Les Paul Standards vs. Les Paul Customs

Posted by in guitar, music, musical instruments

As I’ve been finding myself lately really gravitating to the sound of my VOS 1960 plain top Les Paul Standard, I’ve become curious as to why folks chose Les Paul Standards over Les Paul Customs and vice-versa.

Through my own observations, I’d say that most organic classic rock stuff (Allmans, Zeppelin, Skynard, Aerosmith, etc) tends to be played on Standards (with Fogarty & Framptom being the exceptions) while more metal tends to be played on Customs (John Sykes, Zakk Wylde, Adam Jones (Tool), Randy Rhodes, etc).

I also realize that there are a few different variations of the Custom including the fact that several were all mahogany (no maple top i.e. Black Beauty I believe) while others sported maple necks instead of mahogany (namely 70’s era Customs favored by Wylde & Sykes).

So to that point, what style of Les Paul would you use for which styles of music? I’ve been thinking about getting a ’68 reissue custom (black one at Wildwood), but I really love the organic nature of my VOS Standard and wonder if I would wander away from the tones that I favor by going the Custom route.

To help gain perspective on this, I’ve posted these sames questions along with a poll at Huge Racks Inc and The Gear Page.  Please visit the threads to cast your vote and participate in the conversation.