Vintage Vibes | 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard "Burst"
See One of the Gibson Les Paul Standard Guitars That Started It All at Chicago Music Exchange!
Chicago Music Exchange is one of the only places in the world where gear lovers can have the opportunity to play any current Gibson Custom Shop Murphy Lab ’59 Les Paul Standard right alongside one of the original vintage models that inspired it!
Behold—the real deal: a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard "Burst"! “This 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard #9 0830 has been known to us for almost 20 years,” said Chicago Music Exchange CEO Andrew Yonke, “And it has been used on dozens of famous recordings under the stewardship of its previous three owners.”
Fender Highways Series Event Featuring Julia Rizik
Join us at Chicago Music Exchange on Thursday, November 30, for a special Fender event introducing the new Highway Series guitars and featuring Fender artist Julia Rizik in CME’s Lincoln Avenue showroom!
In addition to a demonstration of the new series, guests will receive Fender-branded swag. Guests will also be invited to record themselves playing a Highway Series guitar to enter an exclusive raffle!
A Bit About the Bursts
An evolution out of Gibson's first solid-body guitar models introduced in 1952, which featured a gold top and soapbar P-90 pickups, the Les Paul Standard got a new look in late 1958 when Gibson introduced a new model with a sunburst finish.
Boasting maple tops with sunburst finishes and solid Honduran mahogany bodies covered with aniline dye, Gibson's original Les Paul Standard Burst models came with a vibrant finish and deep red hue that, over time, would react to ultraviolet light and other environmental conditions to bleed, fade, and otherwise change.
“Bucking the Hum”
While the debut of the Les Paul Standard in 1958 marks the most significant visual change to the legendary model, the model had only just been granted its definitive sonic signature the year before (in 1957) with the introduction of the humbucker.
Designed to "buck the hum" of Gibson’s earlier P-90 single-coil electric guitar pickups—which Gibson installed on all Les Paul models before 1957—Seth Lover's "PAF" humbucking pickups ditched the noise altogether, boasting a full-bodied, high-output tone that is now generally agreed to be the essence of the Les Paul sound.
Historic Vintage Originals—Plus, New Reissues of Historic Instruments—@ CME
Replaced in 1961 by the body shape we now know as the SG, it wasn’t until about five years later that a few British blues guitarists gravitated to the famous single-cutaway Les Paul Standard burst models that the Gibson factory produced from 1958-1960, eventually putting the 1,700-or-so original burst Les Pauls among some of the highest-grossing vintage guitars on the planet!
By its reintroduction in 1968, the Gibson Les Paul Standard had already made its mark. From Jimmy Page to Mike Bloomfield, the Les Paul Standard Burst helped define the rock music genre and has become an invaluable part of our cultural history—plus, a centerpiece of our Gibson inventory selection here at Chicago Music Exchange!
CME House Amps: 1970's Park 2x12 50w Combo Video Demo
To try any of the Gibson Les Paul Standard models we have in store, including Gibson Custom Shop Murphy Lab editions modeled after original 1959 "Burst" models like the one you see here, call us, chat us online, or come into our Lincoln Avenue showroom today!
SHOP GIBSON GUITAR
Related Posts
Labor of Love: Marty O'Reilly
In this episode of LABOR OF LOVE, we're talking to the powerfully soulful Marty O'Reilly & the Old Soul Orchestra . Marty and the band stopped by while out touring their album, Stereoscope. We talked with Marty about how he got his start and what inspires the music that seems to possess him!
Read more
PRS Private Stock Malachite Custom 24
Personally specced by the suspiciously personable Joel Bauman, this PRS Private Stock Malachite Custom 24 approaches the unreal with a one-piece, European maple top Bauman hand-selected while at the PRS facility in Maryland, as well as a figured mahogany neck, C&C-routed trem block and control cavities, and, of course, birds to match.
Read more
Labor of Love: My Brightest Diamond
My Brightest Diamond's Shara Nova is a three-fold musician. Between composing for 400 musicians, singing on other's records or recording her own "quirky pop music" and performing under My Brightest Diamond, Nova knows how to stay busy. We sat down with Nova before the group's show at Lincoln Hall to discuss her gear and colorful life in music in this Labor of Love.
Read more