Needless to say, it's no exaggeration to say that without this instrument, modern music wouldn't exist: the Gibson Les Paul, the quintessential electric guitar.
Since its creation in 1952, it has been used by countless legendary musicians, including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Duane Allman, Mike Bloomfield, Gary Moore, Randy Rhoads, Slash, and Tak Matsumoto, and continues to enjoy unwavering popularity and admiration even today.
Since its release, the Les Paul has undergone numerous specification changes and temporary discontinuations, resulting in variations in characteristics depending on the year of manufacture. However, this time we will focus on the rare gold-top Les Paul from the initial release. Please take your time to admire this exceptional instrument, whose presence is overwhelming even just by looking at it.
GIBSON 1956 LES PAUL
1956 Gibson Les Paul
This 1956 model can be considered the ultimate Les Paul equipped with P-90 pickups. While the 1954 model with a bar bridge is also popular among enthusiasts, it has issues with octave and tuning accuracy. The 1956 model, which introduced Tune-O-Matic saddles, is popular as a model with superior playability. The P-90 pickups, despite being single-coil, produce the sweet and warm sound that is characteristic of Gibson. The clear, punchy tone with a strong presence is also a major attraction.
The headstock features a Hollywood (holly) veneer, and the logo uses mother-of-pearl.
The body back is invariably made of a single piece of mahogany. Both the back of the neck and the body back are finished in dark brown.
The maple top of the body is covered in a matte gold paint, so it's difficult to tell exactly, but it's usually made from 2-3 pieces of maple, and sometimes as many as 6 pieces. The gold color appears slightly greenish because the paint used at the time was made by mixing bronze powder into the lacquer paint, and the bronze in the paint oxidizes, creating a deep gold top color.
The headstock angle is 17 degrees, as it has been since its release in 1952. Gibson's neck wood is cut in a way that deliberately tilts the grain, which ensures that the wood grain is straight from the headstock to the back of the nut, a part that is prone to breakage, thus increasing its strength. In addition, because the wood grain in the neck is finely cut, moisture dissipates quickly, which is an advantage as it adapts to the environment more quickly.
This method of cutting wood is very cost-inefficient and luxurious because it yields only a small number of necks from a single piece of lumber, but it reflects Gibson's approach to instrument making at the time.
The Gibson Les Paul has a set-neck construction.RecruitThe truss rod is adjusted from the headstock side. Gibson has been using truss rods since the 1920s.RecruitIn addition to its original purpose of adjusting the neck, it also serves to maintain the strength of the neck, which has softened during the wood selection process.
Gold hat knobs. Also found on Les Paul models from around 1955 to 1960.RecruitThe knob is attached.
In 1955, the Tune-o-matic bridge and stud bridge/tailpiece combination, which became the standard thereafter, were changed to a P-90 pickup. The Tune-o-matic bridge was devised by Ted McCarty, and it was the same stud bridge/tailpiece that had been used on Les Pauls up until then, also designed by Ted, but with the tailpiece changed to a P-90 pickup.RecruitThis structure allows for strong tension. The patent application was filed on July 5, 1952, and approved on April 3, 1956, meaning it was developed six months before the previously used stud bridge/tailpiece (application filed January 21, 1953, approved August 2, 1955). Originally patented for hollow-body guitars, it allows for fine adjustment of octave pitch by adjusting the saddle of each string. The material is die-cast.BassA brass saddle is used.
The capacitors are Bumblebee brand from Sprague, and the potentiometers are made by CTS.
The toggle switch is made by Switchcraft.
The fingerboard is made of Brazilian rosewood, a world-renowned precious wood that is currently listed as an endangered species under the Washington Convention and whose import and export are prohibited.RecruitIt is a heavier and harder wood than typical rosewood, reinforcing the soft neck while also producing a solid, focused attack.
The tuning pegs are Kluson 320VP. These are the so-called "no-line" pegs, as they don't have the Kluson logo on them. They are also called "single-knob" pegs because the shape of the peg button is close to the shaft and has a single bump.
The set neck joint is a deep-insert joint, where the pickup is inserted more than halfway into the neck.RecruitNaturally, the term "deep insert joint" didn't exist at that time; this was simply the standard specification. By making the joint's contact surface wide and deep, strength was increased, and the vibrations of the neck and body could be directly reflected in the sound. Although this method is commonly used today, the fact that the system was already established back then speaks to the high level of perfection of the Les Paul instrument itself.
The pickup is a P-90 single-coil pickup, which first appeared in 1940. It has a structure where two Alnico magnets sandwich the pole piece, and the coil is wound on a plastic bobbin. The wire is AWG #42.RecruitThe pickup has approximately 10,000 turns of winding, resulting in a fat, sustained sound. The cover is not the traditional dog-ear type with the screw fastenings next to the pickup, but rather a soapbar type with the screw fastenings between the 2nd and 3rd strings and between the 4th and 5th strings. Both the dog-ear and soapbar types have the same internal structure. The woodworking beneath the pickup is also meticulously done, showcasing Gibson's high level of woodworking expertise.
The serial numbers for solid-body guitars from 1952 to 1960 consist of the last digit of the year as the first digit, followed by four or five consecutive digits. This particular guitar has the serial number "612851," so it can be identified as the 12,851st Les Paul ever made, produced in 1956. With over 10,000 units shipped, it demonstrates the strong sales performance of the Les Paul at the time.
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