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Posted by: Praetorian Jul 8 2010, 05:30 AM

Does anyone know if Gibson was "chambering" their guitars in 1995? I have an opportunity to pick up this '95 Les Paul Studio, and the seller doesn't know about the chambering. I don't know squat about Les Pauls!

Posted by: Staffy Jul 8 2010, 07:27 AM

Gibson started drilling 9 weight relief holes in all the Gibson USA models back in 1982. They said that they had done studies and that the holes did not affect the tone negatively. A lot of people disagree, personally I didn't find that much of a difference if any to the tone. They did this because lightweight, old growth mahogany was getting harder to find and more expensive. In 07 they decided to go further and cut out chambers in the guitar. Gibson has been making chambered Les Paul guitars for over a decade. They were various models, mostly custom shop ones. In 03 Gibson USA brought out the Supreme which was heavily chambered and had a maple back as well. A few years ago, a few dealers ordered historic reissues with chambering and called them Cloud 9's and they were a big hit with a lot of people who always put down chambered LPs.

To determine if its chambered You can just check the weight - imo. an unchambered LP weights bout 5 kg, while a chambered one will be like 3-3,5 kg. However, I dont see any drawbacks with chambered LP's. The tone may be a little bit brighter, but the sustain and sound is still there. (at least at my LP)

//Staffay

Posted by: Skewlbuzz Jul 8 2010, 09:09 AM

Afaik that studio is weight-relieved ("swiss cheese") and not chambered.

Posted by: ZakkWylde Jul 8 2010, 11:17 AM

Yeah swiss cheese holes (9 small weight relief holes) and not fully chambered. Don't worry about those little weight relief holes, alm,ost ALL Les Pauls today have those and they don't make much of a diffrence (I tried some Custom Shop Lps without them and it's not noticable)

Posted by: Staffy Jul 8 2010, 12:02 PM

+1 I did the same with a custom shop 59' compared to a Standard 2003, and there was hardly no difference in tone that can be caused by the holes.... The full chambered one's has a little more treble/less bottom in my belief though, but it can easily be adjusted on any amp and is no actual reason for not buying a chambered one either...

//Staffay

Posted by: Praetorian Jul 8 2010, 03:22 PM

Great info guys, thanks! What do you think of this LP? I like the gold and red combination!

Posted by: ZakkWylde Jul 8 2010, 03:27 PM

I still think that Gibson Les Paul Studios are the best guitars you can get for your money. The money/quality/sound ratio is unbeatable!

Posted by: sted Jul 9 2010, 02:14 PM

She looks rather nice mate, I think they call it "Wine Red" or something, the only issue with gold hardware is that it will tarnish quite easily, I prefer the worn in look and feel on a guitar so it wouldnt bother me but it would others.
As far as studios go then I think they're great, as always try before you buy, Les Pauls can vary in terms of weight and build quality but with the flooding of Gibsons stocks then the older units will be considerably better as they will be from mature wood stock which the new ones probably wont be.