Les Paul for les money!

It has everything you need from a Les Paul minus all the frills. A no bs straight up rock machine. Mine came plekd and when I strum it unplugged, all the notes rang out loud and clear. The difference between this and an Epiphone was just night and day. Really love the weight relief - sounds like a semi but without the hollow wooden tone you can get from a 335. It just adds mids (unplugged) and resonance.

The downside is that there is a price to pay for that crystal clear acoustic resonance. The frets are really TALL and wide. My fingers did not feel any rosewood at all. It is a tough transition from an Epiphone LPC fretless wonder. The entire fretboard was like a railway track. I read that you have to get used to fretting lightly but that doesn't come easily to me. The fret ends are bumpy too cos there's no neck binding. I guess it's a Gibson thing. Those big frets. And I also have to mention that there's a pcb in the control cavity to which the pots are hard soldered. It works fine, I'm not changing it for now.

The bridge doesn't rattle and the advanced plating stamped stop tail looks nice. I'm really loving the faded finish because it's low maintenance and there's no fingerprints to wipe off. It feels really nice to the touch. Especially on the neck. I love the feel of the finish as well as that 50s profile which you can't get anywhere else.

I think it's cool that the stuff collectors want like flamed maple and gloss and binding and pearl logos are not present. It makes the guitar very modern looking and minimalistic. It's stylish and tasteful the way it is and best of all it costs waaay less than a standard. I was saving up for one but now I don't see the point. The burst bucker pros are wax potted and get the job done (no loud pick attack sound). One last thing - this doesn't have the push pull pots for the split coil sound. I actually do not want the push pull pots and would replace them if they were installed.

I really like this guitar (except for the frets). It's my first US made Gibson.

Preferred Settings + Usage:

Love my Les Paul Studio Faded

This guitar gets most of its workout in the studio (recording original compositions: a mix of post-punk, indie, blues, rock, country, folk ...). Love how it can produce rich, smooth, warmth, and aggressive, piercing, snarls. Great sustain. The neck is great for leads and chords, really feels great. I love how it is just black and silver (with the brown of the rosewood, of course), not the typical image that comes up in a person's head when they think of a Les Paul, but for me, perfect.

From Gear Setup

Nice

Pretty useful guitar but the tuners are bad