Gibson Custom Shop 1968 Les Paul Custom Reissue

After the discontinuation of the original single cutaway Les Paul Standard in 1960 and the Les Paul Custom in 1961 due to poor sales, many players of note (Richards, Clapton, Beck, Page, Green, Bloomfield etc.) started discovering the brilliance of these discontinued instruments and kick started massive interest in these original and relatively hard to find guitars. To facilitate this demand Gibson made the decision to reintroduce the Les Paul Standard and Les Paul Custom in 1968. The '68 Standard was based on the earlier '56 style P-90 equipped Goldtop rather than the more in demand '58-'60 PAF equipped sunburst Standard. The '68 Custom on the other hand was based squarely on the '57-'61 PAF equipped Custom.

Significant differences between the '68 Custom and the '57-'61 Customs include a maple cap on top of the one piece mahogany body as opposed to the completely solid mahogany body of the originals, a 14 degree rather than 17 degree headstock angle, a more user friendly two pick-up rather than three pick-up configuration (though there are a handful of two pick-up '57-'61 Customs known to exist) and the new 'witch hat' style control knobs. These all add to the distinctive look of the '68 Custom.

Original '68 Customs now command premium prices on the vintage market and are highly sought after due to their pre-Norlin era specs - one piece mahogany body and neck with no volute as opposed to the three piece mahogany, and later maple, necks with a volute and the 'pancake' body constructions that followed, not to mention the increase in weight which can make '70's Customs amongst some of the heaviest guitars ever made.

So this Custom Shop creation is an exact reissue of the original '68 spec Custom - a reissue of a reissue! The build quality and quality of the materials is just about as good as it gets from the Gibson Custom Shop. This guitar exudes quality and the highest level of craftsmanship. Weighing in at 9lb 7oz it's also relatively light for a Les Paul Custom.

The neck has a very nice comfortable medium C profile which coupled with the low action makes for effortless playability all the way up to the higher frets. The combination of the maple cap along with the '68 Custombucker pick-ups (based on the original Pat No T-Tops) delivers plenty of bite and snap to top off the underlying fat Les Paul tone. This guitar can cover a lot of tonal bases from clean almost Tele like clarity to full fat rock n roll and everything in between.

If you've been looking for a '68 Custom reissue you'll know that they are currently out of stock and on back order, so here is a chance to get a mint condition example from 2022 for considerably less than a new one.

Comes with the original case, Certificate Of Authenticity and all of the case candy.

Weight: 9lb 7oz

Pick up readings: neck 6.95k, bridge 6.95k