As a counterpart to the Gibson Les Paul Standard, the Les Paul Studio has gained a fantastic reputation for function, practicality, and affordability. Though the Les Paul is naturally a great looking instrument, the Gibson’s aim when the Studio was conceived was to ignore the visual flourishes and focus on keeping sound specifications the same. By doing so, Gibson would be able to open up the Les Paul market, letting in good musicians who simply couldn’t afford the flashier Les Paul Standard. The result was a perfectly functional Les Paul with a little less glitz and a much smaller price tag.
The Studio’s concentration, as previously stated, was to appeal to guitarists who cared more about sound and technical features as opposed to looks. The Les Paul Standard, with its bound body, expensive fret inlays, and rich finishes, included many extra aesthetic features that weren’t really necessary from a purely musical standpoint. As a response, the Gibson Guitar Corporation came up with the first Les Paul Studio in 1983.
The earliest models of the Studio stripped everything that Gibson considered unnecessary. The inlays on its fretboard, normally genuine Mother of Pearl trapezoids, were replaced with standard pearl dots. Additionally, the aesthetic bindings around the guitar’s body were done away with on the Studio. Because the carved maple top of the Les Paul Standard was considered to be influential on the sound, it was decided that a similar, slightly thinner one should be affixed to Studio models. The rest of the Les Paul hardware, including the three way selector switch, volume and tone controls, tuning heads, and tune-o-matic bridge, were all kept the same. As a final cost saving measure, the extravagant finish found on Les Paul Standards and Customs was significantly dialed back, giving the Studio a more understated, natural look.
Since the first years of its production, Gibson has continually changed how it makes specific Les Paul Studio models. This has led to a wide array of specifications for the line itself. In fact, the Studio line has become one of the most versatile brands that Gibson produces.
There’s quite a long list of different materials, finishes, and hardware that Gibson has applied to its Studio line over the past 27 years. As its value line, the Studio has given Gibson the opportunity to experiment heavily, testing out different combinations and builds to see which ones are the most popular among buyers. Below is a comprehensive guide to the additions Gibson has made to its Les Paul Studio line over the years.
Between 1983 and 1985, Gibson had three different versions of the Les Paul Studio available. The Studio Custom, made between 1984 and 1985, was a mix of Les Paul Standard materials and materials from other Gibson models. It had a mahogany body with a carved genuine maple top and mahogany neck. Unlike other Studios, the body and neck of the Custom was bound all the way around. Its hardware, including the tuning heads and bridge, was gold in color. The Custom is considered to have a slightly higher quality of build than other Studio guitars. The Studio Standard, which immediately followed the Custom, was also a bit higher in quality. It had all the same features as the Custom, with a few small exceptions. The hardware, for instance, was chrome instead of gold. Accent pieces like the pick guard were painted white instead of black. And, perhaps most noticeably, it was offered with a cherry themed finish. The regular Les Paul Studio model’s key difference, which accounts for slightly lower build quality, is the fact that its carved top was made of alder instead of maple.
The mid 1990’s brought a newcomer to the Les Paul Studio line. After receiving feedback from musicians who preferred a lighter guitar, Gibson overhauled the build and introduced the Les Paul Studio Lite. Along with the traditional mahogany, very light balsa wood was used to craft the body in certain sections. This brought the weight down significantly. Additionally, the electronics of the Studio Lite were much different. Instead of the standard two humbucker configuration, Gibson added a single coil pickup in between two humbuckers. It maintained the same controls, but made the knobs more important by allowing all five pickup coils on the guitar to be manipulated.
Around the time that the Studio Lite was first produced, the Les Paul Studio Gem Series was introduced. The gimmick, of course, was that the toned-down finishes were modeled after the color of gemstones. As homage to ‘50s era Les Paul Standards, the Gem Series was affixed with P-90 pickups instead of humbuckers. Though it was certainly unique, the Gem Series Studio line was discontinued just a few years later, in 1998.
In the 21st century, Gibson added two new Les Paul Studio models that aligned with newer, more eco-friendly policies that the company adopted. The first was the Smartwood Studio. The hardware, electronics, body, and neck were all standard Les Paul Studio materials. But the carved top was one of six woods certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. They included deep Curupay wood, pine-like Peroba, golden Banara, light Ambay Guasu, rosewood-like Taperyva Guasu, and warm Chancharana These exotic woods, widely available in foreign forests, were both aesthetically and economically pleasing to Gibson. The second Studio Model to come about from new ecological ideals was the Swamp Ash studio. Both the body and top of this version are made of, as you’ve probably guessed, swamp ash. Again, the wood was certified as ecologically responsible by the Forest Stewardship Council. The neck of the Swamp Ash Studio was made of mahogany, and the hardware and electronics were standard. Interestingly, the earliest Swamp Ash Studio guitars were produced with ebony fretboards that had no inlays whatsoever. After two years, though, Gibson switched back to a standard rosewood fretboard with dot inlays.
The latest addition to the Les Paul Studio line is the Vintage Mahogany model. Still in production, its mahogany build and vintage red and brown finishes are designed to invoke a sense of nostalgia and tradition for guitarists. To ensure top sound quality, it employs the exact same Alnico V BurstBucker pickups that the Les Paul Standard has.
The Les Paul Studio line, aside from its economic advantage over the Standard and Custom lines, is interesting purely because of its variation. Gibson has taken every opportunity to do something new and exciting with the Les Paul Studio. This is precisely why the Studio is worth watching, and perhaps even worth buying.