Gibson Les Paul Studio Faded 2011

The Gibson Les Paul Studio Faded was designed as a slightly lower market version of their famed Les Paul Studio model. What it offers differently is that the finish is not shiny and glossy using many buffed out coats of nitro lacquer, but rather it just uses pore filler and a couple of thin coats applied over top of it to provide a thinner "faded" finish. It is more satin in the feel so it is a bit slicker and faster to play and hold in my experience. Often Gibsons feel glossy and sticky after hours of play, but that's not the case with this guitar. It's made in the USA and features a mahogany body and neck with a rosewood fretboard, Kluson tuners, tune-o-matic bridge and stopbar tailpiece, and a pair of Gibson Burstbucker Pro humbuckers. Just stripped down and great.

UTILIZATION

The design of the Les Paul was never one that I'd have considered ergonomic at all, because of it's rather clunky/limited upper fret access, the heavier weight, the single cutaway, and the fact it only has 22 frets. However, this guitar bucks a little bit of that because of the chambered body that it features (something Gibson has started doing as of 2006 to it's LP guitars) as well as the thin finish that makes the feel a bit faster.

Getting a good tone out of this guitar is dead simple. It's an all mahogany plank of wood... turn every control to ten, plug into a good tube Marshall and hit an open A chord and it will sound amazing... the LP into a Marshall is the pinnacle of rock guitar tone.

SOUNDS

I've tried this guitar through many different amps and to me, the solid mahogany construction sings best when plugged into a high gain British voiced amp such as a Marshall or Orange. The Burstbucker Pros take very well to that classic seventies/eighties school of arena rock esque tones and when you give 'em the juice, it is a glorious wonder! I wouldn't say that the sound of this guitar is overly versatile... IE: Cleans were fairly one dimensional to my ears, and I don't really care for the tone of the guitar for anything but raunchy rock flavours.

OVERALL OPINION

All in all I think Gibson's onto a winner with the LP Studio Faded. It's a great guitar for the $850 that it costs and hey, it's a USA made Gibson with good woods, good pickups and that unmistakeable Gibson sound. Though it's not the most versatile rig ever, it certainly sounds rockin' to my ears.

Definitely give one a whirl!

The Faded series Gibsons are some of the cheapest real Gibsons you can get. When I say real I mean a model that isnt a melody maker or some piece of garbage like that. These guitars are real workhorses and the cost cutting is done in a way that doesnt really effect anything important on the guitar. The Faded name reflects the fact that the finish on this guitar technically is not complete. With these guitars Gibson skips the last few stages in the finishing process and sells them with a satin finish. This finish is non glossy and is just a step above bare wood. Some companies will charge more for a finish that looks old like this. With the finish exposed like this it is very easy to get wear marks on the guitar where you play it. Lots of people like this in a guitar finish because it makes it look like they are really into their guitar. This guitar is a basic Les Paul otherwise. It has a chambered mahogany body with a maple top. It has the fat 50s mahogany neck with a 22 fret rosewood fretboard. Stock it has two burstbucker pickups but the example I had was upgraded with Gibson 57 Classic pickups. The controls are standard fare with a tone and volume for each pickup. The bridge is also standard with the tune-o-matic bridge. A full Gibson Les Paul for less than 800 USD.

UTILIZATION

The faded finish is not only cheaper but it helps improve playablity. The semi-finished finish on the guitar is super smooth due to the lack of a glossy coat. This means the back of the neck is smooth and fast and you will need all the help you can get with the fat 50s baseball bat profile. Upper fret access is standard Les Paul: mediocre. You cant really hate on it as it is part of the design and they tried to change it in 61 but people cried too much.

SOUNDS

This guitar has all the same Les Paul sounds that a 3000 dollar Les Paul Custom gets. As I mention this model was slightly upgraded with a set of Classic 57 which are some of the best Gibson pickups out there. They are much better than the Burstbuckers or 498's that you would get in a normal Les Paul Studio. 57 Classics give you the classic PAF tone everyone wants from their Les Paul. There are many PAF imitations but with the 57 Classic you are getting a pickup from the people who know the PAF best. These pickpus in this guitar can do clean and dirty but not too dirty. Being vintage style pickups they are not the best for the heaviest metal and whatnot. If you have a Les Paul Studio you can do yourself a favor by throwing in some nice pickups.

OVERALL OPINION

This is probably the cheapest way to get a real made in America Gibson Les Paul new. Ignore all the melody makers and Les Paul Junior garbage. This is the bare minimum when getting a Gibson Les Paul. Even being the bare minimum you can get great tones from this guitar because it is essentially the same thing as the thousand dollar Les Pauls. It has the wood and the shape and is made in the same factory here in America. Its not that these guitars are great values, it more shows how overpriced most other Les Pauls are. They can build these and sell them for this of course they are making a profit. How much of a profit are they making on the models that cost 3x as much? If you are looking for great Gibson Les Paul tone and dont care that your guitar is not shiny a Faded Studio is really all you need.

This is one of the finest looking Gibson Les Paul's that you can buy. The deep rich looking mahogany wood is just elegant and gorgeous. This is a studio guitar so it will be on the lower end of the Les Paul spectrum, but it is still a workable and very usable good quality guitar. I have known several people that actually play these guitars on a regular basis and not just in the studio. I am not exactly sure why they call it the studio perhaps it is because they are built for studio work. Anyway, this is great sounding and very resonate guitar due to the act that it doesn't have paint on it so the natural wood give s a more earthy and resonate sound.

UTILIZATION


Gibson Les Paul Studio Faded Brown Mahogany Features:

* Carved maple top
* Mahogany body with chambered weight-relief
* Mahogany neck, '50s Rounded Les Paul
* Rosewood fingerboard (Ebony on Alpine white)
* 22 frets
* Corian nut
* Nashville Tune-O-Matic bridge with stopbar
* Chrome or gold hardware
* 490R and 498T Alnico 2 magnet humbucker pickups (BurstBucker Pro on faded finish models)
* 2 volume and 2 tone knobs with black speed knobs, 3-way switch
* Vintage-style 14:1 tuners with perloid buttons
* 24-3/4 scale
* 12" fretboard radius
* 1.695" nut width



SOUNDS

This is a classy guitar! The look alone is just pristine and gorgeous. I am not much of a mahogany wood ind of guy but this is cool looking and great sounding guitar. The pickups I am not a fan of since I have never been a Gibson pickup fan I do not like the standard Gibson and Fender pickups. They just sound terrible to my ears. I always replace my pickups in every guitar I get unless it is a custom piece and it comes with what I want to begin with.

I like this guitar with a Marshall amp of some kind. I like playing any Gibson guitar with a Marshall sty;e voiced amp. There is something that just connects with these two that makes playing that much more fun. The Marshall voicing and the tone of the Gibson Les Paul is just spectacular ad genuinely enjoyable to play.

OVERALL OPINION

At new you can pick these guitars up for right at around $799, which is a steal of price. This is a good sounding guitar and works well with just about any style of music. Not the price of a custom Gibson Les Paul but will get you close to the sound of that custom guitar. I would recommend this guitar to anyone who wants to get into the Gibson Les Paul sound and tone. This is the intro version to get that tone.

Gibson guitars is one of those companies that is just as iconic as many of the famous artists who have played them. They have successfully built guitars that reach to the highest of platform and have been played by the most famous musicians of all time. Gibson guitars have a girth and mystic that is distinctly Gibson. Most of their guitars feature mahogany wood throughout the body and they just have tone that Fender cannot match, not better or worse but just a different feel and tone all together.




UTILIZATION

Gibson Les Paul Studio Faded Cherry Features:

Carved maple top
Mahogany body with chambered weight-relief
Mahogany neck, '50s Rounded Les Paul
Rosewood fingerboard (Ebony on Alpine white)
22 frets
Corian nut
Nashville Tune-O-Matic bridge with stopbar
Chrome or gold hardware
490R and 498T Alnico 2 magnet humbucker pickups (BurstBucker Pro on faded finish models)
2 volume and 2 tone knobs with black speed knobs, 3-way switch
Vintage-style 14:1 tuners with perloid buttons

24-3/4 scale
12" fretboard radius
1.695" nut width



SOUNDS

Gibson did a great job recreating the look of this guitar to match the taste for the classic look of the 60's 70's era Les Paul guitars. This guitar has a great finish on it that the faded look resembles and old worm in guitar.This is great sounding guitar and the modern humbuckers like the alnico magnets and the tuner matic tunings help out with the modern edge to a vintage look.

This guitar will sound absolutely suburb with a Marshall plexi reissue or a Marshall Jcm 800 with a booster pedal out in front of the amp. A Marshall amp and Gibson Les Paul were made for each other. An amp that has a sound like British sound will go quite well with this guitar. There is a chemical bond that unites when those two instruments are pair together. This is one pair not to miss out on.

OVERALL OPINION

At new these guitars come in right at around $799, which is a good intro to the Gibson Les Paul world. This is not a cheap guitar but not the price of a custom Gibson Les Paul and certainly not the price of a VOS Les Paul or a 1959 reissue. Those guitar prices range around $3000-$8000 dependent on the work that is done with it. If you want to upgrade your current guitar or just get a new Gibson Les Paul and don't want to shell out a lot of money then this is the way to go.