Gibson Les Paul Studio Figured, Washed Cherry Sunburst

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Gibson Les Paul Studio Figured, Washed Cherry Sunburst

The Les Paul Studio has always had a wonderfully sensible philosophy: take the bits of a Les Paul that actually make music, trim away some of the ornamental extras and build a guitar intended to earn its keep. The Gibson Les Paul Studio Figured in Washed Cherry Sunburst follows that formula, then rather cheekily drops a AA figured maple top into the equation. Apparently being practical doesn't mean you have to turn up looking boring.

And it really is a handsome thing. The Washed Cherry Sunburst finish lets the figuring in that carved maple top move beautifully as the light changes, while Gibson's gloss nitrocellulose lacquer gives the guitar the unmistakable look and feel of a proper USA-made Gibson. Cream plastics, chrome hardware and gold Top Hat knobs keep things recognisably Les Paul without pushing this Studio into full tuxedo territory.

Underneath that maple is a mahogany body with Ultra-Modern weight relief. You still get the fundamental mahogany-and-maple construction that's central to the Les Paul recipe, but strategic chambers inside the body help reduce some of the traditional Les Paul heft. Your shoulder may not send a thank-you card, but it'll know.

The mahogany neck uses Gibson's SlimTaper profile, making this a noticeably more streamlined proposition than the chunkier vintage neck shapes. It's glued into the body with a traditional heel and topped with a bound Indian rosewood fingerboard, complete with a 12" radius, 22 medium-jumbo frets and acrylic trapezoid inlays. Gibson's familiar 24.75" scale length keeps bends friendly and gives the guitar that familiar Les Paul response beneath the fingers.

Then we get to a pair of Burstbucker Pro humbuckers, and that's where the Studio Figured earns its working-guitar credentials. These Alnico 5-powered pickups deliver plenty of classic Gibson muscle – rich mids, strong output and excellent definition – while remaining articulate enough that chords don't immediately turn into porridge once the gain knob starts heading clockwise.

There's more flexibility hiding in those traditional-looking controls too. Both Volume knobs feature push/pull coil tapping, letting you move from full humbucker sounds towards leaner, brighter single-coil-style textures. Alongside the conventional two Tone controls and three-way toggle selector, that gives the Studio Figured a much broader palette than its wonderfully straightforward appearance suggests.

Hardware is classic Gibson territory: an aluminium Nashville Tune-O-Matic bridge and aluminium Stop Bar tailpiece, paired with Gibson Vintage Deluxe tuners with Keystone buttons. A Graph Tech nut helps keep tuning and string movement behaving themselves, while the bound fingerboard adds just enough visual refinement to complement that figured top.

And because this is a guitar designed for actual working musicians, Gibson includes a soft shell case for transport and protection.

At Musicmaker, the appeal of this one is fairly straightforward. You get a USA-made Gibson Les Paul, a genuinely gorgeous AA figured maple top, proper Burstbucker Pro pickups and useful coil-tapping, all wrapped up in a weight-relieved Studio that's happy doing the glamorous guitar thing on Saturday night and getting straight back to work at rehearsal on Monday.

Less jewellery than a Standard, considerably more flame than your average Studio, and absolutely no shortage of Les Paul where it counts.