Gibson Les Paul Slash Standard

review
GIBSON SLASH LES PAUL STANDARD
98
GUITARIST APRIL 2020
1. Note the nine-digit serial
number, Slash’s ‘Scully’
cartoon, ‘keystone’ pegs
on vintage-style tuners
and a fetching dark
cherry finish on the back
of the neck (and body)
2. If you’re not sure of the
truss-rod cover’s‘Slash’
signature there’s a plain
one in the case, along
with a pickguard should
you choose to fit it – and
some Slash picks too!
1
2
You can rock – and
indeed blues, pop,
indie and even jazz –
to your heart’s content
and the whole thing looks like it’s been put
together with genuine care and attention.
Feel & Sounds
The attention to detail that’s so clearly
gone into the finishing carries over to the
fretwork and setup. There’s no sanding
marks on the rosewood ’board or on the
celluloid inlays, as there often used to
be; the frets are all seated, crowned and
polished to perfection, and the action just as
you’d want it – low enough for comfort but
with zero buzzes and rattles.
Slash stipulates a 50s-style, medium-to-
chunky C-profile neck and that’s what most
of us seem to prefer these days. It’s certainly
very similar if not identical to the neck you’ll
find on the current ’50s Standard here with
a depth of 22mm at the 1st fret and 25.4mm
at the 12th. That, along with the polished
medium-jumbo frets (approximately
2.28mm wide with a height of around
1.14mm) and perfect setup, means you can
rock – and indeed blues, pop, indie and even
jazz – to your heart’s content. Of course, the
Les Paul’s limited upper access still applies,
but if it was good enough for Jimmy Page,
and indeed Slash…
Playing through Fender Blues Junior and
Yamaha THR30II amps with a Custom
Shop ’57 Les Paul as our ‘control’ guitar,
it was an interesting match. Clearly both
exhibited that instantly recognisable Les
Paul grunt, but the Slash seemed more feral,
less tamed. Compared with the Goldtop’s
almost ‘polite’ Custom Bucker pickups
it sounded both edgier and honkier: the
bridge pickup a bit like having a wah
pedal 10 per cent cocked; the neck tone’s a
trifle fatter, too. The guitar also has more
apparent power, both amps breaking up just
that bit earlier. Flicking both pickups on the
difference was still there but less marked,
both exhibiting the same lovely ‘quack’ but
the Slash pushing that a smidgen harder.
It’s worth saying that our Goldtop is
a featherweight at just 3.68kg (8.1lb)
compared with our weightier Slash model,
GIT457.rev_slash.indd 98 20/02/2020 13:47