A Near Mint 25th Anniversary Les Paul Custom

This Les Paul Custom "25th Anniversary" model weighs 10.50 lbs. and has a nut width of 1 11/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Solid mahogany body with carved natural maple top, five-piece lightly flamed maple neck with a medium profile with a volute at the top of the neck, and bound ebony fretboard with 22 jumbo frets and inlaid pearl split-block position markers (split into three on the first, fifth, ninth, and fifteenth frets) and abalone side dot inlays. This guitar has the original brass nut. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl "Les Paul 25/50." Gold-plated metal truss-rod cover engraved with "Les Paul Anniversary." Serial number ("70369124") impressed into the back of the headstock, with four-figure number ("2208") below it and "Made in U.S.A." below that. Individual "Gibson" Grover Roto-Matic tuners with silver bell-shaped metal buttons. The body of the guitar has seven-ply binding on top and five-ply binding on bottom, the headstock has five-ply binding, and the neck is single-bound. Two Gibson Series Vll humbucker pickups with outputs of 8.03k and 8.17k. and black plastic surrounds. Five-layer (black/white/black/white/black) plastic pickguard. Four controls (two volume, two tone) and two-way coil tapping switch on lower treble bout plus three-way pickup selector switch on upper bass bout. The potentiometers are stamped "137 7825" and "137 7830" (CTS June and July 1978). Black plastic barrel-shaped "Speed" knobs. Nashville bridge with TP-6 fine tuning tailpiece. All hardware gold-plated. This guitar is in near mint (9.25) condition, with just a tiny bit of tarnishing to the TP-6 tailpiece and the pickup covers. Housed in the original Gibson black molded-plastic "Protector" case with dark red plush lining (9.00).

"Gibson 25th Anniversary Les Paul, 1979. This special-order model featured a flamed maple top and Super 400-style fingerboard inlay. The peghead ornamentation commemorates the Les Paul Custom's 25th anniversary and Les Paul's 50th anniversary as a performer" (George Gruhn and Walter Carter, Electric Guitars and Basses: A Photographic History, p. 159).

"25th Anniversary Les Paul: limited edition to mark 25th anniversary of model, 50th anniversary of Les Paul's career, carved maple top, 2 humbucking pickups, coil-tap switch, black barrel knobs, tune-o-matic bridge, TP-6 tailpiece, bound fingerboard and peghead, slashed-block inlay, brass nut, 25 over 50 inlaid on peghead, metal keystone tuner buttons, gold-plated hardware, cherry sunburst, black, wine red or natural finish, regular serial number and limited edition number on back of peghead, at least 1842 produced. Available by special order (some with 1978 number): 1979" (Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars, p. 220).

"The 25/50 model was issued to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Les Paul model (a year late, since 1977 was actually the 25th year), and the 50th anniversary of Les Paul's career in the music business. The 25/50 model is a distinctive model in the Les Paul lineage for many reasons, including the unique and intricate pearl and abalone "25/50" headstock inlay design, creative use of silver and gold hardware combinations (e.g., the tuners are gold with silver buttons), abalone side dot marker inlays, beautiful flamed maple top, five piece flamed maple neck, split block parallelogram inlays (one of only two Les Paul production models to sport these inlays), large control cavity, gold truss rod cover inscribed with 'Les Paul Anniversary', brass nut, and a coil tap mini-switch (one of the few production Les Paolo with a coil tap until the Jimmy Page Les Paul was introduced). In addition to the above unique features, the 25/50 had multi-ply binding on the front and back of the body and the front of the headstock, a volute, Nashville bridge with TP-6 fine tuning tailpiece, black speed knobs, Schaller style 'Gibson' tuners, and Series VII pickups. These Series VII pickups were potted with a black, rubber-like material that fills the gold covers and makes these pickups virtually impossible to remove from their covers for repair.

The Les Paul 25/50 was available in tobacco sunburst, natural, wine red, and black. Based on the resale market, it appears that tobacco sunburst was predominant, followed by natural. Wine red and black are very rare. There has been a report of a few 25/50s in white. There are photos of a few 25/50s in what appears to be a lighter honey sunburst color, but it could be a lighter tobaccoburst under bright photographic lighting. There is one 25/50 in Japan that has a flamed pickguard and pickup rings, but it is not known whether or not these are replacement parts or a special order. Despite its 'limited edition' marketing image, it is ironic that some factory seconds of the 25/50 were released. All 25/50s were made in Gibson's Kalamazoo plant. The regular 8 digit serial number in 'YDDDYSSS' format was used on the 25/50 (where 'YY' is the year, 'DDD' is the day of the year, and "SSS" is the production sequence number, with numbers below 500 used at Kalamazoo). In addition, the 25/50 has a four digit edition number, which presumably gave it that 'limited edition' marketing image. The 'Made in USA' stamp is also on the back of the headstock. The three 25/50s profiled in this article weigh between 10 lbs. 5 oz. and 10 lbs. 8 oz." (Mike Slubowski, "Gibson's 'Birthday Babies': The Anniversary Model Les Pauls," at http://www.lespaulforum.com/finalframes/frameset.htm).