couple of sounds can be achieved from this guitar.

I once talked to a guy who owned 2 custom shop prs's and he said this guitar was one of the best setups hes ever seen and it played like a dream. tuning pegs are deluxe gibson and stay in tune and are smooth to turn. A little buzz on the e and a strings, pretty normal.

finish is a wine red and it seems to be able to take a beating. hardware seems pretty sturdy. Strap buttons are very solid but a little small for my strap. I can probly depend on this guitar. i havent had a gig yet.

i love this guitar and im probably going to keep it forever. The only thing i dont like about it is a little string buzz, but thats probably my anal guitarist personality. My only advice would be to try it before you buy and make sure you love the guitar first.

Same features as those listed below. Ebony with gold hardware.

Its definately a Les Paul, only a touch slimmer sounding than a standard or classic.

Cant' beat it. Very professional.

This is a very robust instrument.

I have yet to deal with the company.

It is certainly a Les Paul without the extra $1,500 in cosmetics, and a little less wood in the body. While you always pay a lot more just for the Gibson name, this model is great for the price. I also play a Fender American Telecaster and an Ibanez Joe Satriani 100.