The Les Paul may have gone through some changes over the years, but its iconic silhouette is undoubtedly one of the most recognizable designs, not just in music, but in pop culture as a whole.
Because of its popularity, it’s also one of the most imitated guitars on the market. From guitars in the style of it, inspired by it, or even just straight up copying it, there are many types of Les Paul to suit all different players. In this guide, we’ll be taking a look at some of the best Les Paul style guitars on the market.
During the reviews we were looking for looks and appearance, build quality, tones, and tuning stability. To keep things consistent, we ran every guitar through the same amp, in this case a Boss Katana 50. Keep on reading to find out what we learned about these great guitars.
Les Paul Style
The ESP LTD EC-256 was our Top Pick winner. It was a great blend of price and performance, with handsome looks, killer tones and solid build quality.
Our Best Budget winner was the Epiphone Les Paul Player Pack – a great turn key bundle, with an Epiphone Les Paul Special II at its heart. We loved the guitar, and to get such a great bundle with it at such a low price is incredible value.
If you’re working with a bigger budget and you’re looking for the best of the best, our Editor’s Choice, the Gibson Les Paul Studio is a no brainer. As the guitar that inspired all of the others on this list, it’s almost certainly the one you want.
Yescom Electric Guitar Hard Case For Lp Les Paul Style Electric Guitar Wooden Hard Shell Lockable
A great choice for those looking to explore the heavier side of the Les Paul. This model offers the classic LP shape with edgier styling and a neck that’s purpose built for shredding.
The well packaged ESP LTD EC-256 took quite a while to unwrap, which is, in our minds, a great sign that care was taken to ensure the guitar gets to the buyer in top condition – and we weren’t wrong! When we finally got to the guitar, we found a gorgeous “Snow White” finish on this edgy Les Paul style guitar.
Just like a Gibson Les Paul, it had a 24.75” scale length, so the feel was quite similar. It had a 3 piece set mahogany neck, and 22 well finished, extra jumbo frets topping off the jatoba fretboard, a wood we’ve really come to like for both its feel and looks. The “Thin U” neck profile was extremely comfortable, and lightning fast – perfect for metal and rock.
Encore E99 Lh Les Paul Style Electric Guitar
The body was all mahogany, and unlike a Gibson or Epiphone, it had no maple cap, which is probably how they managed to keep the weight down. The top had a slight arch to it, which really helped the ergonomics, giving us a comfortable place to rest the strumming hand, no matter where we placed it.
As any good LP style guitar should have, it was loaded with a pair of ESP humbuckers, an LH-150N in the neck, and an LH-150B in the bridge. The neck position gave us great warmth and a really smooth tone, and in the lead setting we got searing top end that responded brilliantly to high gain.
Adding to the versatility of this LTD was the coil tapping function, which let us split the humbuckers for a single coil tone by pulling out on the tone knob.
Electric Guitar, Les Paul Custom Style Freya Lp 2c Ebony
The black hardware looked awesome, and performed just as well. The keystone style machine heads did a fantastic job with tuning stability, even in drop tunings. Intonation was dead on, and the action was just about perfect right out of the box.
Verdict: The ESP LTD EC-256 is a solid all round choice if you’re looking for a Les Paul style guitar. It offers top quality construction, great hardware and electronics, and fantastic playability. ESP guitars are mostly known for metal, but this model was surprisingly versatile, and gave us great warmth and even some nice cleans thanks to the coil splitting, as well as high gain grunt.
With this pack you’re getting an authentic licensed Les Paul offering the tones and playability you’d expect, while also including an amp and a number of other great accessories to get you started.
Les Paul Style W/kahler Style Locking Tremolo Electric Guitar Sunburst W/gig Bag
This Epiphone Les Paul Player Pack was really well presented in its bundle box – everything was nicely separated inside, and despite the fact there was an amp and a guitar, as well as numerous accessories, everything was in perfect condition on arrival. We were sent the vintage sunburst finish model, but it’s also available in ebony if sunburst isn’t your thing.
The guitar that comes with the bundle is an Epiphone Les Paul Special II, an entry level, licensed copy of the Gibson Les Paul Special, so unlike the non-Epiphone/Gibson models on this list, you’ll actually see “Les Paul Model” on the headstock.
This is a slab body model, so like the ESP, there’s no maple cap, which does keep the weight lower. The scale length was correct to the style at 24.75”.
Custom Painted Hand Built Les Paul Style Guitar
One of the ways in which Epiphone kept the cost down on this LP was by using a bolt on neck, rather than the traditional set neck. We had no complaints about how it played or the overall feel, and in fact, given that this model is typically marketed towards beginners, it actually makes the whole guitar a little less fragile.
The neck was made from maple, and surprisingly for a budget model, it even had a rosewood fretboard. The fretboard felt great, and looked better than the typical laurel you’d see at this price point. We liked that the frets were well finished, without any kind of burrs or sharp edges. The crowns weren’t highly polished, but they weren’t too scratchy, either.
It had an alder body, which gave it a nice resonance, and kept tones a little brighter and snappier than you’d find on an all mahogany body LP. This design is quite clever, as it manages to come close to the kind of tones you’d get from a maple capped model, without the weight and added expense.
Jay Turser Jt 220 Les Paul Style Electric Guitar
As for electronics, it was loaded with a 650T humbucker in the neck, and a 700T humbucker in the bridge. They were open coil design, and for inexpensive pickups, gave us a nice, broad range of tones. They did cleans well, and handled high gain without muddiness.
To give you a little more info on the rest of the bundle, it came with a 10 watt practice amp, a gig bag, a tuner, instrument cable, and even a strap, giving you everything you need to get playing all in one box.
Verdict: The Epiphone Les Paul Player Pack gives budget conscious players the opportunity to get their hands on a licensed Les Paul Model at an outrageously low price. The guitar itself is really well made, and has all of the classic Les Paul features, from the body shape, down to the rock ready pickups.
Gibson Headstock Mahogany & Cottonwood Les Paul Neck
You’ll get the ultimate in build quality and high end fit and finish with this model from Gibson. Tones are incredible, and thanks to the standard PLEK finishing, playability is beyond compare.
There’s no way we could compile a list of the best Les Paul style guitars without including the real McCoy, the Gibson Les Paul Studio. No matter how many times you do it, there’s something special about unboxing a Gibson, so the whole experience was quite exciting. Inside the outer box, we found a plush, well padded Gibson branded gig bag, and inside was a beautiful, Wine Red Les Paul Studio.
The set mahogany neck had a SlimTaper profile, making it extremely comfortable for almost all players, and giving it lightning speed at both ends. The rosewood fretboard was absolutely perfect; properly hydrated with great feel, and stunning looks.
Les Paul Style Electric Guitar
We were delighted to see that the Studio was PLEK’d right from the factory – a service that can cost as much as $300 by itself (and presents a clear upgrade from the Epiphone version of the Studio). The results were noticeable, with some of the best out of the box fretwork we’ve ever encountered.
The weight relieved body was mahogany, and it had a solid maple cap – the classic Les Paul recipe. Despite the weight relief, it still rang out for days, and the grain of the maple peering through the translucent Red Wine tint looked amazing. Being a studio model, it had a proper carved top, giving it classic looks and great playability.
Interestingly, it featured coil splitting pickups, giving it a whole extra bank of single coil quack on top of the fat, growling humbucker tones from the Gibson 490R in the neck and Gibson 498T in the bridge position. Even without the coil splitting, this Studio handled practically every genre with ease, but the extra versatility made this guitar a real weapon.
Les Paul Style Guitars With Koa Tops
Tuning stability was fantastic, and the chrome Grover tuners turned as smoothly as you’d expect. We loved the action right out of the box, and thanks to the PLEKing, the intonation was perfect.
Verdict: While it’s notably more expensive
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