Les Paul Studio: A Stripped Down, Rock and Roll Machine
Written: Jul 07 '07 (Updated Sep 22 '07)
Product Rating:
Pros: Great sound and good price, excellent playability
Cons: Still not cheap, lacks the heft of a Standard or Custom
The Bottom Line: The Les Paul Studio offers classic Les Paul tones in a lighter, smaller and more playable body. It's not cheap and lacks the prestige of the Standard models.
I’ve been a Gibson Les Paul fan for years for the obvious reasons: meaty sound, great looks, superb chick appeal. But my fandom has been limited to the Custom and Standard series, i.e., your Everyman Rock and Roll guitar played by genuine All-American He-Men such as Yours Truly. Which has meant that I’ve generally shied away from the Les Paul Studio because, well, it looked like a baby LP designed for guys who were a little short on the usual allotment of testosterone and other essential elements of maleness.
Just for grins, though, when making my bi-weekly tour of the local Guitar Center, I picked up a Studio, figuring to get a few laughs at the salesman’s expense.
I owe Gibson an apology. This is a terrific guitar.
The Studio was introduced in the early 1980s and specifically designed for the needs of the studio guitarist who wanted Les Paul sounds for recording purposes but did not want to pay the full price of a Custom or Standard. Now, this marketing strategy doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, speaking as a Chicago MBA (have to let that drop somehow, it cost me enough), because a professional studio musician is not going to shy away from the expense of buying the right guitar for his livelihood. In other words, the approximately $800 lower cost of a Studio vs. a Custom is meaningless in the scheme of things to the pro player.
But that was Gibson’s strategy, and the result is that the Studio is a somewhat stripped-down Standard. Figuring that the pro studio guy wants sound rather than looks, the Studio eschews the more expensive finish and wood grain of the Standard. More expensive and ornate headstock and fingerboard inlays are missing. The guitar is also lighter and feels a tad smaller. It’s only available in five colors, but the Classic White model I played looked absolutely fabulous.
Gibson doesn’t skimp on the stuff you need, though. The body is the usual mahogany back with carved maple top that help deliver the classic Les Paul overtones and sustain. The mahogany neck is a 59 Les Paul with either a rosewood or ebony fingerboard, depending on the guitar’s color. Scale length is 24 ¾” with twenty-two frets. The single-cutaway offers good access all the way up the neck. The neck feels a little faster than the Les Paul Custom that I own, being a tad thinner. Inlays are trapezoid.
My model had gold hardware that was quite beautifully illuminated by the white finish. It’s really a lovely guitar. The guitar is equipped with a Tune-o-Matic bridge and a stop bar tailpiece. The Green Key tuners are a slight step-down from the Klusons I’m accustomed to seeing.
The electronics are straight-ahead rock and roll Les Paul humbuckers, a 490R in the neck and a 498T in the bridge. As is usual, each pick-up has its own volume and tone controls, located on the lower half of the body. A three-way pick-up selector is on the upper left of the body.
This guitar may be designed for studio work, but I’m only interested in how it performs. And I have to say that I am thoroughly impressed, I mean really impressed to the point at which I am seriously considering buying one of these. First, the two Alnico humbuckers sound terrific. I played this through a Fender Reverb and a Mesa Lone Star and got classic rock tones all down the line, beefy rhythm and some just astounding growl on the leads with only the neck pick up engaged. I mean, I was really blown away: this thing sounded as good as if not better than my much more expensive Custom. It’s great for classic rock tones and has much to offer the modern metal player as well.
Moreover, this guitar feels maybe a pound and half or two pounds lighter than its bigger brother. Consequently, it’s going to be a lot easier on the gigging guitarist, for whom a nine- or ten-pound Custom gets to be a real drag two hours into a performance. The playability is excellent; as I said, the neck is if anything faster than my Custom and the guitar just feels comfortable, not quite as comfortable as a Strat but it’s an excellent practice guitar by comparison to the bulky Standard.
As you can see, I think very highly of this guitar. At $1200, it isn’t cheap but it’s better than the two grand you’ll pay for a Standard. So who should buy this guitar? Given the price, even though some characterize it as an entry-level guitar, the Studio is clearly intended for the more serious and experienced player. It’s designed for the rock/classic rock/metal crowd so country and jazzers are in the wrong place. The real question is, how does this fit into the guitarist’s arsenal? You can buy a quite decent Epiphone Standard or Custom for around $600-$700, depending on the day of the week and the mood of your GC or Sam Ash salesman at a small fall-off in tone and prestige. A Standard or Custom is much more expensive at 2K plus but gives the beefier LP look that the Studio doesn’t quite have and frankly has more chick-appeal.
So you have to decide whether you want the classic LP tones at $1200 while sacrificing the classic LP look. I obviously can’t make that decision for you, but I will reemphasize this: the guitar sounds great and is a pleasure to play. Also, there are a lot of these around, so it’s not going to skyrocket in value, but because it has the Gibson nameplate it will do OK in resale.
BODY
Top Species: Carved maple top
Back Species: Mahogany
NECK
Species: Mahogany
Profile: '59 Les Paul Rounded
Neck Joint Location: 16
FINGERBOARD
Species: Rosewood; Ebony on Classic/Alpine White
Scale Length: 243/4"
Number of Frets: 22
Nut Width: 111/16"
Inlays: Pearloid trapezoid
HARDWARE
Plating Finish: Chrome or Gold
Tailpiece: Stopbar
Bridge: Tune-o-matic
Knobs: Black Speed
Tuners: Green Key
Neck Pickups: 490R Alnico magnet humbucker
Bridge Pickups: 498T Alnico magnet humbucker
Controls: Two volume, two tone, three-way switch
OTHER
Strings: Brite Wires .010-.046
Lefty: * Avaliable Left-handed
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