With the Gibson Historic '57 Les Paul Goldtop the Gibson Custom Shop presents its interpretation of the iconic Solidbody electric guitar of 1957. Made to original specifications, the Historic '57 Les Paul Goldtop presents the first vintage of the 'complete' Paula with traditional combination of Tune-o-Matic and stopbar and double humbucker. For this, the Custom Shop in Nashville relies on two tuned Custombucker pickups and an ABR-1 bridge made of lightweight aluminum. Last but not least, the Gibson Custom Shop instrument received a detailed VOS Ageing with slight traces of playing and classic vintage patina.
Under the golden nitrocellulose finish with VOS Ageing is the classic Les Paul construction of lightweight mahogany and a two-piece maple top. The Gibson Historic '57 Les Paul Goldtop also uses the traditional glued neck connection with Long Neck Tenon reaching under the neck humbucker, while the Medium Chunky neck profile with an inch of wood behind the 12th fret creates the classic fat feeling of the early Paulas.
The Custombucker wound by the Gibson Custom Shop fall back on collected realizations of original PAF Humbucker of the Mittfünfziger and are accordingly in winding number and magnet strength the models are based on. The humbuckers equipped with Alnico III magnets are controlled by individual volume and tone controls and offer the entire sound palette of the legendary Les Paul from the dynamic and nuanced Clean Sound to Clapton's distinctive Woman Tone to fully ripped leads with immense projection.
On the Gibson Historic '57 Les Paul Goldtop, the ABR-1 Tune-o-Matic, invented in 1954 by Gibson President Ted McCarty, is used as a bridge with extensive adjustment possibilities for intonation and string position, while real Kluson Single Band Deluxe tuners hold the tuning on the headstock. Also the traditional parts of the Gibson Historic '57 Les Paul Goldtop are provided with authentic wear marks and some vintage patina as part of the VOS Ageing process.