High Five to five years of the Gibson Mod Collection—and we celebrate in style with a new and exclusive finish
The Gibson Mod™ Collection is a unique program in the guitar industry, especially in the realm of set-neck guitars. While modular guitar designs can easily mix and match necks and bodies, set-neck guitars come to the Gibson Mod Collection team as a single unit in an unfinished state. Their imaginations are allowed to run riot, creating one-of-a-kind instruments with unique specifications from guitars that would otherwise be disposed of.
All Gibson guitars go through rigorous QC, but every once in a while, a guitar doesn’t quite meet the strict cosmetic standards at our craftories. As part of our ongoing commitment to sustainability, these instruments are sent to the Mod Collection team to use as a blank canvas. You can expect experimental paint jobs on Mod Collection guitars, including everything from hand-painted designs like dragon scale patterns to half Silverburst and half Sunburst finishes, floral lace stencil patterns, and much more. These instruments are one-off designs with custom finishes, electronics upgrades, and major modifications that can’t be done with just a screwdriver or a soldering iron.
Encompassing modified Gibson Custom, Gibson, and Epiphone USA instruments, Mod Collection guitars are hot-rodded and customized by a dedicated team in Nashville, Tennessee. Each week, a fresh batch of Gibson Mod Collection instruments launches exclusively on Gibson.com. You’ll never see the same design twice, which creates an endless loop of possibilities.
What is the High Five Collection?
This collection of five Gibson Mod Collection guitars comes painted in a brand-new, Mod Collection-exclusive finish entitled “High Five.” The collection consists of a 10-string Gibson Firebird™ Platypus, an Epiphone USA Coronet, a Gibson Les Paul™ Junior Double Cut, a Gibson Les Paul Standard 50s, and a Gibson Custom Explorer™Custom. The color-shifting heavy flake sparkle finish looks incredible under stage lights, shifting from orange to blue-green to purple.
Not only do these guitars wear an extremely special finish, they also offer unique specifications. From the 10-string Firebird to the 24-fret, dual-pickup Epiphone USA Coronet, the High Five Collection packs never-before-seen features from the Gibson Mod Collection. This exclusive High Five finish will never be replicated or used in any other way for the Gibson Mod Collection, and while each of these guitars shares the same finish, the designs are completely unique and showcase the creativity of the skilled artisans in the Mod Collection team. Read on to take a closer look at the High Five Collection instruments and find out what the team has to say about the inspiration for each model.
Gibson Mod Collection Firebird Platypus 10-String, High Five
“We made the 10-string to celebrate and pay homage to some previous Firebird models we have done. Since we previously made an eight-string and a 12-string Firebird, we thought we should make a 10-string to complete the set.”
This Firebird Platypus started life as a normal six-string guitar, like the rest of the production models. In addition to the four tuning machines added to the peghead, the nut and bridge were modified to accommodate the extra strings. Look closely, and you’ll see that the low E, A, D and G strings here are octave pairs. On a traditional 12-string electric guitar, the high E and B are typically paired with unison strings. Here, without those unison pairs, there’s less of the woozy chorus effect created by small fluctuations in pitch that characterizes the traditional 12-string sound, leaving more emphasis on the octaves and freeing up the high E and B for more traditional lead playing, solos, and string bending.
A custom gold-plated pickguard replaces the three-ply white pickguard, while matching Top Hat knobs replace the standard black Top Hats with silver inserts. Powered by a set of Firebird humbuckers, this Firebird Platypus has the traditional sound of a Firebird with the extra flavor of a 12-string, creating something entirely unique.
Gibson Mod Collection Epiphone USA Coronet, High Five
“The Epiphone USA Coronet came about almost by accident. We just happened upon it in a rack of guitars and noticed it had not been routed for pickups. It was set aside because the neck angle was too high for a stock model. We knew we could make something fun, cool, and exciting out of a 24-fret Coronet by adding an ABR-1 bridge and a Bigsby®. Additionally, we wanted to push the envelope by giving it a unique pickup combination. Hence, the Firebird humbucker™ and Thunderbird bass pickup combo.”
While a normal Epiphone USA Coronet is fitted with a single Dogear P-90 pickup, a wraparound bridge, and 22 frets, this creation from the Gibson Mod Collection has intense modifications, taking it into uncharted territory. Set-neck guitars are crafted together to custom-fit the neck to the body. Due to the nature of these guitars, it’s not always a simple matter of finding another neck that will work with the body. Here, the neck had to be extended to accommodate the extra two frets, and the fret slots had to be cut extremely accurately to maintain intonation. Switching the Wraparound bridge to an ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic™ is a fairly involved modification on a guitar such as this, requiring a skilled luthier to position the bridge exactly where it needs to be located. Because of the neck angle, a Bigsby tailpiece was fitted to the guitar, which is also rare on a Coronet.
Powering this Epiphone Coronet is a Thunderbird pickup in the bridge position with a Firebird humbucker in the neck position. You might ask, “Well, if it has two pickups and an ABR-1, then shouldn’t it be called a Wilshire?” Not necessarily. Gibson Mod Collection instruments are always named according to the original instrument on which they are based, no matter how extreme the modifications may be, and there isn’t currently a Wilshire in the Epiphone USA catalog.
Gibson Mod Collection Les Paul Junior Double Cut, High Five
“The Les Paul Junior Double Cut is a great example of how our process can be both organic and experimental at the same time. We came across an extra Flying V™ Custom string-through tailpiece as we were beginning work on the Junior. This sparked the idea of wanting to see what a string-through Double Cut would look and sound like. The Roman numeral V on the peghead was a nod to the five-year celebration and to tie in the V tailpiece as well.”
This special guitar shows off what the Gibson Mod Collection team does best. The team combined two very different models extremely tastefully. Replacing the Wraparound bridge is an ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic with a Flying V tailpiece, which features prominently on the top of the instrument. An added detail on the headstock is a “V” numeral, not only nodding to the Flying V tailpiece but also five years of the Gibson Mod Collection. This detail also shares the Space Age design aesthetic that’s so closely tied to the Flying V. A gold pickguard and truss rod cover replace the normal plastics to complement the finish. Black Grover® tuners replace the stock Gibson Deluxe tuners with white buttons, matching the black tailpiece.
Gibson Mod Collection Explorer Custom, High Five
“During the discussions of the models we wanted to utilize for our fifth anniversary, the Explorer was an obvious choice. Some of our most adventurous modifications have been done on Explorers. We felt an Explorer Custom, unlike any that we have seen before, would be a great way to showcase our shop and the anniversary. Adding a P-90 neck and humbucker bridge pickup combo with a Maestro™ tailpiece seemed the best way to make a great-sounding and visually stunning Explorer Custom.”
In addition to replacing the traditional rhythm humbucker with a Soapbar P-90 pickup and replacing the Stop Bar tailpiece with a Maestro™ Vibrola™, this amazing Explorer Custom features matching details. Gold hardware is featured throughout the entire guitar, which includes a gold Soapbar pickup cover, humbucker cover, and the Maestro Vibrola. Other custom details include a gold pickguard, truss rod cover, and knurled knobs with inset jewels.
Gibson Mod Collection Les Paul Standard 50s, High Five
“We felt we needed to include something representative of traditional Gibson guitars in the five-year celebration mix. The Les Paul Standard 50s fit the bill perfectly. Of course, we put our own celebratory paint job on the top. Adding a custom-painted pickguard, truss rod cover, and backplates helped give it the Mod Collection vibes we wanted without distracting from the classic Gibson style of the Les Paul Standard 50s.”
A celebration from Gibson would be incomplete without a traditional Les Paul Standard. Custom details include a gold pickguard, control plates, Top Hat knobs, and black keystone buttons on the tuning machines. This Gibson Mod Collection Les Paul Standard 50s is the only guitar from the High Five collection to feature a carved top, putting the High Five finish on full display and showing off its color-shifting properties in the most dramatic way.
Each and every High Five Collection guitar features unique designs that were custom-made for each instrument. These designs are on the extreme side of the guitar modification difficulty scale, celebrating the five-year milestone in style. Elsewhere in the Mod Collection, whether you are looking for a custom-mixed metallic finish with swapped pickups on a Gibson SG Standard ’61 or a single-pickup Gibson Theodore™ in a custom sparkle fade finish with a matching custom pickguard, there’s something for everyone in this groundbreaking collection of one-of-one guitars.
Shop the High Five Collection now. Check out what’s cooking from the Gibson Mod Collection team every Wednesday, when fresh designs are dropped exclusively on Gibson.com. But be warned—when they’re gone, they’re gone.
