“Everybody wanted to know, why black? And I said, ‘Because you can see your hands move when you’re on the stage and it looks good with any outfit you wear.’”

Les Paul

Not everyday that a guitar like this turns up at the doorstep. One of 18 made in 1961 and one of the very few with the rare ink stamped '1' serial number, this is truly the last of the single cut Customs produced in Kalamazoo until the late 60’s. The finish is in great shape and has weathered time well. There are bumps and knocks with patches and a patch of buckle rash on the back. Theres a repaired hole for a switch between the controls but no other signs of repairs or breaks.

The neck too is in great condition with plenty of  patches of wear to the finish along both sides. It has had a refret and a new nut but there and the ebony fretboard is in great shape.

The hardware as you expect is worn though not excessively corroded.

Plastics are in good shape with the roll marks evident at certain angles. There is a hole for a switch on the back plate

Electrically there has been quite a few changes. The neck and bridge pickups are correct PAFs as far as we can tell. The bridge pickup has some wires added to facilitate a coil-tap and the tape is changed on both the bridge and neck pickups so they could have been rewound at some stage. The middle pickup could be a later 60's pre T-top.

There is an additional wire at the selector switch. The pots and caps are correct though the middle pickup is wired to the neck pot and in the middle switch position both middle and neck pickup are wired in series. This is not how they would have been wired from the factory so we can rectify this for you if you so wish.

The guitar comes with  hardshell case.

Even with all the changes, this guitar still has the magic sound and is a joy to play. Both neck and bridge pickups sound great and with a little finesse, the middle position will sound great. 

These guitars don’t come around very often with this much mojo. If there's a Custom shaped hole in your collection, grab this one before it gets away…