greatmutah

Yours is a 1990, right? You got one of the good ones. They are all nice guitars, but those early 90's models are superb quality. I just love that ebony fretboard! Mine's a 94, from their centennial year. After I got mine I noticed the quality of the studio line really went downhill for a while up until around 2003, 2004. It's been better than it has been, but those early - mid - nineties studios are still their best ones.

My studio is not a flat top. And while lacking binding, the aged alpine white finish (it's 16 years old) and ebony fret board more than make up for it lacking binding. And to the OP, while I can't speak for the Highway One series, as I have not played them, I love my LP Studio. It was my first 6 string and it's still all around my favorite guitar. And given everything in my sig and some of the other things I've owned (including a Firebird V and Music Man Silhouette), that says a lot about that guitar. At least to me it does. Plus mine's been abused to high hell over the years and it still holds up.

Actually, I have two of my Les Pauls set up with 81s in the neck and 85s at the bridge. The 85 is a higher output pickup than the 81. The 81 just has a stronger midrange presence than the 85. Personally I think it sounds great in the neck. Neck pickup solos feel very velvety and smooth, and being that it doesn't have the lows that the 85s do, I find it farts out less. This is especially true in the case of high gain soloing. Cleans up damn nicely too. I've become more of a passive guy over the years, but I love that combination in my LPs. Hell, I found out about it from my tech and I've never looked back. Highly recommended.