Gibson Les Paul Studio Tribute Series

[Jericho75]

It's hard to believe there is not an owners club thread for these yet(atleast I don't think so, I did check).

I'll start it off with my 60's goldtop darkback.

[speedmusic]

Great looking guitar you have.

The tribute i own (60) is also a goldtop:



Much lighter back than yours:


A pair of goldtops:

[IamBlue]

Here's mine....50's Tribute in her new tweed case.

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[Jericho75]

I've had it for a few months and the nitro is starting to "break in". The neck is super smooth and shiny now. This guitar is just getting better! I did change out the flesh pink plastic for black.

[SackvilleDan]

You should have made it the Goldtop club, since that's what we all own so far!

Mine's a 2011 60's Tribute, natural back (two piece) and rosewood board... shown with my '03 Standard:

[jmbez]

I'm in.
I got this 60's tribute today.
Since I didn't have a guitar with P90's in the stable (like I needed an excuse.)

She's a worn Honey burst with mahogany back and neck with a rosewood fingerboard, weighing in around 7.1 lbs. Made in the U.S.A.

She plays great, the P90s can cover the gamut, from clean n bright to muddy crunch. I bought it from Wildwood so the setup is right on.
I'm very pleased

[Bubblewrap]

Bought it used a week ago and I've been really pleased. Played my first rehearsal with it a couple of days ago and had a really good time with it. Although it's light as a feather (6.6 lbs), it doesn't feel like a toy at all. Easy on the back and the variety of tones that you can dial in just with volume and tone is amazing. It's also really quiet, in spite of some hum-related horror stories on the web.

[Leep Dog]

Man I want one of these.

[Duffy]

I just got my new 50's Gibson LP Tribute humbucker gold top guitar yesterday. Brand new 2012 model.

It is nicer than I had even thought it would be and it came set up almost perfectly.

I don't have any pictures yet but I may be able to take some pictures today. If so I will post them.

It is a great guitar in all respects. I'm happy to be able to join the club.

[Chris S.]

Originally Posted by Leep Dog

Man I want one of these.

+1

I've been lusting after one of these for a while now. Aarrrghhh. :-/ CS

[ronkmd]

Traded my old Strat Plus Deluxe for a Honeyburst 60's Trib. Haven't had much chance to play it yet.

[nosuch]

got the one with humbuckers and added covers myself.

[Duffy]

Originally Posted by nosuch

got the one with humbuckers and added covers myself.

I notice that yours has the "natural" back on it, typical of the early production units.

Did you buy it used or is it a new item.

Where did you get it?

I just got one and it is a darkback, which I like a lot, no problem there. I have not added the covers yet and like the look of the black open coils against the gold and chome background colors.

I may yet add the covers though. I'm not exactly sure how to do it. I know that you have to tack solder the cover to the baseplate. Aside from that, do you have to connect a wire to the metal cover?

I'd be interested to know if you have to connect a wire, grounding or whatever, to the metal cover.

Did you have to make additional room for the covers so that the pickup rings would fit? It looks like there is very little room between the stock open coil pickups and the pickup rings.

Thanks in advance for the info.

[KellyCaster71]

Mines not exactly from the tribute series. It's the Bonamassa Studio. Got last years version with the Rosewood fingerboard. Burstbuckers 2&3. Gold top and black back and plastics.

[nosuch]

Duffy, the guitar was a gift from my lovely wife (she's the girl holding it in the picture btw.) bought in 2011. I was luring at the guitar at the thomann website (it's a special edition for this big shop) and eventually she bought it for me. They all had the natural back then, I think the dark back came later.
putting on the covers was easy. I just dripped some wax into the covers before I slipped them on to prevent microphonics. then I soldered them to the backplate of the pickup, which in my understanding should also do the grounding. no additional wires. I didn't even take the pickups out of the frames ... hahaha.

I also liked the look with the open coils but I destroyed a fine tele neck pickup when I was a kid so I'd rather cover them ...

[scantron81]

Here's mine. I added a Bigsby with a Vibramate:

[Lazerface]

2011 60s tribute (1st run light-back) 3 piece body, first gibson of mine:




Added speedknobs, removed pickguard




Love the light back!




Rosewood board!

[John Thigpen]

I've got a honeyburst 60's with P-90's and it's a very nice guitar.l Nice dark rosewood fretboard and well matched mahogany two piece back. Surprisingly good for the price.

I was interested in Sweetwater's 50's tribute goldtop with humbuckers for about $675, but their website shows it as no longer available in the last day or two. The picture showed a very dark baked maple fretboard which interests me very much. I prefer maple fretboards on Fenders and like ebony fretboards a lot also. I'm curious how the baked maple would sound on a Les Paul. Brighter and snappier? Not traditional Les Paul, but I think I would like it.

I was going to say that I was considering selling the P-90 model and buying the humbucker model but I'd have to find a comparable deal on it. I've got a set of Wagner Darkburst pickups that need a home, and I thought that would be a good choice.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LPST5HTGSCH

[Duffy]

If you are very happy with your sixties P90 honeyburst I would not get rid of it until after I got the Sweetwater gold top HB LP.

I had one and it had imperfections that I didn't appreciate. If you look at the straight on body picture on the Sweetwater page you will see that the treble E string doesn't cross the polepieces on the pickup in the center. Mine was even worse, it was about an eighth of an inch off of the pole piece on the bridge pickup and the neck was set at an incorrect angle so the strings didn't line up right on the fretboard. The bass E string was parallel to the edge of the fretboard and the treble E tracked progressively in toward the mid line, hence being off of the pole piece toward the mid line by an eighth of an inch.

There were other imperfections as well and design problems, such as the fretboard overlapped the neck on both sides - I have heard this complaint from several people.

I sent it back and got a '72 Deluxe Telecaster that I like way better.

I have a brown Gibson faded LP studio with a maple cap and rosewood fretboard that I really like. It is a perfectly good guitar, unlike the gold top. My faded studio is an awesome guitar with covered burstbucker pro's stock.

Be careful. If you like your honeyburst P90 you might just have a jewel there that you might not want to gamble away on an unknown variable, that being the very seemingly desirable humbucker gold top.

Since Gibson worked out their case with the illegal importation of the fretboard wood they are now able to import rosewood again in sizeable quantity and of good quality. It seems like, almost simultaneously, they are now discounting many of the guitars that they had been using alternative fretboard woods on. Woods like Black Obeche which I understand is way softer than rosewood, although a beautiful black color. I didn't mind my baked maple fretboard, but I'm totally happy with my rosewood and ebony fretboards and wonder if Gibson is thinking the same thing and eliminating their inventory of guitars in the pipeline that have a lot of the alternative fretboard woods.

It will be interesting if we see Gibson offering a lot of these models with rosewood fretboards again, now that they are importing a lot of it again. It is probably a preferable wood, but I'm not an expert so I can't say for sure. I am thinking, however, that Gibson would like to be producing more guitars with real rosewood fretboards, now that they legally can do so at a large scale again.

I would say be "sure" to hold onto the P90 until you have had plenty of time to check out the gold top and make sure it doesn't have design flaws and quality control problems.

I can't believe my gold top studio made it thru quality control. There were a few problems and at least two of them were very obvious, especially to a trained QC person.

I'm very happy with my faded Gibson LP studio and the '72 Deluxe Telecaster MIM RI is a great addition to my collection and is a new sound to bring into play.

It is your decision, needless to say, but I thought I would share with you my experience with that particular gold top.

Good luck in your quest for a humbucking LP.

[John Thigpen]

I do think my Honeyburst with P-90s is a very good guitar. I'm lookin for a good humbucker guitar without spending much if any money. I'm also considering a PRS SE Santana. I also have a PRS SE Custom that I plan to sell.