The beautiful patterns of 'flame' maple have distinguished the Gibson Les Paul Standard since the late '50s, and the Les Paul Supreme takes it to the next level, with a carved, flame maple back as well as a flame top. Multiple binding and elaborate pearl inlays make this truly the Supreme creation in the Les Paul family.
Les Paul Supreme
Reviewed by:
H4T3BR33D3R, on november 09, 2012 27 of 28 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 3160
Purchased from: Lauzon Music
Features: Crafted in 2006, the Gibson Les Paul Supreme has your Standard Gibson features. 3-way toggle Switch, 22 frets, 2 humbucking pickups (498T and 490R), and volume and tone controls for each pickup. Mahogany body with a maple cap, headstock, neck and body binding, abalone 'Supreme' inlay on headstock, mahogany neck with an ebony fingerboard. This specific model is different than other Les Paul models as it is chambered. Comes with a hardshell case. // 10
Sound: I'm playing through a Laney VH100R. Through the clean channel using the bridge pickup, the guitar is quite shimmery and bright sounding. Switching to the neck, the guitar is quite rich but tends to get to the muddy side. Moving on to a rock style distortion in the bridge position, the guitar gets a bit aggressive and has a bite to it. It's also quite clear and responsive, every nuance and note is heard. Using the neck pickup, the guitar gets into the woman tone territory, albeit a bit muddy. On a metal setting, the guitar still holds up pretty well. Even with copious amounts of distortion, every note can be heard. // 9
Action, Fit & Finish: The factory set-up was a bit lousy, there were dead spots and fret buzz. After a second set-up, the guitar played brilliantly. The pickup height was top notch. Everything was routed perfectly and there are no flaws on the guitar itself. There were bubbles on the paint behind the headstock, but nothing major. // 8
Reliability & Durability: The guitar is pretty sturdy, it's rock solid. It would be perfectly suitable for Live playing so long as you don't mind dinging the thing. It's pretty dependable but I thought I'd mention that the neck pickup was a dud straight from the factory, it died out after a week or so, but Gibson replaced it. I haven't had any problems with it since. The selector Switch wasn't wired very well either but that's an easy fix. The finish is great. I doubt it will wear easy. // 7
Impression: I play things from pop to metal, and this thing handles them all very well. I've been playing for 2 years now and own many different guitars, but this one is one of the better ones. If it were lost or stolen, I would definitely buy another one. I highly recommend this guitar. // 9
Les Paul Supreme
Reviewed by:
Deathhead93, on november 09, 2012 1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 3000
Purchased from: Rockmeimei
Features: Made in the US 2009, it features 22 frets (if I am not mistaken, haven't counted recently) on an ebony fingerboard with some block(ish) inlays. It has a Standard Les Paul scale which I believe is 24 3/4.
The guitar has arch tops on both the front and back and is extremely comfortable against the body.
Both the body and neck are made of Mahogany, which make the guitar quite heavy (even though it is chambered). I weighed it a while back and if I remember right it was around 5kg (I am not quite sure how much that is in pounds).
The finish is clear and is hard to get cuts into, the only annoying thing is that the finish goes dry at places, especially where the pickguard would have been on Les Pauls that feature pickguards and the top of the neck where the head starts, but this can easily be fixed with finishing cream (I use Dunlop "Cream Of Carnauba" and it looks new after it has been polished).
Other than that I do not have any problems with the body.
The guitar has passive pickups and they sound clean and quite bright, my EQ (Dunlop KFK EQ) make the guitar sound overdriven so when I play clean I turn the EQ off. The pickups have a very smooth sound when distorted or overdriven also.
The Bridge is a T.O.M Bridge (my personal favorite) and is quite easy to set up.
The controls are 2x Volume and 2x Tone and there is a 3 way switch, just like all Les Pauls (that I know of).
The tuners are Grover and I have not had any problems with them, unless my strings are old where the G string detunes quite easily (but hey, I've never heard of a guitar without the "G String problem").
The gig bag is well made and I fell with it once, didnt leave a single mark. // 9
Sound: I play blues/rock, rock, hard rock and metal and it fits all those very well as when a chord is played you can hear every note (unless you have a shitty distortion pedal).
I play through a Randall RG75 G2 and all Dunlop pedals (except for my tuner which is a Planet Waves). The pickups are not noisy (unless again you have a shitty distortion pedal and no gate).
The distortion I use is a Dunlop Dime Distortion and a KFK EQ and a SmartGate and through those it is very clean and smooth sounding. (settings on EQ are basically bass 10 middle -10 and treble 10, settings on dist is gain 10, treble 10 mid 6 and bass 10 and the gate at about 7).
I have played it through a Marshall JCM 900 with my pedals before as well as a Marshall AVT 50 and I must say that the guitar sound is heaven like (even though I play mostly metal and pretty heavy blues/rock). // 10
Action, Fit & Finish: Never had any problems with the action, didn't have to set it up when I bought it. I didn't have any problems with the pickup heights but I have adjusted them to my likings and still no problems. Everything seems to be wired correctly, pickups never stopped working and neither has anything else in the guitar. When I bought the guitar there was a small scratch on it, but it is almost impossible to see unless you look very closely. // 9
Reliability & Durability: I have played with this guitar live a few times (I'm 17 and not playing that often live) and I have not had any problems with it. The hardware has lost some colour on the side of the Bridge pickup, but I find it quite aesthetical. I changed the strap buttons to Schaller locking ones, the Gibson ones kept making my strap fall off, having locking tuners is a must when you buy any guitar (atleast for me). The finish does not wear but only becomes dry or smudgy, but again this can easily be fixed with body gloss cream. // 10
Impression: I play a heavier blues/rock to heavier metal and this guitar is a good match for all of them, but I must say I find the blues/rock sound nicer than the metal sound.
I have been playing for about 2.5 years (yeah I know that is quite short to be playing a Gibson, but I saved for 2 years and got my dream guitar, and I don't remember there being anything on the guitar saying anything about how long you have played).
Other gear: Dunlop: KFK EQ, MXR Micro Flanger, Dime Distortion, Crybaby from Hell and MXR SmartGate. Planet Waves Chromatic Tuner all plugged into a Dunlop DC Brick (it was cheaper than the other "power bricks" and it had more plugs).
Randall RG75 G2 Combo.
If it was stolen I would cry (which I almost never do) and save up for a new one, but would possibly also look at the custom as they feature cavity holes.
The only thing I wished it had was a cavity hole for the pots and the 3 way switch, then I would never have nightmares about having to switch the pots. // 9
I think it its nice but the reality is that for a little over half the price you could just go grab a Custom 22. Mind you I still prefer Gibson just not the Gibson trademark price.
yeah if i paid that much i would expect nothing but the best on everything. its still a very nice guitar though. and the review is very legit, the guy didnt take it for granted and give the entire review straight 10's
I hold the Gibson Les Paul as the ultimate guitar(pardon the pun!), but i have to say that I am very dissapointed to hear there was so much wrong with this guitar, especially for the price! This is a step away from gibson's usual class and respectibility. I mean, for that price you could get an absolutely beautiful Gibson
Seriously, if I spent 3000 on a guitar and it had paint bubbles and dead spots on the neck, I'd take it back to the shop and demand double my money back. It's absolutely ridiculous that your guitar arrived in anything other than 1000% perfect condition...
I've always loved Les Pauls and this seems to be the next step up. It looks amazing and (although i haven't played one) will probably play beautifully
Well done Gibson
3000 for a guitar and it's not absolutely perfect? The damn thing better come with a hand job for 3k. My 600$ Jimmie vaughan strat had nothing wrong with it but poor tuners that I knew about when I bout it....
gibson. gah. what a brainwahing franchise. you payed 3000 for a guitar. only for it to be badly setup, badly wired and badly finished. i would have got my money back and got a better custom off my luthier friend.
gibson. gah. what a brainwahing franchise. you payed 3000 for a guitar. only for it to be badly setup, badly wired and badly finished. i would have got my money back and got a better custom off my luthier friend.
I have one....and mine is absolutley immaculate...no flaws at all. I guess its just hit and miss with Gibson these days, but I dont care coz mine kicks ass!!
jcwear wrote:
must cost a fortune over here in the UK though.
About £2500, give or take depending where in the country you are. Really, not that much more than any other LP Standard, Classic or Custom. You are mostly paying for the different looks with the supreme, from a technical point of view there's virtually no difference between this and the Standard/Classic/Custom (pickups aside - which most people change anyway).
It sure looks nice (especially the white version), but considering the options and price, I think a Standard or Classic with a pickup upgrade is the better way to go, and won't cost you much more.
I think it its nice but the reality is that for a little over half the price you could just go grab a Custom 22. Mind you I still prefer Gibson just not the Gibson trademark price.
I agree! Although I own an LP it's much cheaper. This guitar seems to have a supreme price tag simply for looks.
Les Paul, thumbs down... For a thousand you can get much better.. for a thousand you can MAKE a better guitar(requiring you have the smarts).
More like skill, not smarts. Whoever said it has the supreme price tag just for looks is right. You're paying extra for the more expensive add-ons and work put into it. I'd also say if it wasn't put together well and had paint bubbles, this guitar should have been sold under a blemished price for considerably less, and the dude got ripped off, he might actually have been able to get a different guitar if he had brought it up to the people who sold it or Gibson. Anyway, imo it was probably a fluke and i'm sure the guitar sounds amazing and plays great too.
I got my Peavey Wolfgang for $1200 and I'd put it up against any Gibson twice its price. Birdseye maple neck, flamed maple top, basswood body. It looks great and plays great. The only thing that isn't the best are the pickups, but I can't complain. Too bad they don't make em anymore, now Eddie's just makin the old school re-issues, which'll set you back like $3000-$25,000...depending on how authentic you want to get.
i,ll stick with my prs custom 22 artist,,gibson guitars ain,t what they used too be,,all they have is there name now,,thats what your payin for ,the quality control there sucks,,buy an old one or buy a prs,,
i,ll stick with my prs custom 22 artist,,gibson guitars ain,t what they used too be,,all they have is there name now,,thats what your payin for ,the quality control there sucks,,buy an old one or buy a prs,,
You know there are other ways of punctuating a sentence apart from the comma? Like a question mark, or a full stop.
i,ll stick with my prs custom 22 artist,,gibson guitars ain,t what they used too be,,all they have is there name now,,thats what your payin for ,the quality control there sucks,,buy an old one or buy a prs,,
You know there are other ways of punctuating a sentence apart from the comma? Like a question mark, or a full stop.
i,ll stick with my prs custom 22 artist,,gibson guitars ain,t what they used too be,,all they have is there name now,,thats what your payin for ,the quality control there sucks,,buy an old one or buy a prs,,
You know there are other ways of punctuating a sentence apart from the comma? Like a question mark, or a full stop.
if i cared about punctuation i,d be a schoolteacher,not a guitar player
i,ll stick with my prs custom 22 artist,,gibson guitars ain,t what they used too be,,all they have is there name now,,thats what your payin for ,the quality control there sucks,,buy an old one or buy a prs,,
You know there are other ways of punctuating a sentence apart from the comma? Like a question mark, or a full stop.if i cared about punctuation i,d be a schoolteacher,not a guitar player
Oh my god. That takes a lot of work to press one button at the end of your sentence. Wouldn't want to wear yourself out. (I think I need to take a nap now!)
It helps people to understand what you are saying. After reading a huge run on sentence, I kinda just think "What?"
Do you know what really really pisses me of?
people who play 2 years and own 15 guitars... ive been playing for 3 years with fender squire fat strat amp and pedal i love my guitar... works for me... and i am really serious about it!
But this guy sounds as though he knows what he is talking about so ill make an exeption for him though.
But all the guys who begs their moms for a guitar each month... Grrrrr
I've always dug the tone of the Les Pauls. Never played a Supreme though, but for price tag on these guitars, there shouldn't be any flaws like that. Shame on you Gibson.
i've been playing the same les paul studio for about 15 years and it's awesome. only i didn't pay 3k for it. bought mine from someone with a habbit they couldnt kick and they really needed $250. so, i know what you mean.
for that kind of $$,it should have Burst Buckers or 57's on it.I bought a Robot this past xmas and it has the same pick ups.Decent for the Studio Model.Step up should definitely be more than those 400 series pick ups.Anyone who ownes a Gibson should have it set up "after it's broken in" to truly get the feel of the neck and tone that is possible.The factory set up is just a standard one and will never be the best for everyone.I also have Fenders that produce very good tone.I'm a fan of both.
gibson. gah. what a brainwahing franchise. you payed 3000 for a guitar. only for it to be badly setup, badly wired and badly finished. i would have got my money back and got a better custom off my luthier friend.
it seems to me like you had a lot of complaints about this guitar and yet you still gave it a rating of 8.6 overall. Everyone seems to think that gibson is synonymous with quality and yet you payed 3 grand for a guitar with a dead pickup, poor wiring, and blemishes in the paint job. So why the high rating?
sounds like a bad guitar for the price
poorly set up, paint bubbles, dud pick ups, and poor wiring all after paying like 3000 american
ridiculous
I totally agree. i bought a gibson sg special for 1500 (on sale), and it was absolutely perfect, and ive been playing it for 4 months strait. all it needed was a tiny action adjustment and a polish up...
Gibsons are not worth their price. IMO, everyone should buy Ibanez, Jackson, or ESP.
Meh, I still like my PRS
I second that
i half agree. soem gibsons arent rips but most are.SGs are usually alright and some les pauls are but most of them are way overpriced. les paul melody makers are crap for 1400 aus dollars. and in fugly yellow too.
$3000 for a guitar with that many flaws? 8.6? Gibson?
It sure looks nice, but I think someones making their mum pay for their instruments. No one who payed three grand themselves for something that stuffed would have given it such a high rating.
Sure its a pretty good guitar though (like everyone else who assumes Gibsons are great.)
spending 3000 dollars means you must be quite an artist...perhaps you are, but considering the pickups are not amazing and that the guitar came with quite a list of defects for the price listed it most definitely isn't worth it. for the same price you could get a kickass looking guitar with better gear. you're clearly paying top dollar for the gibson franchise...consider esp/schecter/jackson etc
I have an Epiphone Les Paul Standard and it's so much better than a lot of Gibson's I have played. It was only like 550 american dollars. If I wanted the type of guitar this Supreme is supposed to be, I would go with a Paul Reed Smith.
great review... i love gibson guitars in my opinion they are the best make out there. i have a Gibson SG Special and it plays brilliantly.. thinkin of gettin a les paul soon tho so the review really helped! thanks for writin it
Okay for everyone who says gibsons are too expensive they are totally not!! They are great guitars that is why they are expensive!! Of course if your not really in a band just buy a Strat or Tele b ut a gibson is a must for any serious guitar player.
Do you know what really really pisses me of?
people who play 2 years and own 15 guitars... ive been playing for 3 years with fender squire fat strat amp and pedal i love my guitar... works for me... and i am really serious about it!
But this guy sounds as though he knows what he is talking about so ill make an exeption for him though.
But all the guys who begs their moms for a guitar each month... Grrrrr
mister bass guy wrote:
Gibsons are not worth their price. IMO, evershould buy Ibanez, Jackson, or ESP.
I second that...and schecters
What about Dean? I've been interested in them lately, the prices are good and it seems like more artists are playing them in the last 5 years (Megadeth, unofficially Zakk Wylde, Jerry Catrell a few years ago). Is their quality good or are they pretty lousy?
Do you know what really really pisses me of?
people who play 2 years and own 15 guitars... ive been playing for 3 years with fender squire fat strat amp and pedal i love my guitar... works for me... and i am really serious about it!
But this guy sounds as though he knows what he is talking about so ill make an exeption for him though.
But all the guys who begs their moms for a guitar each month... Grrrrr
I agree with you. I have been playing for 2 years and I only have 1 acoustic,which I had the whole first year of playing,but then I didnt even get a real guitar,I got an electric washburn lyon(im not saying its bad) but I have had the acoustic for 2 years and the electric for 1 year,and they still both play great...and what also gets me mad is how rich people think that since they can play 1 instrument,that they can play like 4 other ones too,my friend plays bass,and he has two basses,O.K.,but then his mom went out and bought him a Blue Fender Stratocaster for $3000...anyone else think differently then me about that?
too many flaws for the price paid.
if I have to pay 3000 bucks I want a PERFECT guitar
Yeah,good point,like,thats a good price for a custom made les paul,maybe even more...but for a blue fender strat,I do agree with you,but hes rich and he wants the stuff that cost the most
two years of playing...and you have a $3000, thats madness. ive been playing nearly 4 years and i still have a second hand £100-ish guitar. i think i need to get a new guitar :|
mister bass guy wrote:
Gibsons are not worth their price. IMO, evershould buy Ibanez, Jackson, or ESP.
I second that...and schecters
What about Dean? I've been interested in them lately, the prices are good and it seems like more artists are playing them in the last 5 years (Megadeth, unofficially Zakk Wylde, Jerry Catrell a few years ago). Is their quality good or are they pretty lousy?
the reason everyone's been playing dean over the past couple years is because Dimebag died and they want publicity.
trust me, you'd be ALOT better off with an ESP or a Jackson.
this is the the guitar matt heafy of trivium used on asecdancy
he had and alpine white one and fitted it with EMG's
he sold it on ebay for like 5000$ i think
wow, with that kind of money I'd buy a guitar twice as good, a half stack, a massive LCD, a laptop, surround sound entertainment system, a digital camcorder, and a bottle of nice champagne to celebrate not creaming myself over gibsons and wasting hear earned cash on shit like this
Alright, I had to get this guitar ordered in because they didn't have one in the shop. I had the opportunity to send it back, but I didn't want to wait that long for a replacement when the blemishes didn't bug me at all. The guitar plays and sounds amazing and that's all I really care about. This isn't what all Gibsons come like. ninety nine percent of the time, the guitars are flawless and great. I just had a bad apple is all.
Alright, I had to get this guitar ordered in because they didn't have one in the shop. I had the opportunity to send it back, but I didn't want to wait that long for a replacement when the blemishes didn't bug me at all. The guitar plays and sounds amazing and that's all I really care about. This isn't what all Gibsons come like. ninety nine percent of the time, the guitars are flawless and great. I just had a bad apple is all.
A bad apple that should have been spotted at the factory.
It is a stunner.Plays like a dream.A Gibson Custom Jeff Beck 54' Les Paul costs $24000,Gibson Custom Limited Edition John Lennon costs Les Paul costs $5000,Gibson Custom Billy Gibbons 59' Les Paul costs $8000.Ibanez Joe Satriani Prestige 20 Anniv JS20 is $6000.
If you want the best,it is worth it
Man oh man. that guitar made my mouth water. I for one love Les Pauls, but for all its flaws it doesnt't seem quite worth the 3k price tag. It seems like you are paying more for the name and looks than what really matters.
Wow....an even more overpriced Les Paul..just what we needed. It wasn't barely 15 yrs ago you could get a Standard for 1000 bucks new. These things are just ridiculous.
I love how Gibson mostly concentrates on looks now. They keep making "new" LP models that are all pretty much re-creations of standard models. Same wood, pickups, specs, hardware, yet they find a way to paste someone's name or a slightly different finish on it that accounts for most of the (ridiculous) price...and then the guitar sounds like crap because of all the things they did to it to make it look so good. I hate advertisements on these pages just as much as the next guy, but Epiphone is definitely the way to go for a good looking les paul that sounds good and is affordable.
Thanks both were interesting and answerd some questions I had. I had ishues with my new one
my old one Ive had for 26 years and never had a problem.. Im gona have the picups looked at now.
I would not have paid $3000 for a guitar that had so many flaws, just goes to show that Gibson's QC has fallen so badly in the last decade. I'd rather get a PRS CU22 for $2300, and you dont have to worry about anything!
I sure do seem to be hearing a lot about Gibson's QC issues these days. Seems I hear more negative things than positive, although almost all of the complaints are in reference to the guitar's cosmetics.
Nothing about this guitar makes it worth the pricetag on it. I can get this same thing for a quarter of the price just by changing the name on the headstock. It's sickening how pretentious ol' Gibson thinks it's justified to charge that much for their own name
Wow....an even more overpriced Les Paul..just what we needed. It wasn't barely 15 yrs ago you could get a Standard for 1000 bucks new. These things are just ridiculous.
I hate when people talk economics while they reflect on a time that was a decade or more before the present. No one ever takes inflation into account. Gibson's prices 15 years ago were just as overpriced as today. Just sounds like less compared to now because of inflation. 15 years doesn't sound like a lot but in an economy it is, especially the American economy where it has had so much trouble in the past decade.
What's with the class envy and elitism? Who cares if you've played 2 years or 42? If the guitar makes your heart beat faster, and you gave your sweat and tears to earn the money to buy it, go ahead. Why should you care what the guy who didn't work as hard as you thinks about how you spend your dough? And if your Mom bought it for you, right on--give her a big kiss and play the hell out of the thing!
