This limited-edition Gibson Custom Shop model recreates Adam's #1 guitar - his prized original Silverburst 1979 Gibson Les Paul™ Custom. Finished in Antique Silverburst VOS, the graphic on the rear of the headstock was designed by Adam Jones, and a replica of his headstock mirror is included in the custom Adam Jones hardshell case. Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul Custom Guitar Silverburst Grab your tuxedo and bowtie with the ever-classy Les Paul Custom - this one as part of the Gibson Custom Shop series and finished in a Silverburst! I didnt do a playing demo since the '79 had pretty much all replaced parts, so it wouldn't be a good example to use to show what a stock vintage example woul.

The Gibson Les Paul Custom is a higher-end variation of the Gibson Les Paul guitar. It was developed in 1953 after Gibson had introduced the Les Paul model in 1952.

History[edit]

The 1952 Gibson Les Paul was originally made with a mahogany body with a one-inch-thick maple cap, a mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard, two P-90single coil pickups, and a one-piece, 'trapeze'-style bridge/tailpiece with strings fitted under (instead of over) a steel stop-bar.,^{[note 1]} available only with a gold-finished top, giving rise to the moniker 'Gold-Top'. In late 1953, a more luxurious version was introduced, most probably on specific request by Les Paul himself, as he wanted a more luxurious and classy looking guitar. He requested a black guitar as he wanted it to 'look like a tuxedo'. Nicknamed the Black Beauty, the guitar had a mahogany body and neck, ebony fret board, and mother of pearl block inlays on the fret board. The 'Split Diamond' inlay on the headstock was taken from the carved archtopSuper 400,^[1] which was the top of the Gibson line. The pickups were a P-90 in the bridge position and an Alnico V pickup (nicknamed the staple pickup), newly designed by Seth Lover, in the neck position.^[1][2] The frets are low and flat, as opposed to the usual medium jumbo frets found on other Les Paul customs, and the guitar soon was given the nickname 'The Fretless Wonder'. The 1954 Les Paul Custom also saw the introduction of Gibson's new bridge, the ABR-1. The new Custom also shipped with a different case from the Standard, using a black and gold case instead of the brown and pink case that was the top-of-the-line case for the Les Paul Standard models. However, in a 2009 telephone interview, JP Moats stated that, 'On occasion, supply issues with the black and gold cases, would necessitate the use of Gibson's top-of-the-line case, so as to be able to fill orders; though it was rare'. This was to be the case until the Custom was replaced and discontinued (though a similar black case was used with the LP/SG Custom models).

In mid-1957, Gibson began to equip the Les Paul Custom with the new PAF (Patent Applied For) pickup designed by Seth Lover. Most Customs have three PAFs, though there are a small number that have the traditional two-pickup configuration. By 1958, Gibson had replaced the Kluson tuners with Grover Rotomatics. It is this configuration that remained until the guitar was discontinued in 1960, replaced by the new double cutaway body Les Paul model. There are a small number of 1961 Les Paul Customs that were made with the single cutaway body before the transition to the new, SG-style body was complete.

The Les Paul Custom remained a double cutaway model until 1963, when Les Paul's endorsement with Gibson ended, and the guitar was subsequently renamed the SG Custom.

In 1968, Gibson re-introduced the Les Paul Custom as a two-pickup model. The headstock angle was changed from 17 to 14 degrees, a wider headstock and a maple top (in lieu of the original 1953–1961 solid-mahogany construction). In 1969, Norlin acquired Gibson, and the Les Paul Custom saw many changes in the 'Norlin Era'. The solid-mahogany body was replaced in late 1969 with a 'pancake' body (a two piece mahogany body with a thin slice of maple in between), which was discontinued in 1976, however you could still find them as late as 1979. The mahogany neck was replaced with a three-piece maple neck in 1975, and was discontinued around 1982, a 'Made in USA' stamp was added to the back of the headstock, and a volute was added to the back of the neck to strengthen the thinnest part of the neck, just below the headstock, which was also discontinued in 1982.

In 1974, Gibson released the 20th anniversary Les Paul Custom in white, black, cherry sunburst and honey sunburst finishes (at least those four colors were made) with '20th Anniversary' engraved on the 15th-fret block inlay. By 1976, the new Nashville bridge began to replace the ABR-1. In 1977, the 'pancake' maple layer was subtracted from the body, though the top was still maple, as was the neck. It was around this time that the current serial number system appears as well. In 1975, Gibson began making a number of Customs with maple fingerboards, instead of the typical ebony, which was discontinued by the early 1980s. From 1979 to 1982 or 1983, Gibson made a limited edition of 75 Les Paul Customs worldwide in the Silverburst colour with 2 'Tim Shaw Burstbuckers'. After 1981, the volute was phased out.

In 1984, Gibson closed the Kalamazoo plant, and all production was moved to Nashville. In 1986, Norlin sold Gibson to a group of investors led by Henry Juszkiewicz.

The Les Paul Custom specs by the end of the 1980s:

• Smaller headstock
• Mahogany neck
• Mahogany body
• Maple top
• Ebony fingerboard
• Gold hardware
• 2 humbucking pickups
• Nashville bridge
• Standard Gibson frets, as opposed to wide, flatter frets

Gibson has been installing its 490R/498T pickups as standard equipment on the Custom since the 1990s.

Specific production years

Les Paul Custom guitars from 2000–2003 were specially made to the requirements of the client, as regards fretboard, neck and body woods, and type of hardware, with some models allowing for requests for specific numbers of turns in the pickups' coils, as well. Individual logo designs and hard cases were also manufactured at the request of the customer. Specific Custom Shop serial numbers were assigned, encoded with Les Paul Custom's smaller, more compact serial number in the format 'CS XXXXX'.

The first two numbers represent on which number this specific model was built, next two represent the year they were made in and the last numeric value represents the month of formation

Notable Les Paul Custom players[edit]

• Les Paul, inventor of the Les Paul guitar and guitarist of Les Paul Trio etc.
• Billie Joe Armstrong, Guitarist and Vocalist for Green Day
• Robert Fripp, solo artist and guitarist of King Crimson^[3]
• James Williamson Guitarist for Iggy Pop & the Stooges
• Trent Reznor, founder and frontman of Nine Inch Nails^[4]
• Chris Cornell, rhythm guitarist and vocalist for Soundgarden
• James Hetfield, lead singer and rhythm guitarist of Metallica
• Robbie Krieger, guitarist for The Doors
• Izzy Stradlin, rhythm and lead guitarist for original Guns N' Roses
• Mick Mars, guitarist for Mötley Crüe
• Steve Marriott, rock artist, guitarist and vocalist of The Small Faces and Humble Pie
• Steve Hackett, guitarist for Genesis (band)
• John McLaughlin (musician), fusion jazz guitarist, composer and founding member of Mahavishnu Orchestra
• Jim Hall, jazz guitarist
• Johnny Marr, guitarist for The Smiths
• Mick Ronson, solo artist and guitarist of David Bowie and The Spiders From Mars^[5]
• Zakk Wylde, guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne and founder of Black Label Society
• Slash, solo artist and guitarist for Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver
• Adrian Smith, guitarist and backing vocals for Iron Maiden
• Buzz Osborne, guitarist and lead singer for Melvins
• Randy Rhoads, guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne and Quiet Riot
• Mick Jones, guitarist for The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite
• Steve Jones, guitarist for The Sex Pistols
• Jimmy Page, guitarist for Led Zeppelin
• Dave Davies, guitarist for The Kinks
• Vicki Peterson, vocalist and lead guitarist for The Bangles
• John Norum, guitarist for Europe
• Ace Frehley, former guitarist for KISS and solo artist
• Keith Richards, guitarist for The Rolling Stones
• Paul Banks, guitarist and lead singer for Interpol
• John Fogerty, guitarist and vocalist for Creedence Clearwater Revival
• Daniel Johns, guitarist and vocalist for Silverchair
• Peter Frampton, solo artist
• Matt Heafy, guitarist and vocalist for Trivium
• James Dean Bradfield, guitarist and vocalist for Manic Street Preachers
• Paul Crook, guitarist and vocalist for Meat Loaf, Sebastian Bach and Anthrax
• Adam Jones, guitarist for Tool
• Bill Kelliher, guitarist for Mastodon
• Huey Morgan, guitarist and vocalist for the Fun Lovin' Criminals
• Kirk Hammett, guitarist for Metallica
• Alex Turner, guitarist and vocalist for Arctic Monkeys and The Last Shadow Puppets
• Chris Shiflett, guitarist for The Foo Fighters and The Dead Peasants
• Kyle Cook, guitarist for Matchbox Twenty
• Jerry Cantrell, guitarist for Alice in Chains
• Justin Hawkins and Dan Hawkins, guitarists for The Darkness
• John Frusciante, guitarist for Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Buckethead, solo artist and guitarist
• Tom Kaulitz, guitarist for Tokio Hotel
• Steve Gaines, guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1976–1977
• James Iha, guitarist for the Smashing Pumpkins from 1988 to 2000 & 2018-
• Björn Gelotte, lead guitarist for In Flames
• The Edge, guitarist for U2
• Steve Clark, guitarist for Def Leppard
• Paul Landers, rhythm guitarist for Rammstein
• John Sykes, guitarist and songwriter for Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake
• Danny Kirwan, former guitarist for Fleetwood Mac
• Mike Ness, guitarist and vocalist for Social Distortion
• Frank Zappa, guitarist and songwriter
• Neil Westfall, guitarist for A Day to Remember
• Kevin Skaff, guitarist and vocalist for A Day to Remember
• Irwin Sparkes, guitarist and vocalist for The Hoosiers
• Gary Rossington, guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Rickey Medlocke, guitarist and vocalist for Lynyrd Skynyrd and Blackfoot
• Charlie Starr, guitarist and vocalist for Blackberry Smoke
• Lightnin' Hopkins, whose last guitar was a 1980 Les Paul Custom
• Gary Richrath, lead guitarist REO Speedwagon
• Arve Isdal, guitarist for Enslaved
• Matt Pike, guitarist for High on Fire, Sleep
• Blake Schwarzenbach, guitarist and vocalist for Jawbreaker
• Dave Navarro, guitarist for Jane’s Addiction
• Richie Faulkner, guitarist for Lauren Harris and Judas Priest^[6]
• Vivian Campbell, guitarist for Whitesnake and Def Leppard
• Jeff Buckley, solo artist

Notes[edit]

1. ^In the summer of 1952, Gibson Les Paul Goldtop was priced at US$209.

Gibson Les Paul Silverburst Adam Jones

References[edit]

Gibson Les Paul Silverburst

1. ^ ^abDuchossoir, A. R. (1998-07-01) [1994]. 'Chapter Six: The Expansion of the Electric Line, 1953-1955'. Gibson Electrics: The Classic Years: An Illustrated History from the Mid-'30s to the Mid-'60s. Milwaukee, WI USA: Hal Leonard. p. 52. ISBN0-7935-9210-0. Retrieved 2012-12-23. Equally, the electronics combined Seth Lover's Alnico pickup in the neck position with a regular P-90 in the bridge for tonal versatility.
2. ^Bishop, Ian Courtney (1990) [1977]. 'Chapter 1: The Les Paul Series'. The Gibson Guitar: From 1950, Volume 1. Bold Strummer Guitar Series. The Bold Strummer. p. 5. ISBN0-933224-46-X. Retrieved 2012-12-22. The Les Paul Custom... was equipped with a single coil black covered Les Paul Special pickup in the treble position and a very distinctive Alnico pickup with six oblong pole pieces in the bass position.
3. ^Guitar World presents one hundred greatest guitarists of all time from the pages of Guitar World magazine
4. ^Di Perna, Alan (April 1994). 'Machine Head'. Guitar World: 21.
5. ^[1]
6. ^'Guitar Talk with Judas Priest's Richie Faulkner'.

External links[edit]

• The History of the Les Paul on Ultimate Guitar