• Incredibly versatile...love it

  
  As reviewed by Ben Hanson on 3/14/2013

  This is a unique animal, as of the time of writing this you still won't find any info about it on Gibson's own site. This is a real mystery because unlike most of the various Les Paul models Gibson makes, this one fills a niche that almost no other guitar they make can fill. They are really missing an opportunity to market something special. To start with you have to understand how this guitar differs from other Studios and Standards, as there are a number of upgrades. I have cobbled this info together by pulling together various specs from all over, plus what is obvious on the guitar...crazy that Gibson aren't making this stuff more visible! --It has upgraded Grover tuners, instead of the vintage greenleaf Kluson-style tuners. These feel much smoother than the Kluson style. --It has a AA maple cap whereas normal Studios do not. I've had several Studios to compare against in the past few weeks, including Wine Red ones just like mine, and this grain is a higher grade. --Obviously, the zebra coil pickups, and without the humbucking covers. --It has a 490R in the neck like almost every Studio but it has a BurstBucker Pro in the Bridge position, instead of a 498T. Some see this as an upgrade, others might not, but the point is the BurstBucker Pro doesn't come on normal studios. --It has a rosewood fretboard like this year's Standards, not baked maple or grenadillo. --It has coil taps like recent other Studios but they are not the same kind. The coil taps on current Studios and Standards do not toggle to a true single coil, there is still some humbucking going on. The coil taps in these (called "straight split" taps by Gibson, as compared to the "super tap" taps in normal Studios/Standards) toggle to a true single coil, and having recorded with both kinds toggled on and off I can tell you they sound completely different, it's not just marketing hype. In particular when the bridge pickup is tapped it really is a very strat/tele type of sound, it's great. --Also unlike the other tap mechanisms in other Studios/Standards, this straight split tap uses true bypass switching so that when it is disengaged it truly is invisible to the signal path. --Unlike almost any Studio/Standard, the neck tone knob is also a toggle...it toggles a boost circuit of up to 10 dB. This boost circuit is powered by a 9V battery in a slot on the back of the guitar. If you pop out the battery you will see a small slot head screw which allows you to adjust the amount of boost. By default they come set at about 7 dB. It could be used to boost your signal for soloing/choruses but I set mine so that when I toggle to single coil mode and then pop the boost, the output level is the same as when I'm in normal humbucking mode, boost off (because the single coil output is lower than the humbucker). --The engineering of the coil tap knob is improved...the coil taps before now had to be physically popped up and then popped back down. Once they were popped up it was easy to pop them back down by hitting them with your hand, but to engage them you had to physically pop them up with your fingers. The coil tap knobs on this model are spring loaded meaning you hit them once to engage and hit them again to disengage, no need to pop them up with your fingers to engage them. --The truss rod cover is a two piece black/white truss rod cover and it is blank...doesn't say Studio on it. --Gloss nitro sides and back, not a satin finish on the sides and back like some Studios. --This one has a 60's neck profile. There is also a Deluxe II with a 50's neck profile so make sure you get the one you want. As you can see this guitar has a significant set of upgrades. Oddly enough, the MSRP is lower than for a normal Studio, which I really don't get, because this guitar is better in every respect and even has some features you can't get in a Standard, much less a Studio. This is why it's such a mystery why Gibson is being so coy with it...for example there is no documentation whatsoever about the technical specifics of how the coil tapping system is different, or how to adjust the gain on the boost circuit. I only figured it out by opening up the battery compartment and locating the adjustment screw myself. Sound wise, it is incredible...if you're after a Les Paul sound, of course. But that's the great thing about this guitar...with the improved coil splitting functionality, you really can dial in an incredibly diverse set of sounds, and the boost circuit just makes it that much better. You can do so many different types of things with this guitar that I just can't imagine using anything else, now that I've gotten the hang of it and dialed in some sounds specific to the pickup and coil tapping combinations I like. Fit and finish on mine is superb, setup was perfect out of the box, and the flamed maple cap is gorgeous, noticeably better than the Studio I had before (which was also in Wine Red). Anyway it annoys me so much that the info about this guitar is spread all over the web, and Gibson doesn't seem interested to clarify it themselves, so I thought I'd do it for them. It's an incredible guitar.

  3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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• Killer guitar

  
  As reviewed by adam hall on 2/5/2013

  I actually made the guy go downstairs and open these out of the box....picked the straightest neck and wham....this thing rocks!!!! Very solid guitar...well made. The only thing these r missing is the bound neck and pickups. Excellent guitar .

  2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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• Really nice

  
  As reviewed by KEVIN JONES on 3/18/2013

  The first review listed here pretty much covers all the glorious details of this find. I'll add a +1 to his review. I A/B'd this thing at my local GC vs an LP Traditional ($2299) and this "studio" was far superior. More features and even better looking than the trad. If you're in the market at this price range you really can't go wrong. I bought the caramel burst and it's gorgeous. Far superior to the regular studio yet less expensive. Go figure. Great guitar.

  1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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