Keeping Up Standards

Everyone’s doing ‘a Gibson’, it seems. But what exactly is Gibson doing? Dave Burrluck takes stock…

Gibson’s mainstream assault on our hearts and wallets comes from its USA division, not to be confused with its Memphis and Custom Shop brands. Yes, all the instruments have Gibson on the headstock, but – certainly to an outsider – it’s almost like three different guitar factories working in isolation. And while certain price-points overlap, it’s the more affordable USA division’s guitars that most of us will experience.

The USA line is upgraded, changed and tweaked on an annual basis and in recent years – 2015, in particular – it took a modernistic turn that seemed to put off as many players as it engaged. Fast forward to 2017, however, and things have stabilised with a dual tier of models: ‘T’ for traditional, more classic guitars, and ‘HP’ as in High Performance, for those who want their Les Paul to push the envelope. You choose.

And while many brands can be accused of not giving us the choices we want, Gibson USA isn’t one of them. If we focus on just the Les Paul, the company’s original solidbody single-cutaway, the range starts with the Les Paul Faded T in Worn Brown or Cherry at a lowly £699 and street price nearer £550. We move up through the line to the Standard: the Les Paul. Now, in its T spec, that might have a retail price of £2,299 (the HP model costs £2,699), but from the large Gibson dealers it seems to have settled at £1,899.

Since the Winter NAMM show, we’ve had a request in to look at both the T and HP versions of the Standard, but at the time of writing (July) we still hadn’t received either. In researching our Different ’Cuts feature, however, I borrowed a 2017 LP Standard T simply because if you’re after a new Gibson Les Paul, it’s got to be a contender. On paper, it has a lot going for it. Its street price, for example, is hugely tempting and its reined-in innovation creates, no, not a vintage ’Burst on a budget, but a guitar that embodies the key elements of the Les Paul – and moves it forward. Innovation has always been key to the history of Gibson and this Standard model does nothing to erode that reputation.

Changing Times

Securing wood of the correct variety, condition and weight has been an ongoing issue for every maker on the planet. The model was designed back in the early 50s, of course, when supplies of choice South American mahogany were plentiful, but today’s choice is much, much more limited and expensive. While some makers are toying with different woods, many more are chambering or weight-relieving their single-cuts. “But it’s not a solidbody!” you shout. Well, no, but this is 2017, not 1957. Things have changed. Gibson’s “ultra modern weight relief”, which is under the hood of the Standard, is the latest of many, and while it hardly produces an ultra-light Les Paul, at 8.86lbs ( just over 4kg), our sample is far from a porker.

Its nicely striped AAA top – along with one of the best finishes we’ve seen on a USA model – creates a pretty posh yet classic aesthetic, but there are plenty more tricks up the Standard’s sleeve. The ’board radius is classed as compound and measures approximately nine to 14 inches. Yes, the fret ends are the nibs of the binding, but all are nicely smooth, while the ‘asymmetric’ neck profile is slightly D shaped, hardly a classic ’Burst alike, but it feels rather good, not least if you use your thumb behind.

Sounding Out

Still, it’s the sounds and the potential that again push this Standard forward. Each volume pot has a ‘coil-tap’ that we believe is actually a filter (the DC resistance hardly changes in this mode, which it would if it were a conventional coil-tap or split). The bridge pickup’s tone control is a bypass switch that runs the bridge pickup direct to the output, bypassing the other controls and providing maximum high-end. The rhythm pickup’s tone is an out-of-phase switch.

Our sample’s back pickup is a little underpowered compared with its spec, but there’s little doubt what you’re listening to and it’s a pretty old-school take on the Les Paul. The ‘coil-taps’ do sound very single-coil-y, without the volume drop you experience with most coil-splits, for example, and it gives another texture, especially for gained sounds, and summons up soapbar-equipped Specials. That bypass is a great rock solo voice, particularly when gained, and that out-of-phase voicing might not be exactly the ‘Peter Green’ sound, but it’s proved worthy for a variety of voices, ranging from nasty gained gnarl and 70s-tastic funk, to clean King-style (BB or Freddie) blues.

It’s one of the best new Standards that this writer has had in his hands for some years. Here’s hoping we get to fully roadtest it in a future issue.

“On paper, it has a lot going for it – its street price is tempting and its innovation creates a guitar that embodies the key elements of the Les Paul and moves it forward”