1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard
09/07/08 15:59 Filed in: Gibson Guitars
Commonly referred to as the ‘Holy Grail’ of guitars, the 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard, is easily the most desirable guitar on the planet, with values rising into the stratosphere in recent years. It all began with the introduction of the model in 1958. A fact that seems unthinkable now, is that the Les Pauls of the late 1950s were not all that popular.
Here is the guitar when we first saw it, shot using a flash which highlights the stunning birdseye top!
As a result Gibson only made about 1700 Sunburst Les Pauls between 1958 and 1960. The reason for this was the humbucking pickups and solid mahagony body with maple top produced lots of sustain and a mellow tone. This was good for a jazz player, except jazz players tended to use archtop electric/acoustics, and not solid body guitars.
So the Les Paul's smaller solid body should have appealed to rock players, but the rock guitar sound of the 1950s was brighter and the Stratocaster made a better choice. It was not until the British blues/rock invasion of the mid to late 1960s that the Les Paul became popular, thanks to the likes of Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and others.
All original sunburst Les Pauls have a two piece maple top with a center seam. However there are some early 1958 Sunburst Les Paul examples that have maple tops with an off center seam. Those outside the circle of guitar collectors often wonder at the reasoning behind the values of these instruments, but to play one is to understand what all the fuss is about.
These guitars were produced when Gibson were hand crafting their guitars, and using fine woods in most cases. The end result of which were guitars that played exceptionally well, and sounded like nothing else produced since.
With fifty years of aging these guitars have tone like no other guitars, the guitar simply ‘sings’ when played acoustically and positively howls when plugged into a classic valve amplifier. This amazing tone is in part due to the PAF (Patent Applied For) pickups, which over the years changed from having two white bobbins, to two black bobbins with many guitars featuring what is commonly referred to as ‘Zebra’ bobbins, because they have one of each colour.
For the most part these guitars (70%) were made with relatively plain tops, it is therefore those guitars with highly flamed fiddleback maple tops that are sought after. The guitar shown here has very light birdseye maple top (which is difficult to photograph) and is also highly desirable.
Here is the guitar when we first saw it, shot using a flash which highlights the stunning birdseye top!
As a result Gibson only made about 1700 Sunburst Les Pauls between 1958 and 1960. The reason for this was the humbucking pickups and solid mahagony body with maple top produced lots of sustain and a mellow tone. This was good for a jazz player, except jazz players tended to use archtop electric/acoustics, and not solid body guitars.
So the Les Paul's smaller solid body should have appealed to rock players, but the rock guitar sound of the 1950s was brighter and the Stratocaster made a better choice. It was not until the British blues/rock invasion of the mid to late 1960s that the Les Paul became popular, thanks to the likes of Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and others.
All original sunburst Les Pauls have a two piece maple top with a center seam. However there are some early 1958 Sunburst Les Paul examples that have maple tops with an off center seam. Those outside the circle of guitar collectors often wonder at the reasoning behind the values of these instruments, but to play one is to understand what all the fuss is about.
These guitars were produced when Gibson were hand crafting their guitars, and using fine woods in most cases. The end result of which were guitars that played exceptionally well, and sounded like nothing else produced since.
With fifty years of aging these guitars have tone like no other guitars, the guitar simply ‘sings’ when played acoustically and positively howls when plugged into a classic valve amplifier. This amazing tone is in part due to the PAF (Patent Applied For) pickups, which over the years changed from having two white bobbins, to two black bobbins with many guitars featuring what is commonly referred to as ‘Zebra’ bobbins, because they have one of each colour.
For the most part these guitars (70%) were made with relatively plain tops, it is therefore those guitars with highly flamed fiddleback maple tops that are sought after. The guitar shown here has very light birdseye maple top (which is difficult to photograph) and is also highly desirable.