1954 GIBSON LES PAUL JUNIOR (Copie)

1954 Gibson Les Paul Junior, in perfect playing condition, with an absolutely fabulous patina.

This is a superb model from the first year of production, eloquent proof that the simplest formulas are often the best. As its name suggests, the Junior was the entry-level model in the line named after the American musician Les Paul, who began collaborating with Gibson in 1952 with the Standard model, followed two years later by the high-end Custom and the Junior. It doesn’t get much simpler than the latter, equipped with a single-coil P-90-style pickup in the bridge position and a combined bridge/tailpiece. For Gibson, the challenge with the Junior was to replicate the success of the ES-125 for electric guitars and the LG-1 for acoustic guitars: streamlined guitars that offered all the build quality of the high-end models. In the case of the Junior, this translates to a one-piece mahogany slab body (without the maple top found on the Standard and Custom models), the absence of binding around the body and fingerboard, simple dot-style fingerboard inlays, and the Gibson logo silkscreened onto the headstock instead of being inlaid in mother-of-pearl. Indeed, the model’s creators successfully implemented a minimalist, superbly effective design, and the Junior was an immediate success: launched in the summer of 1954 at NAMM, 823 units were sold in the first few months, then more than three times that number in 1955, proving to Gibson’s management the success of their gamble, and that solidbody electric guitars were here to stay. The 1954 Gibson catalog also boasts a “solidbody Electric Spanish guitar with a refined tone, easy action and playability, at an unbeatable price”—for the modest sum of $99.50 (for an additional $49.50, a Les Paul Junior amplifier could be added, bringing the grand total to the same price as a Fender Esquire, the Californian manufacturer’s entry-level model).

The example shown here is exactly as one would imagine a Les Paul Junior: it has clearly been played extensively, with all the finish checking and wear attesting to very heavy use over the past seven decades. In particular, the neck finish is worn down to the wood for a most pleasant playing feel. Nonetheless, it has remained free of breakage or any structural damage, the Sunburst finish remains superbly preserved with all its colors, and all the guitar’s original main parts are present: rosewood fretboard, single-ply pickguard, P-90 pickup with its wiring and associated electronics, and Kluson no-line tuners. It should be noted that to ensure the proper functioning of the tuners, their buttons have been replaced. Likewise, the guitar is currently equipped with a MojoAxe compensated wraparound tailpiece, which has the advantage over the original of allowing for better intonation adjustment. Apart from these two elements, everything is exactly as it was 72 years ago!

To restore its perfect playability, the guitar underwent a neck reset in our workshop (removing the neck to correct its angle relative to the body, thus restoring a good range of bridge height adjustment). This particularly delicate operation, commonplace on flat-top guitars, often proves essential for Juniors, where it has become impossible to lower the bridge and thus achieve a suitable and comfortable action. Once completed, the guitar is effectively reset and ready to play for decades to come. After this step, we performed a complete refret with period-correct fretwire and crafted a bone nut as a replica of the original, to guarantee optimal playability.

Sold in a late 60s Gibson Les Paul hardshell case – offering far better protection than the chipboard cases in which many Juniors were originally sold, resulting in a fair number of breakages!