Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Holy Grail!

Most guitar historians and collectors consider the 1959 Les Paul Standard to be the "holy grail" of Les Pauls and all guitars of the modern era. Although the only significant change made that year was to flatter, wider frets that allowed more dramatic bends, the impact of that change was not truly realized until the 1960's when rock and blues players like Eric Clapton, Michael Bloomfield, and Peter Green discovered the magical sound and feel of the Les Paul Standard. To commemorate this classic instrument, Epiphone introduces the Limited Edition "1959" Les Paul Standard. Epiphone has had a long history with Les Paul going back to the 1940's when Les would visit the Epiphone factory in New York at night and work on what has come to be known as the first solid body electric guitar. This Limited Edition pays homage to the man who started it all.

The Epiphone Les Paul Standard includes a certificate of authenticity as well as Epiphone's Limited Lifetime Warranty and 24/7/365 Customer Service. If you don't have the wallet for a real "1959" or want a professional instrument that you can perform with night after night, this complete package is for you. But hurry. Quantities are limited to only 1,959.

Historic Detail

Other unique features of this "1959" include a Switchcraft™ toggle switch, Mallory-150 tone capacitors, amber "top hat" knobs with metal pointers, nickel hardware, a blank trussrod cover and a "stamped" serial number on the back of the headstock. To top it all off, the guitar includes a replica Lifton-style case with brown exterior and pink interior. Very cool!

Hearing is Believing

Capturing everything these tonewoods and premium construction have to give are a pair of Gibson U.S.A. BurstBucker™ pickups. BurstBucker™ pickups replicate the sound of Gibson's original "Patent Applied For" pickups that gave the '59 Les Paul Standard its legendary sound. And like the originals, the “1959’s” pickups have unpolished magnets and non-potted coils. Variations in pickup output and tone also came from inconsistencies in winding the bobbins, a result of the lack of automatic shutoffs on Gibson's winding machines in the late 1950s. Seth Lover, who invented the humbucker, always said in that in the old days, Gibson workers wound the bobbins "until they were full." When two coils in a pickup have a different number of turns, that variation puts a little "edge" or "bite" on the classic humbucker sound. That's the sound BurstBuckers™ replicate. The neck pickup is a Burstbucker-2 and is wound in the range of Gibson's '57 Classic. The bridge pickup is a Burstbucker-3 but is slightly over-wound with a hotter output. One listen and you'll think you have a vintage 1959 in your hands!

Premium Components and Authentic Features

Epiphone's Les Paul Standard has been a fan- favorite for over a decade. Starting with the same successful recipe, Epiphone significantly steps it up on this Limited Edition "1959" reissue. True to its heritage, the neck features an authentic, 1950's rounded “D” profile. Often referred to as "the baseball bat", this neck feels beefy yet comfortable in your hands while adding warmth and sustain with its greater mass. Epiphone hand fits this solid mahogany neck into the body with a historically accurate "deep-set" long neck tenon that extends well into the neck pickup cavity creating even more tone and sustain. And just like traditional Les Paul Standards, the back of the body is solid mahogany while the top is a carved Hard maple cap. Then a premium AAA grade flame maple veneer is attached capturing the true "beauty of the burst".