drgordonfreeman
On vacation
As I continue my journey through the world of Gibson, I find myself as the very fortunate owner of this work of art from the Gibson Custom Shop.
Going back to 1997, I was flipping through one of my guitar magazine subscriptions, and I saw an ad for the Joe Perry signature Les Paul. I fell in love with the trans black finish, and ever since, I've wanted an LP in trans black. The bad news: the Joe Perry signature is long out of production. The good news: Gibson has the Made to Measure program.
I contacted my guy, Mark Di Donna, over at The Music Zoo, and we started the process for this custom build. We went through several flamed maple top blanks before I finally found the one I wanted:
Since the specs from my last Gibson Made to Measure build turned out so spectacularly well, I kept things the same for this build, save for the trans black burst, of course.
Top Color: Translucent Black
Back Color: Black stain
Finish: Gloss finish
Body: Les Paul solid body (not weight relieved or chambered)
Body Construction: 1-piece mahogany back
Neck: 1-piece mahogany with long tenon
Neck Profile: 1960's SlimTaper profile (.800 at 1st fret and .850 at 12th fret)
Fingerboard: Ebony (as dark as possible with no streaking)
Fingerboard Radius: 12"
Fret Wire: Jescar 57110 (.110" wide x .057" tall)
Inlays: Mother of pearl trapezoids
Hardware: Nickel
Tuners: Locking Grovers
Binding: Multi-ply binding on body top, body back, and neck (binding over frets, i.e., nibs)
Bridge: ABR-1 bridge with stopbar tail piece
Bridge Pickup: '57 Classic humbucker with black pickup ring
Neck Pickup: '57 Classic humbucker with black pickup ring
Controls: 2 tone (black bonnet knobs), 2 volume (black bonnet knobs), 3-way pickup selector switch
As always, Gibson did a phenomenal job on this thing. It plays even better than it looks, and the ebony board they selected is amazingly smooth. I've always maintained that Gibson has some of the best selections of ebony boards available, and this build certainly reinforces that thought.
I'm using the pictures Mark took, because he's a much better photographer than I am.
Going back to 1997, I was flipping through one of my guitar magazine subscriptions, and I saw an ad for the Joe Perry signature Les Paul. I fell in love with the trans black finish, and ever since, I've wanted an LP in trans black. The bad news: the Joe Perry signature is long out of production. The good news: Gibson has the Made to Measure program.
I contacted my guy, Mark Di Donna, over at The Music Zoo, and we started the process for this custom build. We went through several flamed maple top blanks before I finally found the one I wanted:
Since the specs from my last Gibson Made to Measure build turned out so spectacularly well, I kept things the same for this build, save for the trans black burst, of course.
Top Color: Translucent Black
Back Color: Black stain
Finish: Gloss finish
Body: Les Paul solid body (not weight relieved or chambered)
Body Construction: 1-piece mahogany back
Neck: 1-piece mahogany with long tenon
Neck Profile: 1960's SlimTaper profile (.800 at 1st fret and .850 at 12th fret)
Fingerboard: Ebony (as dark as possible with no streaking)
Fingerboard Radius: 12"
Fret Wire: Jescar 57110 (.110" wide x .057" tall)
Inlays: Mother of pearl trapezoids
Hardware: Nickel
Tuners: Locking Grovers
Binding: Multi-ply binding on body top, body back, and neck (binding over frets, i.e., nibs)
Bridge: ABR-1 bridge with stopbar tail piece
Bridge Pickup: '57 Classic humbucker with black pickup ring
Neck Pickup: '57 Classic humbucker with black pickup ring
Controls: 2 tone (black bonnet knobs), 2 volume (black bonnet knobs), 3-way pickup selector switch
As always, Gibson did a phenomenal job on this thing. It plays even better than it looks, and the ebony board they selected is amazingly smooth. I've always maintained that Gibson has some of the best selections of ebony boards available, and this build certainly reinforces that thought.
I'm using the pictures Mark took, because he's a much better photographer than I am.
