Gibson Guitars

We were quite surprised by how many Gibson guitars we've restored / upgraded / modified over the years. Here we have a sampling of some of our "keeper" guitars, and some of those that got away!

2003 Gibson Les Paul Platinum

Here's something that you don't see all that often... it's a Limited Edition (one year only) 2003 Gibson Les Paul Platinum, finished all over in satin Platinum and originally fitted with brushed nickel hardware (bridge, tailpiece, pickup covers, switch and Grover tuners), and platinum/grey plastics resulting in a very monochromatic "Tin Man" look. 

This guitar was a body/neck restoration project, so in the absence of the original brushed nickel hardware we opted to trick it out in chrome & black beginning with a nice set of chrome covered Gibson 490R/498T 4-conductor pickups set in black pickup rings and wired to a pair of push/pull pots for coil-splitting, chrome Gibson tunematic bridge and tailpiece, hard-to-find Gibson black & mirror reflector knobs, chrome Grover Rotomatics tuners, and a custom mirror finish pickguard and truss rod cover from Greasy Groove out on the East Coast. And did you notice that fingerboard? A nice slab of ebony with NO fret markers. 

And if that's not enough, we also have a similarly appointed 2003 Gibson SG Platinum to match! 

2008 Gibson Les Paul Classic - VS

This is our go-to Les Paul. The control cavity has been upgraded from 300K to 500K Volume pots and .022uf Emerson PIO tone capacitors. The open coil pickups have also since been upgraded with nickel covers to complement the surrounding hardware. What we love about the Classic are the hot 496R/500T ceramic pickups!

2008 Gibson Les Paul Robot Limited Edition - Modified

This is a rare Silverburst version of the first series run of the Les Paul Robot. Note the ebony fingerboard and the white binding up and down the neck and around the headstock!

The original stock Tronical robotic tuners were a good idea at the time, but it didn’t take long before the novelty wore off so they have since been removed and replaced with chrome Grover locking tuners, and the control plate (with MCK) has been replaced with a fully upgraded Gibson push/pull PCB with 500K CTS push/pull Volume pots with Orange Drop treble bleed circuits and Emerson Bumblebee PIO tone caps (.022uf in the Bridge circuit and a .015uf in the Neck circuit), and the original 2-conductor 490R/498T pickups were replaced with 4-conductor 490R/498T pickups. This guitar is far more useable and playable now then it was in its original state.

All parts stored in the case so the the guitar can be returned to stock - but why?