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Gibson Custom 1959 Les Paul Standard Reissue Electric Guitar - Murphy Lab Light Aged Dirty Lemon

Solidbody Electric Guitar with Mahogany Body, Maple Top, Mahogany Neck, Rosewood Fingerboard, and 2 Humbucking Pickups - Dirty Lemon
2 Write review Item ID: LPR59LADL
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Gibson Custom 1959 Les Paul Standard Reissue Electric Guitar - Murphy Lab Light Aged Dirty Lemon
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This Classic Reissue from Gibson will Transport You Back

If you know, you know. And if you don’t, here is our chance to introduce you to one of the absolute legends in the world of the solidbody electrics: the 1959 Les Paul. With the 1959 Les Paul Standard Reissue Light Aged Electric Guitar, Gibson offers a dead ringer to the original that captures the tone, playability, and presentation of an instrument that has been sought out by just about every rock guitarist of the past six decades — collectors, vintage shops, and even pawn stores have all been invaded by players searching for this classic. The 1959 Reissue Light Aged features a 1-piece lightweight mahogany back with a 2-piece figured maple top with a hide-glue fit. This combo yields an incredible blend of tone that is heavy on the treble with a lush low end — an ideal balance for soaring leads and punchy chords. A pair of CustomBucker pickups cuts through the mix with classic PAF tone. And a solid mahogany, ’59 profile "C"-shape neck with Indian rosewood fingerboard offers a one-of-a-kind response and feel. Finally, a Murphy Lab Light Aged finish lends a vintage patina that is sure to captivate you and your audience.

Related Videos: 1959 Les Paul Standard Reissue Electric Guitar - Murphy Lab Light Aged Dirty Lemon

CustomBucker pickups deliver pure vintage PAF tone

Gibson Custom paid just as much attention to this guitar's electronics as they did to its aesthetics. Every part of its internal signal path was designed to deliver dead-on 1959 Les Paul tone. Of course, it's next to impossible to find genuine '50s PAFs (even for Gibson). Instead, the 1959 Les Paul Standard Reissue sports a pair of unpotted Gibson CustomBucker Alnico III humbuckers. The CustomBucker is the most historically accurate PAF copy ever. Take it from Sweetwater's guitar experts: the Gibson Custom 1959 Les Paul Standard Reissue nails the original look, sound, and feel of a 1959 Les Paul.

Authentic ’59 "C" neck and Plek'd frets for optimized playability

Comfort and playability were two of Gibson's primary concerns when they designed this 1959 Les Paul Standard Reissue. You'll be delighted at how this guitar's authentic ’59 "C" profile neck comfortably fills your hand in just the right way. For your playing pleasure, the bound Indian rosewood fingerboard is buffed to silky smoothness and the frets are dressed to perfection using a Plek Pro machine for optimized playability. Typically reserved for top-dollar custom guitars, this process levels the frets with pinpoint precision, providing you with the most playable fretboard you'll ever own.

Artfully aged in Gibson Custom Shop's Murphy Lab

Under the leadership of Master Artisan Tom Murphy, Gibson Custom Shop's Murphy Lab performs one specific function: to craft artfully aged instruments using the most cutting-edge tools available. These guitars are targeted to one of four distinct levels of age and wear, ranging from Ultra-Light to Ultra-Heavy. The 1959 Reissue Light Aged features intense, unique lacquer checking patterns, along with dings, pick trails, finish flaking, and softened edges. It's akin to a guitar that was subjected to 50-plus years of average playing use. VOS patina hardware puts the final touch on this exquisite instrument. Beyond that, this guitar's extra-rolled fingerboard binding mimics the broken-in look and feel of a Golden-era Gibson. If you clamor for the authenticity and distinct character of a well-worn vintage-style instrument, there's a Murphy Lab-aged guitar that will feel like it was tailor-made just for you.

Gibson Custom 1959 Les Paul Standard Reissue Light Aged Electric Guitar Features:

  • Accurate reproduction of a 1959 Les Paul Standard
  • Every detail meticulously re-created to give you the look, sound, and feel of a vintage 1959 model
  • Lightweight mahogany body with beautiful figured maple top
  • Authentic ’59 "C" profile neck topped with an Indian rosewood fretboard
  • Period-correct details include vintage-style Kluson single-line/single-ring tuners, replica laminated cellulose acetate butyrate pickguard, and original cellulose nitrate trapezoid inlays
  • CustomBucker Alnico III pickups for dead-on vintage PAF tone
  • 500K CTS pots, handwired harness, paper-in-oil capacitors, and Switchcraft switch
  • Hide-glued mahogany neck with long neck tenon for exceptional sustain and response

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Tech Specs

  • General
  • Number of Strings 6
  • Left-/Right-handed Right-handed
  • Body
  • Body Type Solidbody
  • Body Shape 1959 Les Paul Standard
  • Body Material Mahogany
  • Top Material 2-Piece Figured Maple
  • Body Finish Nitrocellulose Lacquer, Light Aged
  • Color Dirty Lemon
  • Neck
  • Neck Material Mahogany
  • Neck Shape Authentic '59 Medium C
  • Neck Joint Set Neck
  • Radius 12"
  • Fingerboard Material Indian Rosewood
  • Fingerboard Inlay Cellulose Nitrate Trapezoids
  • Number of Frets 22, Medium Jumbo
  • Scale Length 24.75"
  • Nut Width 1.6875"
  • Nut Material Nylon
  • Hardware
  • Bridge/Tailpiece ABR-1 Adjustable Bridge with Lightweight Aluminum Stopbar
  • Tuners Kluson Single Line
  • Electronics
  • Neck Pickup Custombucker Alnico 3 Humbucker
  • Bridge Pickup Custombucker Alnico 3 Humbucker
  • Controls 2 x volume, 2 x tone
  • Switching 3-way toggle pickup switch
  • Miscellaneous
  • Strings Gibson, .010-.046
  • Case/Gig Bag Hardshell Case
  • Manufacturer Part Number: LPR59LADLNH1

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Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5

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Amazed, simply amazed!

Just a simple , quick review! I bought two Dirty Lemons and one Cherry Teaburst Murphy Lab Les Pauls. These thing (all three) are all simply amazing … each in there own unique right! The setup on all three guitars is the best setup on any new guitar I've ever
purchased. All three guitars have the tone you'd expect out of a 59' Les Paul … near perfect in my book! I've been playing my early (1997) Custom Shop Les Paul since purchasing it new and the transition was absolutely seamless. I had no idea how close my Custom Shop LP neck was to the real deal … playing my Murphy Labs LPs confirms it! That's where the similarities end. These guitars are the real deal! Find a dealer and check-out what the rage is all about! And then, call your Sweetwater rep and buy one … thank you Kent Sallaz for all the assistance throughout the past years!
by Tim from Colorado on
Music background: Former GC guitar slinger and over 50 years of guitar playing and learning.

A unique, astonishing instrument/artwork

In short, I think that this is a beautiful, unique, astonishing guitar (and it smells amazing, and the case even more so!). The tone is woody, throaty, roaring, growling, singing, depending on knob settings (amp, effects, etc.) and technique (I tend to strike robustly with a dime). And, as expensive as this guitar is, I think that on the whole it's worth it.

However, I do understand the point of view of the anti-relicing camp. When I first saw the Fender Custom Shop relics, I confess that my initial reaction was negative. That's changed now, but at the time I guess it was a default reaction to just the very idea of something taking cheap shortcuts, using surface appearance or fake theatrics, in order to pass itself off as something else (usually something of greater value).

That was a few years ago. In the intervening time I've grown to love the idea of, as well as the look of, reliced guitars. I even considered applying myself to learning how to perform the relicing process, just out of interest. But I gave the idea up after a while, realizing it'd be more of a time sink than I wanted to invest.

My point of view these days is that ordinary production-line instruments are the only natural guitars (ones that are completely unaffected in the sense of trying to be something they're not). If you want a true, natural, vintage guitar, then buy a perfectly regular, unassuming, off-the-shelf model today and then wait 60 years. That's natural. And that's the only thing that's natural.

Everything else is artificial to some greater or lesser degree. The moment you start going out of your way, doing unnatural acts, that's when things become artificial. Any reissue with a VOS (vintage original spec) is unnatural, by that standard. The parts and processes you'd use naturally are whatever modern parts and best practices you can afford, and/or are appropriate for the instrument's price point. But with a VOS, someone's gone out of their way to use parts and processes that they wouldn't otherwise use. So that's a new guitar pretending to be something it's not, already.

So, in the spirit of being hung for a sheep just as well as for a lamb, it seems to me that once you've gone off of the beaten, natural path, then you might as well just go the whole hog and relic that VOS instrument, too. In other words, not only pretend it's from 1959 by making it out of 1959 parts and processes; but pretend it's from 1959 by also making it look as beat up as it would be if it really were from 1959.

So that's where my head's at right now in terms of my attitude towards this kind of thing. I can see both sides of the argument. But I'm in the pro camp now. Back to the guitar.

The maple top's figuring is sublime; in terms of the way the striped grain morphs depending on viewing angle (the 3D effect), I'd say that it rivals and possibly exceeds the beauty of a Paul Reed Smith 10-top. My Les Paul is Dirty Lemon, although these Murphy Dirty Lemons are 'bursts (of a kind) because there's a lovely gradient, taking you from a bright golden honey lemon yellow in the middle out to more of a caramel color toward the binding.

My Les Paul is Light Aged, and the lacquer checking doesn't jump out at you unduly; it reveals its glory in the right light. And the checking is everywhere (except the fretboard). It runs right across the neck joint, for example, revealing how late it was done in the build. And it makes the back of the neck feel distinctly textured to the touch. Not enough to affect speed; in fact I'd hazard a guess that it'll be a little less prone to getting sticky than a regular perfectly smooth gloss neck. Anyway, the checking looks very natural (it's not natural; it just looks natural), and it's very pleasing to behold. I think my favorite place is the front of the simple, undecorated, black-painted headstock, where of course there's also the subtle chipping and paint flaking you find elsewhere on the body. Looking at that plain-but-beautiful vintage-design headstock, you could easily imagine you were looking at a 60 year old guitar.

This lacquer is reportedly the same formula as the nitrocellulose stuff used in the 50s. And that stuff was "imperfect and brittle", they admit. Which is a necessary quality for the checking technique (whatever that is, but you can be sure it's not done with a razor blade any longer). But it makes me wonder whether this artificial (to use my previous definition) finish will in fact start falling off at an accelerated rate. Time will tell. And, tbh, I doubt it.

In terms of weight, I'll compare it to two other guitars that are also homages to the 1959 LP. It's about the same weight as the Paul Reed Smith McCarty 594, and lighter than the Yamaha SG2000.

This is a near-perfect guitar, I'd say. The only two nits I'd pick (so far) are these. One, the bridge pickup cover is appropriate tarnished to simulate age, while the neck is completely pristine. So those look incongruous side by side. Two, I think that the cavities could have been shielded better. I don't know whether this guitar is shielded at all, since I haven't taken off any covers yet. But I am hearing a small amount of RF interference with the guitar pointed in a particular direction (in the direction of a cell tower, maybe). It goes away when I touch the strings/bridge/whatnot. So if there is shielding I'd guess it's that paint stuff, and not copper tape. The RF buzz is very mild, though, so I'm in two minds as to whether I'll feel like doing yet another proper shielding job. I've had to do it on the PRS and on two Strats, so cases like this (manufacturers selling insufficiently shielded guitars) aren't unusual, even for premium-priced guitars.
by Steven White from Redmond, WA on
See also: Solid Body Guitars, Gibson Custom, Gibson Custom Solidbody Guitars
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