Les Paul Guitar Build For Sale (2024 Update)

Overall: First thing I have to say is when I opened it I went over it with a fine tooth comb because I've heard so many nightmare stories about Gibson quality control over the past decade. My guitar was impeccable. Not a single issue whatsoever, as it should be for what they cost now. This guitar comes with the 490r and 490t pickups. These are fine if you play blues, jazz, or classic rock. If you want to play hard rock or metal you may want to look into replacement pickups. The 490r is very warm and thick. It sounds great for clean arpeggios and overdriven soloing, but it can sound downright muddy playing chords with any overdrive on it. Even with the pickup heights adjusted it was a little louder than the 490t bridge pickup. Now the 490t doesn't sound too bad. It's a pretty clear, but doesn't have a whole lot of output. Stick an overdrive in front of a dirty amp and it will sing, but it won't have the compressed singing quality on it's own. That can be good or bad depending on what you need. I played around with them for a couple weeks before deciding to replace them with Seymour Duncans (JB and Jazz). The Jazz has a lot more clarity in the neck than the 490r and it still has warmth to it. The JB just sings and still cleans up with the volume knob despite being high output. They're the go to aftermarket pickups as far as I'm concerned. If it had shipped with a 498t in the bridge I might not have been so quick to swap the pickups out. I love the fact that this has a maple neck. Maple is a lot sturdier than mahogany plus the Les Paul Customs in the 70s had maple necks. That's really the main reason I jumped for this rather than a Studio. No it doesn't have the binding like the Classic, Traditional, or Standard LPs, but I'm used to the no frills construction of my faded SG. It doesn't bother me. It has a simple beauty to it. My guitar is the tobacco burst and I really like how the neck, top, and back all have different colors. You get what you pay for, but it's not as good a value as it was a couple years ago. Replace the 490t with a 498t and drop the price (yeah right) back down a bit and I'd give it a 5/5. As it is it is a solid 4/5. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one if you're in the market for a Les Paul.

Not much to say about a GLP – its an amazing guitar as you'd expect and anyone can carry it and comparably price instruments. However, it's the Sweetwater service that makes the difference. Grant is great and super responsive to my questions and issues. You can tell that the people who work here play and love music. I completely trust Sweetwater with my musical instruments. I just purchased my second guitar with them yesterday and the process was fantastic. At this point, I'm only going to buy here. Even if I found an instrument at a cheaper price through one of their competitors, it wouldn't be worth the care and service you get at Sweetwater. 5-Stars guys! Customer 4-Life!

So it arrived today! it came in a very nice branded MusicStore box with a short checklist of things done before packing. This is nice as makes me confident the purchase was made with premium supplier. The standard Gibson outfit package is really cool. There's a branded soft gig bag with nice fluffy interior, a bag strap, a cloth, few marketing leaflets, and, a photo of the guitar that was made in the factory. Very cool. Value wise, its fantastic. The guitar out of the box looks great. it feels and looks premium, although it is a distant and poor relative when standing next to LP's Reissues or some other top-shelf models. Visually, its a different line. The guitar was pretty much setup to play from the box (thanks musicstore team), which was a nice surprise too. Unplugged, there is more than enough sustain, vibe and articulation details. This instrument sounds very much like pricier Les Pauls, even with no power. The neck is nice and fast with medium jumbos, allowing to play pretty much everything you want. Once plugged in to 90s JCM 800 set, it did deliver pretty much everything the more expensive Gibsons' do. There's sustain, articulation, the 'gurl' of Gibson. Studio workhorse, worth every penny. Which was a bit of surprise as the Studios' are slightly lighter in body construction. Some complain about finish quality, but i have not observed anything limiting playability yet. As mentioned before: if you place it next to a top-shelf Les Paul, you WILL see a difference. You will see dozens of differences in finish and quality as these instrumets are different. But, to me, its a great guitar, and I would reccomend that to anyone looking for Gibson sounding instrument for relatively moderate price. LP Studio is probably the cheapest and easiest way to get real Gibson sound for "OK" money. I have one comment to MusicStore team regarding the purchase process: It would be nice to allow customer to change payment option in case of problems with the one initially chosen.

When you want a Les Paul you’ll want a real Les Paul so that’s a Gibson and not a single cut guitar by any onther manufacturer that has its looks changed because it may not look like a Gibson Les Paul. Furthermore: the Gibson Les Paul since its inception in the ‘50’s has always been and will be THE benchmark. Period. This Gibson Les Paul Classic is a gorgeous, great guitar and very competetively priced too. For your tone you really do not need an AAA flame top; many of the best sounding ‘vintage’ Les Pauls are plaintops. And when you do not want one of the ‘burst’ versions that just do not quite meet the looks of the old ones, this Translucent Red is the way to go.. you’ll be buying a guitar that reminisces of George Harrison’s ‘Lucy’ and Dicky Betts’s ‘Redtop’ without having to fork out Custom Shop money. You’ll also get 4 push-pull pots that effectively give you all the inspiring tonal options (including the ‘Peter Green’ out of phase tone) you’d find in a Custom Shop Jimmy Page # 2 (read the spec sheets) but again without having to pay the Custom Shop Price. Between 1990 and 2008 there was also a ‘Les Paul Classic’ too but the ‘Classic’ version on sale these days has little to do with that previous ‘Classic 1960’. The Burstbucker pick ups are supposed to adhere to the specifications Seth Lover intended and that Gibson was applying to the 1961 P.A.F. / Patent Number Pickups. And indeed the Burstbuckers are clear, brilliant, a bit ‘bright’ and not ‘woolly’ or ‘fatty’. More a bit like the P90 ‘without hum’ it was designed to be but then a little more powerful, without the screaming harshness of some ceramic pickups Gibson used in the past. The Grover tuners – although I prefer the looks of the Kluson keystones – are also ‘60’s-modifications’ and I must say they have a wonderfull ‘solid’ mechanically feeling action. The crown inlays in the fretboard are a perfect fit (unlike some others where gaps were obvioulsy filled up with glue or something) and the fret bindings have been finished properly (in the past I’ve seen that done less scrupulously..). The Classic also sports the ‘modern’ larger strap holders so it is not imperative to fit straplock systems right away… Any drawbacks? Some people might scare back at the weight: it comes in at 4.25 kilo’s and the Slim Taper neck profile (also a ‘60’s’ characteristic) has to be your thing. Minor detail: upon arrival the fretboard was very dry but all it needed was some luscious application of Axe Wax and now the fretboard has the same nice even chocolate brown hue as my Gibson 2019 Firebird. When you are on the search for ‘a’ Les Paul, at least try the Les Paul Classic as well. I have sold two M.I.J. Tokai LoveRocks (a 2002 and a 2003) to fund the purchase of the Gibson Les Paul Classic; that was a gamble but I was right in doing so; the Les Paul Classic really pleases me a lot more. And a note I must add: mine came perfectly set up by one of the guitar techs of Music Store; thank you! Even the intonation was spot on !

Overall: My 13th Epiphone L.P. since 2006, and second of the new "Inspired by Gibson" series (first was the Standard 50's). I am blown away by these next-level Epi LPs – my 50s was astonishingly similar sitting next to my Gibson Original series 50s goldtop, both asthetically, AND sonically speaking, with only slight pickup characteristic differences. This is also my first SlimTaper neck. Thankfully it wasn't an earth shattering change – we'll adapt just fine. My new tuxedo custom came in at a perfect 8lb 13oz – my ideal weight range for a Paul – especially considering these guitars are coming in with about 1.5# weight swings. Got lucky there. Absolutely no build or quality issues, looks incredible, and is appointed well. It is leaps ahead of the very disappointing Frampton signature Epi I bought last year – my only truly lousy Epiphone. NEVER AGAIN will I buy a chambered Les Paul, in ANY form – all the tone gets totally sucked out! Guitar also came in with a perfect setup, which is rare (even though my setup guy always does a once-over on all my guitars). Some fret polishing couldn't hurt, though. Only concern with this purchase was with the final shipment packaging from zZounds – no packing material in the final carton, just loose box in a box. I think that's a first.

Overall: First thing I have to say is when I opened it I went over it with a fine tooth comb because I've heard so many nightmare stories about Gibson quality control over the past decade. My guitar was impeccable. Not a single issue whatsoever, as it should be for what they cost now. This guitar comes with the 490r and 490t pickups. These are fine if you play blues, jazz, or classic rock. If you want to play hard rock or metal you may want to look into replacement pickups. The 490r is very warm and thick. It sounds great for clean arpeggios and overdriven soloing, but it can sound downright muddy playing chords with any overdrive on it. Even with the pickup heights adjusted it was a little louder than the 490t bridge pickup. Now the 490t doesn't sound too bad. It's a pretty clear, but doesn't have a whole lot of output. Stick an overdrive in front of a dirty amp and it will sing, but it won't have the compressed singing quality on it's own. That can be good or bad depending on what you need. I played around with them for a couple weeks before deciding to replace them with Seymour Duncans (JB and Jazz). The Jazz has a lot more clarity in the neck than the 490r and it still has warmth to it. The JB just sings and still cleans up with the volume knob despite being high output. They're the go to aftermarket pickups as far as I'm concerned. If it had shipped with a 498t in the bridge I might not have been so quick to swap the pickups out. I love the fact that this has a maple neck. Maple is a lot sturdier than mahogany plus the Les Paul Customs in the 70s had maple necks. That's really the main reason I jumped for this rather than a Studio. No it doesn't have the binding like the Classic, Traditional, or Standard LPs, but I'm used to the no frills construction of my faded SG. It doesn't bother me. It has a simple beauty to it. My guitar is the tobacco burst and I really like how the neck, top, and back all have different colors. You get what you pay for, but it's not as good a value as it was a couple years ago. Replace the 490t with a 498t and drop the price (yeah right) back down a bit and I'd give it a 5/5. As it is it is a solid 4/5. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one if you're in the market for a Les Paul.

So it arrived today! it came in a very nice branded MusicStore box with a short checklist of things done before packing. This is nice as makes me confident the purchase was made with premium supplier. The standard Gibson outfit package is really cool. There's a branded soft gig bag with nice fluffy interior, a bag strap, a cloth, few marketing leaflets, and, a photo of the guitar that was made in the factory. Very cool. Value wise, its fantastic. The guitar out of the box looks great. it feels and looks premium, although it is a distant and poor relative when standing next to LP's Reissues or some other top-shelf models. Visually, its a different line. The guitar was pretty much setup to play from the box (thanks musicstore team), which was a nice surprise too. Unplugged, there is more than enough sustain, vibe and articulation details. This instrument sounds very much like pricier Les Pauls, even with no power. The neck is nice and fast with medium jumbos, allowing to play pretty much everything you want. Once plugged in to 90s JCM 800 set, it did deliver pretty much everything the more expensive Gibsons' do. There's sustain, articulation, the 'gurl' of Gibson. Studio workhorse, worth every penny. Which was a bit of surprise as the Studios' are slightly lighter in body construction. Some complain about finish quality, but i have not observed anything limiting playability yet. As mentioned before: if you place it next to a top-shelf Les Paul, you WILL see a difference. You will see dozens of differences in finish and quality as these instrumets are different. But, to me, its a great guitar, and I would reccomend that to anyone looking for Gibson sounding instrument for relatively moderate price. LP Studio is probably the cheapest and easiest way to get real Gibson sound for "OK" money. I have one comment to MusicStore team regarding the purchase process: It would be nice to allow customer to change payment option in case of problems with the one initially chosen.

I have been a Sweetwater customer for longer than I remember, and one feature I have always loved is the pics and weights of the actual guitars so you know what you're getting. So, I found a 60s Faded LP with a ridiculously low weight of 8 lbs, 2oz. The top looked nice, not anything crazy, which is fine but the one feature I love about the top is the mineral streaks (flecking) in the top. The streaks really add character. I was less into a fancy top than a light weight, good playability and great sound. And I was not disappointed. My rep, a fine young man named Jacob Terhune, expedited the shipping, and I had it in my hands literally the next day. Opening up the new case, and smelling that wonderful new Gibson smell is something I've always loved. The case candy was all there and speaking of the case, It was made by TKL just like back in the day and that is super awesome! My guitar is light as stated, and the satin finish is very well done, feels super smooth and I like that the back is natural with nicely matched grain. I did my usual setup and going through my LP and I think the quality on my LP was top notch. There were no file marks on the board, no scratches and every aspect of the build was great. The 61R/T pickup combo is great, I did have to adjust the pole pieces (which I do for every guitar), and just sat there making small adjust meats and I'm so pleased with the sound. The setup from the factory and the inspection from Sweetwater were fine, but as always I tweak it here and there. I did lower the nut slots only .003 of an inch, since I like the action at the first fret at .020". The fingerboard was a little dry, but much better than my 2020 Flying V board, but I hydrated it just a bit more. As far as sound, this LP is outstanding. It's very loud and projects sound well when you strum it unplugged and the entire guitar vibrates so much that it'll tickle your hands as you play. This guitar just feels alive, and it make me want to play, and if I'm not playing it, I love to just look at it. I guess I'm simping for my guitar, and I'm good with that. I see many people on Youtube run down Gibsons quality, but I have to disagree based on mine. My LP is outstanding and I would highly recommend one of these with no hesitation.

Going on a two-month report. The pickups are the strong suit of this guitar. They are like telecaster single coils but on steroids! They have a low-end snappy output on the neck pickup, excellent for jazz, blues, hard rock & metal. Mid-range is very stable in the middle position i.e. funk, rock, and pop. Also, the bridge pickup is what people strive for in an LP i.e. metal, classic rock, & hard blues. It has That classic overdriven PAF tone. It's worth spending the $$$. The quality is genuine and the slight VOS aging is a nice touch. The relic is not overly done but has a slightly played look. Tuners are superb, metal components are aged, & the lacquer is just right. Indian fretboard looks like ebony and the trapezoid inlays are aged just perfectly. Also, the case is beautiful along with the awesome case candy. Overall, this is worth every dollar. It's surprisingly a very versatile guitar!