We are happy to have this 2014 Gibson Custom Shop Collector’s Choice #12 Les Paul Standard Goldtop in near mint condition and in perfect working order. This aged Historic Les Paul is a cut above your typical Custom Shop model, with the Collector’s Choice series offering exacting replicas of unique vintage examples in limited production runs of 300 instruments or less.

Gibson Custom’s Collector’s Choice series recreates specific vintage Les Pauls held in notable collections, providing players around the world the opportunity to experience the precise look, feel, and tone of some of the rarest guitars in history. All Les Pauls selected for the series are extremely special, and Collector’s Choice #12 is a faithful replica of a 1957 Goldtop owned by Henry Juszkiewicz, CEO of Gibson at the time of production. Based on access to the original, this Goldtop was digitally scanned by Gibson and its tone, playability, and unique aging documented and then recreated in the hands of the world’s finest team of luthiers.

A guitar that offers all the accurate vintage spec touches of Gibson’s current Custom Shop Historic lineup, this Goldtop features the vintage-spec redesigned plastics that Gibson introduced in 2014, as well as custom wound Custom Bucker PAF humbuckers, a lightweight aluminum tailpiece, and a baseball bat neck profile carve. The instrument is particularly lightweight at 8 lb. 15 oz; professionally setup w/accurate intonation, and low action.

The mahogany neck has a round baseball bat C-shaped carve with ample shoulder and lightly rolled fretboard edges. The slender “banjo” frets show virtually no wear with perfectly rounded crowns, and the guitar plays effortlessly up the 24 3/4″ scale. The fretboard features ambered binding and red side dots, and the nylon nut measures 1 11/16″ in width. On the headstock, the single line reissue tuners have sharp-edged transparent keystone buttons that flawlessly mimic vintage Klusons. The back of the headstock notes the Collector’s Choice model in addition to the inked # 007 serial #.

The electronics include the original pair of Custom Bucker PAFs, with untouched wiring and Bumblebee tone capacitors. The Custom Shop R7 (1957 reissue) marking is also present in the corner of the control cavity, along with a traditional inked Custom Shop 7-prefix serial stamped central to the cavity. The nickel hardware is factory aged, and the lightweight aluminum tailpiece guarantees optimal top end articulation and zing. Given the factory aging treatment to match the wear present on the original Goldtop, it’s difficult to separate any genuine playwear from the relic process, but suffice it to say that this guitar has seen sparingly little use since new.

The original brown Lifton-style hardshell case with pink interior is included, along with the COA booklet, factory paperwork & hangtags.