When early Les Pauls are discussed – and they are at great length – a favorite subject is the neck profile. The earliest Les Pauls had big, fat necks made of mahogany. The neck was slimmed down a bit in 1959 and it finally evolved into what’s known today as the SlimTaper neck in 1960. Some players love those huge old necks while others prefer the SlimTaper design. The Gibson Custom Les Paul Collector’s Choice #12 has a mahogany neck with the original beefy late-’50s neck profile. It lets you really lean into the neck and dig in for the best tone. The bound rosewood fingerboard is, of course, graced with classic trapezoid inlays.

In 1957, the Les Paul got an upgrade to two humbucking pickups (earlier models had single-coil P-90s). Designed by Gibson’s Seth Lover, these humbuckers were nicknamed PAFs because early examples had patent-applied-for stickers on the underside. In the following decade, a humbucker-equipped axe through a dimed tube amp became the preferred recipe for fat, snarling tone that cleaned up nicely when you rolled back your volume pot. The Gibson Custom Les Paul Collector’s Choice #12 is fitted with two Custom Shop humbuckers that deliver a tight low-end, complex midrange, and sweet treble – giving you a full tonal palette, from chimey cleans to full shred.

The Gibson Custom Les Paul Collector’s Choice #12 wears a gorgeous aged nitrocellulose lacquer finish with a distinctive patina and individual marks artfully re-created by Gibson Custom’s talented aging team. Nitro finishes – standard back in the day – are significantly thinner than today’s polyurethane finishes, allowing the guitar to breathe. Nitro finishes not only look vintage-y wonderful, but they also enhance the instrument’s tonal qualities. This guitar has the look (and feel) of an aged yet well-cared-for classic.