While not on display at NAMM this year, this is a guitar I thought everyone might be interested in having another look at. While I haven’t played this version of the Page guitar, I have played several versions of the original VOS Page #1 guitar and found them all to be very well done. While I’m not a fan of Gibson’s pricing structure for these artist guitars, they still are fun to look at, and hey, we can still dream can’t we!
From the Gibson.com Website:
“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.
Body
Crafted from a uniquely figured two-piece Eastern maple top attached to a one-piece, solid, lightweight, genuine mahogany back, the Custom Shop Jimmy Page Number Two Les Paul follows the body lines and dimensions of the original ’59 Les Paul Standard.
Neck and Headstock
The neck of the Custom Shop Jimmy Page “Number Two” Les Paul is constructed from one piece, quarter-sawn, lightweight mahogany for improved strength and resonance. The Luthiers in Gibson’s Custom Shop carefully match the grains and weights of these guitars’ bodies and necks to optimize tone and sustain.
Hardware
The Jimmy Page Number Two Les Paul is equipped with top of the line hardware. From the Grover tuners to the stopbar tailpiece to the period-correct “antique bell” truss rod cover, it retains and replicates every bit of its predecessor’s strength.
Electronics
On this Les Paul, each of the controls’ potentiometers has been replaced with a push-pull pot for individual pickup switching functions, while two miniature push-pull DPDT switches have been mounted under the pickguard to provide additional universal switching functions.”
Photo Credit: Ross Halfin
There is a great new exhibit worth checking out at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art called “Guitar Heroes: Legendary Craftsmen from Italy to New York.” The exhibit features the work of John D’Angelico, James D’Aquisto and John Monteleone who are famed for the archtop guitars and mandolins, along with many other Italian builders including Stradivari. The exhibit runs from February 9th through July 4th.
Ray Neyens, Editor
Paul Schille, Editor
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