The Rarest of all Les Paul Juniors…
Les Paul TV Junior "Cream"

One of just 32 guitars finished in factory cream - this is one of the very last run of the much loved double cutaway 'Juniors' with rounded horns. Officially marked in the Gibson ledgers as "LP-TV Cream". This exceptionally rare guitar weighs just 6.50 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of 1 11/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. This is one of the very last double cutaway 'Juniors' with rounded horns. One-piece mahogany neck with a thinnish profile and a Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 22 original jumbo frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Headstock with "Gibson" logo silk-screened in gold. Black plastic bell-shaped truss-rod cover. Closed-back single-line Kluson Deluxe strip tuners with white plastic oval buttons. Serial number ("302") stamped in blind on the back of the headstock (also etched onto the inside of the control cover plate). One hot black P-90 pickup with an output of 7.77k. Single-ply tortoiseshell pickguard with four screws. Two controls (one volume, one tone) on the lower treble bout. Black plastic bell-shaped "Bell" knobs. The potentiometers are stamped "134 6041" (Centralab October 1960) and the capacitor is the requisite Sprague 'Bee' type. Combination "wrap-over" bar bridge/stud tailpiece with two adjustment screws. There is a fair amount of belt buckle wear on the back of the guitar and a few small marks on the top and edges of the body but the top shows really well and so we will still give this unbelievable rarity an (8.75) excellent plus condition rating. Housed in a later (seventies) Gibson four-latch black hardshell case with purple plush lining (8.75).

In February 1961, the Gibson factory produced the final run of the 'rounded horn' double cutaway Les Paul Junior that had been so immensely popular since its introduction in 1958. In early 1961 it was about to be replaced with the then 'new' SG shape with 'pointed horns'. To mark the end of an era, Gibson made the final run of just thirty-two guitars (with consecutive serial numbers 300-331) and they were all specially finished in factory "cream".
The Gibson ledger entry for our guitar reads: "302 LP-TV Cream 2-28-61"

This is the very first example of these super rare guitars that we have ever seen. Most probably the rarest of all Les Paul Juniors

The very first run of SG bodied Juniors were also available in two finishes: SG-R Cherry-red finish, and SGC Cream finish. By 1962 the guitar had been renamed the "SG-TV"

"The Les Paul TV underwent a major body redesign in mid-1958 and, like the Junior, took on a double cutaway shape with rounded horns permitting complete access to the higher registers. The overall dimensions remained the same but the neck-to-body junction was relocated at the 22nd fret. Simultaneously, a new TV shading akin to banana yellow and a shell-like pickguard were introduced. All the other specifications remained the same… In late 1959 the model was officially renamed SG TV without any changes in the specifications but for the removal of Les Paul markings on the headstock. The Les Paul affiliation was nonetheless ambiguously maintained in catalogs. Owing to its thick body style, the third variant should probably be referred to as the Les Paul/SG TV to mark the difference with the thin-body variant introduced subsequently" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics. The Classic Years, p. 214).