A Near Fine 1954 Les Paul Standard Gold Top and Gibson BR-6 Amplifier.

1954 Gibson Les Paul Standard Gold Top.

This totally original Les Paul Standard Gold Top weighs 9.20 lbs. and has nice, fat nut width of 1 11/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Solid mahogany body with a solid carved maple top, one-piece mahogany neck with a nice, thick profile, and rosewood fretboard with 22 original thin frets and inlaid pearl trapezoid (crown) position markers. The top of the guitar has single cream binding and the fretboard has single cream binding. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and with "Les Paul Model" silk-screened in gold. Two-layer (black on white) plastic truss-rod cover. Individual single-line "no-name" Kluson Deluxe tuners with single-ring tulip-shaped Keystone plastic buttons (stamped on the inside "2356766 PAT APPLD."). Serial number “4 1932” inked-on in black on the back of the headstock. Two beautifully balanced P-90 pickups with outputs of 7.76k and 7.89k. Cream plastic pickup covers stamped underneath "UC-452-F / 1" and "UC-452-B / 2". Single-layer cream-colored plastic pickguard. Four controls (two volume, two tone) on lower treble bout plus three-way pickup selector switch (with original Catalin switch-tip) on upper bass bout. Gold plastic (half-inch tall) barrel-shaped "Speed" knobs. The potentiometers are stamped "134 319" and "134 327" (Centralab May and July 1953) and the two original capacitors are stamped "Grey Tiger Type GT 452 .02 MFD 400 VDC." Combination "wrap-over" bar bridge/stud tailpiece. There is just the very bare minimum of belt-buckle rash and some edge wear on the lower edge of the back. There is some minor finish checking on the top of the guitar and a small area of 'arm wear' by the bass waist . Overall this super 'blues machine' is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition. Housed in the original Gibson four-latch brown hardshell case with pink plush lining (9.25). Together with two original hang-tags incuding: the tri-folding 'Les Paul' (somewhat washed-out), and the yellow folding "Gibson Les Paul Model"

Also included with this guitar is an original 1949 GIBSON BR-6 Guitar Amplifier. Ten watts with single ten inch 'Bola' speaker which is date stamped "285 942 4" (Bola, October 1949) and five-tube chassis comprising: Preamp 1 x 6SL7; 1 x 6SN7; Power 2 x 6V6, 5Y3 Rectifier. Single channel, rear control panel, two inputs, one volume control, golden brown covering two large-slot grille. The amplifier weighs just 20 lbs and the exterior dimensions are - width: 18.25 inches; height: 15.00 inches; depth: 7.50 inches. Near fine (9.25) condition.

Many guitarists consider this to be the ultimate "blues machine" -- the sustain on this guitar is quite unbelievable!

"The first Gibson Les Paul solidbody electric guitar, known simply as the Les Paul Model then but now better known by its descriptive nickname 'gold-top', first went on sale during 1952" (Tony Bacon, 50 Years of the Gibson Les Paul, p. 15).

"The new Les Paul guitar was launched by Gibson in 1952, in the summer, priced at $210, which was about $20 more than Fender' Telecaster sold for at the time…Today, a gold-finish Les Paul model is nearly always called a gold-top thanks to its gold body face…The new gold-top's solid body cleverly combined a carved maple top bonded to a mahogany base, a sandwich that united the darker tonality of mahogany with the brighter sonic 'edge' of maple. Paul said that the gold colour of the original Les Paul model was his idea. 'Gold means rich,' he said, 'expensive, the best, superb'" (Tony Bacon, 50 Years of the Gibson Les Paul, pp. 20-21).

"In 1955 the gold-top gained Gibson's new Tune-o-matic bridge. The unit had the facility to adjust individual string-length, improving intonation. Two years later humbucking pickups replaced P90s on the gold-top" (Tony Bacon and Paul Day, The Gibson Les Paul Book, p. 19). This guitar is one of the last Les Paul Standard Gold Tops with "wrap-over" bar bridge/stud tailpiece before the Tune-O-Matic bridge was introduced in late 1955.