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LesPaul Standard vs SG Standard


Reventon11

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Welcome to the forum......I'll let others answer this for you....However, the LP Standard is chambered ( hollow ) mahogany, and the SG is a solid slab of mahogany; several pieces glued together, usually...

 

SG necks are glued to the body without much depth, and LP Standards are glued in a bit deeper....Depending on the model, the pickups will vary as well.......

 

OK, next ????????

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Both are great guitars, but I lean towards the SG. They have somewhat different sounds but they still have a lot of the same tonal qualitys. IMO SGs are much more playable than a Les Paul. In closing, the SG is kinda like the Les Paul's bastard half-brother, but that's part of the reason some of us here like them so much.

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I good rule of thumb if perhaps over simplistic is this. An SG looks like it sounds, Sharp and light. In cntrast, the Les Paul is rounder and a bit more heavy. The neck on the SG has better upper fret access. I like having both around.

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Neither one of them is better, it's just preference. If you want to have a lot of color options for your guitar, then Les Paul may work better (almost all SGs are either ebony or cherry). If you want something lighter in weight, then SGs the one. I prefer SGs, but that doesnt mean you should get one too. Go to a local music store (guitar center,etc.) and try out a bunch of guitars [thumbup]

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I never cared for the LP shape and feel. Just me. I like the SG shape and feel. Dunno why, really, and I think it may have to do with the more guitar-size shape of the SG regardless of the horns.

 

I still think personally that the SG shape and pups make it the best all-around solidbody ever designed. Again, that's just me. And figure this, I've had only my 1970s Guild version of the SG since the 1970s as a solidbody; all else is a semi or full hollow or a flattop AE.

 

m

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I never paid the SG much attention till last year. I have walked by 1000 of them in the stores. Then I had to play one last year to try out a pedal I thought I wanted. It was a used Faded Brown SG Special. I was blown away with the way it felt. Turns out I didn't need the pedal. I took the SG home though. I have 5 Gibsons and the cheap $450 SG is my go too guitar. Because it's tone is so bright it's not alwaysd my favorite sounding guitar but it's usually my favorite feeling.

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Well, owning both, the SG has (as previously stated) much better upper fret

access, and is lighter, as well. The "Tone," is a bit more "mid-range," than

the LP, but certainly nothing so different, that teaking the amp, can't take

care of. Some just prefer (Stock) LP tone, over SG tone...and the reverse,

as well. Only you, can decide that, for sure. Both, are great guitars, in

their own right.

 

CB

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Jeff...

 

I agree. I think each of us, especially those who've played a while, have something in us that makes one guitar just feel right and the next, not right. And that's even the same model and with adjacent serial numbers.

 

m

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sound is similar...but SG has a wonderful feel to it...easier to play (w/ 60's neck). My LP Std Trad has bulky 50's neck...plays fine, sounds great...but I just can't get enough of my SG. it just seems to make me sound like a much better musician than I really am.

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I must be honest and say it right here: I don't care for the LP. I can list a dozen guitars I hope to get on down the road ~ Tele, Jaguar, ES335, Gretsch, Rick, Danelectro, Firebird, another SG...and the Les Paul would not be on that list. It's just me - others feel the same way in reverse about the SG.

 

Enjoy the search!

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I must be honest and say it right here: I don't care for the LP. I can list a dozen guitars I hope to get on down the road ~ Tele, Jaguar, ES335, Gretsch, Rick, Danelectro, Firebird, another SG...and the Les Paul would not be on that list. It's just me - others feel the same way in reverse about the SG.

 

Enjoy the search!

 

...I actually can't recall anyone NOT liking the SG...perhaps someone here would like to be the first?

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...I actually can't recall anyone NOT liking the SG...perhaps someone here would like to be the first?

There have been a few I can recall who don't like the SG body style but it's only been about the looks side of things. There may be some who don't like how one plays but I haven't seen that yet.

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I'm new to the SG (just got my first one, SG Standard 2011, last month). I was formerly partial to the Les Paul for it's sound and sustain (years ago I had an

Alpine White Les Paul Custom, 1987; it was a heavy beast but had great sound/sustain). I tried some of the newer Les Pauls and really didn't like them. Maybe because they're chambered now, somehow they feel cheap compared to my old Les Paul that I no longer have. The SG Standard is at least a "Solid Guitar"...Gee isn't that what

the "SG" stands for? [laugh]. I don't think the SG sounds anything like a Les Paul. I rather like mine because the sound is different. Mine has the 490R/498T

pickup combination. Each pickup is so different sounding from the other. Some guitars you switch from neck to bridge and you hear some difference, but not a

whole lot. The combo on the SG Standard, you hear a big difference between the Neck and the Bridge pickups. Plus the woods on the two guitars are different.

The LP Standard is chambered mahogany with a maple cap. The SG Standard is solid mahogany. But also the type of amplifier you use has something to do with

your guitar's sound. I have a VOX AC30CC2 and both my Gibson CS-336 (2008) and my new Gibson SG Standard (2011) sound great through that amp. [thumbup] Oh, yeh...as some others have mentioned, the SG has much better access to the full fretboard. The LP gets tough on those upper frets. Maybe that's why Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton switched from LPs to Fender Strats. :unsure:

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Good thread. Count me as prefering the LP style and not one to be able to get much into the SG.

 

Regarding the preference away from the SG, I have a larger frame, and the SG just gets a little small for me. Also, being so light in the body a lot of them have a neck dive when strapped on.

 

But, on the other hand, even though the LP is a small guitar, there is a kinda magic with the bridge and neck angle and arched top that seems to just fit in the grove. Even though I have been a strat player for years, even when I wasn't used to the LP it still felt great for me.

 

Sound wise, they both have advantages, and they both can sound great. I am a fan of light guitars, and while the chambered LPs do not sound like solid ones to me, I still like the one I got..maybe more. It is about the same wieght as an SG. There is magic in the solid pure mahogony that happens with the SG, and with the light weight of it. Bright resonent, and warm. That is why I have made efforts in the past to get next to an SG.

 

SGs, Specials, LPs, and chambered LPs all sound very different and all have magic I think.

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