Les paul standard/studio/doublecut

[TunaTheFish]

Hi i am getting a new guitar soon but i don't fully understand the difference between the les paul standard, studio and double cut. I do not have enough money for a standard i have about £600-700. Has the studio got worse hardware??
Has anyone got a studio, do they sound the same as a standard?
What exactly is the difference between them, and does anyone have a les paul studio, if so what are they like

[AlfredB]

the studio is the best bang for the buck ... they mostly cut down on the trimmings - but its a REAL guitar ... see if you can get an older one (pre 97 or so)

cheers
alfred

[daav]

I have a studio, and they are a great deal. You'll see a number of these get used by super famous artist types if that kind of thing means anything to you.

As always you will want to play anything you buy before you buy it, but i love my studio. I used to think it played poorly, then i had the neck adjusted and now it plays fast and easy, the thing is heavy and the sustain is powerful.

I believe the standard pickup set is the 490 series, so unless you really wanted p90s or something, I would say go for the studio if it is in your price range. Buy used as well if you can check out the quality first to save more money.

Daav

[gusfinley]

Originally Posted by TunaTheFish

Hi i am getting a new guitar soon but i don't fully understand the difference between the les paul standard, studio and double cut. I do not have enough money for a standard i have about £600-700. Has the studio got worse hardware??
Has anyone got a studio, do they sound the same as a standard?
What exactly is the difference between them, and does anyone have a les paul studio, if so what are they like

The studio is the answer for those who want a real Les Paul but don't have the cash for the standard. The Studio is made from a mutilple piece Mahogony body, with a plain maple top. Standards would normally be made of one piece bodies (i think) with a flamed maple top. They also have a mahagony neck and rosewood fretboard. The neck profile is only available as the 1959 rounded style.

The pickups are 490R and 498T, the same that have been in the standards in the past. Current standards have burstbuckers in them.

The studios also lack binding on the body and fret board. This takes away the smoother feel of a bound fretboard.

GC and MF have some "studios" made with Mahagony tops and satin finishes. They are pretty sweet!! They have the burst buckers in them.

[hiwatt357]

Yeah, the posts that have been made thus far pretty much explain the differences.

The primary differences between a Studio and a Standard are basically the binding, plain (non-flame) maple caps. For a while they both came with the same pick-ups (the 490R/489T combination), but the newer Standards do come with the Burstbuckers. The newer Studios also, I believe, have dot inlays whereas the older ones had the trapezoid inlays. Also, on the older Studios, most of the fretboards were Ebony. Now, I think only the alpine white Studios get the Ebony fretboard and the rest get Rosewood.

I'm not sure about the Studios having 2-piece bodies. As far as I know, they have 1-piece Mahogany bodies, although the Norlin-year Les Pauls had the 2-piece "pancake" bodies.

I have 2 Les Paul Studios, a 1990 and a 1994, and I love 'em. You'd be hard pressed to tell the difference tone-wise between them and a Standard of that era.

The double-cutaways, if I remember correctly, have a wrap-around tailpiece. I'm sure that makes some tonal difference of sorts, but I've never A/B-ed a double-cutaway versus a regular Les Paul.

As someone mentioned earlier, the Studio's are a great bang for the buck, and they are most certainly a "real" guitar. You can find used ones on the cheap pretty regularly. I'm actually trying to sell one of mine (for $600.00 US) to get a white Studio that a guy I know is selling. But on average they go for between $600.00 - $750.00 US from what I've seen of late.

But also as someone else mentioned...go play some. You'll know which one is right for you.

[ewegogetemtiger]

I had a LP Studio for a few years....one of the major differences (at least with the version I had) was that it had a maple neck + ebony fretboard unlike the standard which has a mahogany neck + rw fretboard.

[capnkid]

The studio does have trap markers.

The thing I don't like is that the gibson logo is silkscreened on the studio and the standard is inlayed pearloid.

[hiwatt357]

Originally Posted by capnkid

The studio does have trap markers.

The thing I don't like is that the gibson logo is silkscreened on the studio and the standard is inlayed pearloid.

My error on the dot markers comment. I could have sworn that for a short period, the Studios came with dot markers...but maybe I was thinking about the Studio Lites? Or maybe some special edition Studios? I dunno. It had been a long day. *shrug* Maybe they changed something about the trapezoids on the new ones? Smaller, maybe? There was something about the new markers that were different than the 90's models. Oh well.

Originally Posted by ewegogetemtiger

I had a LP Studio for a few years....one of the major differences (at least with the version I had) was that it had a maple neck + ebony fretboard unlike the standard which has a mahogany neck + rw fretboard.

Really? Hmmmmm...I'll have to look into that. I thought they stopped doing the Maple necks sometime during or near the end of the Norlin years (except, of course, for the Zakk Wylde model). My '76 Deluxe/Standard has a 3-piece Maple neck and a Rosewood fingerboard. Again, maybe some special editions had a Maple neck. But a Maple neck with an Ebony fretboard seems like it'd be awfully bright (for a Les Paul at least). I was under the impression that the Studios had Mahogany necks. *shrug* again.

[Dani Pace]

I've played a few studio models, one thing I noticed is they have more of an SG feel to them, not exactly like an SG but not quite the same as a standard Les Paul. Also I noticed the studios had 24 frets while a standard has 22, I'm not sure if this is a regular feature or something extra on the ones I played.