[BillSPrestonEsq]

Product:
1994 Wine Red Gibson Les Paul Studio with Chrome hardware

Price:
$650 New, but preowned. Still had tags on it from 1994, was purchased by someone who damaged his back and sold it unplayed.

Experience:
Been playing around 12 years. Versatile style, halfway between lead and rhythm and mostly as a second guitar. I use a frenzel wildcat as my primary amp with numerous high quality pedals. Church worship teams hopefully. Bought it right after I stepped down off of one team, and am going to be using it at a retreat.

Features:
This is completely stock except for Schaller strap locks. I would recommend anyone who buys a gibson replace those sad little strap buttons with Schallers immediately. I might replace the pickups eventually. It has dual humbuckers, dual tone and volume controls and a 3 way switch.

Sound:
has excellent sustain and is an excellent match for the Frenzel. However, the bridge pickup sounds a little muddy to my ear. The neck pickup has an excellent tone for low to mid gain overdrive and leads. Has an excellent chime and sustain. However, I am tempted to put some different pickups in it.

Playability:
Its an LP, its heavy, the action was impeccable, the fretwork is excellent,and overall it felt to be a much classier instrument than I had ever played before. Makes most of my guitars feel like a toy comparatively. Did not need a setup.

Reliability:
It has excellent tuning stability. It is 14 years old and plays like a dream. I do not anticipate any problems.

Other:
For the price, an excellent guitar. Scratch that, overall an excellent guitar.

Overall:
Overall this is as nice a guitar as you will find without a whole lot of froo froo nonsense.

[Rainer.]

Product:
1994 Ebony Gibson Les Paul Studio with Gold hardware

Price:
$400 Owned. A little scratched and with a few dings around the corners, but aside from the aesthetic, has worked perfectly.

Experience:
I've owned this guitar for about 5 of the 7 years I've played. I used this regularly as my main guitar until about a year ago, now it trades off time with my Fender Strat. I mostly use it for heavier and more modern rock and alternative rock styles, it's the only guitar of mine I use with a bow (a la Sigur Ros), and occasionally for jazz. Works great with the high gain sounds, and I get a lovely slightly overdriven lead tone with the switch in the middle position on AC30 type amps. Squeaky clean, it sounds nice and with the full body that you expect from a good LP sound.

Features:
I agree with most who own this guitar that the stock strap holders are completely ineffective. I use Dunlop locks, which work better as a normal strap button than the stock ones anyhow, even without the locking strap. I've also replaced the bridge pickup, which I found rather dull in the high frequencies, with a Duncan JB, which definitely sings in this guitar. Highly recommend the JB for anyone who thinks that their Les Paul's bridge pickup needs more bite.

Sound:
Great full bodied sound and sustain when played clean. The sound is chimey and well rounded in the middle position, the neck pickup itself lends well to clean sounds. The stock bridge pickup I had a problem with getting a great sound out of clean, but with the Duncan JB, it has enough bite to really make a livelier rhythm sound. Distorted, the bridge pickup can really deliver the high gain sounds you would expect from an LP. Lots of sustain, aggressive tone, and all that.

Playability:
Excellent. Even my Strat doesn't seem to have been quite as impeccably set up to play evenly across the entire fretboard. With the shorter scale inherent in all Gibson Les Pauls, fretboard maneuverability is excellent, and the weight is very nice, as the guitar is solid as a rock for fast licks and energetic solos.

Reliability:
I could probably put it away in it's case for months, and it would stay tuned. The guitar is solid, only problems I've had were caused by myself, and it's basically as solid as you can get.

Overall:
Gorgeous, solid, well made classic instrument. And there are enough on the used market to be able to have one at a good price. Really, the best value real Les Paul (carved top, maple/mahogany, American-made) there is.