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Gibson Joe Bonamassa “SkinnerBurst” 1959 Les Paul

Gibson Custom releases the Joe Bonamassa “SkinnerBurst” 1959 Les Paul, a limited run recreation of the artist’s favorite workhorse guitar.

Joe gave Gibson unrestricted access to his most prized 1959 Les Paul, which he affectionately calls “Principal Skinner”, allowing for detailed perfect replicas to be made, limited to only 300 worldwide.

Gibson Custom designed this new signature by carefully scanning, studying and measuring the hardworking vintage guitar. Each curve, specification and detail of the guitar are built to exact measurements, resulting in an instrument that the brand claims to look, feel and sound as close as humanly possible to the original.

The distinguishing mark of the original is carefully mimicked in this remake, including the faded dirty lemon finish and 2-piece figured maple top and mahogany body. Extra care was taken in accurately recreating the fade of a ’59 Sunburst finish into what’s referred to as “Dirty Lemon”. Even the carved arch are matched to Joe’s original Principal Skinner.

Historically accurate binding colors are used along with aged cellulose trapezoid inlays, reissue cream pickguard and reissue pickup mounting rings. The resulting look is described by the company as a “breathtaking rendition of Joe’s constant stage and studio companion”.

Authentic feel and playability is also important to Gibson Custom, so they made sure that the original’s ’59 neck shape are accurately recreated. Nut width is measured at 1.687″ and the rosewood fretboard has a radius is 12″. The neck is made of mahogany with a maple spline, modern PLEK system is used to improve tuning stability and intonation. The vintage vibe of the 17 degree angled headstock is complemented by Kluson Deluxe Green Key single band 12:01 tuners.

Aside from getting the looks and feel right, Gibson had to satisfy Joe Bonamassa’s picky ears. They were able to do this by utilizing Gibson’s Custombucker on the bridge and Burstbucker #3 on the neck, made to the precise specifications of the original PAF pickups found on the original. The pickups are routed to a traditional four knob setup with 3-way pickup selector.

Other features include ABR-1 thumbwheel type nickel bridge and aluminum stopbar tailpiece. The guitar ships with a Custom Shop hardshell guitar case and comes with engraved amd leather-bound certificate of authenticity.

Of the 300 total guitars, 150 will be hand-aged by Gibson Custom’s Tom Murphy – 50 of which will be played and signed by Joe Bonamassa himself. The other 150 guitars will come with Gibson Custom’s VOS aging process. The Joe Bonamassa “SkinnerBurst” 1959 Les Paul is currently listed with a price range that starts at $7,332. For more information, visit Gibson.

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