This super little guitar weighs in at just 6.90 lbs. and has that great 1958 neck with a nice, fat nut width of 1 11/16 inches and standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Solid mahogany body with 'square' edges, one piece mahogany neck with serial number "6264" stamped in black on back of headstock. Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 22 original jumbo frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Gold silk-screened "Gibson" logo and "Les Paul Junior" on headstock. Closed-back strip tuners with white plastic oval buttons. One black P-90 pickup with an output of 7.76k. Tortoiseshell pickguard. Two controls (one volume, one tone) with black plastic bell-shaped "Bell" knobs. Combination "wrap-over" bar bridge/tailpiece. One small indentation on top just above the volume control and a few other very minor dings. Otherwise an exceptionally fine example, totally original and unfaded. Housed in its original "alligator" softshell case.

This guitar is identical in every measurement to my last 1958 Les Paul Jr. The serial number on this guitar is "6264" (just eleven guitars away from my last 1958 Les Paul Jr.).

"The first few batches of 1958 and early 1959 double cutaway Les Paul Juniors had a noticably sharper body edge, like the edge on the single cutaway Junior. By early 1959 the edge became more rounded. Also in late 1958 there were some 4-digit serial number Juniors and Specials (all with 6000 to 7000 serial numbers like 6264 and 7234, with no "8" or "9" as the leading digit). All the 4-digit serial number Juniors and Specials seem to have the more square-edged body style." (www.provide.net).

"In 1958 Gibson made a radical design change to three of the Les Paul models, and a cosmetic alteration to another. The Junior, Junior 3/4 and TV were revamped with a completely new double-cutaway body shape. Ted McCarty explained the re-design as a reaction to player's requests. 'They wanted to be able to thumb the sixth string,' he said, 'but they couldn't do it if the only cutaway was over on the treble side. So we made them with another cutaway, so they could get up there. We did things that the players wanted, as much as anything.' The Junior's fresh look was enhanced with a new cherry red finish" (Tony Bacon, 50 Years of the Gibson Les Paul, pp. 33 and 36).

"Even in double-cutaway style, the Junior retained its charming simplicity. It is, if you like, the Fender Telecaster of the Gibson line: the guitar for the player who is fed up with all those over-complicated instruments out there and instead seeks heads-down no-nonsense boogie" (Tony Bacon, 50 Years of the Gibson Les Paul, p. 31).