Guitar Review Ninja

In an effort to jump start the steadily declining sales of the Les Paul Model, Gibson abandoned the familiar gold finish and used a translucent, cherry sunburst finish which showed off the figured maple tops that were often used on Les Pauls. The renamed Les Paul Standard made its debut in 1958. Now part of Gibson’s proprietary new Vintage Original Spec series — the next step in their journey toward perfection.

Gibson Custom Historic 1958 Les Paul Standard Vintage Original Spec Electric Guitar (with Case) Features…

Body & Hardware:

Carved plain maple top

Solid, non-weight relieved mahogany back

Single-ply cream binding on top

Thin toggleswitch washer & jackplate

Nickel hardware

ABR-1 bridge, lightweight aluminum stopbar

Neck & Headstock

1-piece mahogany neck w/ long neck tenon

22-fret rosewood fingerboard

Acrylic trapezoid inlays (accurate shape and color)

Single-ply cream binding

Early ’50s rounded neck profile

24-3/4 in. scale length, 1-11/16 in. nut width

Holly headstock veneer

Vintage tulip tuners

Electronics & Strings

BurstBucker 1 (R) and 2 (T) pickups

CTS pots and bumble bee capacitors

2 volume, 2 tone, 3-way selector switch

Vintage Reissue .010 strings

Includes Custom Shop case, certificate of authenticity, and custom care kit.

Buy Gibson Custom Historic 1958 Les Paul Standard Vintage Original Spec Electric Guitar (with Case)

I've been playing for over 30 years, mostly semi pro (50-60 gigs/year) and I've owned dozens of guitars over the years. Every since I bought a Historic/Custom Shop Reissue 61' SG Custom in Phelem blue I thought, I've got to find a Les Paul that's as good as this SG. The SG was amazing in the quality, finish, and sound. I've considered 58' Historics, 59' Historics, Standards, everything that I could find on the net but I'm glad I bought this guitar! Many of the other posts on this guitar attribute the fantastic sound of this guitar to the pick up and I don't disagree, I think they are probably the most satisfying Gibson style pick ups I have heard in a Les Paul. But a guitar has to have a great sound to start with or great pickups won't help much. The moment I strummed this guitar unplugged I could hear it's unbelievable resonance and sustain. This guitar is an amazing instrument. I thought I'd never paid this kind of money for a guitar but this is the best guitar I have ever had in my hands. My guitar is more on the mellow side tonally but it will scream on the lead pickup and purr on the bass pickup. The thing I like is it doesn't get all muddy on the bass pickup yet not too trebly on the lead pickup – perfect combo! I'm playing through a Germino Lead 55 (think 68'plexi) it doesn't get much better than this! Clean, it sounds warm, soulful and inviting, cranked, it will scream like the best Paul's of the 50's & 60's.

This guitar just shipped from the factory to Russo Music the week of March 26th. I had been looking at all kinds of Pauls on the net and in local stores for months. When I saw this one and reviewed the features, it sounded like the guitar I was looking for. The guitar was of course made in the Custom/Historic shop. It has a AAAAA top finished in an amazingly cool "Washed White" finish! It looks like an iceberg, white & light blue waves of color. It's the only one I've ever seen with this finish. Two burstbuckers (not sure which one's they are, Gibson didn't specify). Slim 60's style neck. Light weight (8.5lbs). Great Custom Shop case. Custom Shop/Historic goodies bag and a 15ft CBI guitar cable. Stardard Kluson tuners. Tune-o-matic bridge. No pick guard or holes for one!

The guitar play fantastic. I love the 60's style neck and I'm so glad I didn't get a 58'. The hype right now is all about the big necks – I have average to small hands and I don't like to have to work so hard with the big necks. It's a fade and will pass and in a few years I bet knowbody will want them accept big handed guys like Stevie, Hendrix and the like! The only critical comments I could make here are that I can see a little bit of plane-ing or sanding marks on the rosewood fingerboard in a few places. They don't interfere with the the playability but you can see them in bright light.

I hope to never have to test this out. I will say that I shot a "kudos" message off to Gibson's relations@Gibson.com but have never received an acknowledgement from them. Why have an email address for customer relations if no one is home! Dud.

Dino Martino (04/11/2003)

Dream Guitar

It is the best guitar I ever owned. It has the heaviest, but at the same time nicest, sound in the world. The only minus is the price.

Ivar from Zagreb, Croatia (Sep 19, 2004)

“I wanted a guitar with a modern sound, but with a vintage feel, with smaller frets and more radius on the fingerboard. It had to be subtle enough to catch nuances, fast and easy to play.” — Joe Satriani in Ibanez – The Untold Story

Ibanez JS1200 Joe Satriani Electric Guitar (with Case) Features…

JS Prestige neck

Maple neck material

Basswood body

22 6105 frets

Rosewood finger board

Edge Pro bridge

DiMarzio PAF Joe (H) neck PU

DiMarzio Fred (H) bridge PU

Abalone dot inlay

Hardware color: CK

Buy Ibanez JS1200 Joe Satriani Electric Guitar (with Case)

I've played a 1987 USA strat since I bought it in 87. It was thin sounding & weak so I upgraded the PUPs to Lace Sensor Hot Gold's. Better…. but not enough. I needed humbuckers. The JS1200 is the answer – Ibanez's Super Strat. Playing clean, it has a beautiful deep and warm tone. Almost verging on acoustic tones at times. I play through a Marshall AVT50 by the way. It doesn't need much in the way pf pedals as the Marshall has a killer OD channel. I use a Boss Blues Driver in line for a solo boost. Also use a Boss DS1 which nails that Satriani sound via the clean channel. Boss Digital Metalliser for my Van Halen attempts!

2 humbuckers: The neck PU (PAF JOE) is meaty to say the least. Strong with a rich thump. The bridge uses a PAF FRED. Its's sharper but lets all the tones through – not at all 'tinny'.

Pull the volume & the coil tap kicks in to make the guitar run in single coil mode – a la Strat. Works well. 1 gripe – pull the coil tap out & the whammy bar can't pass the volume knob. I guess they've assume you won't be doing any dive bombs unless you're humbucking.

Pull the tone & it activates the hi pass filter – brightens up the tone when at low volumes. Works well.

This guitar is my perfect match. Like a strat – but oh so much better. It does it all from clean deep sound to screaming leads. Listen to a few Satriani albums & you'll hear the range. Also, its not been one of those guitars that gets the signature but doesnt come close. This puts out Joe's tones to perfection. Haven't lifted my Strat since I bought this.

Giving a 9 for the lack of attention to detail with the whammy bar hitting the volume. Maybe thats fussy….. as I dont use it that much. The bridge by the way is a work of art – its the Edge Pro (Flloyd Rose lisenced). You can fit strings with or without the ends on this one. One the strings got broke in, its kept perfect tune.

JS1200CA Made 2005 in Japan, Candy Apple Red. Essentially a JS1000 except the headstick is colour co-ordinated & the neck pickup is a Dimarzio PAF JOE (not a PRO as in the 1000). Passive electronics – volume & tone – pull volume for coil tap, pull tone for hi pass filter to let the trebles through at low gain. Body basswood, neck maple, fretboard rosewood. Gotoh tuners and the lovliest case I've ever seen. A perfect fit & finished in plush candy apple red velour!

Loads of talk about rubbish action from the factory – and yes its true! 6th string buzzed badly on 4th & 5th fret. Just needed to lift the bridge a bit once I worked out how! Intonation was spot on all round. Neck is perfect – fast and has a real quality feel about it. Its a digitized copy of Joe's favourite so feels worn in.

The bridge & electrics areas are well routed & nicely painted inside. Good attention to detail indeed. The Chrome hardware is lovely. Only allowing 7 here – cant forgive the bad setup on this level of a guitar.

No idea! Bought from a friend who runs a music shop so I won't be worrying as I get the best of treatment.

johnny_e (07/01/2005)

Beautiful Guitar

I love this guitar! It has an awesome tone, and just sits so nice up against your body. It's like holding sweetness in your arms. When you pick it up, you can just feel the quality. The neck is smooth, the action is great. The pickups are very nice and the coil tap is a nice feature as well. Plus, the candy apple red finish is beautiful. You wont regret getting one of these guitars.

PiKapp (Feb 3, 2009)