Two new Les Pauls are added to the Modern strand of Gibson’s slowly expanding USA guitars with quite a specification and cost difference. Which one to go for?
GIBSON LES PAUL MODERN FIGURED & MODERN LITE £2,999 & £1,499
There’s a sharp dividing line between Gibson USA’s models –Original and Modern –that should mean if you’re more vintage-specific, then you go for the former, and if you like afew more sounds and some contemporary upgrades, not to mention colours, you’d go for the latter. Simple…except there’s plenty of crossover in style, not to mention price.
Along with the recent launch of the £4k Les Paul Supreme, with amodel name that originally appeared a couple of decades ago, two more new additions to the Modern Collection illustrate the diversity further. Our new Modern Figured, priced at £3k, is basically a slightly pared-back Supreme, but the Modern Lite is half that price and although it’s bundled into the same strand of the catalogue, it is a very different guitar. Importantly, Gibson tells us, “although the Modern Lite is not billed as a direct replacement for the Tributes, they are taking their place as the entry-level model from USA. The Tributes have been discontinued.”
The Modern Figured is a slightly upgraded Modern Les Paul, and shares plenty with that new Supreme: it’s a pretty posh-looking ’Paul with an upmarket ebony fingerboard, which advertises (but doesn’t specify) a compound radius, sparkling mother-ofpearl inlays, an AAA figured top and a trio of, well, ‘modern’ colours. Ours is Cobalt Burst, a strong blue ’bursted over the maple top that’s edged with a bright white binding and a translucent blue over the back, sides and neck back, which looks much darker, almost black. Not surprisin
