❌SOLD❌ Gibson Les Paul Custom 20th Anniversary White, 1974

This Gibson Les Paul Custom 20th Anniversary edition in White was built in 1974 to commemorate the 1954 launch of the ‘upmarket’ Les Paul Custom. Following the 1952 introduction of the original gold-top Les Paul model, Gibson added two new versions for 1954 – the top-end Custom and entry-level Junior – with the Special appearing in 1955.

The original construction concept for the Les Paul models was to use a carved Maple cap on a Mahogany body, with a Mahogany neck. The 1954 to 1960 Custom models, however, generally used a carved Mahogany cap instead of Maple. For 1961, the original single-cutaway design was discontinued and replaced with what’s now know as the double-cutaway SG body. When the original Les Paul design was re-introduced in 1968, all of the restored ‘capped’ models used the Maple cap. From there, the Custom also uses Ebony for the fingerboard with Mother of Pearl block position markers, and has a Mother of Pearl Gibson logo and split-parallelogram decoration on the headstock.

We would describe this Gibson Les Paul Custom 20th Anniversary example as being in overall very good condition except for some natural Nitrocellulose Lacquer checking that’s taken the form of a fairly long finish crack visible on the back photo. Otherwise, the finish is in expected condition with an amount of sinking into the grain. That sinking is more visible on the back than the top, helping to confirm that while the body back is Mahogany, the top is Maple. The Gold plating on the metal parts is in unusually good condition, showing some oxidization and less than expected wear in the areas the player came in contact with.

Fret wear is light to moderate. From its introduction, the Les Paul Custom was often configured and marketed as the ‘Fretless Wonder’. To that end, the fret wire was narrow and low. Since then, things have changed completely! As is, this guitar plays well and cleanly, and the action is fairly low.

Sold with its original hard shell case.