1954 Les Paul Custom Electric Guitar

Les Paul wanted two colors used on the Gibson guitar that would forever bear his name: gold (for its connection to all things fine) and black (because a player's hands would be easily visible against a dark background). Les got the gold in 1952, but had to wait for the black. The Les Paul Custom was introduced in 1954 and featured elegant appointments like gold hardware, multiple binding, and an ebony fretboard. The '54 Custom was also the first solidbody Gibson guitar to use the ABR-1 bridge, the familiar piece of hardware we've all come to know as the tune-o-matic.

Underneath it's luxurious inky finish, this historic re-creation of the original 1954 Custom features a carved mahogany top, a solid mahogany back, one-piece mahogany neck with long neck tenon, an early '50s rounded neck profile, 24-3/4" scale length, and a 1-11/16" nut width. It also has multi-ply white/black binding on the body and headstock, with white single-ply binding on the fingerboard. Its finer appointments include gold hardware, an ebony fingerboard, large pearl block inlays, pearl headstock inlay, and kidney bean tuners. The original circuitry is preserved with the use of CTS pots and bumble bee capacitors in the signal path and three P-90 pickups for a fat, warm sound not usually found in single-coils.

Gibson's Custom Shop produces some of the finest electric guitars on earth. Using the best materials money can buy, a staff of skilled luthiers reproduce some of the greatest Gibsons of the past and create stunning new instruments for players and collectors who demand the best.