Every musician knows that late ’50s Sunburst Les Paul Standards are hard enough to come by as it is. Obtaining a pristine and exemplary ’59 ’Burst and modifying it for heightened performance and vastly expanded tonal options? Unheard of… unless, of course, you’re Jimmy Page. That’s exactly what the legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist, perhaps the world’s most iconic Les Paul player, did with his own ’59 Les Paul Standard, and now—thanks to the extreme efforts of Gibson’s Custom Shop and the intimate cooperation of Jimmy Page himself—the artist’s hallowed “Number Two” Les Paul is available to mere mortals, in the form of the Custom Shop Jimmy Page “Number Two” Les Paul. Produced in strictly limited numbers, with two levels of aging, this guitar captures the look, feel, sound, and versatility of one of the greatest artist-owned Les Pauls of all time, and it is likely to disappear from authorized Gibson dealers in record time.
The 1959 Les Paul that has come to be known as “Number Two” was purchased by Page in 1973 after trying for some time to acquire an exceptional second Les Paul. This was several years after having acquired his other legendary Les Paul—“Number One”, a ’59 ’Burst with shaved-down neck profile and no serial number—from Joe Walsh. “Number Two” was essentailly all original when he aquired it. Jimmy did have some modifications done to the neck shape so that it would more nearly match the feel of his “Number One”. The neck is certainly slim but not to such extremes as the now-ultra-slim neck on “Number One”. It had a strong, beautiful sunburst finish with a red element that had faded to a dusky amber-brown, along with a clear serial number dating it to 1959. Page played this Les Paul frequently through his days with Led Zeppelin, and in the early ’80s decided to make it an even more versatile instrument. Page also added that he wanted to “explore the full range of what the two humbuckers have to offer”. He designed a switching system for coil splitting, series/parallel, and phase-reverse options for both pickups, and employed a skilled electronics technician to devise a working schematic and make his sonic vision a reality. The result comprised a push/pull pot on each of the guitar’s four standard controls, plus two push-button switches hidden beneath the pickguard, all mounted on a ’59 Les Paul Standard that is otherwise a superb example of the breed, both in tone and playability.
The Custom Shop Jimmy Page “Number Two” Les Paul was recreated with intense, inch-by-inch examination of Page’s original guitar, inside and out. The process of getting it right involved the production of a number of hand-built prototypes, each of which was checked and critiqued in detail by Page himself. Approval of the final iteration was only offered after the legendary artist had intricately examined and extensively played this last prototype in his London home—after which it was given the thumbs-up, worthy of being the template for the Custom Shop Jimmy Page “Number Two” Les Paul. Only 325 examples will be produced in total: The first 25 instruments are to be aged by vintage-reproduction master Tom Murphy then inspected, played and hand signed and numbered by Jimmy Page personally. An additional 100 guitars will be given the extensive aging treatment and 200 will be finished to Gibson’s VOS specs.
For more information, please visit http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-Custom/Jimmy-Page-Number-Two-Les-Paul.aspx
This is a Press Release
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it’s about time jimmy page got his own guitar line, anyways love the guitar, i would buy it ,but dont have the money
Buying based on historical authenticity of neck profile, wood, etc. is for collectors, not players. For players, the guitar either sounds good to your ears and feels right to your hands or it doesn’t. Gibsons are still hand made and therefore quality can vary greatly so you need to demo lots of them to find the one that strikes you. (I demoed at least 7 LP Studio Faded’s before finding a killer. Epi’s are assembly line built and therefore very consistent, but consistently dull.
It seems like such a simple thing: Build the world’s best electric guitar.
Gibson has done it repeatedly in the past.
In my opinion they are no longer the benchmark of quality they once were. Just because it says “Gibson” on the headstock doesn’t mean it will be worth playing, or owning, and certainly not worth the slow-burning aching desire of guitarists worldwide.
this guitar as well as all gibson’s not 50’s 60’s orig. are shit i just sold a brand new gibson 2008 les paul flame top for penny’s to get a BETTER guitar.this gibson was the worst thing i ever held and i paid well over 2000.00 for it.i now have a ee code epi les paul and it kills the gibson with ease.im so pissed gibson does this i wished they would just go out of bus.and do us all a favor.this epi sluagter a gibson 2006 jimmy page #1 my epi killed it 3 diff guitar players played both side by side and you know what after doin some research we found the 05 -07 epi les paul standards have the SAME neck profile as a jimmy page i mean these neck’s are so close it is crazy.i was blown away.not only this i noticed my epi had a deeper top carve than the page lp.mine weigh’s around 11 lbs the page 7.6oz in 1959 NO les paul went under 9 lbs NONE OF THEM.we also checked the inlay’s on both guitars and guess what the epi lp was stunning as the gibson looked like crapy yellow plastic. yes my epi is not worth what a gibson is but i bet anything it will blow the new gibson away with ease.gibson’s are now ranked #3 in the world for set neck guitars now they used to be #1 but now.nope.epi was #1 edwards #2 and esp (edwards is a comp from esp)was4th so what does this say 3 china comp.blowing the doors off of gibson with killer guitars at great great prices.it is worth it.and besides in 1977 jimmy page done a int.and in it he stated to not using gibson’s to record with most were fender and cheap knockoffs. yes he used gibson live were people could see him use it( company endors.deal must use are guitar live)jimmy page has been with gibson guitars since 1968 when he got a bb lp custom (made for him)see it is not what you use but how you use it 😉 ask jimmy page yourself.letz see 8 out of 10 tracks on most zep records were a strat and tele with a great dist.that’s it he had rodger mayer build a dist.unit that had a way of making a fender single coil breakup and sound like a humbucker drivin les paul.and yall know that gibson guitars has been cheating you for years hint hint chambering/weight relife/thinner tops.plastic inlay’s and other stuff as wood that is to young. so keep goin for gibson while they are charging you for something that aint there in 1959 a gibson sunburst cost 224.00 now day’s a REISSUE of this guitar is close to 7500.00 wow big leap huh.and you know what eles the specs are really not that close to a real 1959.finish/inlay’s/wood/glue/tunners/tapered headstock/large heels/SOLID WOOD BODY AND NECK/use of aged wood/the electronics/ all these things are diff on a reissue but yet you pay 7500.00 for something that aint even close?hell even the neck proflie on the reissue’s are not even close they are est by gibson of what it SHOULD be.but it aint.i hate gibson they treat us like doggs put out overpriced shit.(and yes i said shit) this is wrong so now i ask you who is screwing who? go get a gibson that aint even a gibson anymore 😉 gibson now are what an epi is they are so close but 1500.00 dollar diff. is it worth it?HELL NO and this page is goin for 11,000.00 for a run of the mill one(bullshit) it cost gibson about 300.00 to 400.00 to build a les paul flame top where is the rest? oh yeah a name that aint worth piss anymore.do yourself a solid by a epi/edwards/burny/greco and say to gibson blow me with your shit guitar that are getting WORST everyday.