REVIEW | GIBSON LES PAUL MODERN FIGURED & MODERN LITE
GIBSON LES PAUL MODERN FIGURED & MODERN LITE £2,999 & £1,499
CONTACT Gibson WEB www.gibson.com
What You Need To Know
1 Blimey, Gibson seems to be launching a lot of guitars recently. Are these really new?
Yes and no. Since the new regime started in 2019, Gibson has clearly separated its USA guitars into Original and Modern Collections. So our Modern Figured is basically the existing Modern Les Paul but with a figured top and three translucent finishes, as opposed to the opaque Faded Pelham Blue, Sparkling Burgundy and Graphite top colours of the standard model. The Modern Lite is brand-new.
2 How so?
Up to this point in the Modern Collection, the start-up LP models have been the Les Paul Tribute and Les Paul Special Tribute. Although you’ll still find these in-store, technically they have been discontinued. The new Modern Lite has a thinner all-mahogany body, with a carved top, and a mahogany neck.
3 Do they both use those newfangled PCB circuit boards?
The Modern Figured uses the same four pull-switch circuit you’ll find in the new high-line Les Paul Supreme, the Les Paul Modern and the Les Paul Classic. The Modern Lite is old-school: no pull switches or PCBs.
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 a few 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 a model 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
