One Year. One Unforgettable Spec.
Picture this: it's 1956, and Gibson is getting ready to make a change. The Les Paul has been evolving since 1952, and next year humbuckers will arrive. But right now, for this one golden moment, you can walk into a music store and buy a Les Paul with soapbar P-90 pickups and the newly introduced adjustable ABR-1 bridge. It's a spec combination that existed for exactly one full production year, and players have been chasing it ever since.
This Gibson Custom Shop '56 Reissue captures that rare combination in exhaustive detail, featuring all solid woods, vintage-accurate gold paint, authentic replica parts, Historic narrow/tall frets, and hot hide glue construction. The VOS (Vintage Original Sheen) finish includes lightly aged parts that impart an authentic vintage patina, with nitrocellulose buffed to a light matte appearance, giving the look and feel of a guitar that has been lovingly played and cared for over the years. If you've been searching for a Les Paul that combines vintage-correct construction with the snarl and clarity of P-90s, this is it.
This guitar suits players who want authentic vintage tone and feel without the vintage price tag or fragility concerns. Whether you're tracking blues, jazz, or rock, the P-90 and ABR-1 combination delivers articulate midrange punch with excellent intonation and sustain.
The P-90 and ABR-1 Advantage
1956 was the only full year in which the Les Paul model featured the powerful P-90 pickups and the adjustable ABR-1 bridge setup, a combination that allowed the Les Paul model to intonate, sustain, and thrill like never before. While earlier Les Pauls used wraparound bridges and later models switched to humbuckers, the '56 offered this brief window where you got the best of both worlds.
The Custom Soapbar P90 pickups deliver that classic single-coil clarity and bite that made the original Goldtops legendary. They're articulate without being thin, aggressive without being harsh. The neck pickup offers warm jazz tones, while the bridge pickup cuts through with authority. The No-Wire ABR-1 Tune-o-Matic bridge pairs with a lightweight aluminum stop bar tailpiece for accurate intonation and excellent sustain. This is the bridge that changed everything for Les Paul intonation, and it's built here exactly as it was in 1956.
The electronics are period-correct throughout: CTS 500K audio taper potentiometers and paper-in-oil capacitors provide authentic vintage response, while the three-way toggle gives you independent volume and tone controls for each pickup. Simple, effective, and true to the original.
Vintage-Correct Construction and Feel
The body features a 2-piece plain maple top with hide glue fit over solid mahogany, with no weight relief. Gibson Custom uses hot hide glue construction, the traditional method that creates the strongest possible wood-to-wood bond for maximum resonance. It's time-consuming and requires skill, but the sonic payoff is undeniable.
The solid mahogany neck features a chunky C-shaped profile that's faithful to 1950s specs. This is the chunky neck that was standard issue back in '56, offering substantial feel without being uncomfortable. The Indian rosewood fingerboard is also hide glue fit, with a 12-inch radius and 22 Historic Gibson narrow/tall frets. Scale length is 24.75 inches with a 1.69-inch nut width. Inlays are aged cellulose nitrate trapezoids, and the binding is single-ply Royalite.
Hardware is vintage-accurate throughout: Kluson single line, single ring tuners, nylon nut, and gold-finished metal parts. Even details like the laminated cellulose acetate butyrate pickguard, authentic stepped 2-ply truss rod cover, and butyrate gold top hat control knobs are correct to the period.
Product Features:
- Body: Solid mahogany with 2-piece plain maple top, hide glue construction, no weight relief
- Neck: Solid mahogany, chunky C-shape profile, long tenon neck joint
- Fingerboard: Indian rosewood, 12-inch radius, 22 Historic narrow/tall frets, aged cellulose nitrate trapezoid inlays
- Scale length: 24.75 inches with 1.69-inch nut width
- Pickups: Custom Soapbar P-90 neck and bridge pickups
- Bridge: No-wire ABR-1 Tune-o-Matic with lightweight aluminum stop bar tailpiece
- Electronics: CTS 500K audio taper potentiometers, paper-in-oil capacitors, 3-way toggle switching
- Hardware: Kluson single line/single ring tuners, nylon nut, gold hardware
- Finish: Double Gold nitrocellulose lacquer with VOS (Vintage Original Sheen) treatment and lightly aged parts
- Includes: Brown/pink Lifton reissue 5-latch hardshell case, Gibson Custom switchplate medallion, Certificate of Authenticity, Historic Reissue hang tags
Brand: Gibson
Model: Custom 1956 Les Paul Goldtop Reissue VOS
SKU: LPR56VODGNH1
Condition: New
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