| The 1959 Les Paul Standard reissue
produced today by Gibson Custom is true to all of the original instrument’s
features and characteristics, including Gibson’s traditional hand-carved
“figured” maple top and solid, non-weight relieved mahogany body. The headstock
is made from Holly head veneer, as opposed to fiber, just like it was in
1959, and the vintage-style tulip tuners are mounted in a straight line,
also as they were on the original. The 24 ¾-inch scale length neck
is made from one solid piece of mahogany, and attached to the body using
a long neck tenon — one of the Les Paul’s more distinguishing characteristics
of the 1950s. The neck is topped by a 22-fret rosewood fingerboard outfitted
with acrylic trapezoid inlays matching the size and color of the originals.
Of course, two of Gibson’s legendary Burstbucker
pickups deliver all the subtle variations of true, classic “Patent Applied
For” humbucker tone by using historically “unmatched” bobbin windings and
Alnico II magnets. Other historical appointments include CTS potentiometers,
bumble bee capacitors, rolled crème-colored fingerboard binding,
single-ply crème-colored binding around the body, and a period-correct
thin toggleswitch washer and jackplate.
One of the first guitarists to recognize the potential
of the 1959 Les Paul Standard was The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards, who
obtained a 1959 model in 1964 that had been outfitted with a Bigsby tremolo
tailpiece. Around 1966, emerging British guitarist Eric Clapton – himself
influenced by the early 1950s Les Paul models played by Freddie King and
Hubert Sumlin – also recognized the Les Paul Standard’s exceptional tone
and playability, and began playing them almost exclusively. Before long,
the Les Paul Standards of the late 1950s had found their way into the hands
of future guitar legends Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Duane Allman, Peter Green
and Michael Bloomfield, among others, eventually helping to reshape the
sound of a worldwide musical movement, while forever changing the standard
by which all other electric guitars are measured! |
