Les Paul Modern or Les Paul Standard? Five Differences You Feel Before You Hear Them

Short answer: the Les Paul Standard '50s and the Les Paul Modern share the same basic recipe: a mahogany body with a carved maple top, a set mahogany neck, a 24.75" scale, two humbuckers and a gloss nitro finish. Where they split is in five places you'll feel before you hear anything. Those are the neck carve, the fingerboard radius, the neck heel, the weight relief and the push/pull switching. If you want the Les Paul your heroes played, buy the Standard. If you've always liked the idea of a Les Paul but found one tiring to play above the 15th fret or to wear for a whole gig, the Modern was built for you.

Where the two models came from

Gibson reorganized its USA line in 2019 into an "Original" collection and a "Modern" collection. The Standard '50s and Standard '60s went into Original. They're built the way people expect a Les Paul to be built, with solid bodies and no weight relief. The Les Paul Modern went into the Modern collection and gathered up the kind of player-comfort features that had shown up on some 2010s Standards and HP models, refined into one guitar.

A note for used shoppers: the Les Paul Modern Studio and Les Paul Modern Lite are different, cheaper guitars that share part of the name. Gibson later added a Modern Figured with a flamed top, built on the same platform as the Modern. Check the full model name before you compare prices.

The five differences, side by side

1. The neck carve

The Standard '50s has Gibson's Vintage '50s profile. It's full and rounded, and it fills your palm. Most people either love it right away or know within a minute that it isn't for them. The Honey Amber '50s Standard we have in right now is a good example. In my notes I called it "the fuller '50s profile you expect," but slick enough that it doesn't feel bulky.

The Modern uses an asymmetrical SlimTaper. The bass side is a little rounder and the treble side is shaved flatter. The idea is that your thumb has something to hold on the bass side while your fingers reach across the treble side more easily. If you like thin necks, you'll probably like it. If you've played a '50s Les Paul for twenty years, it may feel like something is missing.

If you want a thinner neck but the traditional build, there's a middle option: the Standard '60s has a SlimTaper neck with no weight relief and none of the Modern's switching. We compared the two Standards in Les Paul Standard '50s vs '60s.

2. The fingerboard

The Standard has a rosewood board with a 12" radius from nut to heel. The Modern has an ebony board with a compound radius that most published specs list as 10" at the nut, flattening to 16" up the neck. You'll notice the rounder section near the nut when you play barre chords. The flatter section up high lets you bend strings with lower action before the notes start choking out. The difference in wood is easy to see below.

3. The heel

A traditional Les Paul heel is a squared-off block, and your hand runs into it somewhere past the 15th fret. The Modern's contoured heel tapers into the body instead. It doesn't play like a superstrat, but if you spend a lot of time up high, this is the feature you'll notice most.

4. Weight relief, and what the scale says

The Standard '50s has no weight relief. It's a solid mahogany back. The Modern uses what Gibson calls "Ultra-Modern" weight relief, which means pockets routed out of the mahogany under the top. Gibson doesn't publish exactly where or how big they are.

The expected result is a lighter guitar, and on average that's what you get. The numbers from my scale make a more useful point, though:

• Les Paul Modern Figured, Seafoam Green: 8 lb 7 oz
• Les Paul Standard '50s, Gold Top: 8 lb 14 oz
• Les Paul Standard '50s, Honey Amber: 9.38 lb

So one solid-body Standard came in less than half a pound heavier than a weight-relieved Modern, and review and dealer weights I've seen for Moderns run from a little over 8 lb to almost 9 lb. Mahogany density varies enough from board to board to rival what the routing removes. Weight relief shifts the average down, but weigh the actual guitar. Whether it changes the tone is its own debate, covered in does weight relief change how a Les Paul sounds?

5. The pickups and the push/pulls

The Standard '50s has Burstbucker 1 (neck) and Burstbucker 2 (bridge). Both use Alnico II magnets and are wound on the lower-output, vintage side. The wiring is simple: two volumes, two tones, Orange Drop caps and nothing to pull. The Modern has the hotter Burstbucker Pro pair with Alnico V magnets, plus four push/pull knobs. Pull the volumes and each pickup is coil-split. Pull the neck tone and you get the out-of-phase sound in the middle position. Pull the bridge tone and you get "pure bypass," which sends the bridge pickup straight to the output jack without going through the volume and tone pots.

I'll be honest about the splits. Like nearly every split humbucker, they won't give you a real Strat or Tele sound. We cover why in why coil-splitting almost never sounds like a real single coil. They're still useful for thinning out a clean rhythm part. Pure bypass is the feature I'd use most. It gives you a slightly more direct, open bridge sound for leads, the way a guitar sounds with no controls in the circuit.

The hardware differs too (ABR-1 and Vintage Deluxe tuners on the Standard, an aluminum Nashville bridge and Grover locking Rotomatics on the Modern), but none of it should decide which one you buy.

What I check on a used one

• On a Modern: pull every knob. Check all four push/pulls in every switch position. Each one is a mechanical switch on top of a pot, and they can wear. Also look at the knobs themselves. The Seafoam Modern we had came in with one of its original clear knobs cracked. The set had been replaced with new Gibson amber knobs, with the originals kept in the case. That's a small thing, but on a used Modern ask whether the original knobs are included.
• On a Standard: the weight. A solid-back '50s Standard can run anywhere from roughly 8.5 lb to over 10. If you play standing up, ask for the exact weight.
• On both: the usual Gibson checks. Look for headstock repairs, fret wear and truss rod range, and check for sinking or collapsed bridges. Our used Les Paul buying guide covers the whole list.

So which one?

Buy the Standard '50s if you want the classic Les Paul feel and sound: a big neck, vintage-output pickups, simple wiring, and a guitar that will appeal to the widest range of buyers if you ever sell it. Buy the Modern if a thinner neck, easier upper-fret access, a flatter board for bends and a few extra sounds matter more to you than tradition. In my experience neither one is better built than the other. They're aimed at different players.

If you want to try the traditional version, the 2023 Les Paul Standard '50s in Honey Amber is on the bench now, and everything else is in guitars in stock. If you're trading one Les Paul for the other, the Cash Offer page is the quickest way to find out what yours is worth.

FAQ

Is the Les Paul Modern lighter than the Les Paul Standard?

Usually, because the Modern has Ultra-Modern weight relief and the Standard '50s has none. The ranges overlap, though. We've weighed a Standard '50s at 8 lb 14 oz and a Modern Figured at 8 lb 7 oz. Always ask for the weight of the specific guitar.

Does the Les Paul Modern have a thin neck?

Yes. It uses an asymmetrical SlimTaper profile, which is slimmer than the Standard '50s neck and slightly flatter on the treble side. If you want a slim neck without the Modern's other features, look at the Standard '60s.

What do the push/pull knobs on a Les Paul Modern do?

Pulling the volume knobs coil-splits each pickup. Pulling the neck tone knob puts the pickups out of phase in the middle position. Pulling the bridge tone knob engages pure bypass, which sends the bridge pickup straight to the output.

Which one holds its value better used?

We haven't tracked resale data closely enough to give you a firm answer. The traditional Standard does appeal to a wider pool of buyers. Over time, condition and the original parts and case matter more than which of the two models it is.