1953 Les Paul Custom Black Beauty. The Real Deal. The Original Fretless Wonder

1955 Les Paul CustomA Custom Black Beauty from the Year of Innovation Having racked up more innovations in guitar design in the previous 50 years than all other major guitar manufacturers combined, Gibson was rolling toward a historical peak in the middle of the 20th century. Nowhere is this drive for innovation better expressed than in the Les Paul Custom "Black Beauty" of the mid &rendered in period-perfect detail in this exclusive special-run Gibson Custom Shop 1955 Les Paul Custom. With rock and roll barely a year old and a musical revolution still in the making, the nation itself was in the midst of social and cultural innovation. Gibson was in the throws of its own revolution in instrument design, and groundbreaking innovations on all frontiers—body construction, hardware, and electronics—are beautifully expressed in one instrument on the 1955 "Black Beauty." Physically, the 1955 Les Paul Custom expresses Les Paul and Gibson president Ted McCarty&joint vision of the ultimate solidbody guitar, with a sold mahogany body with carved top and glued-in mahogany neck, but it also embodied Paul¬ion of a "black-tie guitar for the black-tie musician." Custom by name, custom by nature, it was made with a gloss ebony black finish, ebony fingerboard with pearloid block inlays, enlarged headstock with mother-of-pearl split-diamond inlay, and gold-plated hardware throughout. In addition to a screaming P-90 pickup in the bridge position—a meaty, thick, yet extremely articulate...