Gibson Custom 1955 NAMM Show Commemorative Edition Les Paul | Nugget Gold

Back in 1955, Gibson was preparing a small batch of unique instruments to display at the upcoming NAMM show in Chicago, IL. Displaying at NAMM is a super prestigious event in the music industry calendar, so Gibson sure was looking to impress! That year, Gibson displayed five distinctive Les Paul models finished in one of five custom metallic nitrocellulose lacquer car finishes. These distinctive-looking instruments were unlike anything ever produced by Gibson and certainly caught the eye of everyone who attended the show. Sadly, these original guitars and finishes were soon lost to the Gibson archives, in fact, the whereabouts of only a few of these guitars are known.

In celebration of the 70th anniversary of these rare guitars, our friends at Gibson Custom are proud to present the 1955 NAMM Show Commemorative Edition Les Paul. This special run is limited to only 70 guitars in each of the five custom colours, with the five custom metallic nitrocellulose lacquer car finishes expertly recreated by Gibson for the first time ever. 

This awesome guitar features a traditional and historically accurate 1955 Les Paul spec. It features a lightweight one-piece Mahogany body and a hide glue fitted two-piece maple cap. With this legendary tone wood pairing, you just know its going to nail that iconic early 50s Les Paul tone. The custom metallic Nugget Gold nitrocellulose finish looks super slick and gives this special instrument a unique charm. The ultra-thin nitrocellulose finish has been painstakingly aged by the Gibson Custom Murphy Lab team. The Light Aged finish treatment, paired with lightly aged hardware, simulates decades of light play wear, giving these guitars the unique character, vibe, and feel of an original example from the Gibson Golden Era.

The one-piece Mahogany neck features a long tenon neck joint, which gives this guitar a notable increase in sustain and resonance. The historically accurate 1950s Chunky D neck shape feels great underhand and gives this stunning re-issue a real vintage feel. The Indian Rosewood fingerboard is dark in colour and features 22 historic narrow/tall frets, a 12 radius, 42.85mm nut width, and aged cellulose nitrate trapezoid inlays. In typical mid 50s fashion, this guitar features a period correct low logo Gibson logo on the headstock.

A guitar these awesome needs a pickup set up to the challenge. Its fitted with a pair of cream Custom Shop P-90 Soapbar pickups that are hand-wired to 500k CTS potentiometers and paper-in-oil capacitors. Both pickups are well balanced and sound great clean or with some gain, theyll handle just about anything you want to throw at them. These guitars also feature colour-matched speed knobs, which is accurate to the original models built in 1955.

On this guitar, youll find premium hardware across the board. It features Kluson single line tuners, alongside a No-Wire ABR-1 bridge and Stop Bar tailpiece. These bridges were first introduced on the Gibson Super 400 in 1953 and were used on the 1954 Les Paul Custom, but they made their first appearance on a standard Les Paul model with the five guitars that were displayed at the 1955 NAMM Show. 

Only 70 of each of the five colours will be made, for a total of 350 guitars in this special limited production run. Dont miss out on this chance to own a piece of Gibson history!