MusicRadar Verdict With its added features the 2008 Standard moves into a more boutique area but remains very well priced and quite old-school. Pros +Sharper than usual build and set-up. More vintage-like old LP tones. Price. Cons -The neck profile may divide opinion only because we love the '59 profile so much. Frets still need more profiling. MusicRadar's got your back Our team of expert musicians and producers spends hours testing products to help you choose the best music-making gear for you. Find out more about how we test. Simple, classic. With a few modern twists... Gibson Les Paul 2008 StandardIt's 50 years since Gibson unveiled the sunburst Les Paul Standard, kicking off the journey of an initially far-from-popular instrument. Now, along with Fender's Stratocaster, it's become the world's most popular and recognisable electric Fender, Gibson has various historically accurate reissues available, but has also chosen in 2008 to release a new Standard. The new Standard advertises an enlarged neck tenon plus a properly chambered body to trim weight and add resonance. Time to open the case then…What's new?The new 2008 Standard looks forward with numerous changes that would seem to be aimed to bring it in line with, most obviously, more modern brands like PRS and it's the advertised chambering of this model or simply slightly lighter mahogany, or both, the 2008 is a little lighter and seems a little more alive as you tap your knuckles on its body. Here the body back is one-piece and the maple top subtly figured. Without the pickguard it also looks a little leaner and less fussy."If Gibson keeps up this improved, detailed construction, a few other boutique single-cuts will begin to look rather costly."Although the 'board and inlays seem dry and dirty, set-up is good the guitar arrived with a 'Plek'd' sticker on the bridge pickup including the nut, although we suspect opinion might be split over the tuners - one of the numerous changes to the 'standard' formula that we see are Grover locking types with chromed tulip buttons, not the more classic plastic of the traditional Klusons. The lock is achieved very easily with a large rear thumbwheel, which clamps the string in its post the tuners, the tune-o-matic and stud tailpiece lock to their posts. They are TonePros parts and, while the claim of increased sustain may be hard to confirm, they certainly won't fall off when you take all the strings advertises an 'asymmetrical' neck profile that's quite rare, especially on production electrics - the only other one that sticks in the mind is the profile used on the original Music Man Eddie Van Halen the bass-side is more 'D' shaped and the treble side is more of a 'C' with a shallower shoulder. It's slightly less deep at the first fret, at the 12th than Gibson's '50s rounded profile that, while similar at the first fills out to by the the 2008 has a BurstBucker Pro 1 at neck and a BurstBucker Pro 2 at the bridge and Bourne gold-plated pots visible through a smoked translucent control cover; also new is the Neutrik locking output jack tidily inset into the guitar's the electrics backplate and things all looks rather high tech the four square pots are soldered onto a Gibson logo'd PCB; the pickups connect to the PCB with clearly marked solder-less push-in connects; likewise the outputs to the toggle Guitarist's Dave Durban put the new 2008 Standard through its pacesThe 2008, while offering what seems like a slew of modern updates actually sounds older. What we mean here is that, certainly on the bridge pickup, which sounds a little hotter than a '57 Classic, we have more edge and spark to the sound; it clears up nicely too and you can really get older Les Paul voices - more classic blues Peter Green than modern rock Slash, if you neck pickup is very sweet and tuneful, again though there's a little more definition to the sound but it's lower in output compared to the bridge pickup and seems less balanced as a is a set-up you might prefer, of course, but we found it a little too unbalanced before we started messing with pickup heights. The mix, however, results in increased clarity - pull down both volumes and there's more single-coil like clarity than you might the 2008 feels like a modern production Gibson. Those frets still feel a little intrusive initially, and while the 2008's slightly slimmer neck feel will have its fans, some players may yearn for the more familiar neck shapes available in other areas of the Fender, Gibson's main business is providing us with umpteen versions of its classic guitars they may be historically accurate or signature versions or look a little to the future, as with the certainly have no problem with that and, barring a few minor quibbles, we have no problem with this guitar - especially with this year's trim price and its palpably sharper the slightly edgier, older sounding 2008 Standard will suit you, is really down to what you want from a 'Paul. What we will say is that if Gibson keeps up this improved, detailed construction, a few more boutique-y other-brand single-cuts will begin to look rather costly. Dave Burrluck is one of the world’s most experienced guitar journalists, who started writing back in the '80s for International Musician and Recording World, co-founded The Guitar Magazine and has been the Gear Reviews Editor of Guitarist magazine for the past two decades. Along the way, Dave has been the sole author of The PRS Guitar Book and The Player's Guide to Guitar Maintenance as well as contributing to numerous other books on the electric guitar. Dave is an active gigging and recording musician and still finds time to make, repair and mod guitars, not least for Guitarist’s The Mod Squad. Most Popular

Epiphone has a long-established brand in their own right, but are best known as the affordable, Eastern-made offshoot of the mighty Gibson, with a substantial quantity of their models directly taken from their parent company’s range. A popular guitar amongst players making the transition from a beginner instrument, well-known Epi Les Paul players include Noel Gallagher in early Oasis, and Frank Iero from My Chemical RomanceNo more than Gibson, Epiphone has a large – probably larger than necessary – range of variants of the Les Paul. Here, in the interest of simplicity, we’ll take a look at the Standard model, to provide you with a baseline for the range. Core Features and Specs of the Epiphone Les PaulThe most core of core features of any Epiphone Les Paul, is the combination of a solid mahogany body with a maple top, and a couple of humbuckers. That is the heart and soul of its parts and the expense of explaining a little bit of semantics, pricier guitars with the mahogany body/maple top combination will have a carved maple top, maybe around an inch thick. On lower-priced instruments -such as this – the “maple top” is more likely to be closer to a fretboardFrets22PickupsAlnico Classic humbuckersSo far, so Les Paul!Image from FlickrThis will work well for… If you’re looking at this guitar, you’re looking pretty much at rock, particularly blues-derived rock. Just think of the list of players associated with Les Paul! Clapton to Slash; Gorham and Robertson to Moore… I could use up the entire word count reeling off Les Paul players!So yes, if that’s the ballpark you’re looking to be in, you’ve got it. Coupled with the right amp, with the right setting dialled in, you’ll get your crunchy rock and blues riffs, with enough room to widdle out licks and it do what it should?Let’s be realistic at this price, Gibson aren’t going to be letting Epiphone have the best quality, highest density mahogany. Still, the Epi weighs in at a tidy Not too shabby – you won’t forget it’s there or of the box, everything smells and shines like it should. On this Standard, everything is.. well… pretty much standard!It’s got its humbuckers and three-way pickup selection, controlled with a volume knob and a tone knob for each of said humbuckers. The machineheads come courtesy of Grover – a well-respected name for the job.. Apart from that, the rest of the hardware is thing that pushes the price of this Les Paul compared to other guitars aimed at intermediate players, is the use of parallelograms for the fingerboard inlays, rather than plain old dots. This is something that requires a little extra craftsmanship, and, to be fair, they look the see how it all comes very rarely that an Epiphone is criticized for the quality of its heel of the neck sits flush and clean with body. It’s pretty much are no blemishes or dings in the finish, or along the binding, anywhere in the review model. The frets are even and perfectly embedded in the rosewood fingerboard, as are the parallelogram inlays. The fingerboard doesn’t seem “as finished” as higher end models, if that makes sense?The hardware and electronics all seem very solidly attached – all sitting flush with the body, and some firm poking doesn’t make anything move that shouldn’t. The Grover machineheads are sitting even and sturdy, looking confidently ready to do their model features tune o matic bridge, which Epiphone proudly declare allows adjustment without the need for tools, but honestly, I don’t know many guitarists who spend much time tinkering with such the price of this electric guitar, there’s actually very little to fault. Sure, the parts used won’t be of the same quality as more expensive models, but, if they were, well, it would be a more expensive model!Les Paul Sound and TonesThe price tag of this instrument is a bit more than a beginners’ guitar, so it’s aimed at buyers who are prepared to go a little more for an amp to do it justice. In that respect, it’s likely that they’d also go a few dollars more for something a little better than a solid state amp, although probably not enough to go for a full valve the likely player of this guitar in mind, the Standard was tested through a 50 watt, hybrid, 2×12 combo before plugging into the amp, a few test strums gave an indication of the thick tones that might be coming – if you don’t believe that you can hear guitars’ varying tones without plugging in, I absolutely invite you to give it a this review, the bass was set to four, with the middle and treble each set to the Standard through a clean channel, that bridge humbucker gives a nice bright, but not piercing tone. If you nudge the pickup selector to the middle or neck position, and crank out a few blues licks, you’ll find yourself in a very comfortable on your amp, if you want to push it a little bit, cranking the volume on the amp, until it breaks just slightly, you should start to hear the beginnings of a nice, Clapton-esque blues crunch. Sweet. You might need to roll the volume off your guitar to balance it on that theme, moving over to the overdrive channel, with a gain of about four dialed in, and getting the volume of the guitar back up, you won’t be quite out of blues territory, but some good rock tones will definitely be in the that gain up to six, and your squarely in classic, blues-based rock, and this is where the functionality of the Les Paul peaks. As a general guide neck pickup for ballsy riffs, both pickups for a steady middle ground rhythm, and down to the bridge pickup should a solo be from FlickrPlayabilityThe aesthetics and construction of this guitar are enough to inspire any beginner to start looking at fingerboard is comfortable, the tones are a perfect introduction to humbuckers, and you’ll look as cool as Slash. Any compromise on the quality of parts, hasn’t compromised the construction, and in turn the players can be picky about parts, and how it’s just not a good old American-made Gibson, but honestly, if you want to look and feel like a rock star, Epiphone’s Les Paul Standard will do the such sturdy construction, an intermediate player won’t be afraid to get stuck in, and play this guitar to within an inch of its life. It’s ideal for providing a basis in understanding guitars equipped with humbuckers, and getting a feel for Great overall instrument for the price● High-quality parts● Nothing to fault on construction● Ideal first guitar for those inspired to play by blues-based rock guitarists● There are cheaper alternatives that may do the job just as wellAlternativesThe Les Paul shape is probably one of the most inspirational read copied guitar body shapes in history, so alternatives are not difficult to round NAMM 2017, Epiphone’s parent company, Gibson, unveiled its S Series, intended to give musicians an affordable route to the revered Gibson family of guitars. It’s something they do every now and Paul Custom Special Studio 2017 Gibson S Series Les Paul M2 Bright Cherry Electric Reverb This was designed around Gibson's standards of quality and innovation for Gibson USA's new S Series. The Gibson S Series is a whole new range of guitars all made in the US, but at a considerably lower price point than ever before. Check price We may receive compensation from the companies whose products we review. We only recommend products that we believe in and the S Series, comes the Les Paul Custom Special Studio, with the same MSRP as the Epiphone Les Paul Standard. Ultimately, it comes down to whether you want a cheap Gibson, or an expensive Epiphone. In terms of build quality, they really are neck and neck, if you’ll pardon the is a no-frills affair, with the embellishment really just the range and brightness of the finishes. It’s very much the quintessential “slab of mahogany with a couple of humbuckers wedged in.” Check out our full custom vs standard Les Paul SE 245 You can’t really write about alternatives to Les Paul models without including a singlecut PRS model, because of that time Gibson sued them over the similarities. The SE range is their affordable option, and the 245 borrows the Epiphone’s slab of mahogany with a maple veneer, albeit with a gorgeous 245 also comes with PRS’s inimitable birds inlays. The lower horn includes some contouring to allow for more comfortable access to the higher frets. Apart from the stylistic differences mentioned, the electronics has an identical approach to the Gibson and Epiphone Les Paul LTD EC-401 ESP LTD EC-401 Electric Guitar Guitar Center Look no further with this as it features versatile, powerful tones, reliable hardware, and tidy, attractive looks. Plus consistent high rating from the people who've purchased this. Check price Buy at We may receive compensation from the companies whose products we review. We only recommend products that we believe in and something a little different, but in the same vein – perhaps leaning a bit more towards metal – the longstanding and very respectable ESP have the EC-401 Eclipse model from their LTD one is probably closer to the Gibson, in that the body is a slab of mahogany. What might lean it towards metal brothers and sisters are the inclusion of EMG active pickups. It has binding around the body and mahogany neck, its hardware is black, and the inlays on the fingerboard are reminiscent of a waving Final NoteThe Epiphone Les Paul Standard is such a go-to guitar for those looking to make the transition from “learner” to “player,” at least just to look at and a guitarist is experienced enough to be considering it, they’ll be experienced enough to that you get what you pay for. No, this won’t have the finery of a Gibson Les Paul but that’s not why these guitars are made. Question Is the Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plustop Pro different than the Gibson Les Paul?Answer Yes, of course. The Epiphone is owned by Gibson, so the guitars are virtually the same same mahogany body, solid maple top, mahogany neck, and rosewood frets, however, they are manufactured in a different place. The Epiphone is manufactured mostly in China and Indonesia, whereas the Gibson is manufactured in Korea and the Does the Epiphone Les Paul come with a professional setup?Answer This depends on the place of purchase. Some stores including online ratailers sell already setup guitars, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will get one ready to Does the Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plustop Pro come with any additional details?Answer No. If you buy it from a music store you might be able to make a deal with the seller to get an extra accessory for the guitar, otherwise, it does not come with a case or picks. Epiphone Top Picks Epiphone 1960 Tribute Black Cherry Reverb You'll never regret buying this used Epiphone 1960 Tribute Plus in its original cherry sunburst finish, in excellent condition from Reverb. An owner of this guitar rated this as "the best sounding and playing guitar Epiphone has made." Check price We may receive compensation from the companies whose products we review. We only recommend products that we believe in and test. Epiphone G-310 SG Ebony Reverb The Epiphone G-310 solid-body electric guitar gives you all the style and sound of the venerable SG at a down-to-earth tip If an item is currently not available on Reverb, you can select 'Follow this product' to be notified of any new listings. Check price Buy at We may receive compensation from the companies whose products we review. We only recommend products that we believe in and ReadsEpiphone LP Special II Review You’ll LoveEpiphone Les Paul Electric vs Squier Stratocaster Comp [2022]The Full, Epic Epiphone Les Paul Standard ReviewHumbucker Pickups vs Single Coil Which is Best for You?How to find the Best Electric GuitarAboutLatest Posts The Guitar Space team is a crew of dedicated players. Led by Ed Lozano, working musician, teacher, and author for over four decades. Ed is joined by other bonafide classic players, bringing real-life guitar-playing testers, buyers, and writers to the crew. We'll tell you what you really need, what we'd buy & give you real-deal advice from decades of playing.

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