Gibson Custom 50th Anniversary 1959 Les Paul Standard Electric Guitar (Assorted Colors)
The master craftsmen of Gibson Custom are proud to honor the legacy of the world’s most highly acclaimed and widely recognized guitar, the 1959 Les Paul Standard, by proudly announcing the limited availability of the most exact recreation of a legend it has ever produced – the 50th Anniversary 1959 Les Paul Standard. Coveted by both players and collectors as the ultimate example of playability, attractiveness and tone, the iconic 1959 Les Paul Standard simply has no equal. With the release of this very limited new model, Gibson Custom takes the art of recreating the company’s legendary guitars to an entirely new level.
Every subtle detail of this model has been painstakingly reproduced, and nothing has been left to chance. From the gold top-hat control knobs with dial pointers to the molded bell-shaped truss rod cover to the period correct crème pickguard and nickel tuners with green buttons, the 50th Anniversary 1959 Les Paul Standard reaches back into time and delivers the absolute ultimate in vintage guitar recreation.
Only 500 of these very special guitars will be produced!
Each of the 500 guitars will come with a Gibson Custom case, a certificate of authenticity, and a custom care kit. There have been many great guitars throughout Gibson’s long and storied history as a maker of musical instruments, but only one remains the definitive pinnacle of electric solid body guitar design. That guitar is the 1959 Les Paul Standard.
"The 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard represents the pinnacle of imaginative design and masterful craftsmanship. This guitar has become the Holy Grail of guitars in the minds of professionals and collectors the world over. Guitar legends such as Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Mike Bloomfield and Billy Gibbons, to name only a few, have forged their musical pathways utilizing the incredible tonal characteristics and playability created by the artistry of the 1959 Les Paul Standard.
As an icon throughout the music industry, not only has this guitar become a legend, it has attained the highest most acclaimed value in quality and investment. The year 2009 marks the 50th year anniversary for this guitar and in celebration, Gibson is proud to reintroduce this legendary iconic guitar to the world." – Tony Bacon, author of Million Dollar Les Paul and 50 Years of the Les Paul
BODY
Each Custom Shop 1959 Les Paul Standard is crafted from a two-piece maple top attached with ultra-strong Franklin Titebond 50 glue to a non-chambered mahogany body. This wood combination, one of the most legendary pairs in the history of the solid and semi-solid electric guitar, yields a “best of both worlds” tonal splendor, while also producing a classic look and a sturdy instrument.
Design
The Custom Shop 1959 Les Paul Standard precisely follows the body lines and dimensions of the original ’59 Les Paul Standard, with a gently arched carved top and rounded lower bout, and combines the classic tonewood combination of mahogany back and carved maple top. The body’s back is cut from a single piece of solid, high-grade, lightweight clear mahogany, and capped with a two-piece top of figured maple that is carved into a period-correct “dish”, or arch.
Weight
Weights vary slightly, according to wood supplies, but Gibson’s Custom Shop seeks out the lightest, most tonally advantageous mahogany for the one-piece bodies of the Custom Shop 1959 Les Paul Standard.
Tonal Characteristics
The Custom Shop 1959 Les Paul Standard’s body woods present the classic combination of good clarity, definition and treble bite from the maple, and excellent depth and richness from the mahogany, all of which are elements that are found in the legendary tone of the original ’59 Les Paul Standard. This is one of the most revered wood combinations of all time, and truly offers a “best of both worlds” design in the way that mahogany and maple complement each other to offer superior resonance, sustain, depth, clarity, and definition.
NECK/HEADSTOCK Species
The neck of the Custom Shop 1959 Les Paul Standard is constructed from one solid piece of quarter-sawn, lightweight mahogany for improved strength and resonance. The luthiers in Gibson’s Custom Shop carefully match the grains and weights of these guitars’ bodies and necks to optimize tone and sustain.
Truss Rod
Gibson’s traditional truss rod, found in most all of our guitars, is highly responsive to the individual adjustments you’ll want to make to personalize and optimize string action and sustain.
Profile
The neck on the Custom Shop 1959 Les Paul Standard is carved to Gibson’s rounded D profile, a full yet comfortable neck shape that accurately recreates the feel of the neck on a genuine ’59 ’Burst.
Joint Angle
4.0° (+/- 15 seconds)
Headstock Angle (Pitch)
Just like the original Les Pauls of the late ’50s, and many classic Gibson models, the Custom Shop 1959 Les Paul Standard headstock is carefully angled at Gibson’s traditional 17 degrees, which increases pressure on the strings and helps them stay in the nut slots. An increase in string pressure also means there is no loss of string vibration between the nut and the tuners, which equals better sustain.
Logo
The traditional, period-correct Gibson logo is inlaid in mother of pearl across the top of a holly headstock veneer, with “Les Paul Model” silkscreened in gold along the center of the headstock face.
Tonal Characteristics
Every detail counts in the effort of bringing ’59 Les Paul tone to the Custom Shop 1959 Les Paul Standard, and the angled, classical-style peg head and mahogany neck work together to provide exceptional tonal richness and resonance from the neck, with a good string definition and sustain.
PICKUPS
The Custom Shop 1959 Les Paul Standard is equipped with a pair of Gibson’s popular BurstBucker humbucking pickups, a BurstBucker 1 in the neck position and a slightly hotter BurstBucker 2 in the bridge position, for the perfect output balance between the two pickup selections.
Gibson’s BurstBuckers are widely regarded as the most accurate reproductions of original PAF humbuckers available today, and even go so far as to reproduce some of the inconsistencies that are credited with contributing a certain magic to original Gibson humbuckers from 1957-’62. BurstBuckers are made with unpolished Alnico II magnets and unpotted coils that are wound to slightly different numbers of turns, like the originals.
While using two slightly mismatched coils depletes a humbucking pickup’s noise-canceling abilities slightly, it also gives the pickup a little more edge—a sound that you could even say comes a little closer to single-coil bite—than can be achieved with perfectly balanced coils.
Magnet Material
Gibson’s BurstBuckers use unpolished Alnico II bar magnets, just like many of the most prized original PAF humbuckers.
Tonal Characteristics
The BurstBucker 1 is slightly underwound to achieve an output toward the lower-medium end of the PAF range, and it offers added clarity mixed with vowel-like tone in the neck position, with the bonus of good volume balance when paired with a BurstBucker 2 in the bridge position.
The “2” has a slightly hotter output in the range of some of the more over-wound PAFs of the era, for more grind and sustain from the bridge position. Between them, the accurately translate all the warmth, depth, and clarity of the Custom Shop 1959 Les Paul Standard’s woods into a tone that is rich yet crisp and can range from an aggressive wail to a mellow moan, all at the flick of a switch and the turn of a knob… just like the original ’59 ’Burst.
ELECTRONICS
Volume Controls
Just like the original, the Custom Shop 1959 Les Paul Standard uses an independent Volume control for each pickup, which consists of a quality CTS 500k audio-taper potentiometer for a smooth, natural volume roll-off.
Tone Controls
Individual CTS 500k audio-taper potentiometers with accurate .022mF “bumble bee” tone capacitors provide independent tone controls for each pickup.
Toggle Switch
The Custom Shop 1959 Les Paul Standard features the classic three-way Switchcraft toggle switch with cream plastic tip.
Output Jack
The guitar features a 1⁄4” output jack made by Switchcraft, for years of trouble-free service.
HARDWARE
Tuning Keys
The headstock of the Custom Shop 1959 Les Paul Standard is equipped with vintage Kluson-style tuners with pearloid tulip buttons. These tuners provide a classic look in line with the model’s lineage, and smooth, robust performance.
Bridge
In the image of its predecessor, the Custom Shop 1959 Les Paul Standard carries a Tune-o-matic (ABR-1) bridge that is made from zinc and plated in polished nickel. This bridge provides a firm seating for the strings, allowing the player to adjust and fine-tune the intonation and string height in a matter of minutes. It also yields excellent coupling between strings and body, maximizing resonance, tone, and sustain.
Tailpiece
Every Tune-o-matic bridge is combined with a separate “stopbar” tailpiece, which is essentially a modified version of the earlier wraparound bridge that’s designed to further enhance the connection between the strings and the body. The Custom Shop 1959 Les Paul Standard’s stopbar tailpiece is made from lightweight aluminum, like the original, and is plated in polished nickel.
Strap Buttons
The guitar’s aluminum strap buttons are the same style and design that Gibson has used since the early 1950s.
