Gibson Les Paul Studio Plus

I bought this guitar in august of 2003 at Guitar Center in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. The finish is Desert Burst with gold hardware. I first saw it online at musiciansfriend.com But they werent offering the finish i wanted...i called around and Guitar Center was the only place that had one. After a little bit of haggeling with the sales guy i got a deal of $1,100. (the price on the store tag was $1,400.)

This particular finish is absolutely beautiful. If you are looking to buy one you must see it in person pictures do not do it justice. The tone and feel is also unbeleaveable. This guitar is great for any style of music you play.

The only real thing i dont like is the laquer on the neck. It has to be cleaned constantly or it gets slow and sticky. But a great overall guitar. The only other thing that some people might not like is a little heavy, but that is "Gibson."

The quality on this guitar is second to none, and undoubtably Gibson. It has a AAA figured top, vintage tuners, Trapizoid Inlays, and gold hardware.

This is a Great overall guitar but the finish just tops it. The price might be a little high for some people, and many have said "why not just buy the standard?" The standard is a nice guitar but i it was more money that i didnt have at the time, and i liked this more.

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

Local music store - $ 1545.00

This has a lower price than a Les Paul Standard, the other guitar i was considering purchasing. The finish (Desert Burst) is more appealing to me than any of the finishes offered on the Standards. The pickups tend to "cook" a little more than the Standard's pickups, perfect for Jazz or Rock. The tone and volume controls seemed to be a tad more sensitive than the Standard's knobs. The hardware is gold plated which is much more appealing to me than the plain nickel offered on the Standard. The lack of binding actually adds to it's visual flair. And most importantly : INCREDIBLE TONE AND VERSITATLITY.

The painted-on "Gibson" logo on the headstock looks a bit cheap, and the strap buttons are very shoddy (i have replaced them with strap-locks). The black tone and volume knobs are a bit plain.

Despite initial intonation troubles (which is to be expected of any new Gibson Les Pauls), the guitar is very well constructed. Although the gold on the hardware has begun wearing off where i sometimes rest my hand, it is not noticeable. The finish is absolutely incredible, the neck feels great and is quick and a joy to play, and the incredible tones this thing is capable of is worth the price paid alone.

The Les Paul Studio Plus could be described as a great "middle ground" between a Studio and a Standard, but it really stands on its own. It sounds a bit spicier than a Standard, and looks better than any Studio or even any Standard that is available. Overall, i would reccommend playing a Standard before playing a Studio Plus due to slight tonal variances. All in all, an incredible guitar.

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

This piece of Amercan history was purchased through the Intranet. From Lyons Music Since 1975 at 337 Beglis Parkway Sulphur, LA. 70663 I've all ways wanted a Gibson guitar, but they were all ways out of my financial reach! I went to Ask Jeeves.com and typed in Gibson guitars, and found Lyons Music Sice 1975. I been in the market for this Les Paul for about a year, the lowest price in the San Francisco Bay Area was about $1550.00 USD. I Prchased my dearm come ture for the lowest price any where in the USA!I paid the full price of $1157.00 USD for my Gibson Les Pual Studio Plus in Desert Burst with Hard Case and shipping included !!!

Frist of all it's a Gibson! It's made here in Gibson USA, Nashville TN. It an investment, I can all ways sell it for much more then I paid out. Thats more then you could say about a lot of items that one purchases through a life time! Not that I have any intentions of doing so anytime in the near future. From the moment I took her out of the Box, I fell hard in love with my new ax! This guitar is every thing I expected from a name like Gibson and far exceeded my wildest expectations! She sound sweet in the clean settings of my Marshall G 30R CD and in the second channel, she just whales with that familiar Gibson sound! Makes me sound much better then I am! I think I'll call her Singing Bird!

So far I can't find anything that I don't like about this beautiful piece or art!!! She plays well, sounds great, fits the body comfortably and wow, she's just a pleasure to look at!

That's way I want a Gibson in the frist place, I've own a couple of guitars that were made in Asia. The counstruction is never quite right, there's always something unfinished about them. The sound is not quite there. All most like a toy in camparison. Bare in mind not all Asian made guitars fit this criteria, this has been my experiece. The Gibson is made in the USA and is very well constructed. The materials are very good to start with. The hardware looks good sturdy and the gold dosen't look like it"ll fade right away! The wood and flame top are matched very well. The finish product is very impressive to behold.

I am very happy with my purchase of this Gibson Les Paul Studio Plus In Desert Burst! If you really want a Gibson guitar, go out and get one! I feel you won't be disappointed. You'll cherish your Gibson as I do mine.

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

This is pretty much the same as a normal Les Paul, really. The guitar has a mahogany body with a figured maple top, a mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets with trapezoid inlays, tune-o-matic bridge, no pickguard, two humbucker pickups, two volumes, two tones and a three way switch.

UTILIZATION

This guitar is really similar to the normal Les Pauls out there thanks to its figured top. The figured top is pretty top notch, too. The fretwork on the one I played was pretty good. The frets were level, the edges weren't sharp and I could get some nice, low action. That's extremely important to me as frets affect how the guitar plays the most, in my opinion. The nut was cut pretty good on this, too. It didn't bind, and I didn't have any tuning issues like so many of these guitars tend to have. The guitar had some decent weight, and it was fairly resonant too. I think these have a little bit more care put into them than the normal Studios.

SOUNDS

The guitar sounded pretty good. The pickups aren't really my thing, to be honest. The pickups are standard Gibson pickups, but they seem to work for most. The bridge pickup has some nice bite to it, and it has some decent output. I find they lack the character for heavy metal, but they can work for 80s metal. The neck is a bit too bright for me. I like a thick, fat sounding neck tone, and these generally have a bit too much bite for me. However, they're clean sounding, and that works awesome for clean tones.

OVERALL OPINION

These are pretty good guitars if you can find them in good shape. The figured top looks great and the guitar was very resonant. If you ever come across one of these, play one. You might actually prefer it over a regular Standard. Be careful if you buy on eBay as there are tons of fakes out there. Make sure you verify it's a real Gibson.