Along with the Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster, the Gibson Les Paul completes the triumvirate of truly iconic guitars in the history of popular music. But not everyone can afford the gorgeous, flame-top, custom-shop reissues favored by the new crop of Les Paul-wielding rock stars. In 1983, Gibson introduced their Studio Series, a line of instruments that offers much of the Les Paul mojo at a highly reasonable price. The Nashville-based company is able to reduce the cost of the instrument, retaining the essential Les Paul playability and sound while eliminating the frills that don’t add to either attribute.

The Les Paul Studio Worn ($799 MAP) series is less expensive than the regular Studio line, but it’s excellent sound and playability make it a steal at this price. The Studio Worn has a mahogany top, back, and neck (as opposed to the maple top/mahogany back and neck of the Studio models) and comes in a satin cherry or brown finish. Amazingly, this budget guitar comes with a normally pricey nitrocellulose lacquer (two clear coats of it, according to the manufacturer), which protects the guitar as it ages by keeping dirt and oils from working their way into the wood and reducing resonance.

And like the Studio series, the Les Paul Studio Worn guitar eschews such pricey features as flame tops, binding on the body and neck, and ebony fingerboards. But it retains the flavor of a Les Paul with its pair of humbuckers, set-neck construction, twin volume and tone knobs, three-way switch, trapezoid inlays, adjustable truss rod, angled headstock, Tune-O-Matic bridge, and classic, keystone, Kluson-style tuners.

This Paul also sports a carved top, another upscale feature that was missing from previous budget Les Paul models. In addition, the body has carefully placed tone chambers carved into the solid mahogany back using a computer controlled router.

If you like your new guitars “new,” don’t let the name of this instrument scare you. Unlike the stressed models from other manufacturers, the Les Paul Studio Worn doesn’t come with fake scratches or belt-buckle marks—you have to supply your own.

The Sound Remains The Same
The Les Paul Studio Worn comes with the same Gibson Burstbucker Pro pickups found in the more expensive Les Pauls. These evolved from the original Burstbucker line, which was developed in the early ‘90s to recapture the magic of the sought-after Patent Applied For (PAF) humbucker pickups of the ‘50s. Designed specifically for the Les Paul Standard in 2002, the Burstbucker Pro features an Alnico V magnet instead of the Alnico II, offering slightly hotter output. The neck pickup has fewer windings than the original 1950s pickups, while the Burstbucker Pro Bridge has more windings for extra signal. Both pickups are potted in wax to prevent unwanted feedback at high volumes.

A Player’s Paul
I found the Les Paul Studio Worn Series to be exceptionally playable, starting with its light weight. For years I eschewed Les Pauls due to their shoulder-straining mass, and in this I am not alone. Though not a problem for those lucky enough to be doing one- or two-hour concerts, for those of us slogging it out in the trenches of four- or even five-set club gigs, that weight can feel like a boat anchor by two in the morning. The hollowed out Studio Worn model rested easily on my shoulder while still counterbalancing the neck so that it sat in an ideal playing position.

Possibly due to the carved-out body, the guitar had a lively acoustic sound—perhaps darker than a maple-capped, ebony fingerboard guitar, but far from muddy.

Tuning up was easy, thanks to the well-intonated Tune-O-Matic bridge and stable tuners. It was also helpful that this was one of those instruments that just resonated in tune. The tuning process did reveal, however, some string catching by the nut—something that can be cured with a little filing.

The Les Paul Studio Worn’s neck profile emulates the shapes from the 1958 and 1959 Les Paul Standards. That distinctive neck shape is one reason those instruments remain so coveted. It is a basic carve that feels solid in the grip without being so big as to discourage players with smaller hands. The final sanding of the Les Paul Studio Worn necks is done by hand and, consequently, no two will have the exact same dimensions. Each neck will be slightly different, so it’s best to play a couple of instruments to find the one that is ideal for you. As luck would have it, the review model felt just right in my medium sized mitt.

The 22 frets were milled well enough to prevent any buzzing or fretting out. When I purposely ran my hand along the fret edges they felt a little rough, but they didn’t grate my skin when I was actually playing, because my hand never made contact with that part of the fret. Though not as wide or high as some Gibson frets, I found that, combined with the neck’s 12-inch radius, the Studio Worn’s frets were tall enough for easy bending and smooth enough for sliding into notes.

Crank It Up
I tested the amplified tone of the Les Paul Studio Worn guitar using Orange Tiny Terror and Egnater Rebel 30 heads driving a 12-inch Eminence Texas Heat speaker in a custom-built cabinet. With a clean amp setting, the bridge pickup somehow managed to deliver near Tele twang, yet it still provided all the beef one could want when switched to an overdriven sound. The guitar’s high-end clarity kept the major metal-gain settings articulate, even with dropped-D tuning.

The neck pickup offered plenty of blues bite at clean and lower drive settings, along with Santana-style singing sustain at grittier levels. Resetting the amps to clean and backing off the tone control warmed the neck pickup enough for jazz excursions. The general brightness of the pickups easily offsets any loss of highs, attack, or presence that might result from the lack of a maple top. Bottom line, this is an incredibly versatile instrument that is sonically suitable for a wide variety of musical genres.

A word about the Studio Worn’s volume and tone controls is in order. Unlike some budget guitars, the Studio Worn showed no high-end loss when rolling back the pickup volume controls. The volume taper drops off more quickly at the upper end letting you rapidly clean up your sound directly from the instrument, without having to switch channels on your amp. In addition, when both pickups are on, after the initial drop-off, the long taper of the volume controls allows a wide range of tonal balance settings, rather than the nearly on/off effect all too often found in this wiring configuration. The tone control voicings delivered the throaty “woman tone” [http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/ProductSpotlight/Tone-Tips/how-to-get-claptons-classic] that Les Paul owners have come to know and love. I applaud whoever designed this model’s electronics.

Not Just For The Studio
Gibson has chosen to market the Les Paul Studio Worn series as desirable for home and studio use. They state that “…in the studio or bedroom, you don't necessarily need all of the features that make a guitar tough enough for the road.” With all due respect to the folks at Gibson, I found the Studio Worn model to be as well suited to the road as any instrument I have ever played.

In fact, I think that it is better suited for gigging than many of the higher-priced Les Pauls: you won’t feel nervous about scratching a pristine paint job or expensive flame top; its lighter weight makes it well suited for long nights in clubs; and there’s less worry about theft than if you were sporting one of the $4,000 Les Paul Standards. The Studio Worn series will certainly serve stay-at-home players and studio musicians well, but unless you think that a figured top and binding somehow make an instrument more roadworthy, I can’t see any reason not to tour and gig with this model.

Whatever your musical endeavors, the Les Paul Studio Worn Series can suit your needs. Who knows? With a street price of $799, it could even serve as a backup to your Gibson Custom Shop ’58 Standard.

Pros: Well built. Excellent sound quality. Vintage late-‘50s neck shape. Many Les Paul features despite lower cost. Lighter weight.
Cons: Nut catches some of the strings and may need filing.

Michael Ross in a New York City-based guitarist/producer/music journalist. He contributes articles to Guitar Player, Premier Guitar, Guitar Edge, EQ, Sound On Sound, and Gearwire.com. He is the author of the Hal Leonard books Getting Great Guitar Sounds and All About Effects.