Gibson Les Paul Studio Swamp Ash Review
By MNJ
| Posted in Guitar
The Gibson Les Paul Studio Swamp Ash is a no frills, stripped down to the basics Les Paul constructed not from the usual mahogany and maple, but swamp ash. Gibson consider this denser timber to be uniquely resonant across all frequencies, giving the guitar a distinctly different tone to a normal Les Paul – with clearer highs and a robust mid and low end. My first impression on picking the guitar up is that the combination of its weight-relieved chambered body and swamp ash construction results in an instrument that’s extemely manageable to hold and play.
The top on the Studio is a very attractive hand-carved single piece of swamp ash over a solid ash body. The guitar is finished in a thin nitrocellulose and although applying it is apparently a painstaking and expensive process, the results make for a superior looking instrument. A gloss finish would just make this instrument look cheap and would probably rob the guitar of its unique voice.
The one-piece mahogany neck on the Swamp Ash is hand finished with a 1950s rounded profile and is very smooth and non-sticky, thanks again to the nitro finish. A standard rosewood fingerboard is inlaid with acrylic dots which look right on what is essentially a basic looking guitar. One nice touch – the truss rod cover has a green ash leaf printed on it.
The Les Paul Studio Swamp Ash is fitted with Gibson’s 490R and 498T pickups. Gibson based the design of these units on the tonal characteristic of the original PAFs wound to make the mid range response a little hotter. The Alnico II magnet was exchanged for the AlnicoV in the 498, making it hotter still in the highs and with the pole pieces spread a little wider to ensure accurate alignment under the strings at the bridge.
To prove or disprove the claims that Gibson makes about tones this Les Paul can produce means only one thing – get it plugged in and give it a proper workout. Plugged into an Orange Dual Terror, it’s immediately impressive – bright, articulate, and a little less dense sounding than a normal Studio. If anybody has any doubts as to how a non-mahogany/maple Les Paul can be as good, stress no more. Working through the pickup combinations and using the volume controls to find my favourite sweet spots that I’m so familiar with on a Lester, I was impressed by just how articulate the sound of this guitar is. I particularly liked the neck pickup full on with the tone control backed off – as smooth and soulful as a bag of Santana albums.
There’s no doubt that the Ash body has a significant bearing on how this instrument sounds. Even compared to a maple bodied Raw Power Les Paul, the differences are there to be heard. I can see this guitar appealing to a player who wants to get into the Les Paul way of thinking, but is put off by the weight and the comparative murkiness of a mahogany body if they are used to an Ibanez or something similar.
Potential purchasers of this guitar should not be put off by the basic looks and ‘bare wood’ finish. Thin nitro is a good thing, and the feel of the neck in particular benefits from the treatment. The Studio Swamp Ash takes the Les Paul in yet another direction but any present or future owners can be assured that their choice is a sound one.
Tags: gibson les paul, gibson les paul studio, gibson les paul studio swamp ash, les paul studio