Gibson Les Paul Cm 2015 Electric Guitar Review
Our Verdict
It's expensive, merely if you can get on with the 2015 spec there'due south a depth of tone that's a cutting higher up its siblings.
Pros
- Superb tones. Excellent build and finish.
Cons
- G Force tuning organisation is non-optional. Prohibitively expensive for the new generation of players.
MusicRadar Verdict
It'due south expensive, but if you can get on with the 2015 spec at that place's a depth of tone that's a cut above its siblings.
Pros
- +
Superb tones. Excellent build and finish.
Cons
- -
G Strength tuning system is not-optional. Prohibitively expensive for the new generation of players.
Gibson 2015 Les Paul Standard
Pickups
Tones
Headstock
For 2015, Gibson's annual makeover of the Les Paul Standard is more radical than e'er. We take a shut wait at the latest iteration of the firm's flagship solid torso model...
The new line-up of Gibson's Us production guitars is full of change. Are you lot set? First off, the Tronical-designed Min-ETune 'robot' tuning organisation has been rebranded as the G Force Tuning System and is standard - non optional - on all the guitars, with the exception of the Derek Trucks SG and Firebird.
Then in that location's the Cypher Fret Adaptable Nut - a first for Gibson - wider necks and thicker rosewood fingerboards, pearl inlays, lower frets and improved Plek set-upwards and intonation.
All the models have proper gloss nitro finishes and come in a new-design TKL moulded case; plus a Les Paul 100th birthday signature on the headstock; an 'improved contact' output jack and "more robust cables" for a "stronger signal strength".
On top of that there's an upgraded Tune-O-Matic bridge with titanium saddles, a slot-in/pull-out removable pickguard... Oh yep, and a totally overhauled cervix profile and weight-relieved body.
Build
"A dandy improver is the hands removable no-screw pickguard, which via three small prongs slots into the cream pickup rings"
Equally the definitive Les Paul, the Standard has gone through some changes over the years, non least recently!
This year'south model uses a very classic-looking AA-grade figured maple top that certainly isn't over-dramatic, paired with an 'enhanced' trunk contour that subtly dishes.
Under the hood is the modernistic weight relief and eye-joined 'ultra low' density mahogany dorsum - it'southward even so no lightweight, though. The neck profile is the 'slim' profile but asymmetric, putting more beef on the bass side (20.8mm at the 1st fret, 22.5mm at the 12th). The fingerboard is classed equally 'dark' and at that place's purple streaks to the grain.
A nifty improver is the easily removable no-spiral pickguard, which via three small prongs slots into the cream pickup rings, leaving no open screw holes as the standard fixings do when you remove it.
Equally y'all'd look, at that place's the classic four-control layout with dual Burstbucker Pro humbuckers, with their slightly unmatched coils - a deviation of nigh 200 turns - and Alnico V magnets.
We take tuned coil-taps via the book controls' pull/push switches, merely nosotros also accept pull/ push switches on the ii tone controls - pulling up the bridge pickup's tone sends that pickup direct to the output jack, bypassing the tone and any interaction of the other controls; the neck pickup's tone, with the switch pulled up and both pickups selected, puts them out of phase.
Overall, the gloss finishing is actually good: typically Gibson in that information technology's non mirror-perfect, simply it'due south conspicuously thin, crisply coloured and also pleasantly non-sticking on the cervix backs.
The Candy finish on our review model refers to a subtle metallic aureate fleck that's barely visible under normal light, more noticeable - notwithstanding very subtle - under a brighter illumination.
Sounds
The Standard is a seriously classy performer, though, that feels rich and sophisticated in every position.
Played clean, even the total humbucking tones take a iii-dimensional, bell-like complexity that may redefine your expectations of how much clean mileage you can get from a Les Paul Standard. The single-whorl voicings are, likewise, a more expressive step up from those of the Studio and Palatial.
"Once once more, the Les Paul Standard sets the standard when information technology comes to sonic quality"
Additional sauce here comes courtesy of the 'straight out' setting, providing a little more than raunch, and you go a honky, out-of-phase tone that's useful should you need a T-Bone Walker or pseudo-Varitone-type lead voice to slice through a mix in the studio.
Back in total humbucking mode, creepo upwards your amp or add a nice overdrive pedal and the Burstbucker Pro pickups excel for the kind of classic lead tones that the likes of Clapton, Folio, Kossoff and many more used to define the vocabulary of rock.
The Les Paul Standard may be priced dangerously close to a used R8 or R9, merely in the heat of boxing with a hot, loud amp you'd struggle to become a cigarette newspaper between the tones on offering here and their Gibson Custom equivalents. Non for the first time, we come across a crop of new Gibsons (having already reviewed the 2015 Deluxe and Studio), in which the Les Paul Standard sets the standard when it comes to sonic quality.
There's plenty here to alarm the purists - non to the lowest degree that if y'all want to purchase a new Les Paul Standard that doesn't have a brass zippo fret, lath-mounted components, Grand Force tuners and not-traditional fingerboard dimensions then you'll have to shell out at least £3,199 for the 'entry-level' Gibson Custom Plaintop R8.
Withal, our recent conversations with Gibson betoken that the company's 2015 USA model simply isn't aimed at the same players who animalism afterwards vintage accuracy - onboard self tuning, more beginner-friendly fretboard dimensions and the similar are symptomatic of a witting conclusion to appeal to a new generation of guitarists.
Less controversial are improvements in the fit and terminate, but it remains to be seen whether the people Gibson is targeting have the funds to splash out on the Standard. The Standard is a real 'heart buy', only we'd advise that it's priced in a ballpark that's accessible merely to older, well-heeled beginners, rather than the next generation of guitar heroes.
Source: https://www.musicradar.com/reviews/guitars/gibson-2015-les-paul-standard-613183
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