Gibson Les Paul Deluxe Electric Guitar

July 30, 2007 by Jo Minor 


For an authentic 70’s rock sound, look no further than the Gibson Les Paul Deluxe electric guitar. This reissue model is faithfully designed after the original that was released in 1969. It features the same style of mini-humbucker pickups that were found on the original, so it is able to recreate the look, bite and crunch heard years ago.

Retailing for $2848, the Gibson Les Paul Deluxe has been reissued as part of Gibson’s 30th anniversary of the original Les Paul Deluxe. Like many other Gibson electric guitar models, there are only a limited number of these on the market. This exclusive aspect makes the Les Paul Deluxe a guitar that will be of interest to collectors in the future, so the value should not depreciate.

So who exactly is or was Les Paul, and why does Gibson put his name on so many of their electric guitars? Lester Polfus (alias Les Paul) was born in 1915, and is now 92 years old. Les Paul is one of the most important pioneers in the development of the modern electric guitar.

Paul is a jazz guitarist and a guitar designer who built his first electric guitar in the 1940’s. He was not happy with the design of the guitars that were available in the 1930’s. The guitar he created in 1952 ultimately evolved into all the Gibson Les Paul guitar models we see today, including the Gibson Les Paul Deluxe.

There are some details that set the LP’s apart from other guitars. One is a carved maple top that has an arched, curved appearance. They have a three way toggle  pickup selectoy switch. But the most important innovation Les Paul came up with was the solid wood body. Earlier designs were hollow, with two problems. They had a lot of feedback and they didn’t have much sustain. Both of these problems were fixed by using a solid piece of wood for the body of the guitar.

The Les Paul Custom debuted in 1954 and was made only of mahogany. Several changes took place over the next decade, and different versions of Les Paul guitar were introduced, including the Studio, the Junior, and others. The maple top was added both for good looks and to add a brightness to the tone, lightening up the heavy tone created in the mahogany body.

Now you can have the same quality and sound as the 1969 Les Pauls by getting a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe electric guitar. It has the same carved maple top and nitrocellulose lacquer finish found on the originals. Nitrocellulose takes weeks to painstakingly apply and that is why guitars that have it are more high priced than those finished with polyurethane or some other finish. It is felt that the nitrocellulose finish improves the tone, as well.

Advantages: All Gibson Les Paul guitars are well crafted and known for excellent tone. This model features the mini-humbuckers, which makes it suitable for a wide range of music styles. Blues, rock metal, and jazz can all come alive on this guitar. The pickups are bright and articulate, and sound good whether played clean or with distortion. It has a lot of bite to its tone.

Disadvantages: Of course, there is the price. Gibson Les Paul guitars, especially vintage reissues, do not come cheap. They are good quality, professional level instruments, though, and they will retain their value. If you are into that warm, heavy sound that Les Pauls are known for, you will probably find the mini humbuckers to be a bit too bright and light for you. If you want to change the pickups to P90’s, they will fit without further modification.

Les Paul guitars are known to be very heavy. It is because of the solid mahogany body back. If you have a long gig and are not really big and strong, you might wear out fairly early and need to sit down.

The Gibson Les Paul Deluxe electric guitar is not a beginner guitar. If you are just beginning and want a Les Paul, get an Epiphone. When you’ve been playing several years, you will be ready to appreciate a guitar like this one.

Specs:

  • Mahogany body in rounded shape with single cutaway

  • Carved book-matched maple top on body

  • 1959 rounded Les Paul mahogany neck

  • Body and fingerboard binding

  • 1 11/16 inches wide at the nut

  • Rosewood fingerboard

  • 22 frets

  • 24.75 inch scale length

  • Pearloid trapezoid inlays

  • Dual mini-humbucking pickups

  • Two tone control knobs

  • Two volume control knobs

  • One three-way pickup selector switch

  • Les Paul Signature strings in .009 to .046

  • Nitrocellulose lacquered finish

  • Tune-o-matic bridge

  • Stop bar tailpiece

  • Chrome vintage tuners

Musician’s Friend features a hands-on review of the Gibson Les Paul Deluxe electric guitar. It is thorough and well-written.

For a bio of Les Paul, check out this article.

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