GIBSON ES-BLACK BEAUTY LES PAUL CUSTOM VOS ELECTRIC GUITAR with BIGSBY
MEMPHIS CUSTOM SHOP LIMITED EDITION MODEL – BRAND NEW and UNPLAYED!
Can a picture really be worth a thousand words? The answer is sometimes…yes. Gibson guitars are on almost every guitar player’s wish list. The Les Paul in particular is an icon – instantly recognisable and highly desirable. The Custom model is the big boy of the Les Paul range and the three pickup Black Beauty sits a couple of steps above that.
Lets take a trip back to school…any boy or girl with a developing guitar fetish would have text books full of pages (from the back forwards of course) of their “dream” guitar. That Gibson Les Paul Custom with three pickups and a Bigsby vibrato would have been in every book. For those that really dared to dream, the addition of “f” holes only teased and tantilised even more with a whimsical “I wish”
Funny how sometimes dreams do come true . . .
Gibson have built the elegant ‘Black Beauty’ single-cut semi-hollowbody Les Paul with Bigsby vibrato!
This innovative and incredibly elusive ES-Les Paul looks simply superb in its VOS (very old stock) Ebony finish with multi-ply binding, gold hardware, pearl block inlays, tone courtesy of three glorious PAF-style MHS pickups and a Bigsby vibrato.
GIBSON ES-BLACK BEAUTY LES PAUL CUSTOM VOS WITH BIGSBY FEATURES:
o f-Hole Emblem Engraved Truss Rod Cover: The iconic symbol of the Gibson ES line is now the hallmark of Gibson Memphis
o Redesigned Neck Dimensions: Added thickness to Peghead transition provides greater strength and stability
o Historic Truss Rod: Superior Adjustability due to the Teflon coating, larger diameter rod, original brass anchor and larger washer
o Bone Nut: Bone for smooth tuning and excellent durability
o Rolled Neck Binding: Binding is rounded off to comfortably fit the contours of the player’s hand
o Capacitor Changes: Less treble cut than previous capacitor results in a tone with a harmonically rich, singing quality
o Three MHS Humbucker Pickups: The maximum complement of toneful PAF-style goodness
THE REAL DEAL
What can only be considered the perfect blend of two of the most played and recorded electric guitars in history – the Gibson Les Paul and ES335.
Prize fighter weight, incredible playability, tone to wrap yourself in and a look that some would describe as sensually seductive. This is it, the real deal with the only question to be asked being, Gibson, what took you so long?
CLASSIC CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES
The Gibson ES Custom Black Beauty VOS Les Paul with Bigsby features 100% classic Gibson ES construction techniques that include a triple laminated Maple/Poplar/Maple body supported with quartersawn Adirondack Spruce bracing.
Construction is well taken care of with the use of old-world, tone-enhancing genuine Hide Glue.
Following in the tradition of Kalamazoo’s famous ES335, the Gibson ES Black Beauty VOS Les Paul with Bigsby features a solid Maple centre block, hand selected for optimum weight and tone. The Mahogany neck is glued in, once again with Hide Glue, utilising Gibson’s proven mortise-and-tenon joinery.
THE PERFECT MARRIAGE OF TRADITION AND INNOVATION
This stunning piece is the first-ever ES-Les Paul built in a 1957 Gibson Black Beauty format that includes a Bigsby Vibrato. The neck utilises a 1.70″ bone nut for slick and smooth tuning, with a 12″ radius fingerboard sporting 22 Medium Jumbo frets firmly anchored into the speed-friendly Richlite fingerboard, perfectly spaced to .001″ tolerances inside of the traditional 24.75″ Gibson scale length.
While the C neck contour is reminiscent of the iconic Gibson guitars of the 1950s in shape, it is actually much thinner resulting in a comfortable, yet modern feel. The precision PLEK system setup finishes one of the most accurate and playable guitar necks in Gibson history.
THIS IS TONE
Three top shelf Memphis Historic Spec (MHS) Humbucking pickups have been wired through perfectly matched potentiometers along with unbalanced Orange Drop capacitors featuring the Memphis Tone Circuit. This combination delivers pristine tone with clarity, punch and definition rarely matched by any other guitar.
Virtually endless tonal variations are on tap from sweet clean sounds through to incendiary overdriven mayhem. The ES Les Paul Custom Black Beauty VOS with Bigsby is a guitar that should satisfy the most demanding player. This is a Les Paul that will take you from Bensonesque Jazz to clean country and on to heart thumpin’ rock and roll.
QUALITY NEVER GOES OUT OF STYLE
Traditional Custom/Super 400 appointments include genuine Mother-of-Pearl inlays, hand-applied multi-ply binding on the body top, back and headstock with single-ply binding protecting the rolled the fingerboard edges. While the Bigsby Vibrato adds an unmatched visual touch, it also offers that subtle vibrato sought after by so many guitarists.
Grover Rotomatic Milk Bottle tuning machines and Gold finished hardware complete the look that is Classic yet Contemporary, the Gibson ES Custom Black Beauty VOS Les Paul with Bigsby Vibrato is a guitar that will never go out of style.
DARE TO DREAM
This magnificent Gibson ES Black Beauty was built in small numbers as part of a Memphis Custom Shop limited run. The Ebony Nitrocellulose lacquer finish features the Gibson Custom Shop Vintage Original Spec finish treatment. VOS finish applies to the hardware as well as the lacquer and is designed to replicate an older but well cared for guitar.
Although Nitrocellulose lacquer is time consuming to apply and requires refined expertise to do it correctly, Gibson continue to use this time-honoured method. Gibson instruments continue to come with hand applied lacquer finishes as the ultra-thin lacquer coating is considered by many players and luthiers to be the best finish available for tone.
Only three of these stunning guitars made it to Australia. Two were pre-sold by us, that leaves one…
