Gibson Debuts New, 20-Strong Original, Modern Collections
Take a look at 20-plus new models from Gibson.
It's been a long road for Gibson.
The storied company spent its 2018 wrestling with bankruptcy and extensive changes to its leadership team. However, its showing at the 2019 Winter NAMM show—Gibson had skipped the 2018 edition entirely—was notably strong, demonstrating the company's commitment to a new, leaner, more back-to-basics approach.
Ditching the Min-ETunes and widened necks of the days of yore, the new lineup includes new Les Paul Junior Double Cuts, Fifties and Sixties-spec’d LPs, plus the addition of P-90s and Vibrolas across the SG range.
Now, Gibson has unveiled its new, 20-strong Original and Modern collections.
You can take a look at each of the instruments in the gallery below.
For more info on the guitars, head on over to gibson.com.
Gibson Les Paul Standard '50s—$2,499
Gibson's new Les Paul Standard '50s features a solid mahogany body with a maple top, a rounded Fifties-style mahogany neck with a rosewood fingerboard and trapezoid inlays. It packs an ABR-1, an aluminum stop bar tailpiece, vintage deluxe tuners with keystone buttons and amber top hat knobs. The calibrated Burstbucker 1 (neck) and Burstbucker 2 (bridge) pickups are loaded with AlNiCo II magnets, audio taper potentiometers and orange drop capacitors.
Gibson Les Paul Standard '50s P90—$2,499
The Les Paul Standard '50s P90 features a solid mahogany body with a maple top and a rounded Fifties-style mahogany neck with a rosewood fingerboard and trapezoid inlays. It's equipped with an ABR-1, an aluminum stop bar tailpiece, vintage deluxe tuners with keystone buttons and amber hat knobs. The classic P-90 pickups (neck and bridge) are loaded with AlNiCo V magnets, audio taper potentiometers and orange drop capacitors.
Gibson Les Paul Standard '60s—$2,499.00
The Les Paul Standard 60's features a solid mahogany body with a AA figured maple top and a slim taper Sixties-style mahogany neck with a rosewood fingerboard and trapezoid inlays. It's equipped with a classic-style Tune-O-Matic bridge, an aluminum stop bar tailpiece, Grover Rotomatic "Kidney" tuners and gold top hat knobs with silver reflectors. The Burstbucker 61R (neck) Burstbucker 61T (bridge) pickups are loaded with AlNiCo V magnets, audio taper potentiometers and orange drop capacitors.
Gibson Les Paul Special—$1,599
Based on the Les Paul Junior, the Les Paul Special features a slab mahogany body, a fat Fifties-style mahogany neck, a rosewood fingerboard, wraparound bridge, an additional rhythm P-90 pickup, binding on the neck and additional controls for the rhythm pickup and the 3-way toggle switch.
Gibson Les Paul Junior—$1,499
The Les Paul Junior features a single cutaway slab mahogany body, a single dogear P-90 pickup, single volume and tone controls, plus a fat Fifties-style neck profile and wraparound bridge.
Gibson SG Standard '61 Maestro Vibrola—$1,999
The SG Standard '61 Maestro Vibrola features smooth vibrato effects and a Lyre engraving on the tailpiece cover. Standard features include a slim taper mahogany neck and a bound rosewood fingerboard. The mahogany body features a deeply sculpted body scarfing, a 5-ply teardrop pickguard and a 22nd-fret neck joint. The nickel plated hardware includes a classic-style Tune-O-Matic bridge and keystone tuners in addition to the Maestro Vibrola Tailpiece. The pickups are 61R and 61T humbuckers, while the controls are audio taper potentiometers and orange drop capacitors.
Gibson SG Standard '61 Sideways Vibrola—$1,999
The Gibson SG Standard '61 Sideways Vibrola features a Sideways side-pull action vibrato, similar to those found on the early Sixties models. Standard features include a slim taper mahogany neck and a bound rosewood fingerboard. The mahogany body features a deeply sculpted body scarfing, a 5-ply teardrop pickguard and a 22nd-fret neck joint. The nickel plated hardware includes a classic-style Tune-O-Matic bridge and keystone tuners in addition to the Sideways Vibrola Tailpiece. The pickups are 61R and 61T humbuckers, while the controls are audio taper potentiometers and orange drop capacitors.
Gibson SG Standard '61—$1,799
The Gibson SG Standard '61 retains the styling of the original, featuring a slim taper mahogany neck and a bound rosewood fingerboard. The mahogany body features deeply sculpted body scarfing, a 5-ply teardrop pickguard and a 22nd-fret neck joint. The nickel plated hardware includes a classic-style Tune-O-Matic bridge and keystone tuners. The pickups are 61R and 61T humbuckers, while the controls are audio taper potentiometers and orange drop capacitors.
Gibson SG Special—$1,499
The Gibson SG Special features a slim taper mahogany neck and a bound rosewood fingerboard. Two P-90 pickups, a 3-way toggle switch, handwired controls and orange drop capacitors also come standard.
Gibson SG Junior—$1,399
The Gibson SG Junior features a Vintage Cherry lacquer finish, early Sixties neck joint and sharp vintage body scarfing. It’s equipped with a single dogear P-90 pickup with handwired controls and an orange drop capacitor. Vintage Deluxe style tuners with white buttons and a compensated wraparound bridge also come standard.
Gibson Firebird—$1,999
Featuring a reverse body and headstock design as originally introduced in 1963, the Firebird features traditional 9-ply mahogany/walnut neck through body construction. A slim taper neck with a bound, rosewood fingerboard, acrylic trapezoid fingerboard inlays and Firebird Mini Humbuckers (Rhythm and Lead) also come standard. The guitar is available in two finishes: Tobacco Sunburst and Cherry.
Gibson Flying V—$1,699
This Flying V features an Antique Natural finish, mahogany body, a slim taper neck with a rosewood fingerboard and a special set of calibrated Burstbucker 2 (neck) and Burstbucker 3 (bridge) pickups.
Gibson Les Paul Modern—$2,799
The new Gibson Les Paul Modern features a lighter-weight body and an innovative slim taper neck with asymmetrical profile. The Modern fingerboard is crafted with genuine ebony and a compound radius, while the neck/body joint features the new Modern contoured heel. Hardware upgrades include Grover locking Rotomatic tuners, clear top hat knobs and BurstBucker Pro and BurstBucker Pro + pickups. The control assembly features 4 push-pull pots to switch between the Gibson humbucker and the single coil P90 sounds, phase switching and pure bypass.
Gibson Les Paul Classic—$1,999
The Gibson Les Paul Classic combines the early Sixties-style Les Paul model with some modifications. The LP Classic is crafted with a mahogany back and maple top coupled with a slim taper mahogany neck and a bound, rosewood fingerboard. Burstbucker 61R & 61T zebra, open-coil pickups and 4 push-pull pots—which provide choices of coil tapping, phase switching and pure bypassing—also come standard.
Gibson Les Paul Studio—$1,499
The Les Paul Studio features a rosewood fingerboard and a slim taper mahogany neck. 490R and 498T pickups and two push-pull pots also come standard. The guitar is available in four finishes: Smokehouse Burst, Tangerine Burst, Wine Red and Ebony.
Gibson Les Paul Tribute—$1,199
The Les Paul Tribute features a rounded maple neck profile, a mahogany body, maple top and a pair of 490 R & T humbucking pickups with Alnico II magnets.
Gibson Les Paul Special Tribute DC—$999
The Gibson Les Paul Special Double Cut features a rhythm P-90, a 3-way toggle and vintage styling with a mahogany body and maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard. The two, classic P-90 pickups are reverse wound/reverse polarity for hum-canceling when combined, and are installed along with the controls in a top-mount, 5-ply pickguard design.
Gibson Les Paul Junior Tribute DC—$899
The Gibson Les Paul Junior Double Cut features a mahogany body and a maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard. The classic P-90 pickup and controls are installed in a top-mount, 5-ply pickguard design.
Gibson SG Modern—$1,999
The new Gibson SG Modern features an AA maple top and mahogany back, like a Les Paul. It also features a genuine ebony, 24 fret compound radius fingerboard and an asymmetrical, slim taper neck. A pair of calibrated BurstBucker Pro Alnico V humbuckers and push-pull controls that allow you to switch between the Gibson humbucker and the single coil P90 sounds also come standard. The SG Modern also includes genuine mother of pearl inlays, Grover locking Rotomatic tuners and clear top hat knobs.
Gibson SG Standard—$1,499
The Gibson SG Standard features a rounded profile mahogany neck, a bound rosewood fingerboard, a long tenon 19th fret neck joint, and a solid mahogany body. 490R and 490T Alnico II pickups and a black, 5-ply, full-face pickguard also come standard.
Gibson SG Tribute—$1,099
Available in Vintage Cherry Satin and Natural Walnut Satin, the SG Standard Tribute features a traditional mahogany body and a rounded profile maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard. It's finished with a black, 5-ply full-face pickguard loaded with double black, open-coil 490R and 490T Alnico II loaded pickups. Its nickel plated hardware includes Vintage Deluxe tuners w/ Keystone buttons, a Nashville Tune-O-Matic bridge and an Aluminum Stop Bar Tailpiece.
Gibson Flying V B-2—$1,399
The Flying V B-2 features a Satin Black Finish with black chrome hardware and is equipped with Dirty Fingers + pickups, all-mahogany construction, a rosewood fingerboard and a fast, slim-taper neck. The guitar also features one volume, one tone and a 3-way pickup selector switch.
Gibson Explorer B-2—$1,399
The Explorer B-2 features a Satin Black Finish with black chrome hardware and is equipped with Dirty Fingers + pickups, an all-mahogany construction, a rosewood fingerboard and a fast, slim taper neck. The guitar also features one volume, one tone and a 3-way pickup selector switch.
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.
