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Hatsubai « Great craftsmanship »
Published on 07/10/11 at 19:13The 1959 Standard is probably one of the more overlooked standards out there ever since the 1960 came along and solidified the Standard line, but the 1959 is no slouch. In fact, it's nearly the same as the 1960, so I'm not sure why the 1960 got all the credit. The guitar features a mahogany body with a maple top, mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets, trapezoid inlays, pickguard, binding, hard tail bridge, two humbuckers, two volumes, two tones and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
This is pretty much your standard Les Paul that everyone loves, and this thing was dead mint in every way. The finish was flawless, and I didn't notice a single flaw in it, including fine clear coat scratches. The binding on this was dead on, too. The inlay work was as great as ever. The nut itself was cut great, and I didn't experience any tuning issues on this. The fretwork itself was top notch, too. I was able to get some sick low action without any issues, and it still resonated quite nicely.
SOUNDS
The stock pickups in this guitar were decent. They were nice and fat, which I enjoyed. I find myself going for fatter tones lately as I move away from my alder bodied super strats. The bridge pickup, however, wasn't muddy. I was able to get some good clarity going on, and it even delivered a cool clean tone. The neck pickup was decent, but I wish it had more power. I think I'm just too used to the higher output pickups for soloing as I was struggling with certain things such as legato and other techniques like that.
OVERALL OPINION
This is really a standard Les Paul that you've all played before. The difference is that this guitar has better quality control than the other ones out there. I found that these Custom Shop models tend to be some of the best Gibsons that they offer. That goes for both quality and tone. You should have no issues buying used.
UTILIZATION
This is pretty much your standard Les Paul that everyone loves, and this thing was dead mint in every way. The finish was flawless, and I didn't notice a single flaw in it, including fine clear coat scratches. The binding on this was dead on, too. The inlay work was as great as ever. The nut itself was cut great, and I didn't experience any tuning issues on this. The fretwork itself was top notch, too. I was able to get some sick low action without any issues, and it still resonated quite nicely.
SOUNDS
The stock pickups in this guitar were decent. They were nice and fat, which I enjoyed. I find myself going for fatter tones lately as I move away from my alder bodied super strats. The bridge pickup, however, wasn't muddy. I was able to get some good clarity going on, and it even delivered a cool clean tone. The neck pickup was decent, but I wish it had more power. I think I'm just too used to the higher output pickups for soloing as I was struggling with certain things such as legato and other techniques like that.
OVERALL OPINION
This is really a standard Les Paul that you've all played before. The difference is that this guitar has better quality control than the other ones out there. I found that these Custom Shop models tend to be some of the best Gibsons that they offer. That goes for both quality and tone. You should have no issues buying used.