Gibson Les Paul Studio SB

The tittle says it all.

I will start with the cons to get that out of the way:
- some 2 or 3 small dots where the fretboards is glued with the neck;
- on the top, where the neck joins the body, the is a place where the finish is not well made;
Both these are just aesthetically aspects and you have to search hard to find them. But I'm a big believer that an instrument should be perfect (specially at this price range).

Something very weird but easily solvable: the fretboard was completely dry. I never saw something like that. It really seemed that someone forgot to hydrate it. Some lemon oil fixed the issue.
On the other hand, it came with a nice setup.

The guitar came with a cloth, some tools for the truss rod and also a strap. About the strap I have to say it feels really cheap and I think it would better for gibson to not give something like this if they are not willing to give a quality product. I find that the only reason to wear it would be because it says "gibson".

This guitar comes with a very good gigbag, maybe the best gigbag I haver own, but it's still a softbag. The description here on thomann says "case" but I find that a little misleading because "case" usually means hardcase.
Again, I also think that, at this price range, a hardcase should be included. This is not a cheap guitar. It seems this is somewhat a way for gibson to justify the pricier models.

I owned a gibson les paul some years ago and I don't remember it being as heavy as this one. This is something I wasn't expecting. But this guitar sounds very loud when unplugged and everything resonates for ages. Also, this guitar has lots of sustain. If the guitar's weight is responsible for that, I'm happy that it is this heavy.

The guitar sounds very good, beefy, what you would expect from a gibson les paul.
I had never played this set of pickups but I liked it: they have plenty of output. I play metal but I don't like that overproduced modern high gain sound.
This guitar has a lot of bass and at first its overwhelming because is not that tight. But with a TS pedal on the front of the amp, those nasty frequencies are tamed and it gives you extra punch for that classic metal sound.

TLTR: amazing guitar, really happy. Felt in love a few minutes after started playing with it.

I would really love to buy an LP modern but I cannot import it without a huge tax so i brought this. only difference is the pickups and the phase shift switch which i never used... the guitar itself is great, comes in a premium case, well protected with booble wraps inside the cardbox. no shipping damage is observed.

but the guitar have 2 0.5 x 0.1 cm cracks in the fredboard corners so its a bummer. i don't thing its because of shipping as the damage is not something you can get with an impact when there are 3 card boxes and one case outside...

So, overall quality is top notch, not engraved gibson logo can reduce value over long periods of time as this is an effordable guitar and these don't get price bumps like the standard or upper models but i brought it for keeping so i don't care...

BTW, the string action and neck tension was ok out of the box, the action was a little low for my standards but it was well withing the gibson maintaince specs...

hope this helps you pick the right guitar for yourself.

This is my 3'rd Gibson LP:

The first was a Special with a really fat, almost V- or U-shaped neck, that I couldn't stand. The pup's were probably 500's with very high output; too much for my taste, more suitable for a flying-V..? Bad research, I have only myself to blame, and then sell it.

Second attempt:
This is a 2018 Traditional, as standard as they come.
Compared to my first LP, as I was hell bent on finding "my" LP, this was more to my liking: Slimmer neck profile and classic sounding pup's (BB 1 & 2's). I still own this gorgeous, HCS-coloured jewel...

I should be happy now, with this showpiece guitar in my rack..? Well yes, -and no, I still prefer Strat & Tele playability, and the Trad is kinda heavy in weight, "modest" sounding and chunky in the neck, so there have to be a Gibson out there that is even more suited to my taste..?

ENTER Studio SB:
When I read about this quite affordable version, with slim taper neck, body weight relief, 498/490-pups and the really cool SB-colour, I knew the time had come...

This guitar had to be mine! It "checked all my boxes", it was almost as it was spec'ed by myself, and it didn't disappoint:
It looks fantastic, sounds fantastic and plays like a dream! I have finally found "my" Gibson LP! I'm no longer a pure Fender guy.

Thank you for reading...

My previous electric guitar was a black Epiphone Les Paul and I wanted an upgrade. Among Gibson's choice for this price, I have chosen this model due to the colour. When I received it at home I was kind of disappointed, since colour was darker compared to the pictures on the web. Colour appears closer to mahogany, similar to the winered version in the website. Then, I realised that colour perception changes with daylight to a more lighter colour, making it more beautiful. Darker in the corners of the top and brown colour in the centre is something really nice to see. Sound is great, sustain is really good; when connected to the amp it sounds like an air strike. Clean sounds do not sound as attractive as I expected, but I'm trying different effects with pull-on/off knobs and amp effects (e.g. delay, tremolo), that can provide a better sound. Its weight makes it much more comfortable compared to my previous Epiphone Les Paul. Its neck makes it easy to handle and your hand can slide easily over the fretboard.

Concerning the finish, I really like it, the only thing I don't like is the small imperfections of the paint (drops) on the edge of the guitar neck. Perhaps I'm more sensitive to paint defects due to the fact that I worked in coating company some time ago.

Another negative thing is that the 3-position switch rotates easily.

Instruction manual does not contain useful information. If you are a total begginer, you get no useful information how to use the knobs.

As extras, the guitar came with a soft case and a strap. The case is soft but well cushioned, so gives enough protection against damages, under my opinion. Gibson strap really short and scratches my neck; I'm not satisfied with it at all. The knob is also a disadvantage, strap can be easily slipped and guitar can fall to the ground.

In summary, for intermediate guitar players sound is really good. Its weight surprised me positively. For rock, blues it's ideal, for clean sounds, I will try to experiment more on them to get the sound I want. Gibson's strap and the 3-position switch and of course, the instruction manual are the most improvable point.