Les Paul JR vs Les Paul Studio

[Open lane]

As some of you may have seen in a previous post, i recently got a lp junior. I already own a les paul standard, and consider both of these guitars dif beasts.

From what i read an lp junior was originally released as an entry level les paul. From what i read, les paul studios are considered economized lp standard.


Personally, i’d take my junior over any studio i’ve ever tried. Is this unusual?

I mean, the studio is like 2.5x the price of the junior. Like i said, i’d take the junior over it all day!

 

[NegativeEase]

Re: Les Paul JR vs Les Paul Studio

Ha. 2 days and you've already got a complex about your Jrs older brothers....

I kid I kid.

I've never liked Studios and Standards when compared to Jrs. Jrs have the killer neck profile and just feel better to my hand.

I consider the 1959-61 TV LP Jrs and Specials to be one of the top 3-4 guitars ever made.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Les Paul JR vs Les Paul Studio

I have all 3....Standard, Studio and Special.

I like them all for what they are but the Studio, to me is like a more budget Standard. No inlays, no binding etc. It’s still a great guitar and I played it for years and years but out of the 3 I’d take the Standard first, the Special 2nd and the Studio 3rd.

 

[blind1]

Re: Les Paul JR vs Les Paul Studio

Ha. 2 days and you've already got a complex about your Jrs older brothers....

I kid I kid.

I've never liked Studios and Standards when compared to Jrs. Jrs have the killer neck profile and just feel better to my hand.

I consider the 1959-61 TV LP Jrs and Specials to be one of the top 3-4 guitars ever made.

I don't like LP Studios. I had one and sold it and disliked LPs for a while because of that guitar. Nowadays, I have a LP Traditional and I highly recommend that series. I've got a second Traditional LP on its way to me now . You can pick one up in great condition if you shop around for as little as $1300 if you find the right seller. IMO, the Traditional is infinitely better than Studio guitars.

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Les Paul JR vs Les Paul Studio

Actually, when Gibson puts out a Junior (not the new Tribute model) they aren't much cheaper than Studios. In 2018 the Junior had a map of $1429 while the Studio was $1649. Junior ... Slab body, no maple cap, single pickup and simpler controls, one piece wrap tailpiece. Most overpriced guitar of the sub 2K Gibsons, IMO. At least they include a hardshell case that fits.

At any rate, the Junior and Studio, aside from basic body shapes being the same, really are different animals.

 

[RorySquier]

Re: Les Paul JR vs Les Paul Studio

I like all guitars regardless but I'm a bit biased when I say I love Les Paul Studios. I picked up this 2008 Gibson LP Studio black beauty that spoke to me in the music store when I walked by it. I tried many guitars and this one rocked! I wasn't even planning on buying a guitar but I had to have this. I got it for a real good deal.

;>)/

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Les Paul JR vs Les Paul Studio

I owned a Studio briefly. Wine Red with chrome hardware and a '50s neck. Nice guitar but I just didn't bond with it. I didn't like the 490R/498T pickups and I missed the cosmetics (binding, etc.) of the Standard. I bought it new from GC at a blowout price and finally sold it for a big profit.

I also owned a 1975 Les Paul '55 Special Reissue. It was about six months old when I bought it. Beautiful guitar, tobacco sunburst finish, fat neck, stop tail, and I think the guy hot-rodded the P-90s with an Alembic kit that was popular at the time.

I had bought a used Acoustic Control 150 head and 610 cab for cheap...$250 for an amp that would normally be around $600. I had it only for a couple of months and then decided that it was too big for me. It sounded great, but it was also noisy. So I ran a classified ad, and this guy called. He comes over to my tiny basement apartment and pulls out the Special and plugs in. He is just shredding, probably THE FASTEST player I have ever heard...all over the fretboard. He pauses and asks me if he can turn it up a bit....oh, okay. He cranks it up to about 7-8, this 120-watt SS amp, and my girlfriend and I are holding our fingers in our ears and it is still just deafening! He suddenly stops, big smile on his face and says, "I LIKE IT! Wanna trade?"

The GF is elbowing me before I can get a word out, and so we swap...my beat-up old amp for his beautiful new guitar. I played it for 25 years, but had to sell it when I hit a rough patch after 9/11. I had the wiring shielded, to help abate the noise, and installed a Leo Quan Badass bridge to help with intonation. Gibson would later change the design to a Nashville plus StopTail. I've never seen one exactly like mine, but if I did...I would seriously considering getting it. I can honestly say that it sounded great, with any amp, using any string formulation, in any room. The Special into my JCM800 was especially wicked, and would have blown away that old Acoustic 150.

I probably wouldn't opt for a Junior, but I LOVED my Special.

Bill

 

[AlexR]

Re: Les Paul JR vs Les Paul Studio

In the 50's Juniors were entry level only due to the fact that they had lesser bells and whistles. So no carved top, fiddly inlay on fretboard and headstock, no binding or fancy flamed maple. It amounts basically to a materials and labour saving. But cheaper in that way has never equated to inferior. And especially when it actually means a different tone.

But there was no delineation for wood, nor electronics nor pickups. They still got the great Honduran 'hog for bady and neck, braz fretboard, and a wonderful p90 'identical' to what had been on the Goldtop Les Pauls (and that Les himself preferred over the humbucker tonally).

There is something very special about a slab body guitar with a wrap tailpiece. It just snarls better than any carved LP will ever do.
Money For Nothing song on that Dire Straits album is a Jr......

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Les Paul JR vs Les Paul Studio

They are very different guitars. The Studio is a "diet" Standard. The Junior is a flat top with a P-90. Both are great at their own things...but the choice would rarely be Junior vs. Studio. It would be Standard vs. Studio. The "Junior vs...." matchup would be Junior vs. Special.