Introducing Gibson Les Paul Guitars
restyled solid bodies

These are some main guitar information on Gibson Les Paul guitars. With this information, I hope that you will come to appreciate and know your Les Paul guitar better.

Understanding The Les Paul Guitars

In 1952, Gibson saw an increase in their sales with the introduction of the Les Paul guitar models. Reason for this was the Les Paul's solid bodies. The solid bodies were more popular than the old arch top hollow bodies.

In 1955, with the successful release of the Gibson thinline models, problems arose which affected Gibson's sales. All the different Gibson models began to compete with each other. Furthermore, guitars made by other manufacturers brought stiff competition. This caused Gibson to revamp and do a critical shift to strengthen the solid body line.

This major shift was done in 1958 and the result brought about the creation of the SG series.

At the NAMM convention in Chicago 1958, we saw Gibson introduced the new Gibson Les Paul designs. The Les Paul Regular, the Junior, the TV and the Special were proudly displayed.

Gold Not Favoured

In the 50s, the gold top Gibson Les Paul guitars although upgraded a few times, did not win the favor of guitar players. And even though Gibson added on the humbuckers pickup, this did not help to increase sales.

The gold color of the Gibson Les Paul guitar was one big factor that hindered the increase of guitar sales. It seem that guitarists were not in favor of the gold color. So in August 1958, the Les Paul Standard was introduced. It was of a brighter cherry sunburst color. Gibson retained the same price for this new model thus making it a more favorable model for guitarist.

Gibson Les Paul Standard's Cherry Sunburst Color

The cherry sunburst color allowed Gibson to take full advantage of the maple top, as it was able to showcase the highly figured wood grain while previously, it was hidden under the opaque gold paint. To improve things, Gibson arranged the maple cap between the two book-matched pieces. Since then, Gibson Les Paul Standard models were made with this configuration.

In mid 58, the following unique characteristics were added :- The thick uneven bands or flames (ribbon curl top), Broad even bands (tiger stripped top), thinner and regular bands (pin striped top), large open swirls (Quilted top) and lighter circular swirls (birds eye top). Some of the 50s standards' designs had no figured top.

Gibson Encountered A Color Problem

One problem that Gibson encountered was the unreliability of the red pigment used with the sunburst color. When the red paint was exposed to sunlight, it slowly lost its strength. The result of the instability of the paint shows why some of the 50s Les Paul guitars had a faded finish with shades of honey, yellow and amber, with practically no red paint on it. It was until 1960 that Gibson was able to solve this paint problem.

Gibson's Effective Marketing Gimmick

The Les Paul Junior and the Les Paul TV sold very well. Though the price was lower, the higher volume junior proved the right strategy for a good turnover.

The marketing gimmick employed was to get to the younger guitar players with affordable, professional instruments and later as they developed musically, they would buy the better and more expensive Gibson models.

But in 1957, the lower priced models in the Les Paul line began to decline in popularity resulting in the remodeling of this range of guitars.

By 1958, the Junior and TV models were repackaged and came in the double cutaway shape and had a range right to the 22nd fret. The new models also had brand new finishes done to it. The Junior's sunburst was given a cherry red color and the TV's mahogany was given a brighter yellow color.

More lively colors was what Gibson used to attract customers. Everything on these two instruments remained the same including the price.

This change in strategy of combining the new body design with the lower price proved right for Gibson.

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