{"id":144506,"date":"2025-08-14T07:33:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T07:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/144506\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T07:33:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T07:33:19","slug":"whats-the-optimum-weight-for-a-les-paul-and-is-there-such-a-thing-as-too-heavy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/144506\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the optimum weight for a Les Paul? And is there such a thing as too heavy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.<\/p>\n

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Credit: Olly Curtis \/ Future<\/p>\n

In this article, Guitarist reviews editor Dave Burrluck answer your questions on all things electric guitar. <\/a>This month, it’s weight. How much is too much? Doug, via email writes in…<\/p>\n

Q: You were quite critical of the weight of an Epiphone \u201957 Goldtop reissue you reviewed recently. Is there an official weight limit for guitars? I read somewhere that heavier is better. I\u2019d be interested to know your thoughts. <\/strong><\/p>\n

A: <\/strong>Ha, no \u2013 there\u2019s not an official weight limit, but the bulk of any guitar, not least a Les Paul<\/a>, can play a big part in your engagement and use. Many players will certainly say it doesn\u2019t bother them or, as you say, the heavier the better.<\/p>\n

The Les Paul is a bulky guitar and is always known as a heavier proposition to light ash-bodied Fenders, although there are plenty of exceptions to that generalisation.<\/p>\n

But back to the Les Paul. In Jay Scott and Vic Da Pra\u2019s book \u2019Burst: 1958-\u201960 Sunburst Les Paul, originally published in 1994, the authors state that \u201cthe perfect \u2019Burst follows the Rule of Eights \u2013 a featherweight of 8lb and a resistance in each [Patent Applied For pickup] of 8kohms.\u201d In The Beauty Of The \u2019Burst by Yasuhiko Iwande, the 50 \u2019Bursts that are spec\u2019d out have a weight range between 8lb 1.4oz (3.67kg) and 9lb 11.4 oz (4.41kg).<\/p>\n

So, yes, that 10lb (4.56kg) Goldtop that we reviewed was certainly on the heavier side, especially bearing in mind its \u201957 reissue aim. But that\u2019s not to say there aren\u2019t any real \u201957s out there at that weight. Of course, head into the \u201970s and try to find a Les Paul Deluxe much under 10lbs! Good luck. They do exist, but they seem quite rare.<\/p>\n

\"Epiphone<\/p>\n

Credit: Olly Curtis \/ Future<\/p>\n

Today? Well, back in 2019 I reviewed a 10.39lb (4.72kg) Gibson Les Paul Classic, supposedly weight-relieved, only beaten over these past years by an all solid Fret\u2011King Eclat Paul Rose GT, which came in at 10.43lb (4.74kg). Even an original Dan Armstrong Ampeg I was writing about, with its solid acrylic body, only weighed 9.68lb (4.4kg)!<\/p>\n

Back to Epiphone, then, and the just-launched Jeff Beck Oxblood Les Paul<\/a> turned up with a trim weight of 8.56lb (3.89kg) \u2013 well within the weight range illustrated by Yasuhiko Iwande and, personally, I find that very manageable for the style.<\/p>\n

And this is the point: checking or asking for the weight of a guitar isn\u2019t for cork-sniffers only; we all have our own preferences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit:…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":144507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[65821,85625,210,75499,1182,67,132,68,85623,85624],"class_list":{"0":"post-144506","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-electric-guitar","9":"tag-gibson-les-paul","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-les-paul","12":"tag-nutrition","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us","16":"tag-weight-limit","17":"tag-weight-range"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115025963008456185","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}