Gibson Les Paul Studio Premium Plus Natural Wood: Big name, bigger sound
Written: Dec 27 '08 (Updated Dec 27 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Beautiful guitar with great playability and terrific sound
Cons: Slightly heavy
The Bottom Line: If you can find one, I highly recommend this guitar. I'd give it six stars if I could.
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| Gr8ful's Full Review: Gibson Les Paul Studio Premium Plus Natural Wood |
I have been playing guitar now for close to thirty-five years. I have owned many guitars and played many more. Most of the guitars I own are professional quality instruments and a few are closer to garage band quality, but all my life I have wanted to own a Gibson Les Paul. I wanted a high quality Les Paul with exquisite woodwork and impeccable sound but most of all I wanted that Les Paul playability. I used a friends Les Paul Studio thirteen years ago during a recording session and fell in love with the guitar. I have always compromised on most things between cost and quality but there comes a time in a musicians life when you have to decide; am I serious about my music or is it just a hobby?
The Gibson Les Paul Studio Premium Plus
The Gibson Les Paul Studio Premium Plus is a well rounded guitar for many styles and genres. The guitar sports 22 frets on a rosewood fingerboard emboldened with trapezoid shaped mother-of-pearl inlays marking the third, fifth, seventh, ninth, twelfth, fifteenth, seventeenth, nineteenth, and twenty-first fret positions. The top is two pieces of beautifully carved Maple. The back and neck are solid Mahogany. The light Maple and Darker Mahogany contrast each other almost like a cake with icing on top combining to create the unmistakable single cut-away body of the Les Paul. The headstock is Mahogany with a thin Ebony face and golden Gibson logo silkscreened at the top and the word "Studio" silkscreened into the truss rod cover and the famous Les Paul signature in between.
Hardware
The Gibson Les Paul Studio Premium Plus features the 490R and 498T Alnico magnet humbucker pickups. The 490R is used at the neck and the 498T at the bridge. The 490R gives a sound close to the original '57 classic but with increased upper mids. The 490R is designed to accompany the 490T, however the 498T is a "hotter" version of the 490T. The 498T "Hot alnico" delivers a higher output with emphasis on mid-range and highs for a powerful rock pickup.
The guitar features the standard Gibson Green Key tuners which tighten and loosen the strings across a Tune-o-matic bridge and at the other end of the stings is a Stopbar tailpiece. All the plated surfaces are plated in gold with a polished high sheen finish. The two volume knobs and two tone knobs are amber Top Hats.
There is a toggle switch marked "Rhythm" and "Treble". This switches the active pickup back and forth from the neck (490R) to the bridge (498T) pickup. It is a three position switch so you can set it to the middle and use both pickups together. The toggle is covered with a standard white plastic tip.
There is no tremolo (more popularly called a "whammy bar") on the tailpiece but this guitar was designed to not have one. You can install one but that would mean replacing the original hardware and I am not about to do that to this beauty. I have digital effects for that. There are two golden nubs for putting a strap on the guitar. One is next to the base of the neck and the other is right on the butt of the guitar. Both are very solid but I would recommend a strap holder on each one to prevent the unthinkable.
Playability and Sound
The guitar is surprisingly easy to play compared to the Les Paul Studio I played so long ago and even compared to my Gibson Faded SG Special. Both of the previous guitars were a little stiff and took some getting used to but not this baby. I plugged it into my amp and started to play and I found that not only was it not stiff, it is downright intuitive. It just feels right and that makes all the difference in the world to a musician. As far as sound quality, the guitar sounds very similar to my Faded SG Special (it even uses the same neck pickup) but it's the playability that makes the Les Paul so much the better of the two.
The Gibson Les Paul Studio Premium Plus is a heavy guitar. It is nearly as heavy as my Fender Stratocaster and about twice as heavy as my Faded SG Special. Standing on stage for long periods of time may be a little rough on the shoulders with this Les Paul, but that is why I take more than one guitar so I can switch hit, so to speak, and save my back and shoulders. So far I haven't had any problems with the weight and the smaller size of the Les Paul body is definitely a plus.
Case
"Case?" you say with a puzzled look. Yes, case. The guitar came with a beautiful Gibson USA hardshell guitar case. The case is made of wood with black covering material stitched to it. It has four metal latches on the opening side and one on the hinged side. Inside the case is filled with white plush braces made to fit only a Les Paul guitar. My Faded SG Special does not fit in the case, only the Les Paul. The case is solid and extremely well built. You could drop your guitar out of a moving vehicle at 30mph in this case and most likely not have any damage to the instrument (but don't hold me to that and for goodness sake, don't try it on purpose). I looked up the case online and the same case sells for $179.99 at most music stores. I got it with the guitar for free.
Conclusion
The Gibson Les Paul Studio Premium Plus Natural Wood is an absolute beauty of a guitar and worth every penny you pay for it (assuming it isn't more than $2100). I got mine for $1949 from Musiciansfriend.com but don't look there to find one, they are sold out and the guitar has been discontinued. You might find it at Zzounds.com or Amazon.com but Gibson has discontinued several of their Les Paul series including, unfortunately, the Les Paul Studio Premium Plus models. If you can find one, I highly recommend this guitar. I'd give it six stars if I could.
Thanks for reading,
Gr8ful :-)
Recommended:
Yes
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