Pawn Shop Find - Killer Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul

[lepard]

Got this from a pawn shop in Los Angeles. They had no clue what they had. They had it listed as a 2010 Les Paul Standard. I knew immediately from the serial number that it was a 2012 Custom Shop guitar. How could they not read the "Gibson Custom" logo on the back of the neck ? They also listed the special brown Gibson Custom Shop case as "generic case", probably because it wasn't black with a Gibson logo.

Nobody seems to really know what this thing is. It even has the people on the My Les Paul Forum confused. My best guess is that it's a 1-off total Custom Shop creation. Coming from Los Angeles, it was probably made for some pro musician to his specs. It has a killer flame maple top with an incredible Bourbonish/Desert Burst finish. It has 4 factory push/pull pots with untouched wiring. Volume knobs are coil splits, bridge tone knob is a phase switch and the neck tone knob is a Master Kill switch............. something I've never seen on a Les Paul.






Pics after I got it in and cleaned up:

[shreddermon]

Gorgeous. Congrats.

[pagemalicious]

Great looking guitar! I wish I could find something cool like in UK pawn shops

[Dog Boy]

If the wiring is indeed untouched then yes, it probably is an endorser's guitar. It looks like it started out as a Premium Plus model. It certainly doesn't have a True Historic finish. A clue would be if it has a one or two piece back and if it is super light its probably chambered. Lack of pickguard and Grovers etc. Cool guitar!

[Axewielder]

If the wiring is indeed untouched then yes, it probably is an endorser's guitar.

Kill switch? Buckethead must have ordered it.

Great score!

[toejam]

That's awesome. Love that color!

[lepard]

Actually, I just figured out what it is. Gibson did a Custom Shop run of these guitars in 2011-12 and called them a Les Paul Custom Pro. 2011 was 6 standard colors, 2012 got a bit crazy with the paint jobs and most seem to be 1-ofs. This one is a 2012 and I can't find another anywhere with the same finish.

http://www.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-Custom/Les-Paul-Custom-Pro.aspx

http://www.themusiczoo.com/product/15667/Gibson-Custom-Shop-Les-Paul-Custom-Pro-AAA-Electric-Guitar-Root-Beer---Used-/

[Number Of The Priest]

"Custom Pro". Gibson and Jackson have the worst and most confusing naming schemes.

You'd think a Custom Pro would be a juiced-up Custom, with a Custom normally implying block inlays, ebony board, and diamond inlay on the headstock.

If you asked me, a non-expert on Gibsons, to describe that guitar, my first response would have been a Standard with awesome upgrades. I can sort of empathize with the pawn shop there. But, due to ignorance, you scored big time. It's just beautiful.

[lepard]

"Custom Pro". Gibson and Jackson have the worst and most confusing naming schemes.

You'd think a Custom Pro would be a juiced-up Custom, with a Custom normally implying block inlays, ebony board, and diamond inlay on the headstock.

If you asked me, a non-expert on Gibsons, to describe that guitar, my first response would have been a Standard with awesome upgrades. I can sort of empathize with the pawn shop there. But, due to ignorance, you scored big time. It's just beautiful.

Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking. How can they call this a "Custom" when it's a souped up Standard ? Why didn't they call it a Custom Shop Les Paul Standard Pro ? It took me a week of searching Les Pauls on the internet (Google, Yahoo, eBay, Reverb, etc.) to stumble onto what this guitar is. Hell, the people on the My Les Paul Forum didn't even know what it was. To make matters even worse, these were Guitar Center exclusives and the dummies at my local Guitar Center didn't even know what this guitar was yesterday when I took it up there to show them. I just figured it out this morning.

[Axewielder]

Well that's what happens when you do incremental updates to the same product for 60 years.

[lefty]

Funny thing about all this being the pawn shop probably lowballed the seller, thinking it was a generic LP--and
he took their offer! WTF? Maybe there's more going on than meets the eye? At any rate, you got an amazing
Lester, for sure...

[BenoA]

Awesome! Congratz!!!