Gibson Les Paul Standard Premium Plus (Light Burst) Reviews

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Customer Reviews

Andrew Clapp
from Auburn, WA
November 8, 2012Music Background:
20 year hobbyist, local band.

A dream come true

After 20 years of wishing, I finally ordered my first Gibson. I had always been a fan of the flamed maple tops, and when I saw the new 2012 Standards, I knew I had to have one. No other company posts high res photos of the guitars so you can carefully look them over. I really like how Sweetwater takes the time to do this. My sales associate Geoff Allen was very professional and efficient. I knew these guitars sold quick, and Mr. Allen really made an effort to make sure I was completely satisfied with my guitar. He even called me after to ensure everything was perfect with the guitar.
The Standard is perfect. The flamed maple top is stunning. It truly is a piece of art in itself. When I'm not playing the comfortable speedy neck or messing around with all the push/pull pots I just stare at it. Heck, it even smells good, like warm marshmallows.
The tone out of the Standard is amazing. World class product. I am very proud to own my 2012 Gibson Les Paul Standard and equally impressed with the level of service I received at Sweetwater.

Flip
from Atlanta
June 28, 2012Music Background:
Guitar player, live sound engineer

Very Nice Guitar

As you might expect, this guitar is pretty and plays great, The weight reduction does NOT have a noticeable effect on the sustain, regardless of what you may have read.
The coil tapping feature is very cool. I still haven't wrapped my head around all the possible variations, but I can say that many of the sounds I get out of this guitar are ones that I really like, but never expected.

Jeff
from Stockton, CA
May 3, 2012Music Background:
Currently hobbyist

Les Paul Gibson

This is a professional level guitar that will fit serious player’s budget. My task was to compare 2012 model to 2008 as far as the sound is concerned. On the neck position 2012 was too bright and shallow and did not have the depth of 2008, not good for blues or jazz. On the bridge position both were very close however 2012 lacked the thickness of the sound that makes LP different from PRS and others. When you pull the tone pot to have the bridge pick up go directly to output the ‘boost’ turns out to simply be a shrieking sound with higher output. I went ahead and compared both guitars to Custom Shop ‘58 LP. If blindfolded I would choose 2008 as being closer to vintage LP. I believe the brightness of 2012 may be the result of having Indian rosewood fingerboard made of two pieces glued together giving pretty much the same difference that you can get from a modern baked maple fingerboard compared to normal rosewood. I wouldn’t blame Gibson for this though. Another reason may be obtaining humbucker set up by wiring through all kinds of circuits and pots to become a humbucker rather than having one normally assembled pick up. However coil splitting provides different sound options not necessarily associated with the idea of Les Paul. While it is interesting in no way it can replace a Stratocaster. The compound neck radius had heavy buzzing in the upper position. After 12th fret it was great but I didn’t feel any noticeable difference. Possibly the buzzing could be fixed through better set up. To conclude, all these observations are true if you meticulously compare both models. If you simply pick up 2012, look at the gorgeous AAA top, plug in and play you will have little doubt that you should immediately purchase this guitar and that it will provide you years of enjoyment. Let alone that you can be proud of yourself anywhere where you pull it out from the case.