hi everybody. im thinking about getting a les paul standard pretty soon. i've heard that studio's are a lower line than standard. what is the rest of the order?

also, what about gibson's other lines, such as SG? They look pretty sweet.. are they any better/worse than a good les paul?

thanks

better or worse guitars are quite subjective. What do you want your guitar to do?

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SG's are lighter but LP's have more sustain.

just try them both, they're pretty different guitars

i'd rank my needs as 1) playability 2) sound 3) comfort

my friend tells me that SGs are more comfortable since they're lighter, but are they any easier to play? id kinda like holding onto a pretty heavy, solid axe while i run through some crazy lick infront of everybody. does weight make it more difficult, though? i checked out a shop here to try them, but they had no gibsons, what a lame music shop. i'll go find another one this afternoon, but still..

les paul has better sound, right? does the weight and thickness of a les paul make it more difficult to play quick lead? i just want to be able to play it without hindrance, and almost as importantly, i want it to sound the best.

thanks for the replies.. anything else you guys can tell me?

Try to play a Les Paul onstage for and hour..... their fuckin heavy! While i dont think the weight makes a les paul sound better but I know the wood does.

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umm just because a stores doesnt have Gibsons doesnt make it lame. See its very had to become a Gibson dealer. #1 you have to sell a certain number of Gibsons (which is hard because well unless you are located in a city, not many people have $1000+ to drop on a guitar) plus you have to devote a certain amount of your wall space to just Gibson.

If you are going to buy a Gibson get it used. New Gibsons (past 10 years or so) the quality has gone way down and are not worth the asking price new.

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yeah, i am looking for a used gibson. mostly on ebay, unfortunately, since i can't actually play it before i buy it. but some of them are incredibly cheap for the guitar.

do you guys know about the different lines of the les paul? for instance, the studio is a stripped down version of the standard, right? specials also look like that with their dot inlays and the other differences.

do these other ones suffer any playability or tone quality? or is it just that they lack all of the nice asthetics like big mother of pearl inlays? i actually like the pickup switch near the volume knobs, myself.. what a stupid place to put it otherwise

thanks again for the feedback and any more you guys can give me.

Ahhhhhhh! Gibsons are so expensive! This isn't my post but do any of you know if Epiphones are decent guitars? I'm pretty sure the Epiphone Specials suck though. I was thinking of getting and Epiphone Les Paul Studio or LP 100. I like the SGs and the Vs too. They're all such sweet guitars!

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ewww flying v, lol. i just can't stand those, sorry. epiphone lps are pretty sweet, one of my friends has a standard and it's a rocking guitar. my roommate is about to get an epi lp, not sure which kind, though.

as far as i know, they all sound unnoticably different, even the specials. the only exception to this that i've heard is the epiphones in the start kit things. i've never played one, so i can't verify, but i've heard they're pretty shottily built compared to normal ones.

i have no idea what kind of pickups are on an epi lp.. all it says are open coil humbuckers. i know my gibson special has 490R and 498T al nico pickups which are killer. gibson standards come with burstbuckers. NO idea what any epi's come with, though.

i assume all epiphones come with the same pickups.. from what i've looked at they do, anyway.

the real difference in the lines seems to be pretty preferential. the flat top of the special is less expensive to make, since they don't have to carve out sweet curves on it. i'm more of a fan of the flat front, though! and no pick guard, either. i just love that look.

most epiphones only have a single volume and tone controls, which kinda sucks, but dualies (sorry i play too much cstrike lol) aren't that essential. gibsons do come with volume and tone control for each pickup, which is quite nice, but again, not essential

they should all play and sound the same, so if you want to pay extra for large mother of pearl inlays instead of the pearloid dots, go for it.

hopefully this'll help some people looking for new guitars. i've spent the past week reading/playing as much as possible, and the only people who seem to say epiphones (or specials, etc.. cheaper guitars) are noticably worse and the guys who spent $2000 and have to say that to not feel like morons for spending the money probably half the guys reading this are in that category hah, sorry.

I agree, pickgaurds are bad! Well not bad I just prefer no pickgaurd.

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flat pickguards like on strats i think look cool exspecially if its a diamond plated pickguard! But the LP pickguards suck, they just get in my way

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if you want a quality epi, look into the elite series, they might be the more expensive epi's, but they are higher quality than the cheaper gibsons, alot to do with the price of gibsons is the name "gibson".

as for les pauls v sgs, i prefer sgs more, both are great guitars, but sgs have that double cutaway thing going on, and the switch placement on most lps bug the hell out of me. and they just look so god damn cool. plus weight has alot to do with it.
they sound relatively similar between the certain models, like an sg standard compared to a les paul standard, because of the woods,pickups, and hardware, they will sound very similar. but by no means "identical", the lps have more sustain, and a slightly "bassier" sound to them.
it all just depends on you want. which look do you like better, which tone do you prefer, do you plan on moving around with this thing... and if so, how long.

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actually the elites look to be about the same as the lower end gibsons. a lot to do with the higher end gibsons is the name "standard" and "custom"

i'm lovin my gibson lp special. the lack of archtop maple seems to make it ring out more freely, and the 490r/498t alnicos really rock. quality is no worse than any other gibson.

u guys who assume money = better are just plain wrong. more money = fancy mother of pearl inlay instead of pearloid dots.. etc

gibsons i have played for a good amount of time:
-standard sg-(i own this)plays solid as hell, holds notes fine. is a little slower than some i have played, but has easy access to highest notes further up the neck. low end is undeniably the best i have heard. playing open (dropped d) tuning on this guitar while on its "lead" setting creates a beautifull sound that is almost unmatched
-custom sg-is the standard without some of the sound, and without the same pickups (these have a lot more of that ugly buzz and such) and without the same look. as much as people say look dosnt matter, it matters in the sound because, the wood in the standard is better than that of the custom.
-epiphone sg-(i guess it was standard)i dont like this guitar. the only one i've played and enjoyed was the one that has three pickups. i dont remember what model, but as far as the epiphone's go, the sg is pretty week.
standard les paul-HEAVY. I would not recomend this guitar, but i am not a huge guy, and i dont want to be wearing weights around my neck when i play. the high end on this guitar, is not as good as the sg, but it definetly sustaines a little better. still, its really heavy.
les paul junior-i really enjoyed this guitar, it plays almost exactly like the standard, and i believe it has the same pickups (i played a friends on a few occasions, and it sounded the same as the standard). it really does have a close sound to the normal, without a little of the weight (still heavy).

buy the sg custom. i disagree with the last ten years thing. yes, they did slip a lot, up until about 8 years ago, and since then they have made quality instruments.

the only two complaints i've heard about the "playability" of the sg, is that they are awkward and that they dont stay in tune. i disagree with them not staying in tune, mine holds it's tune fine except in the high e string, where it occasionally slips a minute amount. as it is an awkward instrument to play for a short period of time. when your standing up, its amazing, getting used to it while sitting down takes a little time, but is well worth it.

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Gibsons are finr instruments yes, but tehy are not worth the asking price. I'd take the $2000 for a Les Paul and spend it in a custom shop. Not to get some fancy art work or antything but to get a guitar build just the way I like it.

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i would like to see 2 grand get you a comparable instrument.

and if you buy right, you can get the sg standards for around a grand. or a little above.

i bought my sg standard for under 800, and it lists at twice that, where as when you get a custom shop guitar, a deal like that is hard to find.

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http://www.shamray.net/news/show.pl

http://www.gmwguitars.com/

*Cough*

EDIT: Name brand loyalists = Stupid.

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i agree. certain brands are good and/or bad in different ways, mainly depending on the type of player the owner is. i love ibanez necks, but that doesnt mean i'm only playing ibanez from here on out, i love emg pickups, but i also like duncans and dimarzios. i like the way some guitars look, i like the way some guitars feel, i like the way some guitars sound. if i like the way a guitar looks, feels, and sounds, then i don't really care what name is on the headstock.

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just saw this thread.. for some resolution:

i got a gibson les paul special.. it rocks. has great sound and sustain, yet doesn't have the ugly/annoying pickguard, and is light with it's slim 60s tapered neck and no maple archtop. same les paul look with a modern kind of simplicity to it, and it's lighter than my roommate's epi lp extreme. same pickups as the gibson lp custom, too.. they sound pretty badass. the "worn" look is pretty cheesy, but actually i fell in love with the satin finish.. it's so much smoother than the heavy lacquer on most guitars.. i can really notice the soft touch on the back of the neck. sounds great, huh? guess what, it cost me $550, too. brand new, sealed.

i wouldnt get a gibson, period. gibsons are shit guitars that are over priced and underbuilt. save some money and get an esp,maybe an ec-400, which has emg pickups, or the ec-400at, which has duncans. they have a similar body design, and in my opinion, twice the sound. there is also the ec-1000 if ya want a more expensive looking guitar.

http://www.espguitars.com/ltd_ec.htm

http://www.espguitars.com/ltd_deluxe.htm

there are also the even more expensive esp standard eclipses and custom eclipses.

http://www.espguitars.com/esp_standard.htm

http://www.espguitars.com/esp_custom.htm

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Yeh i mean why the fuck would you want a gibson when you cna buy a ugly esp knock off!!!! really why???

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lol, fuck you guy, i said similar, not the same, , they dont have those annoying as fuck pickguards.
besides, esp's are boss, i have a vb-300 and it fuckin owns

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haha. my gibson owns. u metalheads wouldn't understand what good tone is in a guitar since u don't play clean :P if u ever play jazz or blues you'll feel the difference. otherwise guitar doesn't matter.

i went to that page.. hmm. i also like how my gibson has independent volume and tone controls for each pickup. gotta say im dissapointed by those guitars.

i was disappointed by the way your mom gave me head last nite. those guitars are still boss

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my mom's dead.

Mc do you even own a acoustic?? yeh didnt think so... But why buy korean machine made shit like a ltd when you can get a american handmade (well mostly) gibosn. Just take off the pickguard...you do know how to use a scewdriver right?

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cus they sound great and look good, and they play awesome as hell

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i have a 75th anniversary commemorative edition alvarez acoustic guitar. (i lived outside of stlouis, and they're a small but rather well known stlouis company). pretty good guitar. not a taylor, but it's not bad since i mostly focus on hard rock.

cost more than probably half of metaltabs.com users' electrics :P

btw.. my gibson was made in nashville, tn, thank you very much. and does NOT have a pickguard by nature, so no holes from removing one.