nayoud
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2002 Gibson Les Paul Studio -This is why I chose it.
After 30 years of debating about buying a Les Paul (Traditional, vs Standard, vs Studio, vs Classic, etc...) I finally received my lightly used 2002 Gibson Les Paul Studio AAA flametop (Yup, I was slow, GASing for one since 1983, but then again I'm more of an acoustic and Strat player). It's either Dark Cherry or Wine Red.
It isn't the Premium plus series because the hardware is chrome, and I asked Gibson and they confirmed that it's a Studio plain and simple. Money was not the deciding factor, although it's always a consideration, but here is why I went down that route:
What I lost by this purchase
1-The pickups: the 57 classic in the Traditional are by far my favorite Gibson pickups. The 490/498 are dark, a bit muddy to my (strat accustomed) ears, especially the neck pup and maybe I'll have to change them... any suggestions here folks? I might swap them for Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz I already have in my Schecter, they're definitely clearer!
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/archive/index.php/t-1012995.html
2-Body thickness: The Studios are thinner, no doubt, than the Standards, Traditionals and the Custom shops. Mine measured 4.5 cm (compared to 4.7 for the Standard).. or around 1.8" compared to 2.0". I don't know if the Maple cap is any thinner than the other models (any info ?) but it seems likely. Sustain and tone will surely be affected, how much of that will be detected by my ears, I honestly don't know! YMMV !!
The guitar weights 8.8 lbs (4 Kgs). Heavy but not 10 lbs (4.5 kgs) either. The downside, is that it's really body heavy compared to Strats, Schecters and the LP chambered models, so you have to balance it with your fretting hand.
The only consolation is that this Studio has a one piece back that is NOT chambered as well as fifties thick one piece neck, so the mass of the guitar will probably help counterbalance the loss in thickness compared to a chambered model for instance.
(http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/gibson-les-pauls/55429-standard-vs-studio-body-thickness.html).
3-The binding: Binding is always nice, especially if you just play at home (beauty becomes an important part). But yet again, I don't have binding on 2 of my high end acoustic guitars either. This was not an issue for me.
4-Tuners: I always liked the green Kluson tuners. So the Grover locking tuners on the Standard were not missed. I already have locking tuners on my strats, they're nice but not a necessity for me.
5-Head stock: It has this yellow decal, not as nice as the acrylic or MOP logo. But then I had a nice eye of Horus TRC put into the guitar. Looks good to me now!
6- Case: It didn't come with the OHSC, it came with an SKB case in relatively good condition (Which might affect resale value from a purists point of view, but not mine).
7- Finish: Probably the guitar has 4-5 layers of Nitro vs 7 layers on the more expensive models.
8- The neck joint: All studios probably have the shorter neck joint. I would have wanted to get the longer neck joint NO DOUBT (for more sustain), this is a major structural difference. These can be found on the 2008 Standard and the historic models. The 2008 Standard had a chambered body (not to my liking) and the historic models were too expensive to buy as a first Les Paul. The new Traditionals and Standards have the same shorter set-in neck joint. So I guess that point evened out within my pool of eligible LP's .
http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/gibson-les-pauls/50210-gibson-les-paul-101-a.html
What I gained by this purchase
1-Condition: A lightly used 2002 weight relived studio, not too light and not too heavy, with very light wear + untarnished hardware + probably medium jumbo frets.
2-Top: A nice AAA flametop.
3-Body: A one piece back.. a big plus for me. The guitar is very acoustically resonant unplugged. I'm surprised given the lack of a hollow sounding chamber like on the ES models or chambering on other Les Pauls!
4-Neck: A one piece neck (red translucent finish... I just have to see the grain on any wood, but that's just me) ... I don't know how long this will continue with Gibson.
5-Fretboard: A one piece closed grained rosewood fret board, not the current laminated 2 piece fret board of the Gibsons of today. They even had a laminated bridge on their high end acoustics up until late 2011. This may not affect tone in any detectable way, but honestly folks, it annoys me!. This was a deciding factor against buying a new Gibson acoustic or a new Traditional because when you pay premium dollars you expect premium materials, even if it costs Gibson more in terms of labor, I just can't get myself to justify it, but that could be only me. This won't pass unnoticed in the acoustic guitar world. In addition, coming from Strats I think I know how a fret board material change can be audibly detectable (from maple, maple with a maple cap, and rosewood), at least IMHO.
I also bought 4 knob pointers, took off the pickguard, installed a custom TRC... and maybe I'll change the pups! .. any maybe I'll install the Seymour Duncan triple shot for the extra out of phase/ parallel/series/ coil splitting tones.. but I'm more old school. I hardly used the coil taps on my Schecter E-1 elite with Seymour Duncan JB/JAZZ anyway.
In the end what really mattered to me in all this Studio vs Traditional vs Standard debate was the body thickness, I would have prefered a thicker body, why ? It just gives me a sense of quality and hopefully more sustain and tone! I'm not certain that I could notice the difference, at least without real time comparison ... anything else was either acceptable to me (no binding, decal etc..) or changeable (pups). The main plus points were definitely the one piece body, the AAA top, the one piece fretboard.
What really took time, was either I buy this guitar or the new 2013 Traditional with no weight relief. The price together with the laminated fret board made the choice easier.
Sorry about the quality of the pic but it gives you an idea how the guitar looks.
Any ideas about the pickups, any comments on the above would be appreciated.
Thanks and have a happy weekend
Next GAS stop : Gibson ES-355
Cheers
After 30 years of debating about buying a Les Paul (Traditional, vs Standard, vs Studio, vs Classic, etc...) I finally received my lightly used 2002 Gibson Les Paul Studio AAA flametop (Yup, I was slow, GASing for one since 1983, but then again I'm more of an acoustic and Strat player). It's either Dark Cherry or Wine Red.
It isn't the Premium plus series because the hardware is chrome, and I asked Gibson and they confirmed that it's a Studio plain and simple. Money was not the deciding factor, although it's always a consideration, but here is why I went down that route:
What I lost by this purchase
1-The pickups: the 57 classic in the Traditional are by far my favorite Gibson pickups. The 490/498 are dark, a bit muddy to my (strat accustomed) ears, especially the neck pup and maybe I'll have to change them... any suggestions here folks? I might swap them for Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz I already have in my Schecter, they're definitely clearer!
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/archive/index.php/t-1012995.html
2-Body thickness: The Studios are thinner, no doubt, than the Standards, Traditionals and the Custom shops. Mine measured 4.5 cm (compared to 4.7 for the Standard).. or around 1.8" compared to 2.0". I don't know if the Maple cap is any thinner than the other models (any info ?) but it seems likely. Sustain and tone will surely be affected, how much of that will be detected by my ears, I honestly don't know! YMMV !!
The guitar weights 8.8 lbs (4 Kgs). Heavy but not 10 lbs (4.5 kgs) either. The downside, is that it's really body heavy compared to Strats, Schecters and the LP chambered models, so you have to balance it with your fretting hand.
The only consolation is that this Studio has a one piece back that is NOT chambered as well as fifties thick one piece neck, so the mass of the guitar will probably help counterbalance the loss in thickness compared to a chambered model for instance.
(http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/gibson-les-pauls/55429-standard-vs-studio-body-thickness.html).
3-The binding: Binding is always nice, especially if you just play at home (beauty becomes an important part). But yet again, I don't have binding on 2 of my high end acoustic guitars either. This was not an issue for me.
4-Tuners: I always liked the green Kluson tuners. So the Grover locking tuners on the Standard were not missed. I already have locking tuners on my strats, they're nice but not a necessity for me.
5-Head stock: It has this yellow decal, not as nice as the acrylic or MOP logo. But then I had a nice eye of Horus TRC put into the guitar. Looks good to me now!
6- Case: It didn't come with the OHSC, it came with an SKB case in relatively good condition (Which might affect resale value from a purists point of view, but not mine).
7- Finish: Probably the guitar has 4-5 layers of Nitro vs 7 layers on the more expensive models.
8- The neck joint: All studios probably have the shorter neck joint. I would have wanted to get the longer neck joint NO DOUBT (for more sustain), this is a major structural difference. These can be found on the 2008 Standard and the historic models. The 2008 Standard had a chambered body (not to my liking) and the historic models were too expensive to buy as a first Les Paul. The new Traditionals and Standards have the same shorter set-in neck joint. So I guess that point evened out within my pool of eligible LP's .
http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/gibson-les-pauls/50210-gibson-les-paul-101-a.html
What I gained by this purchase
1-Condition: A lightly used 2002 weight relived studio, not too light and not too heavy, with very light wear + untarnished hardware + probably medium jumbo frets.
2-Top: A nice AAA flametop.
3-Body: A one piece back.. a big plus for me. The guitar is very acoustically resonant unplugged. I'm surprised given the lack of a hollow sounding chamber like on the ES models or chambering on other Les Pauls!
4-Neck: A one piece neck (red translucent finish... I just have to see the grain on any wood, but that's just me) ... I don't know how long this will continue with Gibson.
5-Fretboard: A one piece closed grained rosewood fret board, not the current laminated 2 piece fret board of the Gibsons of today. They even had a laminated bridge on their high end acoustics up until late 2011. This may not affect tone in any detectable way, but honestly folks, it annoys me!. This was a deciding factor against buying a new Gibson acoustic or a new Traditional because when you pay premium dollars you expect premium materials, even if it costs Gibson more in terms of labor, I just can't get myself to justify it, but that could be only me. This won't pass unnoticed in the acoustic guitar world. In addition, coming from Strats I think I know how a fret board material change can be audibly detectable (from maple, maple with a maple cap, and rosewood), at least IMHO.
I also bought 4 knob pointers, took off the pickguard, installed a custom TRC... and maybe I'll change the pups! .. any maybe I'll install the Seymour Duncan triple shot for the extra out of phase/ parallel/series/ coil splitting tones.. but I'm more old school. I hardly used the coil taps on my Schecter E-1 elite with Seymour Duncan JB/JAZZ anyway.
In the end what really mattered to me in all this Studio vs Traditional vs Standard debate was the body thickness, I would have prefered a thicker body, why ? It just gives me a sense of quality and hopefully more sustain and tone! I'm not certain that I could notice the difference, at least without real time comparison ... anything else was either acceptable to me (no binding, decal etc..) or changeable (pups). The main plus points were definitely the one piece body, the AAA top, the one piece fretboard.
What really took time, was either I buy this guitar or the new 2013 Traditional with no weight relief. The price together with the laminated fret board made the choice easier.
Sorry about the quality of the pic but it gives you an idea how the guitar looks.
Any ideas about the pickups, any comments on the above would be appreciated.
Thanks and have a happy weekend
Next GAS stop : Gibson ES-355
Cheers
