Gibson Les Paul studio

The Les Paul Studio is designed for a studio musician. This means that the guitar is targeted toward guitar players more concerned with tone and playability than cosmetics thus eliminating unnecessary expenses that go into a model designed for performances. For this reason, the elements of the Gibson Les Paul that contribute to tone and playability (a carved maple top and standard mechanical and electronic hardware) are retained, while elements that do not (binding on the body and neck as well as ornate inlays) are not.

Early models from 1983-1984 featured dot fret markers on top of ebony or rosewood fretboards. The neck and body bindings were offered on the Standard and Custom studios. In the mid 80's the dot markers were replaced by trapezoidal inlay. In the early 90's the option of an ebony fretboard was discontinued, but they are now available on the classic, silverburst and alpine white finishes. The maple top on the Studio series is 1/8 of an inch thinner than other Les Paul models that feature a maple top. This feature is roundly considered to provide slightly less sustain. The Studio was made to hit a specific price point below the standard Paul, allowing novice guitarists to enjoy the pedigree, shape and image of a Les Paul at a greatly reduced price. Despite this fact, many professional guitarists (see above) use the Studio as their on-stage instrument of choice, usually citing its reduced weight.

The Les Paul Studio features the same electronics as the custom model. This includes two pickups (one at the bridge position and another at the neck), a volume control unit for each pickup, a tone control unit for each pickup, and a three-way selector switch. A standard 1/4-inch guitar cable jack is located at the bottom rim of the instrument.

The pickups currently installed in this model are the Gibson 490R Alnico magnet humbucker in the neck position and the Gibson 498T Alnico magnet humbucker in the bridge position. The Studio Lite version of the Les Paul was equipped with ceramic magnet humbuckers (496R/500T).

As of late 2009, the "faded" model Studios (these have a slightly faded stain finish, as opposed to Nitrocellulose finishes) have BurstBucker Pro pickups installed.

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