2002 Gibson Custom Art & Historic ’58 Les Paul

While Les Paul remains deeply influential as a guitar player, perhaps his greatest legacy will be his contribution to the evolution of electric guitars. By 1951, Les Paul was a respected guitar player, and he was known as a bit of an innovator, too. He had experimented with the solid body electric guitar concept for years, so Gibson president Ted McCarty approached him that year to discuss a collaboration. The result was the Gibson Les Paul Model, which remains one of the most influential and forward-thinking electric designs ever conceived.  This Custom, Art & Historic '58 Les Paul was the predecessor of the modern-day Custom Shop 1958 Reissue (R8). It is a meticulous recreation of the "Revision F" spec from October of '58. It features traditional construction with a Maple top and Mahogany back and sides. Every detail is painstakingly accurate: Holly peghead veneer (real wood instead of fiber imitation), proper tuning machine placement (straight line instead of curved like modern-