Epiphone have announced the new Limited Edition 1960 Les Paul Standard.
Commemorating the Beginning of an Era that ROCKED the World! Epiphone is proud to introduce the new, Ltd Ed “1960” Les Paul Standard honoring 50 years from the start of an era. The 1960 Les Paul initially carried over the same basic specifications as its predecessor from 1959. Among these details were the full, rounded “D” shaped neck profile, top-hat control knobs, and optional Heritage Cherry Sunburst finish. These characteristics can be found in Epiphone’s new “Version-1” 50th Anniversary 1960 Les Paul Standard. However, by the latter part of 1960 the specifications were changed. The most significant change was the new “SlimTaper” neck profile that was slimmer and considered “more modern” than the fatter 1959 profile. The “new” SlimTaper neck profile can be found on Epiphone’s new “Version-3” 50th Anniversary 1960 Les Paul and went on to be the neck used on Les Pauls throughout the 1960’s. Both versions were equipped with flatter, wider frets that allow more dramatic bends. The impact of that change was not truly realized until the 1960’s when rock and blues players discovered the magical fat, warm voice and feel of the Les Paul Standard. And with a history going back to the 1940’s when Les Paul himself would visit the Epiphone factory in New York and work on what has come to be known as the FIRST electric guitar, this Limited Edition also pays homage to not only the beginning of the 1960’s but also to the man that started it all.
Premium Components and Authentic Features: Epiphone’s Les Paul Standard has been a favorite guitar for years and years. Starting with the same successful recipe, Epiphone significantly “steps it up” on this Limited Edition “1960” reissue. True to it’s heritage, the Version-1 features an authentic 1950’s rounded neck profile. Often referred to as “the baseball bat”, this neck feels beefy yet comfortable in your hands while adding warmth and sustain with it’s greater mass. The Version-3 features an authentic SlimTaper(tm) neck profile. Often considered the standard for a slim and fast yet comfortable neck, the SlimTaper became a favorite for rock and blues players of the 1960’s. Epiphone hand fits this solid Mahogany neck into the body with an historically accurate “deep-set” long neck tenon that extends well into the neck pickup cavity creating even more tone and sustain. As is traditional with Les Paul Standards, the back of the body is solid Mahogany while the top is a carved Hard Maple cap. Making it affordable, a premium AAA grade flame Maple veneer is attached capturing the true “beauty of the burst.”
Hearing is Believing: Capturing everything these tone woods and premium construction have to give are a pair of Gibson U.S.A. BurstBucker(TM) pickups. BurstBucker(TM) pickups replicate the sound of Gibson’s original “Patent Applied For” pickups – the pickups that gave the ’59 and ’60 Les Paul Standards their legendary sound. Like the originals, with unpolished magnets and non-potted coils, variations in pickup output and tone also came from inconsistencies in winding the bobbins, a result of the lack of automatic shutoffs on Gibson’s winding machines in the late 1950s. Seth Lover, who invented the humbucker, always said they wound the bobbins “until they were full.” When two coils in a pickup have a different number of turns, that variation puts a little “edge” or “bite” on the classic humbucker sound. That’s the sound BurstBuckers replicate. The neck pickup is a Burstbucker-1 and is slightly under-wound for a “medium” vintage output. The bridge pickup is a Burstbucker-2 that is wound in the range of a ’57 Classic pickup with slightly hotter vintage output that works well in combination with the BB-1 in the neck. One listen and you’ll think you have a 50-year old guitar in your hands!
Here’s a demo of some of the sounds:
For more information see www.epiphone.com
Related News:
Epiphone Ace Frehley Budokan Les Paul Custom