Epiphone Les Paul Studio Electric Guitar Ebony

In pairing a lightweight mahogany body with a spanky maple top, the Epiphone Les Paul Studio Electric Guitar Ebony builds on the same DNA as its more-expensive cousins.

This no-frills musician’s tool is equipped for great performance and all the right visual beats. Its ’60s-profile SlimTaper “D” mahogany neck and Trapezoid-inlaid Pau Ferro fingerboard afford great playability and price-defying luxury.

Stock on the Les Paul Studio is a set of Alnico Classic and Classic Plus humbucking pickups, enriched to their full potential with CTS pots for rich, no-compromises tone.

Grover 18:1 tuners and a Lock Tone Tune-o-Matic bridge pour rock-solid intonation into every soulful strum and sultry melody you unearth in this all-occasion ax. A full complement of black Speed Knobs gives you quick access to those coveted Les Paul tones.

For new players after the classic sounds of an LP in a starter package, the Epiphone Les Paul Studio Electric Guitar Ebony gets you a Tune-O-Matic bridge, a pair of Open Coil Alnico humbuckers, and a set-neck mahogany body, just like in the Gibson model.

Introduced in the ’80s for musicians after a Les Paul without the extra bells and whistles, the Studio model gets you the sustained punch and easy playing while leaving out the more expensive bursts for those who’d prefer flat finishes.

A stage-ready instrument to learn on that comes in at a solid price.