VINTAGE VAULT
1958 Gibson Les Paul Model Serial #8 1131
BY DAVE ROGERS, LAUN BRAITHWAITE AND TIM MULLALLY
By the early 1950s, popular recording artist Les Paul had been working on a solidbody guitar for a number of years. Only
the impressive sales of Fender’s solidbody, the Telecaster, finally convinced
Gibson to consider his idea and come up
with one of its own. Gibson approached
Les Paul, and with his input, the Les Paul
Model solidbody guitar was introduced
in 1952. The model evolved through the
1950s as practical improvements were
made in its design.
The Les Paul featured this month is
among the last with the original gold-colored finish (the finish changed to
cherry sunburst later that year). This guitar shows all the improvements that were
made up until 1958. These include the
stop tailpiece (1954), the Tune-o-matic
bridge (1956), and Patent Applied For
(PAF) humbucking pickups (1957).
The humbucking pickup was well received
when it came out in the ’50s, but didn’t
reach its full potential until the heavier
rock and blues players of the late ’60s dis-
covered its capabilities. The PAF pickups
used on late ’50s and early ’60s Gibsons
are still considered the best sounding
humbuckers today.
More detailed information on Gibson Les
Paul guitars can be found in The Early
Years of the Les Paul Legacy 1915-1963
by Robb Lawrence.
