1954 Gibson Les Paul Custom Electric Guitar: The Black Beauty
Written: Jul 21 '00 (Updated Jun 27 '06)
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Pros: The Rolls Royce of Electric Guitars!
Cons: Price is high but worth it.
The Bottom Line: The 1954 Les Paul Custom awaits the uncompromising guitarist who wants the very best. If that describes you, this is your instrument!
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| George_Chabot's Full Review: Gibson 57 Les Paul Custom Beauty Electric Guitar G... |
Gibson 1954 Les Paul Custom Guitar
Formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan, now of Nashville, Tennessee, the Gibson company has an enviable reputation as one of the premier musical instrument makers in the world.
In electric guitars, Gibson boasts the earliest models, with the ES-150 "Charlie Christian" model released in 1936. Christian was a renowned jazz musician and helped move the electric guitar out of the rhythm section to the front of the band, where it remains to this day.
While the early history of electric guitars started with the commercially successful ES-150, Gibson did not remain idle.
Although others claim to have come first, to my knowledge, after the Second World War, Gibson produced one of the earliest commercially feasible solid-body electric guitars—the Gibson Les Paul.
There have been many Les Paul models, which have been in continuous production since 1952, but this review is focusing on the Les Paul Custom – the black beauty so often seen in the hands and heard on the albums of professional rock guitarists.
The Les Paul Custom, introduced in 1954, was the first Gibson to sport the tune-o-matic bridge, which is now a standard for Gibson electric guitars. The tune-o-matic bridge boasted individually adjustable string saddles which allowed fine tuning of the string lengths to ensure accurate intonation of the fretted notes along the entire string.
The Les Paul Custom is the top of the Les Paul line -- a luxury model featuring a gloss black paint job over the solid mahogany body and hard maple top. The paint is of the same caliber as that found on a world class piano, like a Steinway. Truly, a musician would not appear out of place fronting a symphony orchestra in tuxedoes playing this guitar!
Jumbo fret markers made of mother of pearl, a rock-hard ebony fretboard with jumbo frets, and ivory binding around the entire outside of the guitar, combined with the gold plated hardware, including machine heads (tuning pegs), a black P-90 bridge pickup and an Alnico 5 rhythm pickup* (the 1957 LP Custom had premium humbucking pickups with Gold covers), bridge, and tailpiece make a formidable package, guaranteed to impress the most demanding guitarist.
Les Paul, of course, was the original artist who endorsed the Gibson Les Paul. He was an incredible artist who found lots of ways to incorporate effects into his playing but is little heard of today. Such is fame!
However, you may have heard of some of these users: famous guitarists who used the Les Paul are Jimmy Page, of "Led Zeppelin", Marc Bolan of "T-Rex", Joe Walsh, of the "James Gang", Keith Richards and Mick Taylor, of "The Rolling Stones", Ron Wood of "The Faces", Billy Gibbons, of "ZZTop", Joe Perry, of "Aerosmith", Angus Young, of "AC/DC", and Eric Clapton, of "Cream/Blind Faith". Not until "Derek and the Dominos" would Eric Clapton embrace his now-signature Fender Stratocaster. All of the great "Cream" sounds were produced with Gibsons.
Other Gibson users: Daddy of 'em all Rock 'n' Roll Guitarist Chuck Berry also played a Gibson ES-335, as did Alvin Lee of "Ten Years After". Johnny Winter plays a Gibson Firebird, as does Dave Mason "Traffic", and many rockers play the world renowned Gibson "Flying V".
The Les Paul Custom has a deep, mellow Rhythm sound with a piercing high lead voice. It has a "fatter" sound than most other guitars, perfect for filling a packed concert hall with sound. Not high-tech, by any means, just solid, dependable quality, made in the USA, for those for which those attributes are important. The rhythm setting is a little on the dark side but the fat (or should I say Phat?) signal can be amplified and processed to your heart's content.
The Bottom Line: When a guitarist reaches the point where he can truly exploit his guitar, the choice comes down to Gibson Les Paul or Fender Stratocaster, there are not many other guitars in that league!
*corrected per comments from readers - thanks!
Recommended:
Yes
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