Gibson Les Paul Studio VS. Custom - Tone Comparison!

Have you ever wondered what the difference in tone is between a Gibson USA Les Paul Studio and a Gibson Custom Les Paul Custom with the exact same 490R & 498T pickups? Then check this out!

In this video, I shoot out the tone of my favorite 2016 Les Paul Studio against my 2021 Les Paul Custom. Below are all of the few technical differences between these two killer instruments:

- The Studio has Modern Weight Relief whereas the Custom has 9-hole weight relief.
- The Studio has a Granadillo fretboard whereas the Custom has an Ebony fretboard.
- The Studio has modern PCB wiring whereas the Custom has traditional '50s wiring.
- The Studio has a short neck tenon whereas the Custom has a historic long neck tenon.
- The body of the Custom is slightly thicker front-to-back than the Studio.
- The Studio potentially has slightly more plasticizer in the nitrocellulose lacquer than the Custom does, but now we're really splitting hairs...
- And of course the visual appointments being the inlays and binding.

Let me know in the comments below which of these 2 guitars that you preferred the tone of. The Custom definitely feels slightly better to play, and it sounds more masculine than this Studio to my ears. But everyone might have a different perception.

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Both guitars are using basic Dunlop DEN1046 strings in standard tuning, running through my Mesa Triple Rectifier with a Boss RV-6 reverb on "Dynamic" setting in this demonstration. This is typically my most commonly-used setup.