Gibson White Electric Guitar For Sale (2024 Update)

I am both surprised and please with this guitar I purchased this guitar at GC Nashville after returning a Gibson Les Paul Classic that I bought online. (lesson learned, don't buy from GC online.) The staff there were great and had no issues with me returning a $2200 guitar that I bought online. Even more supportive in helping me pick out a much less expensive guitar. Great people. This Epiphone is awesome. The fit and finish are great. The action is low and no buzz. The tone is great and It is lighter and easier to handle than the Gibson . The best part is it cost a third of the one I returned. I really wanted a Gibson but I am so glad I picked up this Epiphone. A word of caution. I looked at and played several guitars at GC before choosing this one. I even played a couple of other Epiphone Les Paul Customs. No two were the same. One had razors for frets, one had an action you could drive a truck under and this one was just right. Go in an play them before buying.Mike

This is my second 6 string electric, and I couldn't be HAPPIER with it! My first guitar is an entry level Epiphone SG Special that was a couple hundred bucks back in the day. It got the job done…good frets, good tune, good everything. I recently decided to step it up and get a "mid-range" guitar but still not break the bank with an Epiphone. And I'm not calling Epiphone cheap…they are just more in my price range when compared to Gibsons. Stepping it up is the right description for this guitar!! It is AMAZING! The feel, the tone, the look! It sounds great and feels good in the hands too. I especially love the Silverburst color!! The main reason I wanted this specific guitar. It's Adam Jones from TooL color scheme finish but on an epiphone! They are coming out with his own model of epiphone, but I'm impatient lol. Looks are important to picking out a guitar as much as sound! The inlays on the fretboard look beautiful. The pick guard and finish are beautiful, the trim/binding around the guitar… this guitar has reignited my passion for playing! As of this writing, I have no complaints! Excellent guitar!Matt

I purchased this guitar because a Les Paul was missing from my gear arsenal and I didn't want to drop three grand on a Gibson. I played a wall model at a local GC store and decided to buy, but requested a factory new model sent to me, because the wall model I played had some nicks in the fretboard, a sketchy 3 way switch and had worn strings and the intonation was way off above the 14th fret. I paid for next day air shipping to expedite the process because I tend to want the things I pay for fairly quickly. The shipping tag originated from the same city I live in, meaning they had a factory new either in the warehouse or at the neighboring store about 20 miles away. So I essentially paid 42$ for expedited shipping and could had likely gotten it same day if I asked the right questions I suppose. Shame on me. The next business day my guitar is delivered to my residence, I open it and immediately inspected it for possible shipping damage or factory flaws. It arrives with a broken 3 way switch, all strings tuned nearly 2 steps flat and also needed to make a truss rod adjustment to straighten the neck. Completely unacceptable that these issues left both the factory and GC's "quality control" in the condition it did. Luckily I work at a local small box music store and worked with our own luthier after hours to set it up and correct the problems. All that said, this guitar is absolutely fantastic. It plays and sounds very good and even though the stock pickups aren't top tier, they are excellent performers at a very reasonable price point. Monster value in this guitar. If you can acquire one some where other than Guitar Center, do it. If you do purchase from guitar center, make absolutely certain to have it looked at by a professional before accepting it. 5 stars for the guitar and it's value. 1 star for guitar centers lack of QC shipping items.Dan

I'm a collector and player of the unique and unusual of the big brand and some off brand stuff. Never been a huge Gibby fan, even though in a classic rock guy. The flying v crescent moon is wonderful though, and has a vibe and feel all its own. When you think that legends from Hendrix to king played them, and had a style all they're own, the V just has its own place in the guitar world. I swapped the hot ceramic Gibby pups for some Seymour Duncan's with chrome covers, as I wanted a more dressed look and blues warmth from this lightweight but oh so solid beast. I did the graphitec saddles as well, again for a warm vibe. The result is amazing, period. I'll put her against anything from anybody in tone, weight, style, playability and feel. Even before the mods, still best of the best. All welds perfect, fret work perfect, finish accomplished the look of a vintage road warrior. Nickle hardware, true Ebony fretboard, feels like one gorgeous piece of mahogany in your arms as the neck and body are so perfectly set together.golfn64

This guitar sounds so good, it's hard to say if it's the wood or pickups. Who cares? It sounds good. Good tone and sustain. I look forward to playing it. Tuning is easy, playing it is comfortable. It has the original good looks that the Flying V was made with. I have heard people with Gibsons say that they with the knobs were like on my V. They also liked the placement of the jack. Which, I want to say, are 2 solid reasons I wanted this guitar. The Through-the=body stop and the jack at the end of the wing tip. Very nice.David

Gibson Flying V. Antique natural. Low action and great playability from factory. Awesome fretboard even though multiple tool marks around fret ends. Good access. Pickups sound good clean and can get hot enough for metal with a boost. Nice grain in wood. Couple small sand marks under nitro. Neck feels great. Giving it 4 stars for cosmetic issues but played so well did not send it back or even pursue price reduction. Case is very nice. AMS great as always. Killer payment plans and fast shipping.Todd

I'm a collector and player of the unique and unusual of the big brand and some off brand stuff. Never been a huge Gibby fan, even though in a classic rock guy. The flying v crescent moon is wonderful though, and has a vibe and feel all its own. When you think that legends from Hendrix to king played them, and had a style all they're own, the V just has its own place in the guitar world. I swapped the hot ceramic Gibby pups for some Seymour Duncan's with chrome covers, as I wanted a more dressed look and blues warmth from this lightweight but oh so solid beast. I did the graphitec saddles as well, again for a warm vibe. The result is amazing, period. I'll put her against anything from anybody in tone, weight, style, playability and feel. Even before the mods, still best of the best. All welds perfect, fret work perfect, finish accomplished the look of a vintage road warrior. Nickle hardware, true Ebony fretboard, feels like one gorgeous piece of mahogany in your arms as the neck and body are so perfectly set together.golfn64

This guitar sounds so good, it's hard to say if it's the wood or pickups. Who cares? It sounds good. Good tone and sustain. I look forward to playing it. Tuning is easy, playing it is comfortable. It has the original good looks that the Flying V was made with. I have heard people with Gibsons say that they with the knobs were like on my V. They also liked the placement of the jack. Which, I want to say, are 2 solid reasons I wanted this guitar. The Through-the=body stop and the jack at the end of the wing tip. Very nice.David

Gibson Flying V. Antique natural. Low action and great playability from factory. Awesome fretboard even though multiple tool marks around fret ends. Good access. Pickups sound good clean and can get hot enough for metal with a boost. Nice grain in wood. Couple small sand marks under nitro. Neck feels great. Giving it 4 stars for cosmetic issues but played so well did not send it back or even pursue price reduction. Case is very nice. AMS great as always. Killer payment plans and fast shipping.Todd

First of all, why I waited so long to add a Les Paul to the collection is beyond me. This thing is so comfortable to play, between the weight balance and the neck feel. I mostly play slim taper as I've smaller hands, but theres just something about this 50s neck. The feel is something I'd describe as substantial, like you're not just playing something that's super light and borderline weightless, but instead an extension of yourself. The range on the P90s is absolutely bonkers. The lows actually give you some great clarity, while the higher you go, the more it pushes and begins to punch. The neck pickup (and middle position as well) sound wonderfully warm and comfortable, especially through my Orange TH30. I do not understand why I waited so long to get my first Les Paul, and I can safely say this guitar will not leave my side for a long long time. Bonus points for how quick this shipped…ordered on a Friday, delivered on a Saturday! Freaking fast, and faster than I anticipated, but not complaining at all. Thank you so much AMS for helping me be the rock star I know I am!Matt

So I have several guitars and have come to enjoy the sound of p 90 pickups. Wow. This thing does not disappoint. The quality of build is outstanding. The Tv yellow is beautiful. Being mostly a Fender player, I was very unsure of the neck size. Wow, I actually love it. Being a bit older, this guitar neck is actually a little easier for me to dig into. The frets are amazing. I can do thinks on this neck that I can no longer do on my thinner necked guitars. It's an awesome guitar. I never owned a Gibson but wow.. the Case itself is worth the purchase. Holy moly every guitar should automatically come with a case like this. Awesome purchase.Dorje Champa

This guitar has an amazing vibe to it. The P90s are awesome. They have that midrange snarl that we all know and love. The 50s neck is very chunky, but in a good way. The feel of this guitar literally throws be back in time to the 50s. Combine that with the retro look and the classic TV yellow finish, it just makes me want to jam to some good old school rock and roll. Being a couple pounds lighter than my Standard, I can play this one all night without any shoulder issues. There is so much to love about the look and feel, but let's not overlook that fact that this is a tone monster! I will definitely be using it in some upcoming recordings. That being said, there are some not so awesome issues that need to be mentioned. A very minor issue is the intonation. All the strings were slightly sharp at the 12th fret. This was even across all the strings, so it has nothing to do with the wrap around bridge. This could have been set properly before leaving the factory with a small turn of the set screws in the bridge. No biggie though. A couple minutes with a screwdriver and a tuner and I have that issue fixed. The bigger issue is the condition of the binding and the fretboard. It looks to me like they were both damaged by the Plek machine during the factory setup. There are compression dings in both, the binding and fretboard. There is also a section that looks like a file carved into the fretboard. There is a similar compression ding in the binding right behind the nut. If that wasn't enough, the binding on the low E side is uneven and looks like a groove is carved into it lengthwise. You can see these in the attached photos. I don't know how these defects made it past quality control. If I was doing the final setup at the factory I would have flagged this one as a factory second. I guess the rumors about the improved quality at Gibson is a matter of the luck of the draw, because the fit and finish in the areas I mentioned are quite poor on mine. Yes, these flaws are cosmetic and won't affect the playability in any way, but I still expect better from Gibson. I guess some things will never change over there and this is what we have to expect if we want their name on the headstock. I give this guitar an A+ for tone and feel, a D for quality control and defects. All things considered it gets an overall C+. At the end of the day it is still a keeper because I love playing it, defects and all.Mike

Bought this to complete my Skynyrd sound and it screams. Finish is great I run this through a late 80's Peavey Triumph and a Marshall JCM800 no extra effects. This guitar is awesome! My current favorite Guitar! Still need to Strat or Tele for the King or Gains Sound but man this thing is versatile! Set up was ready to go right out of the box! I have humidity issues so I have had to adjust the neck but that is pretty common for my area and the mahogany necks!Stanley

Just got my Lzzy in this past week and it plays as good as it looks. Slim profile neck is fantastic for lead work and the pickups sound ballsy and are more than well-suited for hard rock and metal. The guitar is a bit heavier than other Explorers I own but the sound produced is well worth it. I highly recommend this and give it a 5 stars for not only its looks but everything else about it!RT

Bought one of these a couple years ago. Fit and finish was ok, but static popping when touching pick guard and strings. The volume pot for bridge pickup goes silent when pushed at 10. Poor shielding on these guitars. I spent over 150 resolving the issue rather than letting it languish with Gibson.Timothy

I rarely buy new, but this was worth it. Unbelievably light (just over 7 pounds) and incredibly resonant. The entirely thing noticeably vibrates with each strum. Love the gloss nitro, gives the body and neck a sleek feel. Very good fretwork. BB2/BB3 combo in this guitar is perhaps my favorite HB combo thus far for rock tones, and I have been through many of the biggest mass-market pickups. Very versatile. What's also really impressive is that this is as comfortable as any guitar I've owned so far, out of dozens. It's surprisingly…ergonomic? Really, don't knock an Explorer before you try it. Also, it looks killer if you're into that mid-century modern thing. It's a little pricey for what it is, but if you play an awesome one and can foot the bill, I say go for it. Only bad thing I'd note is that the jack plate is mounted off-center. Not terribly so, but noticeable. It's baffling, the rest of the guitar is all aces, but this looks like someone eyeballed it when the drilled it. The guitar as a whole is so good that I'm not going to go into a whole Gibson quality rant, but it is really weird that something like that slides by. A close friend has a '19 Standard with the same issue. I also have a TV Yellow Special with some really minor finish issues along the bottom of the neck binding. Again, nobody will see it, but if you're dropping thousands of $$$…your mileage may vary. It will be up to you whether to overlook it. Be sure to give it your "55 point inspection."Bam Bam Gordy

This is my first Gibson guitar purchase. I waited over 5 months for this guitar to arrive. I've had it for a few days now and I'm trying to process how this guitar passed Gibson Quality Assurance. The guitar for the most part sounds amazing, plays pretty good, despite action being higher than I expected. However, the reason for the low rating is craftsmanship is poor, the finish on the back of the guitar is different than what's advertised, and I didn't get the case it was supposed to come with. The fretboard has glue stains all over it, which I know is something that can be cleaned up. But what's most disturbing are the dents on the fretboard and these two hole punches on the 11th fret. I don't even think Epiphones are this bad. The top looks amazing otherwise and the guitar sounds great. I've made inquiries to Musicians Friend, twice. I was promised to receive a call from someone in the Private Reserve department or a supervisor. No one has called back. So I took matters into my own hands and called Gibson. They told me to email photos and they would make an exception to cover shipping costs back to them(thank you, Gibson!). However after I emailed Gibson, I never heard anything back and I'm not sure how they're going to fix the holes on the fretboard. This doesn't seem like something that's fixable. For spending this kind of money, I expected so much better from both parties. If I wanted a used Gibson with a mismatched case, I would've bought one for much less. It's very disturbing nobody from Musicians Friend is taking this matter seriously given the amount of money I've spent on this guitar. Anyone considering purchasing any instrument from Musicians Friend, especially one that is high end, I strongly suggest shopping elsewhere. They don't stand by the products they sell. I'm still holding out hope Gibson is gonna take care of this issue and make this right. Thank you, Musicians Friend for being my "friend" and advocating for me. (sarcasm)gofarkid

Overall: In a word: ******* amazing. No matter the price, you would think a guitar sitting in a warehouse for any length of time would need a setup. Not with this Wine Red Les Paul Custom! The only caveat is it was completely out of tune (to be expected); a little "nut sauce" and it was good as gold. And that lacquer smell still haunts my house! Well worth it…Mere words are not enough to describe the sound and the power with this guitar. It blows away my 2014 Traditional (a nice guitar in its own right); it is not even a comparison. The neck is so much easier to play. Fit and finish are flawless. In closing: save your money, eat Ramen noodles for a year if you must, wear your hole-in-the-crotch jeans for as long as necessary and BUY THIS GUITAR!Jeff

Now that I'm in my 60's, jumping around on the stage with a 10lb Les Paul is no longer an option. I'd never even consider an SG, but it was so lightweigh I thought I'd give it a try. OMG why did I wait so long? This thing is a Rock 'n Roll time machine! Besides being incredibly lightweight and resonant, it sound amazing. And due to the double cut and neck joint construction, it's soo easy to play all the way to the 22nd fret. The wide slim taper neck is incredibly fast… and its light weight means no neck dive. I should have picked one of these up years ago!Steve

Yes, this guitar is 100% worth it. I wanted to wait a full year of owning the guitar to write this so that I'd be certain. There's too much good to write about this SG to be honest so to summarize I can't even call this guitar a rock and machine id call it a musical weapon. It sounds absolutely phenomenal which for me was the most important part. I'm used to strats which id been playing the last 18 or so in terms of playability, it def plays different but it plays really nicely. It has a lot more pop and feels stiffer. The finishing and everything else is top quality as well. Guitar is beautiful. Not only does the guitar sound awesome with literally any type of gain, but the cleans are extremely nice sounding as well. This guitar is the real deal, I waited a long time to pull the trigger on this thing and it was 1000% the right decision.Pd

If you're buying and enjoying an SG you're probably aware it's a unique and quirky instrument. The body is very light despite being all mahogany and it does suffer the classic neck dive and tuning stability issues common with Gibson guitars. But these are aspects of the guitar more than negatives in my opinion. It's a classic shape. It's very light weight and plays easily. If you don't like the Les Paul because of its chunky neck and thick neck pocket you may be pleasantly surprised by the thinner neck and upper fret access of the SG! It tends to be a darker sounding guitar with it's all mahogany body and neck with rosewood board and classic nickel fret wire. But I'm nit picking here. You only need listen to Angus Young's classic tones to hear how this guitar can cut thru a mix with the right amp. The medium jumbo frets and shorter scale length are great for easy bends. With volume and tone controls for each pickup you get a lot of control over the sound of the guitar. If tuning stability is an issue try pencil graphite or Nut Sauce to lube the well cut (usually well cut) nut. Gibson is unfortunately known for let's say less than perfect fit and finish on their instruments. You will probably see imperfections in the paint job and finish if you look closely enough. That's just par for the course with Gibson. But I'm a Gibson fan. They make instruments that don't sound like anything else and the SG is one of those iconic rock and roll machines! I highly recommend it!Donnie

2 disclaimers: I got this 5 days ago. I've had an Jackson RR tattoo for years. She's a looker… never thought I'd get a purple guitar but the purple quilt w/ gold hardware and white binding is gorgeous and I love how the reverse headstock has the color and quilting too. It plays fast as F. You'll wanna shred on it. It makes me wanna play Crazy Train, Holy Wars and the like but it may make you wanna play stuff that's way above my skill level and you can! Never had a Floyd Rose before but tuning it up wasn't too bad out the box (and it's super fun!); we'll see what happens when a string snaps. The frets and unlacquered back are smooth so it's easy to do fun slides and bendy things! The sustain is pretty good thanks to the mahogany body and the thru neck and it just feels solid. I've read this is heavy compared to other V's but it's the lightest of my 3 electrics and it feels quality and well balanced – there's no neck dive. I love that it comes installed with Dunlop button strap locks which I've had to purchase & install previously on my other 2 electrics. The pickups sound great with distortion and I haven't/am never going to play this w/o distortion so who cares about clean but I will say comparatively it doesn't sound as good as the EMG's on my EC-1000. There are some QC issues: There's fret buzz on the low E, some purple paint smudges on a small part of the white binding and the blending of the paint in some areas (which you generally never look at) could be better. I didn't have any of these issues on my (similarly priced) LTD EC-1000 and (my much cheaper) Ibanez AR-325 so these are pretty disappointing. Bottom line: I haven't put it down yet. It's fun to play and my other guitars currently feel unloved. If you like metal or you've always wanted a V this shape you should get it. I'm going 4/5 stars for the QC issues which are super disappointing but well reported on Indonesian Jacksons. Let's be honest – this purchase is mostly about speed and style. It sounds great and it delivers both of those in spades.Rishav

Paint job is just ok, but not great. It has a cheap quality to it, but looks good from a little distance. Matte is a hard paint job to be fair, and this is entry level, but still, this is a review. Pickup colors don't match at all. I bought black plastic pickup covers, which made it look a lot better fairly affordably. The plastics of the backplate, the humbucker rings, and the pick guard are super cheap and kinda bent, maybe from heat? Once again, entry level, but still, I've bought guitars at this price point without these kinds of issues. The Jackson version of Floyd Rose seems pretty ok considering. I've never had a Floyd rose that stayed in tune for very long, so this seems to be about right. The pickups sound very aggressive and bright, which was surprising. There is a loose wire that I had to tape down because of it hits the right spot, it cuts off the pickups (maybe a ground wire? Everything works still) The high string is a little too close to the edge of the edge of the neck for my liking, but I think that's just a personal preference. The body and neck seem solid, the neck is left unfinished, which I usually prefer, though this neck is like completely unfinished, so I'll probably need to get some sort of wood treatment for it. The fret inlays are great at this price point (not dots) and the frets don't have any burrs, which is a good thing for your fingers. The outline of the neck in white is also a classy touch, and the headstock is beautiful. Overall, it's an ok guitar. I would maybe get a different finish, and wouldn't expect it to be the greatest guitar ever, but it has a personality to it and is still a Randy Rhodes. Plays fairly well, definitely shredable. Accessing the 24th fret is a little bit of a reach, but that's ok. If I were Jackson (fender), I'd raise the price $20 and put decent plastics on it because it really does cheapen the guitar overall. I'll probably replace those parts myself over time, but I really shouldn't have to.Zachary

Great guitar. I have several gibsons, some nicer Ibanez, and some of the upper end of the epiphone guitars. This guitar worried me before it arrived if it would have a loss of sustain or if it would sound thin due to the thinner body. It doesn’t. Full sound, great pickups, stays in tune perfectly and no neck dive. I’ve played the Gibson custom shop Frampton guitar, Custom shop Bonamassa standard, several other standards etc.. To me, this is more comfortable and I prefer the pickups here to the others. My favorite guitar and I would definitely recommend to anyone. I do wish it came in more colors, I’d buy a couple more if it did.David

I tried to be a Gibson hater for so long, but this guitar really converted me. I’ve always loved the look of Les Pauls but never like the thickness or weight of them (I’ve owned an Epiphone Les Paul which gave me the general body size to expect, at least). Also having a shoulder injury which makes heavy guitars basically a no-go, this ended up being an all-encompassing package for a perfect Les Paul. The weight of mine must be in the lower 8 lb, high 7 lb range (I haven’t gotten to put it on a scale yet, but it feels similar to my guitars that weigh in at those numbers). The thin body feels amazing and doesn’t push my forearm out as much as the traditional thickness of my Epi LP. I was also expecting some neck dive issues, but I don’t experience that with this one. I’m so glad they do the slim taper neck on these as it’s got to be the perfect neck shape, in my opinion. It fills the hand wonderfully yet doesn’t cause my hand to cramp and fatigue like way thicker or way thinner necks. The guitar played pretty amazingly out of the box. I did have to do a slight truss rod adjustment, but the provided Gibson tool makes any adjustments on this guitar a breeze. The 57 Classic +/57 Classic pickups are amazing too. Just the right amount of output with tons of articulation. I needed to back the neck pickup off a tad as it was a bit louder than the bridge right out of the box. Now it’s super even in volume between the selections and it can get so many tones just with the simple 3 way and volume/tone controls. Only real gripe I have about the guitar is that the nut isn’t cut too well for the low E string. It definitely will stay in the slot, but it maybe only has about the bottom 1/3rd of the string resting in it, and it tends to be the highest action of the strings at the lower frets. The guitar still plays like butter and I’m super happy I took a shot with this one. I also don’t have any of the typical tuning woes that most Gibsons seem to be plagued with, so I know the nut is cut pretty well, for the most part. I definitely can see myself playing more Gibsons in the future now, and I’ve already been GASing for some SGs. If they all come out of the box like this, I have no issue buying more whenever the money comes around. I hope they continue with the Lite series as well, because this guitar really gives me the best of both worlds with classic looks and comfortable playability.Ryan

First of all, why I waited so long to add a Les Paul to the collection is beyond me. This thing is so comfortable to play, between the weight balance and the neck feel. I mostly play slim taper as I've smaller hands, but theres just something about this 50s neck. The feel is something I'd describe as substantial, like you're not just playing something that's super light and borderline weightless, but instead an extension of yourself. The range on the P90s is absolutely bonkers. The lows actually give you some great clarity, while the higher you go, the more it pushes and begins to punch. The neck pickup (and middle position as well) sound wonderfully warm and comfortable, especially through my Orange TH30. I do not understand why I waited so long to get my first Les Paul, and I can safely say this guitar will not leave my side for a long long time. Bonus points for how quick this shipped…ordered on a Friday, delivered on a Saturday! Freaking fast, and faster than I anticipated, but not complaining at all. Thank you so much AMS for helping me be the rock star I know I am!Matt

So I have several guitars and have come to enjoy the sound of p 90 pickups. Wow. This thing does not disappoint. The quality of build is outstanding. The Tv yellow is beautiful. Being mostly a Fender player, I was very unsure of the neck size. Wow, I actually love it. Being a bit older, this guitar neck is actually a little easier for me to dig into. The frets are amazing. I can do thinks on this neck that I can no longer do on my thinner necked guitars. It's an awesome guitar. I never owned a Gibson but wow.. the Case itself is worth the purchase. Holy moly every guitar should automatically come with a case like this. Awesome purchase.Dorje Champa

This guitar has an amazing vibe to it. The P90s are awesome. They have that midrange snarl that we all know and love. The 50s neck is very chunky, but in a good way. The feel of this guitar literally throws be back in time to the 50s. Combine that with the retro look and the classic TV yellow finish, it just makes me want to jam to some good old school rock and roll. Being a couple pounds lighter than my Standard, I can play this one all night without any shoulder issues. There is so much to love about the look and feel, but let's not overlook that fact that this is a tone monster! I will definitely be using it in some upcoming recordings. That being said, there are some not so awesome issues that need to be mentioned. A very minor issue is the intonation. All the strings were slightly sharp at the 12th fret. This was even across all the strings, so it has nothing to do with the wrap around bridge. This could have been set properly before leaving the factory with a small turn of the set screws in the bridge. No biggie though. A couple minutes with a screwdriver and a tuner and I have that issue fixed. The bigger issue is the condition of the binding and the fretboard. It looks to me like they were both damaged by the Plek machine during the factory setup. There are compression dings in both, the binding and fretboard. There is also a section that looks like a file carved into the fretboard. There is a similar compression ding in the binding right behind the nut. If that wasn't enough, the binding on the low E side is uneven and looks like a groove is carved into it lengthwise. You can see these in the attached photos. I don't know how these defects made it past quality control. If I was doing the final setup at the factory I would have flagged this one as a factory second. I guess the rumors about the improved quality at Gibson is a matter of the luck of the draw, because the fit and finish in the areas I mentioned are quite poor on mine. Yes, these flaws are cosmetic and won't affect the playability in any way, but I still expect better from Gibson. I guess some things will never change over there and this is what we have to expect if we want their name on the headstock. I give this guitar an A+ for tone and feel, a D for quality control and defects. All things considered it gets an overall C+. At the end of the day it is still a keeper because I love playing it, defects and all.Mike

Overall: I live in a large city and it is still impossible to find a Gibson 335 that plays and sounds great, has no issues or questionable history and comes with a price tag lower than a new one to justify the gamble. As a result, I decided to pull the trigger on a new one and went for the figured, not so much for the flame but for the lower weight and select wood, knowing both my back would thank me and that the guitar would probably be a bit more open and resonant. Block inlays are certainly nice and that may have helped sway my decision too. The 335 arrived with an impeccable setup, right out of the box from the factory. In my 35 years of playing, I’ve never had this happen. I’ve heard of it happening but never to me. I always have to tweak the truss rod to straighten the neck a bit, adjust the bridge action, widen the nut slots and intimate the guitar. Every time. The only adjustment I’ve had to make is lower the pickups a bit for balance, that’s it! Plays like an absolute dream. Here is why you want this guitar rather than a used one—. the neck. None of that weird pencil thin 335 necks from the past or those horrible and slow baseball bat necks… this is perfect. I don’t know what Gibson is doing in Nashville now, but they are making these guitars better than they ever have. Having always been a fan of Classic ‘57 pickups, I read about these T Type pickups being bright. It is true that they are bright, however it works so well in this guitar. Roll back the tone knobs for the mellower and darker sounds, especially when in the neck position for a classic straight-ahead jazz sound, or rolled back in the bridge to fatten up rhythms…but the thing is, roll the tone up for that beautiful bite and thunk in single line solos. I have had bright guitars in the past and there is nothing you can do for them. No matter the pickups or amp, it remains bright and pingy. This is not a bright guitar and has such a beautifully balanced and mellow acoustic voice, the pickups suit it well and I will not replace them. Is it an insane amount of money? Yes. It is. In 10 years when I have blown through $4K many times over and have nothing to show for it, will I still have this 335? Yes. I will. It’s an investment and zZounds makes it possible for someone like me to have something nice. This is an absolutely breathtaking guitar. In playability, sound, and appearance—Gibson is on top of their game these days and I think the future will look back at this era as their new golden age.Michael

Upon opening the case, the case was hard to open, like it didn't fit top cover to bottom cover. The guitar smells of cheap carnauba wax (if you wax your own car you know there are great waxes that smell good) this is not the great smell of the past Gibson guitars I have purchased in the past. There was a light haze to the guitar like the wax was dried but not wiped off completely. The was not common of years pasts Gibson's. Its a very light weight guitar. Nice to hold and even sitting with it to play does not dig into the underarm like a thick acoustic does over time. The ice tea version does look great front to back. I can't tell if it's AAA but its very nice. The head stock look s like it wasn't cut symmetrically compared to the other side or sanded to much. The neck is nice and thick and wider top to bottom which I like for fitting all my fingers on the 1-5 frets for chords. Their is a lot of fret buzz on the G string throughout the range of the neck, It looks like the G string is higher than all the other strings in an attempt to reduce the buzz. I thought these were machine prepped ?? I can most likely (hopefully)make some adjustments for this. The frets feel thinner than my Les Paul's. Not sure if I like this but I can get used to it. The sound on a clean channel is great. I really like the sound. The volume knobs have no volume from 0 – almost 2, they don't change the volume a lot from 3-7, from 8-10 is almost all the volume change. I have never had this experience before. The tone knobs actually lowers the volume from 1-3 which I thought is also strange. I have no experience with a ES model so maybe this is normal. If it is, then I am not sure I would have purchased. I don't regret the purchase but I was expecting perfection for this price.Just Me

I love 335 but played several that I found meh. Preferred the Heritage H-535 I bought to most Gibbies I tried. Until I played that one at my local GC store. Was immediately captivated with the tone. Went back several times, and took the plunge despite the sticker shock. At home, in my amp it sounded even better than in the shop. Absolutely wonderful guitar, that feels and sounds as good and sometimes even better than vintage 60s 335 I tried or owned. I am in love! But what a price tag…Gibson CS is becoming unattainable fast.Stéphane

Overall: I've been a guitarist since the late 80's, but I no longer play professionally, but I do play at home a lot. I've sold off most of my Gibsons (I held on to my '19 Les Paul Traditional) and I'm having a blast with these new Epi models. Everyone is raving about the Standard and the '59 models, and rightfully so. I own both, as well as a new Custom Silverburst and they're all great. This Classic is no exception. It actually arrived needing the least amount of setup work of all the others. The Alnico Classic Pros are brighter and a bit hotter than the Probuckers, but they're not at all harsh. The electronics work as expected, the neck pickup sounds sweet when split and the Phase feature sounds good with some moderate gain. The nut was cut extremely well and the frets don't need really much dressing. The neck is a little slimmer than what I'm used to, but it's easy adapting. The fretboard is a bit dry, but that's normal. Actually, these new Epiphone models all arrived in better condition than most of my Gibsons did in the past. The new Epiphone models are players guitars. Not wall art or collector's (cork sniffers) guitars, I wouldn't hesitate to take any of them to a gig and have fun with them. That's the whole point, right? I just wish they had made import guitars of this quality when I first started playing.Uriah

Out of the box and tuned, this guitar was completely unplayable with the neck so bent that pressing the strings at anywhere beyond the 8th fret fouled the frets higher up the neck, this also meant the action (measured at the 12th fret) was over 6mm. Fortunately I’ve a good understanding of how to set-up a guitar so adjusted the neck to have minimal relief with the truss rod – as a point of interest there was no truss rod allen key in the box, so just as well that I have my own tools. Once the action was set to my preferred settings (and by no means not as low as many like it) I had loads of fret buzz all over the place. So resetting the neck flat and using a ‘fret rocker’ I found 17 of the 22 frets (at various points across the neck) in need of remedial work to get them level. However as the guitar was new I decided initially to just add a bit more neck relief & set the action a shade higher, while I decided if I should just send it back or spending some hours sorting the frets in the near future? There are some positive points! I really liked the ‘worn’ (satin) finish although I feel there should have been a higher discount over the gloss finished versions as this must have saved loads of time during the finishing process. The Alnico Classic PRO pickups sound powerful with loads of variation between the neck and bridge and support coil-splitting. With the coils split option, with push/pull volume pots, there is (as expected) a significant drop in output but they do sound good, verging on P90 territory, rather than Strat/Tele sound ‘alikes’. One of the areas that lower cost guitars usually fail on is the quality of the tuners, here they have fitted Grover Rotomatics with an 18:1 ratio. They are smooth and easy to operate with the large kidney button heads, holding tune very well. The nut, a Graph Tech, was superbly cut, but unfortunately this was completely wasted with the poor quality of fret levelling from the factory as several of the strings would buzz when played open when set at a reasonably low action! The trapezoid neck inlays are very well fitted and although acrylic, do a very good impersonation of mother of pearl. Visually the guitar look stunning with its unusual colour and matt (worn) finish, but I do find the inclusion of gold knobs a bit of a clash with the all Nickel hardware and at the back cream control plate covers just don’t look right and should have been black. But both of these last two issues are a really cheap to resolve at about £12 for both black cover plates and 4 clear knobs. Overall both positives & negatives to consider and if I’d been unable to adjust the guitar myself, there would have been no option but to just send it back for a refund/replacement (hence 3 stars which I think is quite generous) as it is I’ll be keeping this. If I could have bought this locally it would have been great to try before I bought, but my local Epiphone dealer (90 mile round trip) didn’t have any in stock and was unlikely to get one, so I went the mail order route. The guitar is now playing well and will be even better when I get the time to sort out the frets and put a set of 9-42 gauge strings on.Paul

This guitar is absolutely stunning. At about $450 the Epiphone Les Paul Special certainly hits its price point without question. This is the 2nd time I bought this guitar, but I couldn't resist buying this again. I'll start with the cons first, that I noticed applied to both Special's I've owned.. The poly finish is thick. The combination of the "tv yellow" color and the thick polyurethane sort of gives a toy like feeling, or a bit of a cheapness to it.. Speaking of "tv yellow," it's really more of a Dijon mustard/ Carmel color. I don't think that's a bad thing or ugly by any means, but as other reviewers may have stated, the Epiphone isn't quite as accurate to its high end counterpart. The pickup routes and control cavity were also a little bit choppy, but that's just nit picking. If you buy this guitar, you will most likely need a setup. 2nd time around, I knew that going in but both guitars I bought needed set ups. That being said, this guitar is awesome. Surprisingly the laurel fingerboard was really smooth and moist. I do not sense bad or tall frets, but are scratchy at first. The P90 pros are so good. The CTS pots are so dynamic. The volume and tone sweeps combined with these P90 pros are so dynamic and touch sensitive, that they can hang with the best of em. The guitar resonates so well and plays both clean and crunchy top notch. Punchy and warm…Absolute quality electronics. I haven't found a bad tone in any position. If your used to playing your guitars with everything at 10, this guitar with inspire you to play around with all the tonal possibilities by simply rolling in & out your pots. The neck on this is fat, and so nice but not absurd. I highly recommend it. For the price, you can't go wrong and will love the tones, just plan on getting a setup and you will absolutely love this guitar.Zac F

Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhkkkkk The new Standard 60s that I received was was being waited for like a scene in a movie when parents are waiting for a stork to bless them with a bundle of joy. Well the stork for me was gruff lookin FedEx driver that was delivering my new Gibson Les Paul Standard 60s. After it was delivered I placed it gently before me and began to unwrap the newest member of the family. So, you know those movies when you expect to see elation on the face of the actor after they open something up but instead it turns to the face of horror, well, that was me. As I opened up the the lid of the case I saw bits of gold flakes and plastic. It was the volume knob that had been smashed. I then looked at the case and the bottom of the case appeared to be damaged. After pulling picking up the pieces and placing them in a bag i played the LP and it was amazing but had obviously been knocked around too much for me to keep. It was tough though, the low end on this guitar was hypnotizing and the highs were like blissful chimes that rang clean yet without shrillness. The weight is amazing and the thus the sustain is like the Energizer Bunny. Anyway, I called AMS, they offered a replacement but I wouldn't be able to choose the serial number for the replacement, so I would have no idea what it looked like; I want to choose what guitar I am buying. So now I have a prepaid return shipping label in my email and a trip to the "stork" in my future. It's very unfortunate that this guitar was not packaged better because it is an amazing sounding guitar. I am buying another one.Mike

Overall: I've had 4 other gibsons and this one is the prettiest of them all. The color, how it fades from a dark red, to bright red then amber. The flame is just right on both sides. It has nearly every different kind of flame in certain spots but consistently has horizontal flame from top to bottom. It's a killer top. It's set up well but the action does need to be lowered and some relief put on the neck but overall not bad. The slim 60s neck is very nice. Its not chunky but not thin either, its right in the sweet spot. It sounds amazing, alnico Vs are hotter than a firecracker. Now the cons- It had about a 4 inch surface scratch on the top where your right arm rests when I inspected it after opening the case. The Grover tuners are nice and keep it in tune but I wish this exact guitar was offered with Kluson deluxe tuners. I prefer the green tulip look. Then there's the graph tech nut. I wish it had a bone nut but ill take care of that later. All in all it's a keeper, for life. Thank yoy zZoundsRyan

I've had the guitar for a couple weeks now and it's been the main guitar I've played during that time and it's incredibly hard to put down. The neck is thin but not too thin. It's a good medium profile. This is also one of the lightest Les Pauls I've ever played. The guitar is extremely resonate and loud acoustically. This could just be luck of the draw finding this specific Les Paul, because I've played a few 60's standards and not all of them were like this one. This one was definitely the best one I tried of this model. I have yet to gig with it yet, but I can't wait to. I've tried it in Standard, Eb Standard, Drop D, and Drop C# and it sounded and reacted great in all four tunings with little need for adjustments. The only con I've found is occasionally the higher strings seem to choke out slightly, but that should be easily remedied with some minor adjustments, and they don't choke out enough to really hurt playability.Eric

I had a chance to play one of the 80th Lucille's at a music store that my friend worked at. It is one of the most beautiful Gibson guitars I have ever seen and played. What a great tribute to a great musician.mechman45

Ich habe mir dieses Gibson Model bei Kirstein gekauft, weil neben dem Koffer ein Gurt, ein Einstellwerkzeug und ein Reinigungstuch dabei waren. Am Anfang wollte ich mir eine günstige Gitarre kaufen, da aber in den Foren manche Musiker nicht mit den Pickups zufrieden waren, entschied ich mich für eine Gibson. Die Tonabnehmer zu wechseln lohnt sich nicht wirklich, besonders wenn man den Wiederverkaufswert berücksichtigt. Bei einem Preis von 1100€ bekommt man eine Gitarre die klanglich mit den weitaus teureren Modellen mithalten kann. An der Gitarre selber konnte ich keine Mängel feststellen. Einziger Punkt war das ich die Oktavreinheit ein- stellen musste. Vom Klang her bekommt das was man erwartet eine Gibson Les Paul.Karl-Heinz

Sehr fein gearbeitete Gitarre mit sehr schönem und breitem Soundspektrum, auch den Response mag ich sehr. Entäuscht bin ich von der Stimmstabilität, nach ein paar Minuten bespielen ist schnell einmal eine Neustimmung notwendig. Da sind meine Gitarren mit Tremoloblock selbst bei intensiver Verwendung stabiler, hier würde ich von der Preislage her und dem prestigeträchtigen Namen mehr erwarten deswegen gibt es nur 3 von 5 …Sigurd

A really nice guitar. It looks good with its translucent red finish and it plays well too. The first thing I did was change the supplied Gibson .010 strings for a set of .009 Ernie Ball super slinkies and this bid cause a bit of a buzz on the bottom E, but a minor adjustment to the bridge cured that. This has resulted in the easiest guitar to play that I have ever used. There is plenty of tonal variation available and the coil taps double your options.davladd-9

Bought one of these a couple years ago. Fit and finish was ok, but static popping when touching pick guard and strings. The volume pot for bridge pickup goes silent when pushed at 10. Poor shielding on these guitars. I spent over 150 resolving the issue rather than letting it languish with Gibson.Timothy

I rarely buy new, but this was worth it. Unbelievably light (just over 7 pounds) and incredibly resonant. The entirely thing noticeably vibrates with each strum. Love the gloss nitro, gives the body and neck a sleek feel. Very good fretwork. BB2/BB3 combo in this guitar is perhaps my favorite HB combo thus far for rock tones, and I have been through many of the biggest mass-market pickups. Very versatile. What's also really impressive is that this is as comfortable as any guitar I've owned so far, out of dozens. It's surprisingly…ergonomic? Really, don't knock an Explorer before you try it. Also, it looks killer if you're into that mid-century modern thing. It's a little pricey for what it is, but if you play an awesome one and can foot the bill, I say go for it. Only bad thing I'd note is that the jack plate is mounted off-center. Not terribly so, but noticeable. It's baffling, the rest of the guitar is all aces, but this looks like someone eyeballed it when the drilled it. The guitar as a whole is so good that I'm not going to go into a whole Gibson quality rant, but it is really weird that something like that slides by. A close friend has a '19 Standard with the same issue. I also have a TV Yellow Special with some really minor finish issues along the bottom of the neck binding. Again, nobody will see it, but if you're dropping thousands of $$$…your mileage may vary. It will be up to you whether to overlook it. Be sure to give it your "55 point inspection."Bam Bam Gordy

Exceptional SG Les Paul Custom. Beautiful finish in oxblood, all gold hardware including maestro vibrato. Even the Gibson headstock inlay is in gold. Superb sound. And as soon as I get the frets shaved down flat to 20/1000 it will be a true Les Paul Custom "Fretless Wonder."Mark-Alan

Received the 2016 Gibson Les Paul Studio HP in fine order just as every guitar I have received as a gift from my wife or purchased myself has arrived. Musician's Friend has never disappointed. First the Bad News: The guitar and case are impressive in appearance at first glance, but after a couple of hours of playing, it soon became very apparent the G-Force Tuning system leaves a bit to be desired. I use a lot of heavy bending and heavy gauge strings. The system often struggled finding proper pitch and it searched unsuccessfully sometimes and ultimately settled for out of pitch tuning. It might be a good system in theory (jury's still out), but in practice, not there yet. This was most frustrating while trying to record tracks and trying to keep ideas flowing. Further the volume and tone knobs were all crooked and wobbled when rotated, they were all set at different elevations (height) from the body of the guitar and the volume knobs would fall off when using the push/pull coil splitting feature. I picked the knobs up off the floor almost every time I used them and I found this most disappointing from a manufacture like Gibson. I returned the guitar two days after receiving it, again thank you Musicians Friend your customer service, it has been stellar in my numerous purchases and this was the first guitar I have returned. Second the Good News: I loved the coil splitting feature, this in combination with the 490R and 498T pickups created an abundance of tonal capability. The guitar played fast and smooth, nice neck, like the added width and the reach to the upper frets. Paint job was flawless and the Granadillo fingerboard played very fast and comfortable. Ditch the G-Force system and afford better quality control on the volume and tone knob fit and installation and you will have a player willing to try Gibson again sometime in the near future.Stratocasterplusplayer

Just received a brand new 2016 Gibson Les Paul Studio HP from Musicians Friend. Beautiful, plays wonderful, sounds great. Other than the g-force tuners, which worked good after I initially tuned it manually, this is a spectacular guitar for an amazing price. Thank you. The finish is excellent, nothing wrong, setup was perfect, pickups sound great, case is a piece of art and weighs as much as a marshall stack. Pretty sure I could run over it with my car and it would be fine. Great deal, great guitar, happy player.T-Bone

Exactly as described in documentation, When GForce is turned off, tuning keys are infinately and ultra finely manually adjustable. So there's no issue if you don't like it.Ripper

Horrible! This is such a wasted effort by GIBSON to even produce this guitar. I went through three units from MF and each unit had substantial faults. I bought a Blackberry, Pellham Blue and a Faded Pellham Blue unit. #1: Paint blemishes………..each unit had light and dark rough areas from poor paint work. There was impressions in the paint from being handled prior to curing. #2: Body routing………..was not consistent and very uneven around the entire perimeter. #3: Low output pickups……….The DS-C pickups measured just 7.25ohm across all three units I had. The bridge and neck pups are the same. They are stamped GIBSON on the underside but have a paper sticker displaying a different model number for each. They are exactly the same! #4: Improper pickup sizing……….the pups are designed as a one size fits all method which means they all measure exactly 48mm's pole spacing, yet the bridge spacing is 52mm's. This does not allow for correct string oscillation (and poor alignment). #5: Poor tuners………the tuners are 14-1 ratio and do not hold tuning well. I tried down tuning and they still had to be retuned after several minutes. #6: Cheap Head-stock design………it's a piece of plastic laminated to the wood (had poor routing on the edges). The truss rod cover is painted logo, not embossed. #7: Broken components……….one of the units came with a defective 3-way switch and another had screws falling out of the pick guard plastic. How does that get past QC Gibson? #8: Fret boards were unfinished………one unit had sanding dust still one it and another looked as though it was never finished out. It was as rough as an old rustic barn wall. The frets weren't dressed properly either. #9: Improper balance……..neck dives because GIBSON routed out TOO MUCH of the body cavity for the electronics. Hint to GIBSON = Less is More. #10: High action………could not be resolved. #11: Cheap metal components. GET THE PICTURE FOLKS?Speedforhire

Where to start. Loved this axe right off the wall. Great acoustic qualities. Easy on the shoulder with very good strap balance. 3 days later realized it needed some upgrades to truly live up to the Gibson logo on the headstock. I use a '65 Blackface Deluxe at low volumes, no pedals, and let the gear do their thing… This Bird fell short of what I expect. After a set of Gotoh nickle tuners, lightening bar bridge w/lags & studs, DR Pure Blues 11s, nickle covered P94 (neck), nickle covered 498 (bridge), CTS 300K linear pots, .002 Panasonic poly film cap as a treble bleed, .022 Orange Drop 100v cap for tone, vintage shielded wiring, Schaller mushroom head strap buttons, fret ends groomed, enlarge the side markers, shellac soak & buff the fret board, wet sand & buff the satin neck finish, wet sand & buff that stupid looking gloss from the body finish, Top hat knobs with pointers… This axe has the look & snap you'd expect from a neck thru Bird. Very sweet voice. Solid & stable on stage. I still want to knock some height & put a shoulder only crown on the frets. I'll put an amber toner on the neck at the same time. That can wait until a bit more of a break-in period. Still have less then 750. in it & it sounds, looks & plays like a million. How great a deal is that?Joe

I've read a LOT of negative reviews about these guitars.. fortunately, I decided to try it for myself. The ONLY way you will not enjoy this guitar is if you are expecting an expensive customshop instrument. There are obviously differences between a customshop guitar and a budget model, but NONE of the things I've read about these are accurate. It's a well constructed American made guitar.. quartersawn maple neck, poplar body, rosewood fingerboard. The bridge adjusts and intonates perfectly, the electronics and pickups work well and sound decent. There are NO corners cut on these guitars.. they are designed to be inexpensive to meet a price point and do this perfectly. If you are expecting a vintage holy grail instrument with all of the bells and whistles you will be disappointed (and probably aren't very clever). If you are expecting a decent instrument on a budget, you will be very pleasantly surprised.. I have MANY Gibsons that run the gammut from vintage to customshop reissues to floyd rose equipped Les Paul Axcess and I am very satisfied with this guitar. I recommend treating yourself and buying one, they are a joy to play.the realist