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After many months of teases and previews, Gibson has finally officially released the Tool guitarist’s first-ever signature electric guitar, the Custom Shop Adam Jones 1979 Les Paul Custom.
The Silverburst model will be available in two variants: one has been aged by Gibson Custom’s Murphy Lab, to recreate every piece of wear and tear on Jones’ #1 touring guitar. Just 79 will be available, and will be signed and numbered by Jones himself.
Image 1 of 2
Gibson Adam Jones 1979 Les Paul Custom Aged
(Image credit: Gibson)
Gibson Adam Jones 1979 Les Paul Custom Aged
(Image credit: Gibson)
There will also be 179 VOS replicas, which feature exclusive silkscreen artwork on the rear of the headstock, designed by Jones and Joyce Su, who also collaborated on the guitar’s Silverburst hardcases.
Both models aim to replicate not only the look, but also the feel of Jones’ guitar, capturing his #1 Les Paul’s neck profile, as well as the sound, courtesy of a hand-wound Seymour Duncan Distortion bridge pickup, custom capacitors, and a DiMarzio volume pot.
Every detail has been replicated, says Gibson, right down to the diamond-shaped strap buttons and the mirror Jones affixes to his guitar’s headstock, which comes included.
Image 1 of 2
Gibson Adam Jones 1979 Les Paul Custom VOS
(Image credit: Gibson)
Gibson Adam Jones 1979 Les Paul Custom VOS
(Image credit: Gibson)
Intriguingly, Gibson Brands’ Cesar Gueikian says the model is the first in a “multi-year partnership with Adam Jones” – which, fingers crossed, means production-line and even Epiphone models could be on the cards for 2021. It also marks the first artist collaboration with Gibson’s new Custom Shop Murphy Lab.
To celebrate the release, Jones has also masterminded a new animated short film, The Witness, for which he composed and performed the music.
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Not only that, but Tool bandmates Justin Chancellor and Danny Carey appear on bass and percussion duties, while longtime collaborator Joe Barresi handled the mixing. That makes The Witness the closest we’re likely to get to new Tool music in 2020, following 2019’s long-awaited Fear Inoculum.
Jones has long relied on Silverburst Les Paul Customs for his expansive tone, but this release marks his first official signature model.
“I have a true love for that color and that guitar in general,” he told Guitar World last year. “I believe that particular metallic paint does something to the tone or the resonance or the polarity somehow.”
The Adam Jones 1979 Les Paul Custom is available now in VOS and Aged & Signed formats for $5,999 and $9,999 respectively.
Mike has been Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com since 2019, and an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict for far longer. He has been writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist for over 15 years, and recording and performing in original and function bands for two decades-plus. During his career, he has interviewed everyone from John Frusciante to Chris Cornell, Matt Bellamy and Billy Corgan. His writing also appears in The Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar. In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock as Maebe.
