Gibson Les Paul Classic

Having lusted after a Les Paul ever since i started playing, a new found financial freedom allowed me to finally relegate my Epiphone from its stand to its case. i went for the classic because i prefer the tone of its p'ups to the standards and i love the vintage aged vibe. the fact that it is roughly 200 pounds cheaper only sweetened the deal! i paid 1150 pounds for it at Peter Cooks Guitar World in Hanwell just outside of London. This included a beautiful Gibson case plus a load of Gibson stuff (polish, strap leads etc.)

Through my Marshall combo it delivers classic Les Paul tone every time. further to this, a wide range of tones can be conjured easily, this guitar is in no way a one trick pony. i have the treble p'up set with tone on 8, volume 10, and the rhythm p'up has volume 6.5 and tone on 7. this results in lead sounds pushing the amp into creamy overdrive and cleaning up nicely with the neck p'up for rhythm. middle position has both p'ups live and provides a very useful middle ground.
the look and vibe of the guitar are pure gibson and this instrument just oozes quality. the nitro-cellulose finish is just stunning!

i cannot fault my gibson! i am happy with the look, sound, construction and the price!

built to a very high standard, we all know that gibsons will last for a lifetime and only continue to sound better and better.

If u are in the market for a Les Paul, dont hesitate. If u are in the market for a quality guitar which is ideally suited to blues/ rock styles, but is also very versatile, then look no further.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The Classic was a guitar that was made to help give the higher gain players something to play. The pickups in this are higher output than the normal Gibson pickups (same ones found in the Explorer), and the neck is also thinner to help for those shred lines. The guitar features a mahogany body with a maple top, a mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets, block inlays, binding, tune-o-matic bridge, two humbuckers, two volumes, two tones and a three way switch.

UTILIZATION

The guitar was pretty good overall. The fretwork on this was pretty solid. The ends were nicely round, and the binding nibs were in great shape. The frets could have been leveled a bit more, but it wasn't anything too bad. The guitar was just the right weight. These guitars are weight relived, but they're not chambered (assuming you get one at the correct point in time). People confuse the two all the time, and they're not the same. Gibson has been weight relieving guitars since the 80s, so it's hardly anything new. I find that it doesn't really affect tone that much, either.

SOUNDS

The pickups in this are pretty good. The bridge pickup is a 500T, and it works great for metal. It's a high output ceramic magnet pickup, and it really crushes with a metal amp like a boosted 5150 or Recto. You can get some of the best rhythm tones ever heard with this pickup. Normally, I'd complain about dynamics, but the 500T is pretty good when you turn it down, too. It's not the best, but it's better than, say, EMGs. The neck pickup was a bit too bright for me, and I had to keep the tone knob turned down all the time. One thing I would recommend is replacing the pots with high quality 500k pots to make sure the pickups are seeing the correct load. I believe these come stock with 300k pots, but I'm not entirely sure.

OVERALL OPINION

These are probably some of my favorite "bang for your buck" Gibsons. You can get these at a great price used, and they're generally pretty good. The inlays look hideous, but aside from that, the guitars are some very solid players. I recommend looking into them if you're searching for your first real Gibson, although some will disagree with me.

This was the first Gibson I ever personally owned. It's no different from the Standard other than it has some aged inlays and the 500T/496R pickups. Everything else about this is basically the same. For some reason, people tend to avoid these guitars and go for the Standards. They claim that the Standards are higher quality, but I'm not sure I believe that.

UTILIZATION

I quickly found out that I'm not a fan of the Gibson feel. After playing strats all my life, the Les Paul felt really foreign. It was very back heavy and a pain to sit down and play with. The neck was always sticky on my guitar, even after treatments of 0000 steel wool. The frets also weren't perfectly level, so achieving the action I wanted was nearly impossible. However, I played one in the store, and it was much better. Because of that, I'm not giving it too hard of a hit on utilization.

SOUNDS

The 500T is a really ripping pickup, and it sounds great in the bridge. The 496R is too bright for my tastes, but that can be easily fixed. The biggest problem is that I think these guitars have 300k pots. It's like the volume doesn't go up enough or something. Once you replace the pots, the guitar really seems to come alive. Clean tones are decent, mid gain tones are good and distorted tones sound really crushing with the Classic. The fact that it came with 300k pots makes me rate it down a bit. I mean, that's just ridiculous. These guitars should come with 500k pots.

OVERALL OPINION

If you can't afford the Traditional, I recommend checking out the Classic. It's a bit more geared towards metal heads given the 500T pickup, and it tends to go for a bit less than the Standard. It's hard to recommend the current Standards given that they're now chambered. The Classic is weight relieved (just like all Gibsons since the 80s), but it still weighed a ton and sounded huge. If weigh tis a problem, you might want to look to an ESP Eclipse, but it won't sound the same.

Gibby Gibby Gibby. Made in the USA. Goldtop. 22 frets, Tune-o-matic bridge, "aged" (greenish) inlays, 2 volume, 2 tone controls...60's slim taper neck (SWEET). 500T bridge and 496R pickups...
This is the classic Les Paul look. Perhaps one would prefer mother of pearl inlays...maybe Grover tuners instead of the old Kluson style... but this is still a Les Paul...through and through.

I made the following modifications to my guitar... PRS Dragon ll pickups..with push-pull coil taps and a Gotoh aluminum bridge...and Graph tech string saver saddles to replace the G,B,E strings....But..I DO remember what it sounded like stock...so...I will base this upon the original incarnation of this guitar. This is a legend. Has to get at least a 9 for "Icon" status..

UTILIZATION

Great neck. Built for speed. Maybe not as fast as an oiled maple neck Ibanez or Music Man..but ready to rip. Compared to some of the sculpted heel set or bolt on necks (great modern innovations, for sure) and neck thru body guiars, the access to the highest frets may be a struggle.. especially if you have small hands.. The heel is definitely a dovetail joint with a bulky heel...You still have access, but it certainly does not compete with the modern engineering we guitarists enjoy today. this is a guitar yo play for the vibe. Ergonomics? Who cares. It is a Les Paul. Classic rock sounds. Anything from Les Paul.. Jimmy Page.. Gary Moore.. Zakk Wylde. Especially with the hot ceramics the classics carry.

SOUNDS

Suits my style. This guitar... can really play anything except for quacky funk. Fat jazz, blues,rock,heavy rock.. metal. All of it.
I use this with a Boss GT8...Voodoo Labs Preamp... Digitech GSP 2101..VHT Pitbull 50/12 2-12 combo.. the list goes on. Right now I mostly run it thru the Voodoo Labs Preamp with a Carvin T100, and 2 1-12" cabs with Eminence Cannabis Rex speakers.. sounds sweet.
When I had this with the original pickups, I was running it into V30 cabs and thru my Digitech preamp... this was a bit shrill... but the original pickups through Greenbacks or some other smooth toned speaker would be great. Sounded super thru the P50's in my VHT combo. Nice and fat. The Bridge pickup(500T) is very very high gain. Easily overdriven.. but not too opaque clean... kind of an oddity really...the neck pickup (496R) is fat, fat fat. Really a wonderful high gain rhythm pickup. Yngwie runs with lots of gain are no problem here. Just bring ability. You will be rewarded with fat,clear tone. Favorite sounds? Hmmm.. it had lots of great tones. Blues are yummy... heavy rock.. super for heavy rhythms.. with smoother speakers, very good for lead lines. I have had a constant struggle walking the line in the search for "my" tone...always looking for a mixture of Eric Johnson and Randy Rhoads.. lol.. Good luck, right?

OVERALL OPINION

Had this guitar for 7 years...2001 model. Love the vibe.. feel.. look. Nothing I truly dislike about it. Have tried and owned many, many guitars.. nothing but a Les Paul is a Les Paul. You don't need to try anything else to know you want one.Value... ha ha ha. These guitars are not a "value" per se... Unfortunately, there is the status symbol element to buying one. So.. there are technically better guitars for less than half the price. But..they are timeless instruments for a reason.
Would I make the same choice... hmmm. Let's put it this way... I will always own at least one Les Paul while I can afford it.