We all must surely love goldtop Gibsons so why not gawp at this genuine and full spec 1968 Gibson Les Paul Standard that left the factory very early 1969.

Following the resurgence of the Les Paul in the late 60s, thanks to the popularity of artists such as Eric Clapton, Gibson reintroduced the single cut shape in 1968 using the 1956 guitar as a model.

This guitar looks fantastic. The one piece mahogany body is stunning married to a top that, though plain, does have an interesting grain pattern. Obviously we can only see this due to the top being refinished. On close inspection under black light, this looks to have been done while ago, thankfully being confined to the top alone. The back shows signs of buckle rash although this has not gone through to the wood. It should also be noted that this guitar has all the first year features such as a single piece body and neck, dot on the ‘i’, early route and long neck tenon, features that it changed from later in 1969.

The neck too, one piece mahogany with its desirable small headstock, has retained its sheen and remained damage free. The fretboard shows no sign of wear with plenty of life left in the frets.

Plastics are in fantastic shape. The pickup cover show no sign of cracking with only a little discolouration under the strings. The pick guard and binding are in brilliant condition. Hardware is still vibrant with no hint of corrosion.

Electrically, there has been some resoldering but both pickups are correct as are the controls and sprague capacitors. Intertingy the pickups are black bobbin which must have been some of the last before they moved to clear bobbin around this period.

The guitar comes with a black telex hardshell case with purple lining that is late 69 or early ‘70 so depending on when this guitar was originally sold in the store, it may, or may not be the original case.

This guitar sounds as good as it look, both pickups being well balanced and toneful. The neck has the expected smoothness without being too bass heavy whilst the bridge pickup has plenty of bite.

This is another stunning example and probably won’t be here for long so don’t let it get away.