Gibson 1955 Les Paul Reissue

Made in 1977-78, it is a reissue of the 1955 les paul. 22 frets set neck. One piece mahogony back, with a mahogony neck and rosewood fretboard. P-90 pickups in neck and bridge with all the good ole Gibson controls; 2 tone knobs, and 2 volume with a 3 way selector. The finish of my 55-77 is red, and came factory set with a gibson bigsby trem. Not the trapeze ones, but the smaller more compact ones. I have taken off that bigsby and fitted it with a tone-pros bridge which has added a whole new world of sustain for it. I have rated it an 8 on features, because I do know of many guitars with more features...

The sound of this Gibson is more reminiscent of a tele. Much brighter than a standard. Though it is not unbearably bright. I play through a Trademark 10 - Tech 21, though it does not do this guitar justice. Though when I hook up to my Gibson 15RV goldtone amp and crank it to full blast, the tone is ungodly (being that rock and roll is "devil" music). I play wide ranges of music styles, and this guitar is ideal for blues/jazz. It's my main axe for earlier Zeppelin covers from the first maybe 2 albums.

The only bad thing about the sound is that the pick ups just make so much noise in a practice setting. In my room, running through the tech, it buzzes like hell, and when I had the bigsby on it, I couldn't even play it. (not sure if it was grounding problems, etc.)

However, played through a good tube amp, this guitar's sound is flawless...

I was born in 1983, so I cannot say how the guitar was set up at the factory. The action is easily adjustable with a tune-o-matic bridge. The neck is like a baseball bat, and the sucker weighs a ton! The neck may take a little playing to get adjusted to it, but if you are a good guitar player, it will not hinder the ability for that fact to show through... in fact, quite the opposite.

I payed a little extra for this guitar, due to the interesting inlays that came factory set (we hope) though in that time period, gibson did not keep much records, and there was no "custom" shop for custon orders. We have concluded that this guitar was a costum job.

The finish is red by the way...

This is the most solid built guitar that I own. I have a Les Paul smartwood exotic, a Melancon classic artist, an 83 Strat Elite, and a mexi-strat. I've dropped this guitar at times, and was much more afraid of the damage to my floor than to the guitar.

One complaint that I have about it is that pegs to attach your strap to are sort of tiny, so with some movements, you may have a potential dropping problem. The tuners still work well for it being 26 years old.

regardless of the strap complaint (which can be solved with minimal work), this guitar is solid all around

I have been playing guitar since I was about 14 and am now 20. I plan to keep this trend going for the rest of my natural life.

I own a gibson Les Paul Smartwood exotic, a Melacon classic artist, and a 1983 Fender Elite Strat. I also have a few classical nylon guitars including a yamaha (as well as parts here and there).

Gibson 15RV Goldtone amp, a Tech 21 amp.

This guitar is irreplacable. If it were lost or stolen, I'd firstly cry, then promptly grab my cheapy memphis electric and find the guy/girl and beat him with it.

I love this gutar because it has a sound very unique that I can't get from any of my other guitars...