In 1968, the Les Paul came back. Gibson had eschewed the design in favor of more angular SG, and the demand for 50's Les Paul styling was so high (due in part to popular musicians starting to use them) the company couldn't help but bring back the iconic single cut design that would come to define rock as we know it today. They essentially built them exactly the same as they had in... 1956? For some reason, the reissues were not of the much more popular Burst models, but of the P90 loaded, thick necked, gold examples from earlier in the decade. This somewhat baffling decision led to many players taking the law into their own hands and routing out the reissued Les Pauls for humbuckers instead.
This particular guitar is a perfect example. Sometime in the 1970's, following the popular mods of the time, a player wanted their perfected version of a dark backed, humbucker loaded 1957 Goldtop, and oversprayed the back with dark finish, routed it out for humbuckers, and replaced the tuners with Grovers. This left the guitar as a perfect time capsule of how 70's players saw the Les Paul: Loud, proud, and incredibly fun to play.
The neck is in excellent shape, and the body has the perfect amount of wear, with the greening from oxidation that made the gold-top look so iconic. The back and sides have been refinished to reflect the original 1968 color.
The pickup selector switch, tuners, and bridge/tailpiece have been replaced, and it previously had a Bigsby. The fingerboard has been refretted, output jack is replaced, The nut is a replacement, made of brass. The pickguard is original, but routed for the pickups.
This is an early 1968, with a one piece body and one piece neck, along with the smaller, more accurate headstock. These early/mid '68s are extremely desirable. Weight is 10 lbs.
This guitar has a set of 1958 Gibson PAF pickup, which are the holy grail of guitar pickups: They sound absolutely amazing. Comes with the original case.