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Gibson Custom 20th Anniversary 1957 Les Paul Black Beauty

Gibson Custom continues its 20th Anniversary celebration, this time featuring a triple humbucker remake of the 1957 Les Paul Black Beauty.

20th Anniversary 1957 Les Paul Black Beauty

Only 100 pieces of this limited run guitar will ever be produced, and they will only be available in 2013.

The guitar comes with a carved-top one-piece solid mahogany body, following the design of the original ’57 Les Paul Custom. The body is finished in Antique Ebony nitrocellulose lacquer, carefully mimicking the color that helped earn the original guitar the nickname “Black Beauty”. A multi-ply binding wraps the body, adding to the overall look of the guitar.

The neck is made from quarter-sawn mahogany and is carved into a rounded ’50s era shape that measures 0.900” at the 1st fret and 1.000” at the 12th. The guitar also features a special one-piece ebony fretboard, which has never been seen since November of 2011. Traditional pearl block inlays serve as guides as your left hand runs through the neck’s 22 medium-jumbo frets. The headstock retains the classic appeal of the guitar it was based on by having multi-ply binding and a mother-of-pearl split-diamond inlay.

The 20th Anniversary 1957 Les Paul Black Beauty comes with a trio of Custom Buckers that are fitted with gold-plated covers. These pickups are specifically designed for this guitar, mimicking the sonic characteristics of original PAF pickups. Gibson Custom used Alnico III magnets and 42 AWG wire to reproduce the bite of vintage equivalent pickups. The bridge pickup is slightly overwound for added punch. Even the controls follow the original in detail, featuring a Switchraft 3-way toggle switch that is wired to let you select the neck pickup in the rhythm position, midle and bridge together in the middle position, and the bridge pickup in the lead position.

Complimenting the guitar’s black finish are gold finished hardware, this includes the gold-plated waffle back tuners as well as the ABR-1 Tune-o-matic bridge and stopbar tailpiece. Other features include a beveled multi-ply pickguard, black top-hat knobs, engraved “Les Paul Custom” truss-rod cover and a 20th Anniversary medallion that covers the toggle switch access on the back of the guitar.

As expected, this guitar carries a hefty price tag with an MSRP of $9,411. You can find out more about the 20th Anniversary 1957 Les Paul Black Beauty by visiting Gibson.

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2 thoughts on “Gibson Custom 20th Anniversary 1957 Les Paul Black Beauty”

    1. Gibson Custom's 20th Anniversary
      Alexander

      Yeah Gibson loves long and confusing names, add to that the use of seemingly duplicate names – there was a 20th anniversary Les Paul Custom released back in the ’70s. To clarify, the “20th Anniversary” label in this particular guitar refers to the Gibson Custom division, which started back in 1993.

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