Gibson Les Paul Standard '50s AAA Top Electric Guitar - Iced Tea, Sweetwater Exclusive Reviews

I have been waiting years to purchase my dream guitar and wanted to make sure I got a one that was built and cared for by the best. I chose Sweetwater because I had a great previous experience with purchasing a Taylor guitar even though I live near Taylor's warehouse in San Diego. My reason is Sweetwater's inspection service and total care of the product. My Taylor is flawless and I knew that I purchased a guitar that has been handled with the utmost care.
My exceptional Sales Engineer, Zack McCord has been with me for many years and guided me with my final selection. Over the years, he has always been available to immediately answer all my questions when ever they come to mind.
I chose a Les Paul Standard AAA ICE TEA, 50's. The AAA finish did not disappoint, as I wondered if you could pick an exceptional AAA grain pattern from a picture on the internet.
I opened the delivery box from Sweetwater to view a piece of art. The guitar was again gorgeous and flawless from Sweetwater. I now will only purchase from Sweetwater because I know that I will get what I expect.
The guitar is a dream come true and thanks to Sweetwater and their service, I rock on.

I'm a Fender guy at heart BUT I've always been obsessed with early Clapton, Peter Green, Jeff Beck, Kossof, Page. They used burst Les Pauls and nothing else makes the sound a Les Paul makes. Sweetwater service is the best in the business in my opinion. I was taken care of more then my expectations.

This is seriously the best Les Paul I've ever played and owned. I can hardly put it down. The neck is perfect and has a nice chuck to it. This guitar plays itself. I did swap out pickups for a pair of Tyson Tone pickups because I wanted unpotted PAFs that are a bit closer to the originals. Not that the Classic 57 and 57(+) were bad, they weren't. But this guitar has become my favorite guitar that I would never part with.

Gibson seems to have gotten back to its roots. This is the real deal. No need for a historic reissue for me. This guitar is just as amazing. It sounds beautiful.

The pictures I added are not filtered in any way. Just the guitar on my bed bellow the light abs I took a couple of pictures.

First of all, Sweetwater (and my sales rep Matt) were a pleasure to deal with. I originally ordered a LP Standard '60s but never got particularly comfortable with the guitar and specifically its slim neck. I reached out to Matt and he facilitated an exchange for the LP Standard '50s.

I absolutely love this guitar! It sounds awesome and plays like a dream. The color and wood grain are awesome, photos don't really do it justice. If I can offer potential buyers some valuable advice, take the time play both the '50s and '60s as I think they are very distinct. I own a few Gibson acoustics and the profile of the neck on the '50s felt familiar and similar to those guitars. The '60s neck was way too skinny for me and had my hand persistently cramping. That said, I have friends that love the LP '60s neck but the point is that it's worth knowing what your preference is before ordering.

This is my first Gibson that I've owned. Always wanted a Les Paul, I've tried other knock off brands and they just didn't cut the mustard. This thing plays so smoothly and it is absolutely beautiful in person. I love it. Sweetwater did a great job setting it up and it was nearly perfectly tuned when it arrived, Amazing. Of course I left it in the case for a couple of days after it arrived. All strings were tuned just a little flat, but playable right out of the box. Thank you Chris Jenkins for your patience, kindness and help. It's always a pleasure talking to you.

Super guitar! I got lucky with a beautiful top, sub 9lbs and really super beefy neck (they can vary alot) Sean ONeil was great! Had some rough fretboard binding finish issues from Gibson but SW warrant dept fixed me up! Lifetime keeper. Amazing color!

Great guitar! Having wanted a sweet sunburst LP ever since seeing my fist Led Zeppelin poster, it was a joy to open the case on such a beauty. Even better to pick it up and play. Woah! Acoustically, this is a very loud and rich sounding instrument- the best sounding and most responsive of my three LPs. Loving the fat neck!

Plugged in, things get even better. Pickups sound great and the electronics work nicely. Riding the volume and tone controls yields a rainbow of sounds, just as it should. So much fun to glide from sparkly cleans to velvety crunch (and back again if desired). Playing becomes more of an ESP thing than a conscious effort. That's what I strive for: to lose myself in the music with no technical distractions. A really responsive instrument can help get you there, and this one sure fits the bill. I can't say enough good things about this excellent instrument! Thanks Gibson for doing such a nice job on these!

Also: Great service! This is the third guitar I've purchased from Sweetwater in as many years-each has arrived in excellent condition and ready to rock. Thanks Sweetwater and Andrew Davis for making it easy! I can't say enough good things!

I have owned several Les Paul's over the years. This one is the best example by a long shot. The build quality is amazing. It's such a pleasure to play. Paul from sales was extremely helpful during the buying process and helped me select the right one for my needs.

Amazing service, amazing guitar, amazing flame top. My original guitar arrived with a cosmetic issue and the good folks at Sweetwater replaced it, no questions asked. I love these folks and will continue to buy from them for years to come. Thanks Tad and Tony for taking such great care of me and for your amazing ability to address my concerns in such an amazingly courteous manner. You're all ACES!!!

This is my first Gibson guitar. I had been weary of purchasing a Les Paul because of years of rumors of quality control issues and the Constantine tinkering Gibson seemed to be doing with the design/features. Automatic tuning, weight relief. I think if you buy a Les Paul you are generally looking for the classic design and sound they build their reputation on. New frills is not the selling point.

This guitar delivers. First off it's absolutely gorgeous. The flame is awesome. The fit and finish is on point. The sound is what you want from a Les Paul. Crunch and growl that you can only get from a Les Paul. It's heavy but it resonates as a result of its mass, but you know this and accept this from when you make the decision to buy a classic style Les Paul.

Needless to say this is a keeper. I guess the biggest compliment I can give it is that I don't feel I will need to upgrade to a custom shop. This is all I need for that Les Paul feel and experience.

I always wanted a Standard with a '50s neck, especially one with '57 Classics. I saw that this had all of that, plus '50s style wiring and a AAA top.

While a AAA top wasn't a priority for me, I can't believe how gorgeous it is. The Sweetwater pictures didn't do it justice. While I always thought I wanted the cherry sunburst, the iced tea is even better. It feels unbelievable and sounds incredible, like a Les Paul should!

Finally, Sweetwater's shipping was very fast. I ordered it on Monday morning and had it by Tuesday afternoon.

I first have to say, I did not buy this from sweetwater. Sorry fellas, you will have always been good to me, but this was a impulse buy after an argument about having saved up for a motorcycle that my wife just didn't feel good about, and we happen to be driving by a guitar store at the time. I went in, pointed at the wall and said I want that one. I hope Sweetwater can forgive me since I buy everything else from them. On with the guitar review!
I've owned the Epiphones, and they are great instruments. Worth far more than you pay for them. This is the first Gibson Les Paul I've owned, and it 100% lives up to the hype. The feel and the sound to me is indescribable so I'm not even going to try. This is the first guitar I've owned that I will not be making any modifications to. Everything is perfect. To me at least.

I don't write reviews often, but felt this deserves it. First the service I received from Ryan and Shannon was great, I have purchased a few guitars and other merchandise. Ryan has always been very helpful and professional with each purchase. The Guitar is fantastic, flawless finish and plays and sounds great.

Ordered 2 of these and all I can say is these guitars are what I ve dreamed of for all my life. Love at first play. Thanks Corey at Sweetwater!!!

I love this sweetwater finish. I was looking at the 60s Standards but when I saw the top on the Iced Tea LP I chose it was an easy buy. It plays fantastic, not a flaw I can find and the AAA top is that amazing 3D you get when it hits different light angles. Looks on par with my R9 for about a third of the cost, why did I buy that one again?

If you're looking for one of these new line of AAA Les Paul Standards, it's hard to see how you could go wrong.

I have owned one of these for nearly a year. I love it! I grew up dreaming of owning a Gibson LP and this one did not disappoint. The '57 classic pickups bring the tone I am looking for. I played a murphy lab '59 lightly aged at Guitar Center recently, and there are notable advantages (e.g. tone, true ABR-1, strings closer to the body face, attention to detail/quality), but you can't beat the value of this Gibson USA guitar. The neck feels better in my hand than the slimmer 60's LP neck. I am glad the iced tea burst was available on the 50's LP through this Sweetwater exclusive.

I held off on a full 5 stars since I went through a few guitars with Sweetwater before I found one I thought had high finish quality. The first few had some pretty strong tooling marks on the fretboard near/over the body. The one I ended up with still had a few issues, but they were more minor (e.g., faint circular buffing scratches on the back, neck set so that strings are very high off the body at bridge).

A full 5 stars for Sweetwater though! Sean Geyer helped get the right guitar in my hands. Excellent customer service!

The 50's Les Paul Standard I ordered was nice, no issues with anything which is a surprise with Gibson's. Fast shipping from Sweetwater, well packed as always. As good as the guitar was there was just something missing that is hard to describe but some guitar player will know what i mean. I was able to compare the guitar with a friends Custom Shop '59 reissue, I know its a little more expensive, but the difference is Huge. I ended up buying that guitar and selling the one i bought from Sweetwater. I agree that Gibson has made some improvements, but at $ you still do not get what you might expect.

Gibson along with many other guitar manufacturers charge top dollar for American made guitar with high quality premium woods but with the rosewood restrictions they are calling pau ferro also known as Marado Bolivian rosewood it is pau ferro NOT ROSEWOOD this is what the fingerboard on this $ dollar instrument is