Here is a rare beauty – a Gibson Le Grand archtop electric model from 2005, the successor to the classic Johnny Smith model built from 1961 to 1989. The Le Grande made its debut in 1993 and while it hasn’t appeared on Gibson’s website or catalog since around 2010, is has been available on special order from the Custom Shop. The ‘stock’ finish is a Vintage Sunburst as seen here, with the Natural finish (as seen on this 2008 example here) as an extra-cost option.

Always intended for the serious professional guitarist and never in mass production, the Gibson Le Grand features a 17 inch wide body with carved, solid Sitka Spruce top, carved solid and highly figured Maple back and figured maple sides. The neck is five piece based on three highly figured Maple sections with narrow Walnut laminations. The bridge base and bound fingerboard are Ebony, The head plate is Gibson’s usual dyed-black veneer and the back strap appears to be a painted effect as the underlying grain and laminations are visible in the right light.

All the metal parts of the Gibson Le Grand are gold plated. Hardware includes Gibson branded tuners by Schaller with metal keystone buttons, the Oettinger style six-finger adjustable tailpiece, the ABR-1 bridge on ebony base with Abalone accents. For electronics, a pickguard-mounted BJB (for Bruce J Bolen, President of Gibson during the Norlin era) ‘Johnny Smith’ pickup. The volume control is also mounted on the bound, faux-tortoise pickguard. The pickguard touches the top in only two places to minimize interference with the top’s vibration. Those spots are the location screw next to the treble end of the 19th fret and a support block at the bridge corner of the pickguard. The gold-plated support bracket mounts to the side.

This wonderful Gibson Le Grand is in very good condition. While it’s been played enough over the last 18 years to develop light fret wear, it has been very well cared for and the nitrocellulose lacquer finish is in very good condition with small amounts of natural and expected checking.

Like other Gibson Le Grand examples, it plays very well. It is very resonant and responsive with the classic archtop “thump”.

This Gibson Le Grand is sold with its original black Gibson Custom branded arched-top hard shell case.

Gibson Le Grand Specifications: