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Gibson Custom Shop’s rarest guitars? Roger Giffin’s one-of-one “Outlaw” collection heads to auction
Some guitars are rare because only a handful were ever made. Others are rare because they represent a particularly unusual moment in an instrument maker’s history. The guitars in the Roger Giffin Outlaw Collection fall into both categories – and, remarkably, they are the only examples of their kind.
On October 20, 2026, at 10 a.m. PST, ANALOGr will open the auction for a collection of guitars crafted by master luthier Roger Giffin during his time at Gibson’s Custom Shop in Los Angeles. For collectors interested in Gibson’s history, it offers an unusual opportunity to see – and potentially acquire – instruments that existed outside the company’s conventional catalog.
Giffin arrived in Los Angeles in 1988 to establish Gibson’s Custom Shop facility, bringing an approach to guitar building rooted as much in experimentation as in traditional craftsmanship. His work would eventually encompass some remarkably unconventional interpretations of familiar Gibson designs.
The story of the Outlaw collection began with Brett Allen, a vintage gear rental specialist who became fascinated by Giffin’s work. The two began exploring ideas that went beyond Gibson’s established production models, creating instruments that combined recognizable Gibson characteristics with entirely new approaches to construction and design.
One of the most striking examples was a hollowbody Les Paul. Giffin had imagined what might happen if the familiar Les Paul architecture were combined with the construction principles of a hollowbody guitar, resulting in an instrument with f-holes and a very different character from the solidbody model on which it was based.
That guitar was just the beginning. The collection grew to include unusual Les Paul designs, baritones, basses, and other instruments that weren't part of Gibson's standard lineup. Rather than simply modifying existing models, Giffin was using the Custom Shop as a place to explore what those designs could become when the restrictions of conventional production were removed.
The instruments are particularly interesting because their differences aren't limited to finishes or hardware. Their construction, proportions, and specifications reflect Giffin's willingness to experiment with the fundamentals of the guitar as we know it. They provide a glimpse into the kind of work that can happen when an experienced builder has the freedom to follow an idea wherever it leads.
Some of those ideas also found their way into the hands of working musicians. Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, for example, encountered one of Giffin's baritone Les Pauls and was drawn to its distinctive sound. The guitars therefore became more than private experiments. They found their own place within the broader story of Gibson instruments and the musicians who played them.
For years, however, much of the collection remained largely out of public view. That relative obscurity is part of what makes the guitars so unusual today. These aren't later reproductions of an interesting Custom Shop experiment, nor are they instruments that can be recreated through a current Gibson Custom order. Rather, they come from a specific period in Giffin's career and from a particularly unconventional chapter in Gibson's Custom Shop history.
For collectors, the appeal is consequently tied as much to provenance as it is to the individual specifications of each model. Giffin is widely regarded as a master luthier, and the Outlaw instruments provide a rare look at his approach to design at a time when the possibilities of the Custom Shop were still being explored.
Perhaps the most important detail is also the simplest: these are one-of-one instruments. They are the only ones ever made.
The Giffin Outlaw Collection will go live for auction through ANALOGr at 10 a.m. PST on October 20.
For more information, visit the official ANALOGr website.
