1957 Les Paul Special Reissue, Heavy Aged Walnut

The Gibson Custom Select 1957 Les Paul™ Special, Heavy Aged, Walnut features a Dogear P-90 pickup in the neck position and a Custombucker pickup in the bridge position. Gibson Custom Select instruments have special features that are not found on normal models from standard collections. These features are hand-picked by Gibson experts and range from hand-selected tonewoods to custom-mixed finishes and substituted electronics and hardware. This Gibson Custom Select 1957 Les Paul Special has a unique, mixed pickup configuration with a Dogear P-90 in the neck position and a Custombucker pickup in the bridge position. This guitar also features a special Walnut finish with the Murphy Lab Heavy Aged treatment.

The Gibson Les Paul Special was initially introduced in 1955 as an intermediate-level guitar with a few more features than the student-level Les Paul Junior. While the Les Paul Special was positioned as a guitar for an intermediate player, the model has been embraced by pro-level players since its inception. Like the Les Paul Junior, the Les Paul Special features a slab mahogany body with a Wraparound bridge, which makes for a simple, no-frills rock machine that is a step between the Les Paul Junior and the maple-capped Les Paul Standard. The Les Paul Special typically features a pair of Soapbar P-90 pickups in the neck and bridge positions with a 3-way selector switch and two Volume and Tone controls that make the Special operate like a Les Paul Standard. Some other additions include binding on the neck and an inlaid Gibson logo on the headstock to level up the ornamentation.

What makes this Gibson Custom Select 1957 Les Paul Special unique is a rare pickup combination where a Dogear P-90 pickup is fitted in the neck position, and a Custombucker pickup is in the bridge position. This combination of pickups makes for a raw rock machine that is capable of heavy rock tones in the bridge position and warm, clear tones in the neck position. This pickup combination is not commonly found on many Gibson guitars.

The Gibson Custom 1957 Les Paul Special is only available in TV Yellow when found in the Murphy Lab Collection, so this Walnut finish paired with heavy aging is something that is only available through the Gibson Custom Select and Made to Measure programs. Vintage guitars have a history of being refinished when these guitars were seen as “used guitars” rather than the vintage moniker they have today. With the rise in popularity of walnut-finished guitars during the 1970s, it is possible that a Les Paul Special made in the 1950s could have been stripped of its finish and left in that state for decades.

Heavy play wear is finely crafted by the Murphy Lab and modeled from real vintage examples that have seen their fair share of road time. Along with the play wear are extra rolled fretboard edges, which make a smooth radius around the edge of the fretboard. Apart from the finish and pickups, this Gibson 1957 Les Paul Special shares all the same features as the standard model. With its Vintage 50s neck profile and a long neck tenon set with hot hide glue, this guitar is made just like it used to be during Gibson’s Golden Era.

Typically finished in TV Yellow, the Les Paul Special is a model that flies under the radar with its simple design. Made for the player who wants something a little out of the ordinary, this Gibson Custom Select 1957 Les Paul Special ticks all the boxes. Included with the guitar is a Gibson Custom Certificate of Authenticity and a reissue hardshell case.