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Winter NAMM 2012 News & Videos

Winter NAMM 2012 News

Gibson Les Paul Standard

LP-Shaped Guitars from the Les Paul series by Gibson

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Gibson Les Paul Standard user reviews ( 8/10) - 37 user reviews

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09/12/11

iamqman's review "Standard but decent"

Characteristics
This has to be one of the coolest Gibson Les Paul guitar that I've seen. It has a great feel a great look and overall great balance to it. The mahogany wood body in the mahogany neck coupled with the rosewood fretboard gives it a nice beefy and sick tone. This is a great guitar when playing rhythm and a hard rock band or even a metal band. Overall the Gibson Les Paul guitars have to be some of the most versatile and highly used guitars and all of music. They have such a good transition from genre to genre of music as well as an ability to give the user plenty of opportunity crate some great soulful music.
Utilization
The tone is guitar is fantastic. If you've ever spent any time with a Gibson Les Paul can you know exactly what I'm talking about. When you find yourself against the wall looking for a guitar riff for a guitar tone that is in your head to you can't really translate into your guitar amp; with a Les Paul and it's very easy to come up with something unique and catchy. Whenever I grab a Gibson Les Paul I always find myself writing new music and new riffs as well as getting overly energized just play my guitar. The Gibson Les Paul has such a good soul and feel to it that is very easy to create music. I'm like a Paul Reed Smith guitar or Ibanez guitar you can't really find that soul that's within the guitar. Anyone is ever spent a lot of time playing these guitars would know exactly what I'm talking about.
Sounds
This guitar sounds fantastic when you couple it with a good hiking amplifier such as a marshal amplifier for Mesa boogie amplifier. I particularly like the Gibson Les Paul with a high gain marshal because it just connects chemically better than any two instruments I've come across. A Fender Stratocaster and fender amplifier. Have a great connection as well for good clean bluesy tone but when you want to get a high intensity rock tone then there is nothing better than a Gibson Les Paul and a martial full Stack hygiene guitar rig. It has a good connection in a great solid tone that matches very well with the voicing of that amplifier.
Overall Opinion
I highly recommend this guitar to anyone looking for a good solid mahogany wood guitar that is built for a gigging musician or recording musician. At new you can find his guitar for ride around $2600 which is a great price for this guitar. It's in America made classic and great guitar for anyone looking to step up their instrument level to a whole new territory. It's one of the best guitars but it's ever been created in one of the most iconic guitars that is ever been manufactured and produced.

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06/23/11

Hatsubai's review "Chambered but still decent"

Characteristics
Gibson has recently revamped their Standards in the past few years. The new ones come complete with a chambered body that was first experiment with during the Supreme series. The guitar features a chambered mahogany body, maple top, set mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets, tune-o-matic bridge, two humbuckers, two volumes, two tones and a three way switch.
Utilization
These guitars seem to be built fairly nice, but I experienced some fretwork issues on a few that were in the store. Gibson still has some QC issues, so you really need to play all of these before ultimately buying them. The good thing is that they were all fairly resonant sounding. That means that any fretwork issues or nut issues can usually be corrected by a competent luthier without too much of a hassle.
Sounds
These sound a little different from the normal Les Paul since they're chambered. There is some "air" in the bass that makes it kinda soft sounding. The bridge has some nice bite, but it's pretty fat sounding overall. This gives a great classic hard rock and metal tone. However, I wish it would have more output and be a bit more clear. The neck pickup is fairly warm sounding, but it has some treble that I'm not entirely crazy about. My favorite pickup combo for these guitars is a JB/59 combo, so I'll probably swap that in when I get the time.
Overall Opinion
The guitars are pretty resonant, and I attribute that to Gibson stepping up their QC a bit from the past few years. That said, I highly recommend you play these first as they're extremely love or hate with the chambering that's going on in the newer Standards. Pay attention to the fretwork and nut as well as those are the most common issues with these guitars.

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06/07/11

tjon901's review "There are better Les Pauls"

Characteristics
The Gibson Les Paul Standard is a standard Les Paul guitar for the most part. The Les Paul standard guitar was introduced in 1958. They came with the first PAF pickups and when people talk about the Gibson tone they are talking about these. They were only made for two years and less than 2000 were made. They stopped making these when they came out with the 61 Les Paul which became the SG. The current Les Paul standard was introduced in 2008 and it has many of the same features as the original. The main difference and problem with these guitars is that they are chambered for weight. This effects the tone and makes them kind of sound like hollow body guitars. They have the standard Les Paul setup with mahogany body with a maple top and a mahogany neck with a 22 fret rosewood fretboard. Two humbucking pickups with dual volume and tone controls with a 3 way toggle switch pickup selector. The up position on the switch selects the neck pickup. The middle position on the pickup selector selects both pickups. And the down position on the pickup selector selects the bridge pickup.
Utilization
In modern terms the classic Les Paul design is not the most playable guitar out there. If you are use to Ibanez necks the Les Paul neck will be very big for you. Because of the set neck design there is a large neck tenon and joint. This can make the upper frets hard for some people to reach because the body essentially joins the neck at the 17th fret. After the 17th fret you are reaching around the body to get to the frets. The tuning stability is good because there is no tremolo. The tune-o-matic bridge can be uncomfortable for some people. It has sharp edges where the strings come in contact and these can get into your hand. Replacing these with roller bridges can make them more comfortable and decrease string breakages. When you change strings the bridge can come off because it is held on by string tension. If this happens make sure you put it on the right way because you can put it on backwards and your intonation will be horribly off. When this happens your guitar will sound in tune on the open strings but any chords you play will sound off.
Sounds
A 58 Les Paul standard is the tone that everyone thinks about when they say Les Paul sound. The original Standards go for hundreds of thousands of dollars now. The Standard today may look the same but internally it is very different. With the chambered body the sound is quite different. A few years ago Gibson started chambering their guitars for weight. I think they were giving in to some people they should have. A real Gibson player knows the weight of the guitar is part of the tone. People who complain about weight are obviously not playing a Les Paul for the tone, they are probably playing it for the looks or because they want to say they play a Gibson. With the chambered bodies the Les Pauls get a thinner airy sound. It is not the thick sound you associate with a Gibson Les Paul.
Overall Opinion
There are a lot of things to like about the Les Paul. It is a Gibson Les Paul so it will hold its value well. It has the classic looks and feel of an old school Les Paul. Modern sensabilities have taken some of the tone from the Standard. People complaining that they were too heavy have the wrong mindset. Some things have to be sacrificed for tone. And with the new Standard Gibson sacrificed the wrong thing.

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04/27/11

King Loudness's review "Should not be called the "Les Paul Standard""

Characteristics
The "2008" model USA made Gibson Les Paul Standard takes the classic Les Paul silhouette and feature set and updates it with various "improvements" such as an extremely chambered body construction, '50s asymmetrical neck, locking tuners and PCB mounted electronics with a locking output jack.

The core features of the classic Les Paul are still there which is nice. It still features a mahogany body and neck, maple top, rosewood fretboard with 22 frets, tuneomatic adjustable bridge with stopbar tailpiece, dual Gibson Burstbucker humbuckers, the standard LP control layout of a volume and tone control set for each pickup and a three way toggle switch to select neck, bridge, or both pickups at once.

Basically, this guitar takes the classic Les Paul layout and gives it some upgraded features that, to some act as improvement upon the Les Paul design.
Utilization
The Les Paul is not the most ergonomic guitar by any means. The design is somewhat "clunky" when compared to some modern takes on the single cut solidbody. The body, other than a slightly curved top, has no contouring whatsoever, so the ribs and neck joint can cause discomfort on occasion, especially, if you're more of a superstrat type player who's used to very light guitars. The chambering on this one helps the weight issue, but I found that it adversely affected the tone of the guitar and I did not like that. The upper fret access was never great on LPs and this guitar is no exception.

Getting a good sound out of the new LP Standard is not that difficult. My big problem was the chambering of the body. Though it definitely made the guitar easier to play for extended periods of time, it sounded more like a hollow body guitar (IE: Gibson ES335) than a classic thick, raunchy Les Paul tone. It wasn't too bad but when compared to a Les Paul Traditional it was a very different sound to my ears. Not bad, just different and not what I was looking for in a Les Paul.
Sounds
I've tried the LP Standard with various Fender, Marshall and Mesa Boogie amplifiers. It sounds like a Les Paul should... for the most part. The cleans are thick and darker, great for jazzier or bluesier textures. The mid/classic gain tones have a nice classic sounding bark that only an LP can deliver. High gain tones had a great raunch to them that was accented by the slightly hotter Burstbucker pickups that were in the guitar. Compared to say. a Les Paul Classic with ceramic 496R/500T pickups, they aren't as hot, but they have more punch than the '57 Classics in a Traditional.

My biggest gripe with the tones was the body chambering. Hollowing out a guitar is going to take away some of the resonance and thickness that a good solidbody has when put through an amplifier. The end result is a guitar that sounds good, but sounds a bit more hollow and warmer than I'd like in a Les Paul. In the end I opted to buy a Traditional simply because the tones were more what I wanted from a Les Paul.
Overall Opinion
All in all I think the Les Paul Standard 2008 from Gibson is not a bad guitar, but ultimately they should call it something else. The myriad of feature changes makes it very different from what a Les Paul Standard should be and ultimately this LP is more like a modern take on the classic design.

The price on these is high, about $2600 CAD, and I don't think that's a great value for the money. I tried many of the 2008 Standards and opted to buy a Traditional Plus instead, which ran me $2300. If you want a more classic Les Paul tone, look into a Traditional or a used Classic. If you want something more modern or you need a lighter guitar, give the Standard a look. It wasn't for me, but give one a whirl for yourself and see what you think.

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12/02/08

Audiofanzine FR's review

Characteristics
(Originally written by Minimok/translated from Audiofanzine FR)

Mine is a Standard Plus build in 2005. Its main attribute is the zebra AA top with red wine finish. Made in the USA.

All other features are typical for post 2000 Standard models: Burstbucker Pro Alnico V neck pickup and a Seymour Ducan bridge pickup (customized by the previous owner).

Tune-O-Matic bridge with nickel finish.

60's-type neck (slimmer than a '50 neck). It's great but I'm used to Strat necks!

Update from 12/03/2008: I replaced the Seymour Duncan pickup with a Burstbucker Pro pickup (original pickup) to get the original Gibson Standard sound.
Utilization
Typical Les Paul playability. It's almost as if you would play with a flat acoustic guitar with a cutaway! The guitar is quite heavy. It tends to fall back when you play sitting. I recommend you to play it with a strap both while sitting and standing.

But you'll get rapidly used to this guitar!

Terrific neck! The '60 profile is very pleasant if the action is not too high. Access to upper frets is not easy so avoid it!
Sounds
The sound is the main asset of this guitar. The neck pickup produces a smooth sound, the combination of both pickups sounds very interesting for clean and crunch rhythm parts, the bridge pickup sounds very punchy with a fat distortion but that might be the effect of the Seymour Duncan pickup!

As a summary, high-quality pop, rock and blues sound. Choose another guitar for heavy metal!

Update from 12/03/2008: Now that the guitar is equipped with a Bursbucker bridge pickup, I get a typical vintage distortion sound compared to the Seymour Duncan, which sounded more modern. I wanted to have the "original" version of this Les Paul. The Burstbucker is perfect for old school rock but the response is less accurate than with the Seymour Duncan. The Seymour Duncan sounded better for Greenday songs, for example.

I bought a Marshall JCM 2000 DSL-401 amp and it is the perfect match for the guitar!
Overall Opinion
I was a Strat fan but I don't regret having changed to Gibson! It's a very versatile guitar except for funky rhythm parts. I think this guitar belongs in the basic guitarist set along with a Strat because both instruments have very different personalities.

I tested an Orville by Gibson before buying the real one. It was a '91 Custom model. Both guitars are alike but the original Gibson instrument has more sustain and a nicer finish. Perhaps it's a psychological thing but the original does sound better. No nonsense, no endless sound possibilities, no futuristic bridge, just an easy-to-use guitar and pure joy.

The value for money isn't that good because some parts could have a better quality. I made a good deal when I bought it because the previous owner broke the neck and got it repaired by a professional (so you can hardly notice it).

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Translated user reviews

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