1958 Gibson Les Paul Junior, Sunburst
Super cool, played and vibey Sunburst Les Paul Junior from 1958, one of the last of the original single-cut away Juniors and this one in particular sounds and feels great with a strong original p-90, the atypical, round ’58 neck and a lightweight and resonant Honduras Mahogany body.
Introduced in 1954 The Les Paul Junior was the simple, no frills, student model solid-body guitar of the Gibson range, an incredibly popular instrument it would remain in the catalog as the Les Paul Junior until 1963 when it was replaced by the SG Junior model. The design would evolve from the original single cutaway style of 1954 to the new symmetrical Double-Cutaway body design in 1958 through to to its final incarnation in 1961 with the contoured, pointed double cutaway SG/Les Paul design. Despite the designs changes the Junior model would resoundingly feature a simply appointed solid mahogany body and neck with Rosewood fingerboard and a single P-90 pickup.
This guitar is one of the final single cut away Les Paul juniors produced, it is widely excepted that the Junior switched to the new double cut variant by serial 8 49XX. It features the pre-requisite singlecut, slab, Honduras Mahogany body, a Mahogany neck with Rosewood fingerboard with dot inlays, a single dog-ear P-90 pickup with black cover, simple wrap-over bridge. a single ply black pickguard, gold Gibson and ”Les Paul Junior" silkscreened on the headstock. Being a '58 model the guitar has the deeper threaded bridge post inserts and the pickup route has also been moved further towards the neck, Gibson introduced this in ’56 to help counter bridge lean damaging the thin bit of wood between the stud and route. Finished in three tone sunburst, this guitar has retained a large proportion of the red in its sunburst. The original finish has darkened overall but is in great condition throughout with plenty of expected environmental lacquer checking with many knocks, bruises and edge wear to the front of the guitar with the rear proudly displaying plenty of hard earned buckle wear. The guitar has had the headstock honestly repaired prior to coming in to us. The tuners have been changed previously and a set of reproduction strip Kluson have been fitted. The nut has been changed and the guitar has had a refret. The original electronics remain with two Centralab pots soldered to a great sounding P-90. The knobs have been changes for a set of modern reproduction amber bonnet variety. The nickel tailpiece is an original 50’s Gibson part.
It’s no secret that we are big fans of Les Paul Juniors here at V’n’R and with each variant of the model having a sound and character of its own it’s easily justifiable to us to have one of each. This ’58 Single cut has a loud, sustaining acoustic ring and amplified this is one of the more fuller sounding Juniors we have had the pleasure of playing. It’s a big sounding guitar that manages to retain excellent string to string balance whether driven or clean. It does the Junior thing with aplomb, big, bold and punchy but will clean up to an almost acoustic like whisper with the extremely interactive controls. The P-90 is pure and open with a fantastic harmonic overtones.
The guitar weighs a reasonable 7.4lbs comes in a 1970’s Gibson case.