Gibson Les Paul Studio Faded HiPerf 2016 Spec in Worn Brown

The Les Paul Studio Faded HP is an extremely powerful guitar that will not break your budget. Fitted out with some of the best hardware Gibson has to offer as well as proper USA build quality this guitar is an unbeliveable guitar at this price.

With two incredible pickups all of the latest High Performance tweaks and updates and a rock solid build this guitar will keep you going night after night without fail and with great tone.

Faded Finish, Quality Build

As part of the faded finish series of guitars from Gibson this guitar has its own feel and look that can only be found on this line. While higher end Les Paul guitars use a gloss nitrocellulose finish that is very expensive but looks amazing. This guitar instead uses a worn in satin finish for both the body and neck.

How does this affect the feel and sound- Well by using the satin finish you get a more natural feeling and sounding instrument has the ability to resonate and sustain more. It also gives you a somewhat smoother and less sticky feeling on the back of the neck. Glossy finishes will sometimes cause your hand to stick especially if you sweat a lot while playing.

Apart from the finish this guitar still has a carved maple top on a mahogany body that has received Gibson's modern weight relief treatment. This treatment carefully removes sections of the heavy mahogany back that reduces weight while minimising the loss in tone. Compared to other Les Paul models this guitar is rather lightweight meaning you can gig all night long with no problems.

The neck, just like the body follows a traditional carve and is based on the amazing '59 neck. This size of neck sits in between models like the Traditional and Standard with where it is still quite large when compared to other guitars but it is slim enough to allow for sweet lead work without an issue.

Top Grade Pickups

When you saw the price of this guitar you would have been forgiven for thinking that it will come with less than amazing hardware. After all Les Pauls go in to the thousands of pounds. That is not the case at all as this guitar features the same pickups as the premium Les Paul Standard model!

These Burstbucker Pro pickups take the classic PAF humbuckers with their smooth low to mid gain response and crank them up a notch. These are PAFs with attitude. By using a new Alnico 5 magnet over the traditional Alnico 2 you get more bite, more attack and more gain with less noise. If you need something that has a traditional tone but that can support higher gain solos and chunky rhythms this is what you need.

Next Generation G-Force

G-Force is an incredibly interesting technology that simply wants to save you time. We have all played gigs where your guitar goes out of tune halfway through. Just like we have all played gigs where we need to quickly change between tunings.

Gibson's G-Force system makes those previous tasks a second thought. Just set it up with the tunings you want. Select what you want using the unit on the back of the headstock and you are in tune within seconds.

And don't worry just because it has the ability to tune itself does not mean that you can't tune manually. The machine heads are actually very accurate 40:1 ratio tuners so you can get pitch perfect in no time at all.

New Titanium Nut

The 2015 version of the Zero Fret Nut was made out of brass. Unfortunately that meant is was very soft for a nut and could be damaged from heavier gauge strings. To make sure this does not happen again Gibson have changed the brass for much stronger Titanium.

If you don't know what the Zero Fret Nut is let me fill you in. It is a Gibson USA exclusive nut that has two main benefits over a standard nut. Firstly you can adjust the action at the nut very easily now making setting up quick and easy no matter how high or low you like your action.

Secondly this nut has essentially a fret at the end of it (hence the name, Zero Fret). By having a fret in the zero position your strings in open positions ring out like fretted notes. This sounds amazing with open chords as you get a much more even tone across all of your strings.

Sweet Smooth Neck

One thing that we have heard a few times before about Gibson guitars is that the neck heel can get in the way. They originally remedied this with their Custom Shop Axcess model that had a smoothed transition. This meant greater access to the higher frets so lead players can dig in and let loose.

The neck on all of the 2016 USA models is based off of this Custom Shop model offering the same incredible feel that previously was only available on some of Gibson's most expensive guitars.

But they did not end it there with the neck. No this guitars neck width is slightly wider than you might be used to compared to other Gibson guitars. By increasing the nut width by just 0.05"and keeping string spacing the same you get more area to play with.

Here's what Gibson say about the Studio Faded HP

The Les Paul Studio Faded 2016 HP is the supercharged counterpart of the traditional Les Paul Studio Faded, boasting an exceptional set of premium, high-performance features while maintaining its rugged looks.

Specifications

Top
Wood Species: Plain Maple
Pieces: 2
Grade: C
Binding: None
 
Back
Wood Species: Mahogany
Pieces: Multi
Density: Medium
Binding: None
Weight
Weight Relief: Modern
Average Weight (body only): 5 lbs. 0.8 oz

Neck
Wood Species: Mahogany
Pieces: 1
 
Details
Truss Rod: Les Paul
Profile: Rounded
Thickness at Fret 1: 0.818"
Thickness at Fret 12: 0.963"
Average Weight: 1 lbs 2 oz
 
Peg Head
Type: SP1
Inlay: Blank
Peg Head Binding: None
Logo: None
Silkscreen: Gold "Gibson, "Les Paul Model"
Headstock Angle: 17 degrees
Tonal, Resonant, and/or Technical Effect: Sculpted Access Joint
 
Neck Fit
Joint Angle: 5.0 degrees
Joint Angle Tolerance: 0 deg 0 min 15 sec
Type: Mortis and Tenon
Adhesive: Franklin Titebond 50
Gauges Used:
Pitch Height Gauge, Alignment Gauge

Nut
Style: Zero Fret Nut
Material: Titanium
Width: 1.745"
Slots:
E: 1.4732 mm / 0.058 inches
A: 1.2192 mm / 0.048 inches
D: 0.9652 mm / 0.038 inches
G: 0.7112 mm / 0.028 inches
B: 0.4826 mm / 0.019 inches
e: 0.3556 mm / 0.014 inches
 
Fingerboard
Wood Species: Rosewood
Pieces: 1
Shade: Light
 
Fingerboard Details
Radius: 30.48 cm / 12 "
Frets: 22
Nut/End of Board: 4.4323cm / 1.745" @ nut, 5.7404cm / 2.260" @ end of board
Scale: Equal Tempered 24.75" Scale
Binding: None
Side Dots (Color): White
 
Fingerboard Inlays
Style: Trapezoid
Material: Mother-of-Pearl
Dimensions: Trap at 3rd fret= 1.160"T x .660"W and 21st fret= 1.565"T x .245"W
Average Weight: 0.26lbs
 
Tuning Keys Details
Tuning Ratio: 40:01:00
Gear Type: Syncronized spur gear system
What is allowable turn: +/- 4 degrees
Plating specs: Chrome
Part numbers: 430-14301B / 430-14301T
 
String Dimensions
E: 1.1684mm / 0.046"
A: 0.9144 mm / 0.036"
D: 0.6604 mm / 0.026"
G: 0.4064mm / 0.016"
B: 0.2794mm / 0.011"
e: 0.2286mm / 0.009"
 
Bridge
Style: Tune-o-matic w /Titanium saddles
Material: Zamak base
Plating Specs: Chrome
Part number: 430-14384
Weight: 72.5748 gm / 2.56 oz
 
Dimensions of String Slots
E: 1.4732mm / 0.058"
A: 1.2192mm / 0.048"
D: 0.9652mm / 0.038"
G: 0.7112mm / 0.028"
B: 0.4826mm / 0.019''
e: 0.3556mm / 0.014"
 
Tailpiece
Style: Stop Bar
Compensated: No
Material: Zamak
Plating Specs: Chrome
Part number: 430-10135
Weight: 82.21 g / 2.9 oz.
 
Output Jack
Style: HP 1/4" mono gold plated positive contact
 
Jack Plate
Style: Les Paul Square
Material: Black
Part Number: 430-19385
Weight: 6.0 gm / 0.21 oz.
 
Strap Buttons
Material: Aluminum
Plating Specs: None
Part numbers: 430-19160 / 430-19160E
Weight: 4.0 g / 0.14 oz.

Pick Guard
Style: Removable Black Les Paul
Part Number: 430-12509B
 
Truss Rod Cover
Style: Black/White Bell "Studio"
Part Number: 430-19708
 
Knobs
Style: Supreme grip speed knobs
Part Number: 430-31002
 
Dial Pointers
Yes/No: No
Control Plate(s) (Backplate Cover)
Style: Black Les Paul
Part Number: 380-12209
 
Control Plate(s) (SwitchPlate Cover)
Style: Les Paul Black
Part Number: 380-12211
 
Switch Washer
Style: Black, Hot Stamped White
Part Number: 430-19463
 
Trim Rings
Style: Low Black, High Black Humbucker
Part Number: PRPR-010 / PRPR-020

Case
Style: High-Performance Gig Bag
Color: Black
 
Strap Locks: None
Tools: Truss rod wrench
2.5mm adjustment wrench, Polishing cloth
 
Manual: Yes