It is a model of Les Paul with some features omitted to appeal to musicians looking for the tonal qualities of the guitar but with less of an emphasis on cosmetics and to reduce the price of the instrument.

[1] The Studio was designed to attract guitar players who desired traditional Les Paul sound without having to pay for cosmetic features of upscale models.

The fingerboard was made from rosewood on some models, ebony on others, and had mother of pearl dots for inlays, instead of the usual trapezoids.

The Lite models were produced with balsa wood (referred to as "chromyte" in advertisements)[2] portions of the body to reduce the guitar's weight, responding to some players' complaints about the heaviness of a standard Les Paul after several hours of playing.

The Studio Lite M-III was produced with a new pickup configuration: two humbuckers with a single coil in the middle.

[3] The Gem Series (1996–1998) had P-90 pickups and special finishes in "gemstone" colors: Amethyst, Sapphire, Topaz, Emerald, and Ruby.

Gibson produced a small number of Les Paul Studio guitars using the leftover paint from the Gem Series.

The SmartWood line featured tops made from different woods: Curupay has a deep chocolate-walnut richness; Peroba recalls the orangey hue of the old pine ceiling beam; Banara has a golden, banana-like glow; Ambay Guasu boasts the even lightness of maple; Taperyva Guasu is reminiscent of a sun-bleached rosewood, and Chancharana is a deep, warm-brown russet.

The SmartWood Exotic had a thinner, belly contoured, body than the Studio (somewhat similar to that of the Les Paul Custom Lite), and had "smart wood" written on the truss rod cover.

[5] It was in production from December 2002 until 2008 and had a standard body, no pick-guard, gold hardware, dot-type fret markers, mother of pearl Gibson headstock logo, and a unique metallic green-leaf within the truss rod cover.

It has a standard body, no pick-guard, chrome plated hardware, and dot-type fret markers, a silkscreen Gibson headstock logo and the usual studio truss rod cover.

Guitars other than the Les Paul Studio in this series were the Gibson SG, Flying V, X-plorer and Nikki Sixx Blackbird Bass.

Traditional mahogany body and set SlimTaper™ neck profile, rosewood fingerboard with acrylic trapezoid inlays, 490R neck pickup and BurstBucker Pro bridge pickup, TonePros® Tune-o-matic bridge and stopbar tailpiece, Grover™ tuners with vintage style green keys.

The production version (v2, 2008–2011) featured a chambered mahogany body, maple top, set mahogany neck, 22-fret rosewood-bound (standard finishes) or white-bound (metallic finishes) ebony fingerboard with figured acrylic trapezoid inlays, white-bound headstock with MOP Gibson logo and flowerpot inlay (metallic finishes) or unbound headstock with screened logo (standard finishes), three-per-side robotic Powerhead Locking tuners, tune-o-matic Powertune bridge, Powertune stop tailpiece, two chrome covered humbucker pickups (490R, 498T), four knobs (three normal, and one Master Control Knob that controls the robotic actions of the guitar), three-way pickup switch, Neutrik jack on side of guitar, chrome hardware.