Gibson Les Paul Signature T - Vintage Sunburst Reviews

I have wanted a Gibson Les Paul for over 20 years!!! I have played the rest and now I have the best!!!!Thank you Sweetwater for making this happen!! Your sales staff and followup on my purchase are second to none!! Geoff Allen, you are the best!!!!!

The Gibson Les Paul Signature T


I ordered my vintage burst a few weeks ago from Sweetwater and I must say that it is my only guitar that I can enjoy playing even without it being plugged into my amp.


Gibson knows what tone woods are.


Gibson is the company that has taught me what a real electric guitar is all about, not by the way they look, but by way of feel, tone and sound.

Yes the Les Paul is very beautiful, but the important attribute of this guitar are the amazing tone woods used.


When I strum on my beloved Les Paul the entire body resonates the string vibrations from the fret board to my left hand and all the way down to my elbow. I can feel this guitar, it gets right down to my soul, it is intoxicating, it makes me express myself and play better.


I will never be without a Gibson Les Paul I will get a new one every 3 to 4 years from Sweetwater, I will take them all to my grave with me.


From the bottom of my heart thank you Gibson.

Well, I just can't believe that this guitar costs less than the standard model. When I saw the specs I said to myself, this is to good to be true. I ordered it online and hoped for the best.
When it arrived, I picked it up and I still have it in my lap writing this :) ...it's been a week now.
When I opened the case I almost could hear the angels sing as this guitar just overwhelmed my every sense. Well, almost...that's actually the only reason I gave it 4.5...I think It's a crime to put the pickguard on this beauty...couldn't they just leave it up to buyer to decide if he wants to drill two holes in it and install the pickguard by himself...anyway, I removed it right away, but of course, there are holes now....
The pickups are amazing, the splitting works wonders for the sound...I play all kinds of music with my band (mostly covers) , but this guitar can pull off any of those styles easily. The neck is so comfortable, and bending is a breeze. Grover locking tuners are great. The fretboard is made of new wood that is slightly brighter in color, but the tone is amazing. And I don't know what is that smell, but every time I open the case it just smells like some candy :)

Here is my personal review of the Gibson Les Paul Signature T, Vintage Sunburst.

I had been looking literally for years for a Gibson Les Paul that had the spec of my dreams. I was looking for:

60's neck
Grover Tuning keys
'57 classic neck pickup
'57 classic plus bridge pickup
Vintage Sunburst AA flame maple top
cream color pickguard
Trapezoid fret marker inlays

The other features on this guitar were a welcome addition: the coil tap pickups, the weight relieved body, and the granadillo fingerboard.

I'll start with the cosmetics. The guitar is cosmetically stunning. The Mother of Pearl Gibson logo is "alive" with color. Each angle of view yields a different and glorious look at the Gibson logo, and the AA maple top is the best I've ever seen. Subtle, yet stunning. Perfect for me. The only doubt I had going in to this purchase was the granadillo fingerboard. I had never tried one, but I trusted Gibson and their choice for this part, as I know they had to move away from Indian Rosewood. Anyone who is concerned about feel, rest easy. It plays like a dream. Anyone concerned about look? It is gorgeous, and unique. The wood is not as dark as rosewood, but I actually like it better. Bending notes? Just as easy as on a rosewood board. Tone? No difference to my ears. If there is a difference, I am convinced that no human would be able to discern it.

Next, the Grover tuning keys. These are my all-time favorites for any guitar, and the feel of these while tuning is impressive and solid. The body has cream binding on the front, and the fingerboard is bound on the top and bottom, providing a consistent, classic look to the Les Paul. The silver hardware is flawless, and classic Gibson: the stop-bar tailpiece, and the tun-o-matic bridge.

The wood used for this Les Paul is Mahogany on the neck, mahogany body, and flame maple on the top. Each piece of wood is different, and inspection of these woods yields a very satisfied feeling each and every time I open the case. The weight is substantial, even with the weight relieved body. The science behind the weight relieved body has evolved to a point where I have no concern about compromising tone.

The pickups. In a word, wow. I wanted pickups that could nail the tone of classic Jazz players and also nail the tone of Jimmy Page, The Edge, Joe Perry, and Bob Marley. 10 out of 10 in this category. The '57 classics give me that starting "core tone" that I wanted. As I applied pre-amp drive, I explored the tone of "Ramble On" by Led Zeppelin. Correct tone on the Neck, Bridge and Middle positions are required for this song. I applied an AC30 top boost pre-amp, and it did not take much drive to send my pickups and amp (Fender) into sonic paradise. These are tones that I have never been successful producing for this or any other song. It is the '57 classics that do it. If anyone is concerned that these pickups are not powerful enough, these pickups will provide tone and volume that is astonishing. "Building up" with your tone from what these pickups provide gives a musician incredible tonal flexibility. For example, I can nail the tone of Bob Marley's "Is this love" Clean, clear, and strong. A pickup combo that is too saturated would not sound right on that song. As I proceeded to test each and every setting I had, I found that the wood is what defines the tone. You get the tone without sacrificing the sound of the wood of the guitar. That's about as good as I can describe it. I've used other pickup combinations where the sound of the wood goes away as you apply drive. When coil-tapped, I would describe them as sounding like a P-90. Think of the P-90 sound that the Beatles used on "Paperback Writer" and "Get Back" and you will undertand what I mean. That's what you can achieve when these pickups are coil-tapped. I could go on for hours about these pickups. 5 stars. 10 out of 10. However you review it, they are flawless.

Ok, moving on to the service aspect of the purchase. For me, looking at photos of the actual instrument that I was evaluating was a huge competitive advantage for Sweetwater, and as I had choices to look over, I was able to easily decide on my preferred instrument. When I called, I was connected with my sales engineer, Scott, who has an impressive grasp of the instruments, the sales process, and patiently led me through my questions and the flow chart of the purchase. When I made the purchase, I was provided with tracking information, and the original photos that appeared on the Sweetwater site for my records, or to share on social media.

When I opened the case, I was welcomed by Sweetwaters checklist of the 55 point inspection that the technicians performed prior to the shipment.

To top off the positive experience, I even received a follow-up e-mail that had the Sweetwater CEO's name stamped on it, which to me is a tremendous acknowledgement of ownership and signing off on their entire process.

Thank you Sweetwater for making my dream guitar purchase become one that I think about and smile. Gibson should be pleased that their instruments are represented, sold and serviced by your company

That ant no Les Paul on the intro to Sweet Home Alabama,that is untill now.The 57pups with coil split is truly awesome.This guitar has "Tone"to spare.You can push/pull in twang or or clasic bucker sounds.The fact thats its beautiful is an added bonus.This beauty can be mellow, with clear woody tone but can also get down in blues alley.This is the first time I've bought from Sweetwater but it won't be my last.Thanks to Joe Milne sales engineer for the added bonus(truss rod cover).

Playing it right out of the box. Easily the best looking guitar I own. The detail and finish could not be better. The QC at Gibson is perfect. This guitar is flawless and Sweetwater techs set it up perfectly. The only change I made was the bridge pickup. It wasn't hot enough for my taste. Put in a Duncan JB and I couldn't be happier. A perfect compliment to my 1980 LP custom. The 57 pickup in the neck is crystal clear. The independent coil tapping has added a lot of new tones to my playing. Great guitar for the money. Fits like it was made for me. Way to go Gibson and Sweetwater.

You get a great bang for your buck with this guitar. I just recently bought it to go with my fulltone ocd and my fender blues jr. When i went to play it, i was absoloutely blown away by the sounds! The mahagony back and the 57 classic pickups do the thing for sure. They sound just like the old ACDC or Van Halen records and are very versetile due to the push/pull pots. You get a whole different arena of sounds due to those knobs. As far as looks go, you can't go wrong. The flame top on mine is absoloutely beautiful and it looks just like a classic Gibson Les Paul. The only thing that almost turned me away was that the fretboard wasn't rosewood. Instead, it was grenadillo (Sweetwater says rosewood but its not). I was a bit concerned but after playing it, there is really no difference and quite possibly is better than rosewood. Overall, a great guitar, but i would suggest playing before buying