GIBSON LES PAUL MODERN LITE

Snappy colours with classic rock tone-let's introduce the Modern Lite!

The latest in a long line of cut-price 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 percent of its name: at just 6.67lb it's the lightest solid-body 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 ninehole 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.