Gibson Les Paul Studio GEM Sapphire Reviews 5

Bought in 1994 at local music store in New York. Paid $899-include hardshell Gibson Case.

The GEM series were Studios with colors akin to precious stones. Mine is Sapphire wich is sort of a rich electric blue. All of the hardware is gold plated and the pickups and pickguard are cream. It is vsually stunning in my opinion. Guitar is veary heavy and neck is the standard "fat" one that people love or hate. It came with p90 sopbars but i replace the bridge with a Dimarzio HO Soapbar humbucker. It sounds incredible. Replaced neck with a Gibson P100 humbucker sopbar.

The single coils P90s sound great for blues, However I usualy play with high gain and the noise is too much for me. If you play high gain/ distortion its not for you. Replace them with P100s or aftermarket sopbar humbuckers from dimarzio or seymor duncan and your good to go.

Solid...just like every other Les Paul. Not for folks with weak backs.

It looks cool, sounds great(albeit with modifications) and has great fit and finish. Not your everyday Les Paul due to it's "custom" colors and hardware scheme. I'll never sell this pimped out axe. I have yet to play another guitar I've loved so much.

Pimpalicious rated this unit 5 on 2002-02-17.

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