All user reviews for the Gibson Les Paul Custom Pro

The Gibson Les Paul Custom Pro is a Guitar Center exclusive. The Custom pro's name may be a tad misleading to some. The guitar has more in common with a standard, aesthetically, than your typical Les Paul Custom. No binding or diamons inlay on the headstock, no ebony fingerboard, no triple binding at all. The guitar instead features a variety of unique color options, some solid and some displaying highly figured flame maple tops. The hardware all cream and nickel. The Custom Pro features burst bucker 2 and 3 pickups, coil tapping, a phase selection, as well as a built in kill switch.

UTILIZATION

The features of the Custom Pro's electronics are really the highlight of it's design. The coil tap function is very good in this model, the single coil sounds more than passable. The push/pull phase switch i found little use for. The guitar's playability was top notch, the neck profile feeling very nice in the hands. The pickups allowed for a lot of clarity in strumming open chords at high gain levels. Tuning stability was strong for a Les Paul. Going between several alternate arrangements the Custom Pro only fell out of tune a few times.

SOUNDS

I played the Custom Pro through a Mesa Boogie Stiletto Deuce Stage II head. Mesa 4x12 cab. No pedals.

As stated, the coil tap features allowed for very convincing single coil tones. The guitar sounded wonderful through a naturally bright amp like the Stiletto. Cleans chimed nicely with a bell-like quality to plucked sounds. The sustain from the guitar coupled with it's highly elastic playing feel made it a lead guitarist's dream. Single note passages screamed with added gain and double stops bloomed with rich harmonics.

OVERALL OPINION

The Custom Pro's feature set was later included into the 2012 Les Paul Standard line. The only difference being the kill switch having been replaced with a bypass switch to boost the power of the bridge pickup. That said, is the Custom Pro worth nearly a grand more than the 2012 Standard? considering that each color is limited to 50 guitars, the sense in the price point comes mostly in exclusivity. The unique colors and the collectibility makes the Custom Pro a killer player's guitar and a solid investment as well.