Review of the Gibson Les Paul Custom Electric Guitar

23 Jun 2010

Features of the Gibson Les Paul Custom

Tuners - The Grover tuners are finished in gold with tulip-shaped knobs. They work smoothly and hold fast, as you'd expect on a guitar of this quality.

Headstock - The classic flared and gabled three-a-side headstock is faced in black with a broken diamond design and the Gibson logo are inlaid in a very subtle abalone that glints its rainbow colours in a quite subdued way. The white finish on the back and sides of the headstock comes over the edge of the front to simulate white binding. The edge is finished by a double black pinstripe. The trussrod cover is a stylised bell-shape cut from two-ply black/white plastic and bears the legend "Les Paul Custom". 

Nut - The white plastic nut abuts the fretboard and is perfectly cut.

Neck - The fixed mahogany neck is fashioned from a single piece of wood, although this is not visible due to the white gloss finish. The feel of this neck is classic Gibson with its well-rounded chunkiness and practically parallel profile. This is not a neck for wimps and it may take you a few minutes to get acclimatised to both the neck and the overall weight of the instrument, but the effort is well worthwhile.

Fretboard - The ebony of the fretboard is deliciously dark and close-grained. The fretmarkers are simple rectangle blocks in the same subtle abalone that is used on the headstock. The darkness of the ebony accentuates the shy gleam of the abalone. The markers are mirrored on the player's side of the neck by black dots on the white binding with which the fretboard is bound.

Frets - The fat profile frets are immaculately finished and well-polished giving a positive playing experience, especially for string-bends.

Action - The guitar has been perfectly set-up in an American factory and the action is correspondingly excellent.

Body - The Gibson Les Paul Custom is a seriously weighty guitar thanks to its 50mm thickness, most of which is mahogany. This chunk of mahogany is topped with a slice of maple which has been treated to a subtle carving. The classic single-cut Les Paul body shape is finished in uber-cool Arctic white which is bound front and back with white binding. The top and the back are finished by black pinstripes, two on the back and three on the front.

Bridge - The Les Paul Custom has a Tune-o-matic bridge and tailpiece finished in gold. The Tune-o-matic gives each string its own individual saddle which is fully adjustable for intonation (string length), the action (height of the strings above the fretboard) is adjustable via two screw-assisted lugs, one at each end of the bridge. Behind the bridge is a stoptail through which the strings are threaded and retained.

Pickups - The Les Paul Custom packs two humbuckers which sit under gold covers in black surrounds. They are Gibson humbuckers, a 498T at the bridge and a 490R at the neck, each with an alnico V magnets which creates a "hotter" output.

Controls - Each pickup has a dedicated volume and tome control topped with black Gibson speed knobs which look extremely cool against the white finish. The three-way pickup selector switch sits on the upper bout and has a cream switch-tip.

Pickguard - The traditional Les Paul scratchplate is cut from four-ply black/white/black/white plastic. It's a floating pickguard as is standard on carved top guitars. This means it is screwed to the body where it meets the fretboard but held away from the body by a small gold bracket at its lower edge.

Strap-buttons - There are two strap-buttons, one at the upper bout, the other on the base of the body. Both are small vintage types. Given the weight and cost of this instrument I would suggest straplocks become an essential first accessory purchase.

Output Jack - The output jack is on the lower edge of the body in a square gold mounting plate.

Finish - The finish of this handmade American guitar is beautiful. It even smells beautiful.

Accessories - The Les Paul Custom comes with a fitted case, a leather-bound certificate of authenticity and a Gibson care-kit.

Sound of the Gibson Les Paul Custom

Plugging in and firing up the Les Paul Custom is a revelation. It's instantly impressive tonality makes you look at your amp in surprise and wonder why it's never sounded that good before. The bridge pickup has a bright vibrance that nails the good old Lizzy sound effortlessly. The neck pickup mines a darker tone out of its mahogany landscape that will lend itself equally well to electric blues or doom-laden drop-tone metal, depending on how much overdrive you dial in amp-side. And so well are the pickups matched that the combination of the two produces a wonderfully balanced rock tone suitable for chordal work, rhythm playing or more laid-back bluesy soloing.

Overall Impressions of the Gibson Les Paul Custom

There can be few guitars cooler than a white Les Paul, from The Sex Pistols to The Manics the white Les Paul has added axe-hero kudos to anyone brave enough to wear one. This particular model has the extra kudos of being American-made, and not just kudos comes with that label, the Americans really do seem to attain a higher level of quality than other guitar-making nations, with the possible exception of Japan. The voice is classic Les Paul, it's the sound of heavy rock in the making, it's the sound that quite frankly dismisses the me-too copycats that dare attempt to imitate it. And its reputation sits on your shoulders as heavily as the guitar sits on the strap. It's not a cheap guitar by any standards, but it is truly a wonderful instrument, a handmade American Les Paul from the Custom Shop... think about it... dream about it...

Reviewed by The Man in the Jar