If you're going to build a Les Paul Standard, you might as well make it a little bit interesting. This Gibson Les Paul Standard 60s Figured Top in Ocean Blue takes the classic early-'60s Les Paul formula and gives it a seriously cool modern color, while keeping all the stuff that makes a Les Paul a Les Paul. You've got a solid, non-weight-relieved mahogany body, AA figured maple top, SlimTaper mahogany neck, 60s Burstbucker pickups, and the full complement of traditional Gibson hardware and hand-wired controls. And yes, that Ocean Blue really does look this good in person. A Gibson hardshell case is included.
The Les Paul Standard 60s is built around the features associated with the last years of the original Les Paul Standard run: a mahogany body topped with carved maple, a slimmer mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard, trapezoid inlays, and a pair of powerful PAF-style humbuckers. It's one of those combinations that has proven to be pretty hard to improve upon. Gibson has modernized the execution where it makes sense, but the basic recipe remains wonderfully old school.
The neck is mahogany with Gibson's SlimTaper profile, giving this Les Paul a noticeably quicker, more streamlined feel than the chunkier neck found on a '50s Standard. The bound Indian rosewood fingerboard has a 12" radius and 22 medium jumbo frets, making it equally comfortable for chords, single-note work, and wide bends. The 24.75" scale and 1.69" nut width keep the familiar Gibson feel intact, while the acrylic trapezoid inlays give it exactly the visual language you'd expect from a classic Les Paul.
Underneath the Ocean Blue finish is the real heart of the guitar: a solid mahogany body with no weight relief and a carved AA figured maple top. The maple adds some extra bite and definition to the naturally warm, mid-forward character of the mahogany, while the lack of weight relief keeps the construction firmly rooted in the traditional Les Paul approach. Then Gibson puts a gloss nitrocellulose lacquer finish over the whole thing, allowing that figured maple to really show off. And Ocean Blue? Let's just say Gibson wasn't trying to make another guitar that looks like every other Les Paul hanging on the wall.
The electronics are classic Gibson all the way. The two 60s Burstbucker pickups use Alnico 5 magnets and are voiced to deliver that familiar PAF-inspired combination of punch, sustain, clarity, and harmonic grind. Each pickup gets its own volume and tone control, with hand-wired electronics, audio-taper potentiometers, and Orange Drop capacitors. The three-way toggle gives you the standard neck, bridge, or both-pickups combination, while the individual volumes let you blend the two pickups in the middle position. No fancy tricks, no unnecessary complications—just a great Les Paul circuit.
Hardware is equally traditional: an ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic bridge, lightweight aluminum Stop Bar tailpiece, Grover Rotomatic tuners with kidney buttons, nickel hardware, and those gold Top Hat knobs with silver reflectors and dial pointers. Add the cream pickguard, amber switch tip, and cream pickup selector ring, and the whole thing lands right where a '60s-style Les Paul should.
The Ocean Blue finish is what makes this particular Standard stand out. If you've always wanted the feel, construction, and sound of a traditional Les Paul Standard but didn't necessarily want another Burst, Goldtop, or Ebony guitar, this is a pretty compelling way to do it. It's familiar where it should be and different where it can be—and that's a pretty good combination.
