View other reviews for this product:
tjon901 « Old school Les Paul Standard »
Published on 08/10/11 at 07:09The Les Paul Standard is what people imagine when you say Les Paul. This guitar is right in the middle of the Les Paul line and it is a classy work horse. The Traditional line of Standards brings you guitars based off of certain eras. This is supposed to be an earlier Les Paul. This guitar is a more traditional type of Standard. This guitar has mahogany body with a maple top and a lovely Honey Burst finish. The set neck is mahogany and has the beefy 50s profile to it. The fretboard is rosewood with 22 frets. The tuners up top are tonepro Kluson imitation tuners for a more old school look. The bridge is a standard tune-o-matic. The pickups are Classic 57s front and back. The controls are standard Les Paul with a volume and tone for each pickup and a 3 way toggle on the upper horn.
UTILIZATION
You will love playing this guitar if you love playing 50s Gibsons. It feels like a 50s Gibson when you play it. It has the 50s baseball bat profile neck which some people love and some people hate. I have big hands so I can play it but It is pretty uncomfortable for me. The bigger neck does help improve the tone though. This guitar has the PLEK process done on it. With this you put the guitar in a machine and it uses lasers to level the frets. This means when you get the guitar it should be fully setup and ready to go. Since Gibson uses standard frets they will eventually wear and out this setup will go off. Using stainless steel frets would make this perfect initial setup last forever.
SOUNDS
57 Classics are my favorite Gibson pickups. I dont like when they put super hot or ceramic pickups in their guitars because they give a tone that is not what I think of when I think Gibson. When I think Gibson I think warm creamy tones with super msooth overdrive. This is what you get in the 57 Classic. It is pretty much just a modern PAF. There are many PAF reproductions out but this one is from Gibson and I think they know the pickup the best. The 57's have just the right amount of sag in the tone so you can really work the dynamics like you would with a set of real vintage pickups. In the neck position is super smooth and when you throw in some tone knob you can get that sour tone like you have a parked wah on. In the bridge position it has a little more bite and spank to it. With some gain you can get good classic rock tones from the bridge pickup. These pickups can handle more gain than a set of PAF's could. Because of their modern design they retain their composure longer than a set of old pickups could. These pickups help complete the vintage 50s image and tone that this guitar provides.
OVERALL OPINION
The 50s Les Paul Standard is the Holy Grail of guitars. Real examples sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars because people believe they are the best sounding guitar. With the wood and the inconsistancies of 50s guitar production even if you found a real 50s Les Paul Standard there is no promise that it will sound good. With these new models you get all the consistancy in the world with a tone that will fool anyone in a blind fold test. The Classic 57s in this guitar are my favorite Gibson pickups and they provide a real Gibson sound. The finish on this guitar is lovely as well and that is important to a lot of people. If you are looking for a 50s style Les Paul there are many but I think this one combines the best features for the price. You can really go crazy buying 50s style Gibsons nowadays.
UTILIZATION
You will love playing this guitar if you love playing 50s Gibsons. It feels like a 50s Gibson when you play it. It has the 50s baseball bat profile neck which some people love and some people hate. I have big hands so I can play it but It is pretty uncomfortable for me. The bigger neck does help improve the tone though. This guitar has the PLEK process done on it. With this you put the guitar in a machine and it uses lasers to level the frets. This means when you get the guitar it should be fully setup and ready to go. Since Gibson uses standard frets they will eventually wear and out this setup will go off. Using stainless steel frets would make this perfect initial setup last forever.
SOUNDS
57 Classics are my favorite Gibson pickups. I dont like when they put super hot or ceramic pickups in their guitars because they give a tone that is not what I think of when I think Gibson. When I think Gibson I think warm creamy tones with super msooth overdrive. This is what you get in the 57 Classic. It is pretty much just a modern PAF. There are many PAF reproductions out but this one is from Gibson and I think they know the pickup the best. The 57's have just the right amount of sag in the tone so you can really work the dynamics like you would with a set of real vintage pickups. In the neck position is super smooth and when you throw in some tone knob you can get that sour tone like you have a parked wah on. In the bridge position it has a little more bite and spank to it. With some gain you can get good classic rock tones from the bridge pickup. These pickups can handle more gain than a set of PAF's could. Because of their modern design they retain their composure longer than a set of old pickups could. These pickups help complete the vintage 50s image and tone that this guitar provides.
OVERALL OPINION
The 50s Les Paul Standard is the Holy Grail of guitars. Real examples sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars because people believe they are the best sounding guitar. With the wood and the inconsistancies of 50s guitar production even if you found a real 50s Les Paul Standard there is no promise that it will sound good. With these new models you get all the consistancy in the world with a tone that will fool anyone in a blind fold test. The Classic 57s in this guitar are my favorite Gibson pickups and they provide a real Gibson sound. The finish on this guitar is lovely as well and that is important to a lot of people. If you are looking for a 50s style Les Paul there are many but I think this one combines the best features for the price. You can really go crazy buying 50s style Gibsons nowadays.