Gibson Les Paul Guitars

About Gibson Les Paul Guitars

The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body, single-cutaway electric guitar. It most often has two humbucking pickups. First sold in 1952, The Gibson Les Paul is named after its inventor, whose real name was Lester Polsfuss. Despite not being an overnight success for Gibson, Les Pauls have been in continuous production since they launched. This quite possibly makes the Gibson Les Paul the most well-known and successful signature guitar model of all time.

The original Gibson Les Paul had a gold finish called a Goldtop. It had a trapeze tailpiece and two single-coil P-90 pickups. It had a separate volume and tone control for each pickup. The first Gibson Les Paul’s solid mahogany body and a thin maple top. Its 24.75-in.-scale mahogany neck was set, or glued-in, to the body. Les Paul asked Gibson to reverse the body and top materials. However, Gibson luthiers thought a Les Paul guitar with a maple body was too heavy.

Later Gibson Les Pauls, such as the 1954 Custom model, introduced the now-classic tune-o-matic bridge and fancier cosmetics. In 1957, the Seth Lover-designed Patent Applied For humbucker pickups were introduced. Also called PAF humbuckers, these pickups are hotter than the original Gibson Les Paul’s P-90s, with a thicker and heavier sound. They are much less susceptible to hum and noise than the original single coils.

The 1958, 1959 and 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standards featured a distinctive sunburst finish over their often highly figured maple tops, and surviving examples of the originals are today among the most highly sought after and most expensive vintage guitar models in the world. In the mid-1950s, Gibson broadened the Les Paul, sometimes known as Gibson LP, line. They added the somewhat stripped down and less expensive Special and Junior models. In 1968 the Gibson Les Paul Deluxe was introduced with mini humbuckers. Mini humbuckers reappeared with the affordable Gibson Les Paul Studio model in 1983.

Today, Gibson Les Pauls are still made in Nashville, Tennessee. Long a favorite of blues and rock guitarists, the Gibson Les Paul remains one of the best-selling and most popular guitars in the world. It has been associated with such artists as Slash, Mike Bloomfield, Duane Allman, Peter Green, Eric Clapton, Joe Perry and Jimmy Page.

The 2018 lineup of Gibson Les Paul guitars includes the latest enhancements to each Gibson guitar model: Studio, Special, Standard, Classic and Custom. Each 2018 Gibson Les Paul guitar model offers its own unique set of attributes to suit your needs as a guitar player, from traditional non-chambered or lightweight chambered body, to dual Burstbucker humbuckers or gritty single-coil P-90 pickups.

Gibson Les Paul Guitar Models

Gibson Les Paul Classic | Gibson Les Paul Standard | Gibson Les Paul Studio | Gibson Les Paul Traditional | Gibson Les Paul Tribute | Gibson Les Paul Special | Gibson Les Paul Custom

Previous Gibson Les Paul Versions