Gibson / Les Paul Standard / 1955 / Goldtop / Guitar For Sale
There is definitely a touch of the Midas about this beautiful, 1956 spec, 1955 Gibson Les Paul Standard Goldtop tunomatic.
Developed by Ted McCarthy in 1953, the Tune-o-matic bridge was first seen on the Super-400 before making its way onto the Les Paul Custom when it was introduced in 1954. Designed to improve tuning stability and aid the intonation, this innovation was added to the Les Paul Standard in the autumn of 1955, replacing the wraparound tailpiece that has been. feature of the guitar from two years previous.
On first opening the case, the first thing that strikes you about the guitar is the colour of the glorious gold top. As you can see from the pictures, the top has crazed but there is no chipping to speak of and the colour has retained its vibrancy and hasn’t greened.
The back too is in excellent condition exhibiting only very minor buckle rash. The lacquer still has that wonderful deep gloss sheen that shows off the grain beautifully.
The neck is in excellent shape. The headstock has been cracked, well repaired and touched up and inspected by Neil Ivison of Ivison Guitars. Though its very clear in the pictures, it has been finished well and cannot be felt whilst playing. The fretboard has been refretted.
Electrics are in perfect condition with totally undisturbed solder joints on all the pots, switch and pickups. Both pickups have strong outputs that are evenly balanced.
The plastics are in great shape. The nickel part too are in fantastic condition with only some very minimal discoloration.
The guitar comes with its correct Lifton 4 latch case.
As you’d expect (or hope!) this guitar does sound as good as it looks. There is plenty of sustain evident even before you plug it in whereupon we are exposed to the sonic tour de force that is the vintage 50’s Gibson P90 pickup. The neck pickup gives us that classic bluesy, ballsy tone without losing any definition whereas the bridge is snarly and powerful without any shrillness.
Everyone has to play a Goldtop Les Paul at some point in their lives but ones like this don’t come along very often in this condition. Don’t let it get away.
ATB Guitars, UK 
Hello we’re ATB Guitars.
We are one of Europes leading sellers of vintage and rare guitars. We only sell vintage Gibson and Fender electric guitars from 1950 until 1975 and have an extensive inventory to browse in our bricks and mortar store in Cheltenham, UK or in our online web store.
Payment and p/x:
All prices are in UK GBP £ Sterling. Payment can be made by Paypal, bank transfer, cash, or money order cashiers cheque etc.
Should you not be absolutely delighted with your purchase you may return it to Cheltenham, at your own expense, within 7 days from the date of delivery for a full refund. The item must not have been altered or tampered with in any way, and it must arrive in the same condition as it left us.
Postage and shipping:
We ship within the UK by Royal Mail Recorded (small items under 2Kg), TNT or UPS and Worldwide by Royal Mail Airmail Signed For (small under 2Kg) Parcelforce, UPS or FedEx. All shipping prices include expert packing, cartons and packing materials but not insurance which is typically around 2% of items value. Currently approx shipping rates for a single guitar are as follows:
UK excluding Northern Ireland and Highlands £29
Most of mainland Europe £49
U.S.A. £129
Asia £149 - £190
Rest of World including S. America £149 - £275
