Vintage Gibson Les Paul Jr.
Vintage Gibson Les Paul Jr.
The vintage Gibson Les Paul Jr. was introduced to the world in 1954. This was in an attempt to widen their grip in the solid-body guitar market further. The vintage Gibson Les Paul Jr. was modeled and marketed with the novice guitarist in mind. After some improvements this guitar even suited professional use.
The Gibson Les Paul Jr’s received their own special marking to identify them from the rest of the Gibson Guitar models. Even though the guitars looked like its predecessor models, it was characterized by its flat-top “slab” mahogany body, finished in traditional Gibson Sunburst. Since it was geared with the novice guitarist in mind it only had a single P-90 pickup, simple volume/tone controls, and the unbound rosewood finger board bore plain dot-shape position markers. On the other side the guitar did have features such as stud bridge/tailpiece resembling the Gold-Top model.
A year later the Gibson Les Paul Jr. received an update and a “name change”. The new and improved model now renamed Gibson Les Paul TV model was a Gibson Les Paul Jr. model with a natural finish. It was more of a translucent yellow that showed off the wood finish, not to be confused with Fenders butterscotch yellow. The reason they called it the “TV” model was because on early black and white television the white guitars would glare to much. This yellowish guitar however was more pleasant to look at due to it didn’t cast a glare.
In 58′ Gibson finally listened to demands by guitarist for changes to the Jr. and TV models. These changes are what we typically see with todays vintage Gibson Les Paul Jr. models being sold. Players asked for more access to the top frets, double-cutaway body shape, and cosmetic upgrades.
All in all if you ever have a chance to add this to your vintage guitar collection don’t hesitate to do so. It was made with novice guitarist in mind and today it stays in mind with novice collectors. A great starter to your collection awaits!