Brief History of the original 1952-65 Gibson guitars still being sold today

Context

In his day, Les Paul was a great musician and innovator with contributions to studio recording techniques, electronics and solid body electric guitar design. Since the early '40s he had been experimenting with two solid body prototypes he called “the log” and “the clunker”. He approached Gibson 1945-46 with his ideas on creating an solid body electric guitar. Gibson rejected his proposal.

Meanwhile on the West Coast, the upstart Fender company were developing their own solid body electric guitar. The single pickup Fender Esquire was released in 1950. Conservative guitar builders didn't think the Fender Esquire would be serious threat to their market. They were wrong. Sales of the single pickup Esquire and dual pickup Broadcaster ➜ Nocaster ➜ Telecaster models surprised the market place. Gibson started work on their first solid body leaning heavily on the shape of the existing ES-140(a smaller ¾ the size ES-175 semi acoustic) and their existing parts inventory. While looking similar to the ES-140 there were a number of differences:

• Similar body shape to ES-140 but maple cap on mahogany solid body rather than hollow body;
• 2 x P-90 pickups;
• 24.75" scale bound neck with Pearloid Trapezoid fret markers and 22 frets rather rather than 19 on the ES-140;
• Inlaid mother of pearl Gibson logo on the headstock and;
• Wraparound stop bar bridge.

Gibson ES-140

Gibson then presented the guitar to Les Paul in 1951 seeking his thoughts and whether he would be prepared to endorse the model.

Les said that the guitar should have a classy gold top finish and a criticism of the bridge construction. This shallow neck angle with the strings passing under the trapeze / stop tail arrangement made the guitar difficult to play, intonate and palm muting impossible. 

Gibson and Les Paul agreed to a 10 year licensing agreement. In 1952 Gibson released their first solid-body guitar, the Les Paul Model. It marked a serious competitor to the upstart Californian, Fender.

Unfortunately, some original Les Pauls were released with the faulty neck to bridge geometry noted by Les. Gibson modified the neck angle to make them more playable but it would not be addressed until the trapeze/stop-tail with a stop bar in 1954. And so began the evolution of the Les Paul Standard 1952-1960:

• 1952: Initial release with faulty trapeze/stop-tail bridge;
• 1954: Wrap around stop-bar bridge;
• 1956: separate ABR-1 bridge and stop-bar;
• 1957: Hum-bucking pickups;
• 1958: the Sunburst finish.

Until 1954, the Les Paul Standard Gibson was with only solid body in a large conservative catalog. During 1954-56, Gibson introduced three new Les Paul models the: Junior, Special and Custom. There were even some some ¾ size guitars for smaller players. The Les Paul range now featured four different models and price points (including the Standard). The Les Paul range, especially the Special and Juniors, saw steady growth through to 1957.

Sales of Gibson Les Paul 1952-58

1958

By 1958, solid body guitar sales far exceeded their traditional hollow body designs. The market was changing. At the same time sales of the Les Paul range began to flag, especially their flagship Standard and Custom models. To respond to the changes in the market they needed to   reignite sales and reposition the mark in this new market. Gibson decided to throw off the image as a conservative guitar maker with three initiatives launched in 1958:

1. The introduction of the futuristic Flying V and Explorer Korina bodied guitars.
2. The introduction of the hollow ES-330 and the semi-solid ES-335, ES-345 & ES-355 models and;
3. Updates to the Les Paul Standard;

Korina Guitars

The futuristic Flying V, Explorer and patented but unrealised Moderne guitars showed Fender and the general public that Gibson were not just conservative jazz body style builders.

These guitars, while very different shapes were only available in one build level and one price point i.e. Korina body, Humbuckers, ABR-1 bridge, stop-bar and gold plated hardware. They were not positioned to replace the whole Les Paul range. Likely they were positioned to sell alongside the Les Paul showing off Gibson's non-traditional/futuristic design capabilities.

ES-3xx series

The thin-line ES-3xx models featured a hollow-body ES-330 and semi-hollow (with a solid maple centre block) ES-335, ES-345 & ES-355. The ES guitars were more traditional looking guitars but the thinner body and centre block preventing feedback made them more suitable for loud stage volumes.

Sunburst Les Paul

Gibson replaced the gold-top finish with an exposed the maple cap finished cherry sunburst, a fairly traditional hollow body finish but new for a solid body.

1959-60

Unfortunately, the Korina solid body guitars sold in small numbers during 1958-59 before being discontinued in 1959 (although some unfinished Flying Vs and Explorers were subsequently finished and sold during the early '60s).

Gibson and others claim these guitars were perhaps too futuristic for the market but they proved the point to the industry and customers, "Gibson was not just a conservative/traditional builder but maker of innovative new guitars". Overtime the rarity of these guitars, a new appreciation of their capabilities and their futuristic design would see them becoming very expensive vintage guitars, even more valuable than sunburst Les Pauls!

ES-3xx sales

As indicated, in the graph above, the ES-3xx models were a success, one model range Gibson got right from day one. They quickly found favour with blues and jazz musicians and have been the thin-line market leader since the day they were introduced.

Single cut Les Paul Sales 1952-61

Sales of the Standard kicked up with the introduction of the sunburst finish and remained relatively stable 58-60. The big news was the the dramatic increase of sales due to the new double cut-away Les Paul specials and juniors. Maybe customers want double cut guitars! 1959 would be Gibson's best year until after 1965.

1961

By 1960 the sales of the Les Paul range began to decrease again. Like in 1958, Gibson were looking at ways to increase sales (and reduce costs). There were a number of complicating factors to consider:

• Time and Effort: guitars in Les Paul range had different body construction and neck details requiring seperate production lines. In addition, the Les Paul Standard and Customs were more difficult to create due to their contoured maple/mahogany body cap and bound mahogany bodies;
• Factory expansion: in Kalamazoo somewhat restricted production;
• Market placement: The conservative Les Paul model lacked the higher fret access, light weight and tremolo of the Fender Stratocaster. Les Paul, an older, traditional, jazz musician, less in tune with the younger players in the market. His popularity as an artist was waning and therefore the name association was less of a drawcard. They still didn't have a more modern guitar to compete with fender!;
• Licensing: agreement with Les was drawing to an end and.

The success of the 1959 double cut Les Paul Junior and Special must have informed Gibson design thinking because in 1961 Gibson release a double cut-away Gibson Les Paul SG in 1961 available in four levels of build as per the original range: Junior, Special, Standard and Custom. The new Les Paul SG models addressed many of the issues of the original Les Paul range:

• Endorsement: While the new SGs still carried the Les Paul endorsement with: silk screen naming on headstock of the Junior/Special, engraved truss rod cover on the Standard and engraved neck tenon cover on the Custom;
• Manufacturing time and cost: All models in the SG range shared a thinner, single piece of mahogany with double cut-aways. This simplified construction and costs across the range especially compared the maple cap, sunburst finish and bound bodies of the Les Paul Standard and mahogany capped, double bound Les Paul Custom;
• Features: The SG was a modern looking, light weight guitar due to the new thinner SG body, The double cut-aways allowed easier access to the higher frets of the neck and also featured integrated vibratos. On paper the SG features were comparable with Fenders, especially the Stratocaster, (although the sideways vibrato on the SG Standard and Custom was in-effective);

Les wasn't a fan of the new body, in fact he wasn't consulted during the design phase but still required to endorse the new model per the licensing agreement.

1962

The licensing agreement with Les Paul finished in 1962 and Gibson chose not to extend the arrangement. Les claims it was a mutual decision due to his pending divorce. However it's more likely that Gibson didn't see the value in Les' endorsement of a guitar when they could keep all the sales revenue from this new guitar! References to Les were removed quickly without much effort. From 1963 this guitar be known as the SG. The single cutaway Les Paul range was consigned to the dust bin of history, or so we thought!

1963

Conclusion

In retrospect Gibson could have preserved the original single cut-away Les Paul models. Indeed, as illustrated in the graph below, the SG range didn't significantly improve on the Les Paul sales until after 1965. while, the lower sales levels may reflect lower builds due to the plant expansion in Kalamazoo. However, I believe Gibsons decision to drop the older single cut range was commercial, to maximize revenue and reduce cost.

Les Paul and SG Sales 52-65

However sales volumes need to be consider with reference to all the models were producing from 1963: the SG Range, the Firebird range and the ES-3xx range. The graph below shows sales from these ranges and clearly. By 1964, the combined sales of the new model ranges: SG, Firebirds & ES-3xx models exceeded the previous sales levels and all the revenue went to Gibson!

In reviewing the impact of the original Les Paul range it's worth noting only a few famous players (including Les Paul) were seen using the initial 52-54 models e.g. John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry (using a '54 Custom), Hubert Summon and Freddie King. Unfortunately, wide spread adoption by A-list musicians was inhibited by:

1. Initial design issues and;
2. Market placement. The Les Paul Model was a guitar named after a conservative musician build by a traditional guitar maker. The market was moving towards more modern, lighter guitars like the Fender Stratocaster.

While the 56-60 Les Paul model innovations improved sales slightly, no famous artists were associated with the 1957-60 models at the time which is unfortunate. The 1957-60 Les Paul Standards and Customs were fine guitars but the design issues of the original Les Pauls and market positioning kept the guitars out of the hands of musicians capable of exposing the inherit merits of the design.

This would change in the mid '60s when two guitarists, Eric Clapton and Mike Bloomfield, would stumble onto something unheard during the original production years. A secret!  In larger venues, using powerful Marshall and Fender amplifiers at volume, the Les Pauls, especially the humbucker models, produced a powerful ringing sustain that would overdrive the amplifiers with glorious effect. It is the ultimate "ugly duckling" guitar story. Having heard the sound Eric and Mike were getting guitarists raced out to get their hands on the discontinued Les Paul models, especially the Sunburst Standard. Early adopters read as who's who of Rock including: Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Mike Bloomfield, Peter Green, George Harrison, Mike Taylor, Bill Gibbons, Jimmy Page and Peter Kosoff to name a few.

Unfortunately, there were never enough original guitars made to satisfy demand. So in 1968, Gibson re-introduced a Les Paul Model somewhat based on the original models. These models scratched the itch but didn't satisfy the demand for guitars that matched the specification of the earlier '50s models, especially the sunburst models and especially the 1959 reissues. Gibson didn't accurately begin to match the sunburst Les Pauls until custom shop runs in the late '90s. Gibson custom shop has been getter closer every year to the original models albeit without the prized Brazilian fretboards.

In retrospect, a better name for the guitar might have been the Gibson Gold Standard as endorsed by Les Paul. This would have linked the guitar to the "gold standard", as used in finance, would have reflected the higher quality of Gibson manufacturing and broken the direct linkage to Les who as traditional, jazz musician was less of a drawcard to blues and rock n roll musicians.

Of course, Gibson would re-introduce the Flying V in 1967, the Les Paul in 1968 and the Explorer in 1976. To this day the: Les Paul, SG, ES-3xx, Firebird, Flying V and Explorer are the backbone of Gibson sales and reputation.