Gibson Les Paul Studio Baritone 2011

Baritone guitars are not a new thing and they are not just for metal. Baritones have been around for a long time and have been very popular for years in country music. With a baritone guitar you get a different sound than what you would get if you threw heavy strings on a normal guitar and tuned it down. The long scale with the normal strings gives the guitar its own unique tone that you cannot get with a normal guitar. This is a Les Paul Studio Baritone. This guitar has a mahogany body with a maple top. The neck is a set neck mahogany neck with a big fat profile. The neck is a 27.75 inch neck which is 3 inches longer than a normal Gibson. The neck also has 24 frets on a rosewood fretbard. The pickups are a set of normal Gibsons with a 496 in the neck and a 500 in the bridge. The controls are standard with a volume and tone for each pickup. The bridge is a standard tune-o-matic with a stop tail.

UTILIZATION

This guitar has boat for a neck. It has the 50s profile baseball bat Gibson neck. This combined with the extra long scale means you really feel like you are playing a big guitar. This may be a hard guitar to play for some people with smaller hands. This guitar is chambered so it is pretty much like a semi-hollow. This makes the guitar very light. This combined with the huge neck makes the guitar a little neck heavy. The nitro finish is pretty thin and gets broken in fast on the neck.

SOUNDS

Playing one of these I found out I prefer to play a normal guitar with heavy strings. The guitar comes tuned to C# but I tuned it to B for a real test. The strings still felt pretty loose even with the extended scale. I prefer a tight feel on my strings so I dont accidentally bend notes. This guitar has a super heavy tone. I just which it had pickups that could handle the tones. If you are playing country baritone stuff with the guitar than it should work but most people nowadays are going to use this baritone for heavy music and these pickups just dont cut the mustard. With an extended range like this it is very easy to get muddy with normal pickups. with a guitar like this you will want to throw in some high end passive pickups or active pickups. The pickups work well however if you are doing more of a clean tone based country lick style of playing. If you are doing that however you may want to install a push pull coil split circuit for even more low end twang in your tone.

OVERALL OPINION

If you are looking for a good baritone for metal there are better options out there. ESP has a bunch and Ibanez has a bunch of new baritone models in their RGD line. If you are a country player looking for a baritone this is one of the few non metal baritone guitars out there. With the Les Paul design giving so much low end tone already when they make it a baritone it gets a bit too muddy. If you are looking for a baritone guitar for metal I would recommend an ESP or Ibanez model with active pickups. Active pickups do much better in retaining clarity with the lower baritone tunings.

made in the United States (engraved cowboy way behind the head)
rosewood neck 24 frets, medium frets
humbuckers
settings for a classic LP: 2 volumes, 2 tones with the selector microphones at the top (most convenient for my taste the selector at the bottom)
honey burst finish superb: simple and tasteful
comes with a fly-box-specific format, aesthetic, strong and neat

UTILIZATION

typical LP neck thick, perfect for me playing with fingers
it is heavy, but the length of the handle restores the balance: the normal rock LP ever ass, here it is not the case.
access to acute (24th case) without worry.

SOUNDS

depends on the sound of strings and pickups. for microphones, I'm not a fan of them. agree, I think they deliver sound a bit messy, especially the neck pickup (496R), which I replaced with a gibson p94 (a p90, single coil, humbucker format, € 77 in toto, and 30 min of work).
Of the three positions of the selector, three sounds well-typed:
pickup: a bit dirty so aggressive in crunch clash
Two microphones: rich, dug for rhythmic jazz-funk
neck pickup: its fat jazz-blues (with much more depth and presence with p94)
for strings, I find that those mounted home are too light in such a tuning. I've changed for the bella 14-70. It's better to touch, but the sound is a little flat and uneven one string to another. Tuning in C provides better tension. I will edit after a test in 14-72 Ernie Ball strings.
I am very demanding on the sound, so I just Motes. This is normal since it is the guitar of my dreams, so I want the perfect ...

OVERALL OPINION

I for 1 month. I bought it in order to sing in tones below the mid-load. That arch-comfortable when we're tired of tiring in his voice registers a bit too sharp. but I have found other unique advantages:
the implementation in more serious tones gives an original character to the music, the tone and sound
have fun with a looper to turn a bass line, a rhythm and chorusser with the same instrument. it's great for composing or live
in beef with other instruments (especially wind) just a capo to be comfortable in all keys, thanks to the incredible scope of the register of the intrument, which sounds good throughout the race: one can have a good sound with a capo in the 10th box!

It was a thunderbolt in store for ergonomics, perfect handle for my taste, the look of the beast ... So for touch and vision. Ear (most, you will say) it was not that, but after changing the neck pickup, it is close to the ideal I was looking for. It remains to find the right strings.