Gibson Guitars | CME Exclusive
Gibson guitars, but make it cme exclusive!
For over 20 years, the Gibson Custom Shop has been building a legacy on American craftsmanship and human ingenuity. They firmly believe that there remains a place in the world for the best of the best, and the value of their achievement extends well beyond the glossy sheen and gratifying weight of a well-crafted guitar. These guitars are equal parts their mission, and ours.
USA SG Standard w/ Tortoise Pickguard &T-Type Pickups
What’s this? A custom line of SG Standards, designed and built exclusively for Chicago Music Exchange? That’s right. Our very own Dan Bordonaro and Joel Bauman worked in close collaboration with Gibson USA’s Master Luthier Jim DeCola to create this custom run of double-cut crazy, featuring all kinds of stuff you’re not soon to see, or possibly ever see, on any SG outside of our Lincoln Ave. showroom. Believe us. This is big. And if these SGs don’t already have their horns in you by now, they will.
1960 Les Paul Standard
Based off our very own "Scarface" Les Paul, our Gibson Custom 1960 Les Paul Standards are a true thing of beauty, and an incredibly close recreation of the original - trust us, we've seen it.
Featuring some of our most flamed-out, hand-picked tops, our '60 LPs feature all the appointments that made the originals so great- right down to the all hide-glue construction.
SHOP 1960 LES PAUL STANDARDS

1959 Les Paul Standard
This is it. The 1959 Les Paul Standard in all its glory...just better than the original. With insane hand-picked tops and fingerboards, completely historically-accurate VOS hardware, Carmelita hand-carved necks and Custom Bucker pickups, the '59 Les Paul has never looked or sounded better than it does in one of our exclusive Burst finishes.
We worked tirelessly with the talented luthiers at the Gibson Custom Shop to produce the highest possible quality '59 Les Paul. Our models seem to come straight out of a custom order form from 1959, and will look great and sound even better for decades to come.




SHOP 1959 LES PAUL STANDARDS
1958 Les Paul Standard
It all started here. '58 was the first year the iconic "Sunburst" finish was added to the Les Paul, giving it the legendary "Burst" name it has grown into today. Our '58 Bursts honor tradition, but cherry-pick the best of the best features from the stories '58-'60 timeline.
With '59 and '60 profile necks, you can choose your Burst to look like a '58, but feel like a '59 or '60 with painstakingly accurate, true-historic specs and hardware.
SHOP 1958 LES PAUL STANDARDS

1957 Les Paul Standard
With hand selected tops and fingerboards, custom finishes, and true historic specs, our '57 Les Paul Standards are designed to help you stand out from the crowd while giving you access to those highly sought-after vintage Les Paul specs at a fraction of the cost of an original.
SHOP 1957 LES PAUL STANDARDS
1956 Les Paul Standard
Our '56 Les Pauls are completely unique, unbelievably-accurate modern versions of highly coveted vintage LP's with custom finish options that you wish were around back in the day. With hand-carved Carmelita necks and Custom Shop P90 Soap Bar pickups, the only way to get a more authentic vintage owning experience is to find a genuine '56 itself.


SHOP 1956 LES PAUL STANDARDS
Memphis ES-335 Dot w/VOS Hardware & T-Type Pickups
The classic ES-335 goes CME and gets an exclusive finishes and T-Type treatment!
From it's inaugural appearance in 1958, the Gibson ES-335 set an unmatched standard. The pearloid dot inlay rosewood fingerboard on a hand-rolled Rounded "C" mahogany neck remind players where it all started. CME Exclusive T-Type pickups are paired with our MTC Plus control assembly. The result, is that versatile Gibson ES tone that players have craved for over 60 years. Tuning stability and precise intonation are provided by the Grover "Milk Bottle" tuners, ABR-1 bridge with titanium saddles, and locking tail piece studs.
SHOP CME EXCLUSIVE GIBSON ES-335
Gibson is guitar history, and Gibson “CME Spec” is guitar history in the making. Thoughtfully designed with our favorite historic specs, custom colorways, and components you won’t find anywhere else, these exclusive models are love letters to one of rock’s most fundamental brands—big, bold, brash, and breathtaking, just the way they should be.
SHOP ALL CME EXCLUSIVE GIBSON
Related Posts
Epiphone & Gibson Custom Shop | Noel Gallagher Signature Electric Guitars
Watch any of the Oasis music videos from the height of the band’s mid-’90s heyday—like “Don’t Look Back In Anger” or “Champagne Supernova,” for example—or live concert footage from that era, and you’re sure to see the guitar that started it all for Noel Gallagher. While the guitarist played various Gibson and Epiphone guitars during the early Oasis tours, it was his ‘80s Epiphone Riviera in a Dark Wine Red finish that really stood out.
View DetailsINTRODUCING | God City Instruments
Designed by Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou, God City Instruments straddles the line between old-school aesthetics and modern power. Featuring high-quality components, plus a no-frills approach to craftsmanship, GCI guitars and basses combine Ballou’s favorite features, with an aim to provide unique, great-sounding tools for today’s working musicians, so they can continue shaping the sound of tomorrow’s music. Shop God City Instruments at Chicago Music Exchange, today!
View DetailsBoutique Guitar Showcase | 2022
Nine countries, 24 cities, and thousands and thousands of miles, but the Boutique Guitar Showcase finds its way back to the Chicago Music Exchange again! Catch the Chicago leg of its worldwide tour on Saturday, September 10th, when the mobile guitar convention stops by our beautiful Lincoln Avenue showroom to share and sell masterworks from some of the world’s finest boutique builders.
View Details