“A punky-edged rock ’n’ roll machine that’s light on your shoulder but far from lacking in heft”: Gibson Les Paul Modern Lite review

The latest in a long line of cut-price Gibson Les Pauls, the Modern Lite, which for 2024 replaces the Les Paul Tribute and Les Paul Special Tribute models in the Gibson USA line-up, certainly lives up to at least 50 per cent of its name: at just 6.67lb it’s the lightest solidbody LP we’ve ever encountered! 

But Modern? Offered in five far-from-vintage solid colours it’s hardly vintage-style, but unlike the other guitars in the Modern range it keeps things old-school when it comes to wiring and sounds, and indeed its build.

Also, unlike the full-fat Les Paul, the new Lite is all mahogany but its body depth drops to an overall 45mm, approximately 33mm at the edge, although thanks to the carved top and its slight rib-cage contour on the back, it actually seems thinner, more SG-like. It’s certainly a very different guitar in the feel department compared to our Gibson Les Paul Classic reference with its full 62mm body depth (and with it, despite the nine-hole weight relief, a weight of 9lb!).

You can just about see through the light satin finish that it’s a two-piece body used here; the neck is one-piece with a standard heel shape, unlike the contoured heel of the upper-market Modern Les Pauls.

There’s no truck with edge binding on the body or neck, and we get simple Junior/Special-style dot inlays on the rosewood fingerboard that again, unlike the more expensive Moderns, has a standard – not compound – 12” radius. The Lite does retain the thinner SlimTaper neck profile, though, which dimensionally is pretty similar to the upper market models although, obviously, the thin satin finish gives a more textural feel. 

You might expect a bigger gauge of fretwire on a ‘modern’ guitar like this, but it’s a pretty standard-for-Gibson medium wire, which isn’t particularly high, adding a more vintage feel if we’re honest. Our review sample’s frets could also do with a bit more of a polish, but setup-wise, aside from slightly sharp fingerboard edges, we have no complaints.

The hardware is the same as you’ll find on the more expensive Modern Les Pauls – the wider travel ‘Nashville’ Tune-O-Matic bridge and lightweight aluminium stop tailpiece. However, the tuners here are ‘mini’ Grover Rotomatics, which feel smooth and positive. 

On paper, the Modern Lite’s potential as a modding platform looks good, too, but the thin body depth means fitting things like pull-switch pots into the rear cavity might not be possible. That said, you’d have no problem fitting any after-market humbuckers.

So, yes, there is a whiff of ‘cut-price’ about this guitar – not least if you play it side-by-side with the rather superbly detailed Epiphone Greeny we recently took a look at – but your audience is going to clock the proper name on the headstock and be treated to some raw rock sounds – something the Lite excels at. The open-coiled humbuckers here, the long-running 490R ‘Modern Classic’ and 498T ‘Hot Alnico’ at bridge, really deliver.

There’s a quite vintage vibe to the neck humbucker with its Alnico 2 magnet and 8k ohms DCR while the bridge pickup swaps to Alnico 5, a higher resistance reading of 14.2k, indicating a thinner coil wire, with plenty of bite and power on tap. Overall it comes across a little more SG-like than classic LP and that might well be its appeal: a punky-edged rock ’n’ roll machine that’s light on your shoulder but far from lacking in heft.

Obviously, there are plenty of classic Les Paul-alikes on the market at this price (and less), and the rudimentary finishing won’t be for everyone. And yes, while there’s good colour choice, the all-black plastic parts used on all the hues does reinforce its start-up status. But for many, owning the ‘real thing’ made in the USA is one of those aspirations, isn’t it? 

An obvious shoo-in for younger players, the Modern Lite is also a perfect spare or second guitar for the more experienced gigging musician and works very well open-tuned for slide with great potential for heavier string gauges and dropped tunings. 

It’s a very unpretentious guitar, and although it might lack a little sophistication – and ‘modernism’ – the recipe remains timeless. Find a nice one of these and you’ll have a friend and gigging partner for as long as you want.

Specs

• PRICE: $/£1,499
• BODY: Mahogany with carved top
• NECK: Mahogany, SlimTaper profile, glued-in
• SCALE: 624mm (24.6”)
• FINGERBOARD: Rosewood/12” radius
• FRETS: 22, medium jumbo
• PICKUPS: Uncovered Gibson 490R (neck) and 498T (bridge) humbuckers
• CONTROLS: Volume and tone for each pickup, 3-way toggle pickup selector switch
• HARDWARE: Nashville tune-o-matic bridge, aluminium stud tailpiece, Grover Mini Rotomatic tuners with kidney buttons
• FINISH: Cardinal Red (as reviewed), TV Wheat, Gold Mist, Inverness Green, Rose Gold – satin nitro-cellulose with colour matched headstocks
• CONTACT: Gibson