Gibson Les Paul

[zazz]

Hi there,

I've noticed that Les Paul Studios and Les Paul Double-Cutaways are a fair bit cheaper. It's the sound I'm after so as long as they sound like the Gibson Les Paul Standard then I don't care - does anyone know the difference between the three?



Roshan

one thing to look out for is the pickups...are they p90s (quite often on double cutaway les paul juniors) which are single coils..bad for studio but they sound great live( neil young swears by them)..or loaded with humbuckers..more common..and which type?

One thing to note with the double cutaway is that the neck join to the body is a lot weaker since there is a lot less wood involved between the neck area and the hole for the neck pickup.

 

[Chill]

The les paul has a particular sound that has more to do with the pickups than anything else...your stuck with humbuckers and you cannot come back from that..but singles can always be thickened up post...

A good point about compensation: there are bottlenecks in the chain and it's easier to cut sound later than add sound later, in particular with top end. If you start with a dark(er) pickup it's difficult to get top end back later, while if you start witha bright(er) pickup it's easier to cut the top end later.

I always think single coils sound thin until I remember that Hendrix used a strat...maybe I just need an auditorium and a cranked Marshall to go with the single coils.

But you can always change the pickups in a Gibson to get more treble, like more of a '57 HB, Pearly Gates or JB sound, or even get one of the P90's sized for HB mountings from Bill Lawrence or Rio Grande.