2009 Gibson Custom Billy Gibbons "Pearly Gates" '59 Les Paul Standard VOS
Spectacular Gibson Custom Billy Gibbons ‘Pearly Gates’ 1959 Les Paul Standard. Released in 2009 as an exacting replica of the legendary ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons 1959 Les Paul Standard “Pearly Gates”. A guitar owned by Gibbons since 1968 and purchased from a farmer in Houston this legendary guitar has featured on every ZZ Top track to date. This highly sought after guitar was sold in limited numbers of only 350 guitars – 250 receiving Gibson Custom’s patented V.O.S. finish, 50 aged to look exactly like the original Pearly Gates, and a further 50 were aged and personally signed and played by Gibbons himself.
Featuring a solid, single piece mahogany body, with a two-piece maple top hand-selected to match the distinctive look of the top of the original guitar. A one-piece mahogany neck carved to the precise profile of the original Les Paul and topped with a Dark Indian Rosewood fingerboard inlaid with cellulose trapezoid position markers for a vintage-correct appearance. The guitars original pickups are a matched set of Seymour Duncan Custom shop Billy Gibbons PAF replicas, based upon the original guitars PAF pickups. The nickel hardware is lightly aged throughout with a lightweight Aluminium tailpiece, ABR-1 Tune-o-matic bridge. Tuners are Gibson Deluxe Kluson Replicas with Vintage-correct cream reissue binding, gold top-hat knobs, cream pickup rings and switch ring, and a period-correct two-ply bell truss-rod cover completes the spec.
This guitar is number 128 of the run and has fast become a bit of a shop favourite, the sunburst finish looks killer and the figured top is up there with one of the finest Pearly Gates we’ve seen. The guitar feels lively and lightweight tipping the scales at just over 9lbs. The neck is a classic ’59 profile measuring 23.42mm at the 1st and 25.57 at the 12th fret. The nut width is 43.23. The Seymour Duncan pickups were voiced to match those in the original and while we haven’t had the chance to compare them directly the Pearly Gates Pickups are a fine sounding set of mid-output vintage voiced humbuckers measuring 7.12K in the neck and 7.98K at the bridge.
This fantastic instrument is in fantastic original condition and comes original Gibson Custom Les Paul hardshell case with dustcover and Certificate of Authenticity.