There are very few guitar designs that have had a decisive influence on generations of musicians and on the history of music itself, and Gibson's Les Paul is definitely one of them. Of course, this classic design has gone through numerous different variations in the 70-odd years since its inception, but people ultimately tend to prefer instruments that are a faithful recreation of those designed in the late 1950s and early 1960s. And the Gibson Les Paul Standard 50s is precisely such an instrument. It goes without saying that this is a premium-quality guitar that is made in the USA.
The Gibson Les Paul Standard 50s is inspired by the instruments of this guitar giant's golden era. Distinguishing features include a solid mahogany body with a solid AA+ flamed maple top, a bound rosewood fingerboard, and a Heritage Cherry Sunburst finish beneath high-gloss nitrocellulose lacquer. All of this together with the chunky 50s-style neck profile creates the popular sustain-rich tone with which this guitar has become synonymous. The choice of pickups - Burstbucker 1 and 2 models designed to replicate the sought-after PAF sound - is just as traditional. These feature AlNiCo-2 magnets with a moderate output, perfect for Blues or full-throttle Rock sounds and beyond. Classic hardware and electronics have also been used here: Each of the humbuckers is governed by two hand-wired CTS pots for volume and tone that are equipped with "Orange Drop" capacitors, and the guitar features Gibson Deluxe machine heads and a lightweight ABR-1 Tune-o-matic bridge. A new feature is the Graph Tech TUSQ nut for enhanced tuning stability.
In times of constant technical change, it is easy to forget that playing the guitar is in fact very straightforward and simple at its core. That is why something that worked decades ago still works today. There is a good reason why the Gibson Les Paul has a long tradition and is appreciated and loved by millions of musicians all over the world. The Gibson Les Paul Standard 50s is especially suitable for people who like to play their music without any frills and who like the sound of stars like Joe Perry, Duane Allman, Gary Moore, Slash, and Don Felder, for instance. Quite apart from the sonic aspect, this Les Paul's Heritage Cherry Sunburst finish makes it a visual eye-catcher, which clearly shows how much work has gone into the manufacturing process. So if you're looking for a high-quality instrument of legendary quality, you have come to the right place.
The Gibson Guitar Corporation was founded in 1902 by Orville Gibson and has its headquarters in Nashville, USA. Gibson is world famous and is loved by many musicians for its cult-status instruments. Gibson was responsible for building the world’s first mass-produced electric guitar, the ES-150, in 1936. The “Les Paul”, one of the first solid-body electric guitars, followed in 1952 and remains hugely popular to this day, in great part thanks to the “humbucker” pickups installed from 1957 onwards. The range has expanded over the years to include such well-known guitar models as the SG, the Flying V, and the ES-335, as well as bass guitars and acoustic guitars including the Thunderbird bass and the Hummingbird dreadnought. Well-known artists such as Pete Townshend, Slash, Angus Young, Tony Iommi, B.B. King, Michael Patrick Kelly, and Nikki Sixx, swear by Gibson guitars.
The Gibson Les Paul is often referred to as the ultimate Rock guitar, a status that has arisen mainly thanks to its popularity with many famous Rock musicians. The instrument has primarily been prized for the full sound that it lends to chord playing and the excellent sustain it provides for lead work. A Les Paul can do much more than is often assumed, however. The flexible electronics of the Gibson Les Paul Standard 50s, comprising two burstbucker pickups with a dedicated volume and tone control each as well as the three-way switch, allow a wide range of sounds to be called up. Styles from Funk to Jazz to Metal are no problem, which is why the Les Paul is a real "weapon" in the recording studio. It cuts just as fine a figure on stage, but you should bear in mind that while the solid body delivers a rich sound, it is also correspondingly heavy.