1968 Gibson Les Paul
Custom Reissue Black
Beauty Fretless Wonder
BY CHRIS KIES
Drew Jacques, a guitar hobbyist and newly minted guitar tech—by way of
the Summit School of Guitar on Vancouver
Island—naively offered his services for a
local Chamber of Commerce radio auc-
tion. Months went by and he heard nothing
about who had won the free setups or when
the winner had planned to cash them in.
“It was a dark and stormy Christmas Eve
when a stranger showed up at my front door
with this old guitar case,” recalls Jacques, a
Team Lead for the Canadian Mental Health
Association as well a certified Laughter Yoga
Leader Trainer by day and guitarist/tech by
night. “He just wanted a simple string change
and a fresh setup. The first thing I thought
about the guitar was who was the idiot that
filed down and rounded the frets [laughs]
… at this point—being a bit of a rookie—I
had no idea about the Fretless Wonder or its
peculiarly low frets.” But that soon changed
as Jacques dove deep into the history of this
particular Gibson Les Paul Custom Reissue.
YOUTUBE IT
Jacques puts the vintage axe through its
paces, sampling tones from all pickup
combinations.
You Tube search term: Les Paul NAMM
GUITAR 1968
was matched with a lower-output P- 90 in
the bridge). By 1957, most Customs were
built with two Seth Lover-designed PAF
humbuckers, but some models did feature
three PAF pickups, although the guitar
still only incorporated the standard Gibson
3-way pickup selector switch, not enabling
all the guitar’s tonal possibilities.
The Black Beauty and Fretless Wonder
were nicknames given to this instrument
because of its rich, contrasting body color
and low, nearly undetectable frets. Its original price tag was $325—a whopping $100
more than the Les Paul.
So what did Drew Jacques say when the
guitarist came back for his axe? Did he lie?
Did he offer to buy it? Or did he simply stay
quiet? Actually, he did none of the above.
When the owner came back for the guitar he
sat him down and showed him a PowerPoint
on his findings. Jacques recalls the resulting
conversation went something like this:
Customer: You’re kidding me?
Jacques: No.
Customer: You’re [expletive] kidding
me?!
Jacques: No!
Customer: What in the hell are we
going to do?
Jacques: We’re going to play the
thing, of course!
A special thanks to Drew Jacques of New
Liskeard, Ontario, for the opportunity to feature this fine instrument and its story.
Watch Jacques show off the LP Custom’s
visual highlights as he tells how he learned
about the Fretless Wonder during his first
setup job.
You Tube search term: Les Paul NAMM
GUITAR 1968
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