When eagle-eyed musicians spotted Eric Clapton playing a Les Paul Standard on the back of the first album by John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers (now universally known as the “Beano” album), that was the instrument that thousands – maybe millions – of guitarists held in their minds as the Holy Grail of Les Pauls. But back then, there wasn’t any place to get information about guitars. So nobody told them that Les Paul himself felt the instrument that carried his name should be the best, with all the features Gibson reserved for its top-of-the-line guitars. So, two years after the first Les Pauls shipped, Gibson built the Les Paul Custom in 1954. Les saw this as the classiest axe in town and so decided that while the Standard was gold, the Custom should be black, like a fine tuxedo or grand piano. Keep in mind that this was four years before anyone saw a figured maple sunburst top on a Les Paul. The Custom was called the “black beauty” by some, and the “fretless wonder” by others (because the frets were so low and flat, the action could be adjusted to play almost effortlessly). The Custom also got an upscale ebony fingerboard with real pearl block inlays, a black pickguard and pickup rings, the Gibson “split diamond” pearl headstock inlay, and gold hardware. The final touch was multi-ply binding on the front and back, plus multi-ply binding on the headstock.

Other than these features, the Les Paul Custom was the exact same guitar as a Standard by 1957, with exactly the same pickups and electronics (though Customs actually were available with three humbuckers for a short time). Today’s official Guitar of the Day is the 2008 Les Paul Custom. If you look at the examples in our Guitar Gallery, you might initially miss the upgrades until you actually look for them. But when you actually hold one in your hands, these features certainly add an undisputeable touch of class to the instrument! All of these are “plain tops,” like the majority of 1958 Les Paul Standards, which had little or no figuring. Right now we have all the available colors in stock, from Cherry Sunburst to Wine Red and Alpine White, as well as the original, Les Paul-specified Ebony and a special limited edition Silverburst, so there has never been a better time than now to order a Les Paul Custom in your favorite finish.

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Gibson Custom Les Paul Custom (Heritage Cherry Sunburst) – Guitar of the Day

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