Gibson Les Paul Studio Faded

Gibson studio guitars are one of those guitars that match the demands of the budgeted musician. Gibson has 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

Detail
Body Material Mahogany, Chambered
Top Material Maple
Body Finish Nitrocellulose
Color Worn Brown
Neck Material Mahogany, Set
Neck Shape '59 Rounded
Scale Length 24-3/4"
Fingerboard Material Rosewood, 12" Radius
Fingerboard Inlay Pearloid Trapezoids
Number of Frets 22
Nut Width 1-11/16""
Bridge/Tailpiece Tune-O-Matic Nashville Tune-O-Matic
Tuners Grover Green Keys
Number of Pickups 2
Neck Pickup Burstbucker Pro Alnico Humbucker
Middle Pickup No Middle Pickup
Bridge Pickup Burstbucker Pro Alnico Humbucker
Controls 2 x Volume, 2 x Tone, 3-way Pickup Toggle
Case Included Gig Bag

SOUNDS

The neck feels good and smooth and like an old glove. This is nice feeling guitars nonetheless. The tone is just not where I would like it to be. It is at a great price so there isn't too much to complain about. What I don't like about he new Gibson Les Paul's are they are chambered. This means they are somewhat hollow on the inside. This cuts down on the girth and raunchiness of the tone in my opinion. I have heard them A/B and I prefer the original style of build to the Gibson Les Paul's.


OVERALL OPINION

At new you can find these for right around $899 or so. That is a good intro price for a Gibson Les Paul guitar. These have a good build quality even though they are chambered. They have a feel and tone that is pretty transparent within the Gibson line of guitars. This is a great rockers guitar for sure.

This guitar is basically considered to be a slightly cheaper alternative to the glossy 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. This one features the very classic '70s looking "Worn Brown" colour, really awesome. It is more satin feeling overall because it's not buffed out to a gloss 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. These Fadeds despite being "cheap" Gibsons still sound every bit as good when turned up as their Standard and Custom model siblings... it's just a matter of cosmetics.

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!

Gibson guitars is one of those companies that is just as iconic as many of the famous artists who have played them. When you think about bands like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, The Who, The Doors, and thousands more you can't help but equate the style and look of a Gibson guitar when you see those bands or hear them on the radio. These guitars have revolutionized rock an roll. They took what Fender build and compounded upon it to create a much better and more practical machine for the new age of distortion and overdrive guitars tones. To get the overdriven guitar tones of the 60's and 70's you could not achieve that with a Fender guitar and their classic single coil pickups.You much fort play it with humbuckers and then you need a heavier thicker body and preferably used mahogany wood as your base body wood.

This is a nice intro to a Gibson Les Paul. This is the lower end of the Les Paul series guitars. They don't feel as solid or have that comfort that a Standard does but the tone is definitely there. It is really hard to mess this up as far as tone goes.

Gibson Les Paul Studio Features:

* Color: Worn Brown
* Top: Carved maple
* Back: Mahogany
* Neck: Mahogany with 1959 rounded profile
* Fingerboard: Rosewood with pearloid trapezoid inlays
* Number of frets: 22
* Pickups: 2 Burstbucker Pro pickups
* Controls: 2 each tone and volume with 3-way pickup selector switch
* Machine heads: Green Keys
* Hardware: Chrome plated
* Gig bag included

UTILIZATION

Detail
Body Material Mahogany, Chambered
Top Material Maple
Body Finish Nitrocellulose
Color Worn Brown
Neck Material Mahogany, Set
Neck Shape '59 Rounded
Scale Length 24-3/4"
Fingerboard Material Rosewood, 12" Radius
Fingerboard Inlay Pearloid Trapezoids
Number of Frets 22
Nut Width 1-11/16""
Bridge/Tailpiece Tune-O-Matic Nashville Tune-O-Matic
Tuners Grover Green Keys
Number of Pickups 2
Neck Pickup Burstbucker Pro Alnico Humbucker
Middle Pickup No Middle Pickup
Bridge Pickup Burstbucker Pro Alnico Humbucker
Controls 2 x Volume, 2 x Tone, 3-way Pickup Toggle
Case Included Gig Bag

SOUNDS

What I don't like about he new Gibson Les Paul's are they are chambered. This means they are somewhat hollow on the inside. This cuts down on the girth and raunchiness of the tone in my opinion. I have heard them A/B and I prefer the original style of build to the Gibson Les Paul's.

The neck feels good and smooth and like an old glove. This is nice feeling guitars nonetheless. The tone is just not where I would like it to be. It is at a great price so there isn't too much to complain about.

OVERALL OPINION

At new these guitars come in right at around $799, which is a great price for a Gibson Les Paul. I would recommend this guitar to someone wanting to get into a good Les Paul and doesn't want to drop $2500+ on a Standard or Custom Les Paul. This is a god intro guitar for someone or even someone who needs more guitar tones to his or her arsenal.

This Gibson Les Paul Studio was made in the USA. It has a worn brown neck and body, both made of mahogany. It has a 22 fret rosewood fingerboard with trapezoid inlays. This Studio came with two Burstbucker Pro pickups, two volume and two tone controls, and a three way toggle switch.

UTILIZATION

Like with most other Les Pauls, access to the higher frets can be a little difficult, but with a little practice it is easy to get accustomed to. Unlike other Les Paul models, the Studio does not have binding on the body which gives it a rounder edge that is more comfortable for resting your arm. The tone of this guitar is round and fat without sounding dull. The tuners are the vintage style Klusons which I have heard some people complain about, but I have never had any issues with my guitar staying in tune.

SOUNDS

I use this guitar with a Peavey Classic 50 2x12 combo. I play all varieties of “rock,” and this guitar fits the bill perfectly. I did not like the Burstbucker pickups when I got the guitar so I replaced them with an EMG 81 in the bridge and an 85 in the neck. Compared to my Les Paul Custom, the Studio lacks some crispness due to the lack of a maple cap and the rosewood fretboard. The Studio does not sound bad by comparison; the tone is just a little rounder.

OVERALL OPINION

My thing that first attracted me to this guitar was how it looks. The natural brown, unfinished body has only one coat of nitrocellulose, so the guitar has hardly any shine, which is fine by me. The flat black EMG’s look excellent against the brown, especially once I removed the shiny, black pick guard. Guitar Center was selling these for $699, which is a great deal for a USA Gibson Les Paul. If I had to, I would definitely buy this guitar again.