Gibson Les Paul Standard Electric Guitar with Gibson Hardshell Case
Owning Gibson USA’s Les Paul Standard Electic Guitar is a statement that you have earned the right to play the best. The current Gibson 2008 Les Paul Standard is the finest and most player centric Les Paul Standard ever made. Several great innovations mark this great iconic electric guitar: A new Asymmetrical Neck Profile that is ergonomically designed to fit your hand more comfortably than any previous design. A chambered mahogany body with maple top that makes the Les Paul Standard lighter and better balanced than previous editions, while retaining the density that gives the Les Paul its characteristic tone and long sustain. A setup in which the miraculous computer controlled PLEK machine that dresses each fret with a precision that no human could achieve alone making this Les Paul Standard the most playable in history. Here are the details:
New Asymmetrical Neck Profile
The 2008 Les Paul Standard Electric Guitar features an asymmetrical neck profile designed to fit your hand. Since your hand is not symetrical only an asymmetric neck can achieve perfect comfort and playability. The new Les Paul Standard neck has an ergonomically-correct profile tapered to be thicker on the bass side, and thinner on the treble side, closely follow the natural form of your hand as you grip the neck. Every 2008 Les Paul Standard neck is finished by hand by experienced Gibson luthiers. That means your Les Paul will have a neck that is unique and yours alone.
Chambered Mahogany Body
The sound and sustain of the Gibson Les Paul guitar requires dense woods which in previous versions made for a very heavy guitar. In the new 2008 Les Paul Standard, Gibson maintains the traditional materials, but prior to gluing the maple cap on top of the mahogany body, the expert craftsmen at Gibson USA carve out carefully mapped-out chambers in the body using a Computer Numeric Controlled (CNC) router.
Gibson positioned the chambers in the Les Paul Standard body after careful experimentation with the resonant characteristics of the Les Paul. Its luthiers were aware that every change to the formula would have repercussions on the instrument’s sound. So, in addition to relieving the stress on a player’s back and shoulder, these lighter Gibson Les Paul Standard guitars also enhance the tone palette. The results are comfortable, lightweight guitars that are acoustically louder, with increased sustain and resonance.
TonePros Locking Tune-o-matic Bridge and Locking Stopbar Tailpiece
The Tune-o-matic bridge was the brainchild of legendary Gibson president Ted McCarty in 1954, setting the standard for simplicity and functionality that has never been bettered. The 2008 Les Paul Standard features TonePros locking Nashville Tune-o-matic in a chrome finish, with saddle adjustment screws on the pickup side, and pre-notched saddles for quick installation. The chrome locking stopbar tailpiece is also from TonePros. These parts come with locking studs designed to secure both components firmly to the body so that there is no lean, yielding a great union between the strings and body which results in excellent tone and sustain.
Pickups: Gibson Burstbucker Pros
The 2008 Les Paul Standard has the finest humbucking pickups ever -- the Burstbucker Pro. Succeeding the original 2002 Burstbuckers, the Burstbucker Pro features an Alnico V magnet (instead of the Alnico II), which offers slightly higher output and allows preamps to be driven a little harder to achieve a more natural break-up. Like all Burstbuckers, the Burstbucker Pro has asymmetrical coils—true to the original Gibson Patent Applied For humbucing pickups (affectionately know as PAFs)—which supply a more open sound. The Burstbucker Pro Neck pickup is wound slightly less than the original PAFs, while the Burstbucker Pro Bridge is slightly overwound for increased output. The Burstbucker Pro pickups are also wax potted to allow loud volume pressures with minimal feedback.
Revolutionary Plek Set Up
The 2008 Les Paul Standard is one of the first models from Gibson USA to utilize the revolutionary Plek machine in setting up the guitar. The Plek is a German-made, computer controlled machine that carefully measures each fret, along with the fingerboard height under each string, and then automatically dresses each fret, virtually eliminating string buzz and greatly improving the overall playability of the guitar. This pioneering process does in minutes what it takes a luthier several hours—sometimes even days—to accomplish. Every fret is accurately aligned, and the guitar is properly intonated, leaving the instrument “Plek’d” and amazingly playable.
Locking Neutrik Jack
Neutrik has been making superior electronic interconnection products since 1975, making them the logical choice to supply the performance safeguarding jack in Gibson’s 2008 Les Paul Standard. Like many Neutrik products, the jack in the 2008 Les Paul Standard is manufactured from strong, high-grade thermoplastics and housed in a rugged diecast nickel shell. A retention spring inside the jack ensures optimum grip on any guitar cable, thus avoiding the chance of lost connection.
Locking Grover Tuners
The 2008 Les Paul Standard is outfitted with locking tuners from Grover, which deliver ease of use through a standard tuner and positive locking mechanism that securely locks each string in place. Simply insert each string through the string hole, turn the dial on the bottom of the tuner to lock the string, and begin tuning. Each string can be tuned to pitch in less than one complete revolution of the post. These Grover machine heads feature completely sealed components with an improved 18:1 tuning ratio.
Custom-Made, Solderless Potentiometers
The 2008 Les Paul Standard features all newly designed controls, including custom-made, solderless potentiometers. These new potentiometers deliver accuracy and high reliability, while giving the Standard ’08 a new level of sonic clarity and intensity never before seen in a Les Paul.
New Enlarged Neck Tenon
The 2008 Les Paul Standard sports a revolutionary enlarged neck tenon designed by Gibson’s team of pioneering engineers. The expanded neck tenon features an innovative interlocking joint that allows the neck to be dropped into the body from the guitar’s top side, as opposed to sliding the neck in from the rim. When the glue is added, a solid unyielding bond is created that maximizes the wood to wood contact between the neck and the body, offering increased stability and superb transfer of vibration for enhanced tone, improved sustain, and superior resonance. It is also the largest neck tenon in the history of the Les Paul.
Nitrocellulose Finish
Applying a nitrocellulose finish to any Gibson guitar—including the Les Paul Standard—is one of the most labor-intensive elements of the guitar-making process. A properly applied nitro finish requires extensive man hours, several evenly applied coats, and an exorbitant amount of drying time. But this fact has never swayed Gibson into changing this time-tested method, employed ever since the first guitar was swathed with lacquer back in 1894.
Why? For starters, a nitro finish dries to a much thinner coat than a polyurethane finish, which means there is less interference with the natural vibration of the instrument, allowing for a purer tone. A nitro finish is also a softer finish, which makes it easily repairable. You can touch up a scratch or ding on a nitro finish, but you can’t do the same on a poly finish. In addition, a nitro finish is very porous in nature, and actually gets thinner over time. It does not “seal” wood in an airtight shell—as a poly finish does—and allows the
wood to breathe and age properly.
Hardshell Case
Your Gibson Les Paul Standard Electic Guitar will come to you in a plush lined Gibson Hardshell case designed to protect your investment and enhance the ownership experience. Imagine opening the case for the first time and lifting a shiny new, perfectly set up, Les Paul Standard into your hands. Start playing!
The Gibson Les Paul Standard is the guitar you have always wanted and now it is the guitar you have earned. Don't put off joy any longer, get your Gibson Les Paul Standard today from Sam Ash Direct with free shipping. Enjoy the confidence you get from our 45/60 day return/price protection policy and our more than 85 years of experience.
