NASHVILLE, Tenn. (July 16, 2007) - Gibson has announced the new Custom Shop John Lennon Inspired ByLes Paul guitar. The guitar features a Charlie Christian pickup in the neck position, just like Lennon’s modified 1950s Gibson single-cutaway Junior. Only 300 of these special limited-edition guitars will be produced.
Lennon owned many equally well known guitars during his lifetime, including a Gibson J-160E and Epiphone Casino. The guitars Lennon chose to play often seemed to reflect his ideas, beliefs, and lifestyle. The image of Lennon playing his modded ‘50s Junior during his famous live performance at New York’s Madison Square Garden on August 30, 1972 is an unforgettable one – one that guitar luthier Ron DeMarino helped to shape through the assistance he provided to Lennon in modifying the guitar in the early 1970s.
The Gibson Custom Shop has worked with Yoko Ono in the recreation of this famous modified Les Paul Junior guitar, with Yoko Approving a complete hands-on review of the original for the design team to use as a reference point. The Inspired By Les Paul guitar is aged to look just like Lennon’s original once it was sanded down to the solid mahogany body and includes the famous Charlie Christian neck pickup as well as aged chrome hardware. Each of the 300 limited-edition guitars will be accompanied by a Custom Shop guitar case and a certificate of authenticity in a special army green cloth folder with John’s autograph embroidered on the cover. Additionally, the Lennon fans who purchase this guitar will receive an article that includes an interview with DeMarino by Andy Babiuk, author of “The Beatles Gear,” a signed Lennon print by famed artist Allison Lefcort, and Lennon’s famous “New York City” T-shirt – sans sleeves, of course.
“It is an honor to work with Yoko Ono on a guitar inspired by one of the world’s most passionate and prolific musicians of our time, John Lennon,” said Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar. “The Gibson Custom Shop has produced a guitar which expresses Lennon’s legend and is inspired by his very own 1950s Les Paul junior guitar. It is a model designed with Lennon’s own spirit, genius and creative works in mind.”
Today, the original guitar is on permanent display at the John Lennon Museum in Japan and will also be unveiled at a special event at the Gibson Japan Showroom in Tokyo , Japan in early August 2007.
Gibson’s John Lennon Inspired By Les Paul specifications:
- Model: John Lennon Les Paul
- Pickups: P-90 Single Coil in the bridge position & Charlie Christian in the neck position
- Hardware: Aged Chrome
- Fingerboard: Rosewood Scale: 24 ¾”
- Nut Width: 1.689”
- Nut: Corian
- Bridge: Chrome ABR-1 with stopbar tailpiece (holes from original wrap tailpiece are plugged)
- Neck Material: One-Piece Mahogany with Long Neck Tenon
- Body Material: Solid Mahogany
- Controls: Single volume, single tone, 3-way pickup switch
- Color: Faded Cherry
- Date Available: July 12th, 2007
- MSRP: $7,527
For more information, please visit gibsoncustom.com/Lennon.
“The Player II Series represents our continued evolution in design and functionality,” said Justin Norvell, EVP of Product, FMIC. “We listened to the feedback from musicians around the world and incorporated their insights to refine and innovate our instruments. The re-introduction of rosewood fingerboards is a restoration of the ‘original Fender recipe’ and will no doubt be a fan favorite - but we didn’t want to stop there. We’ve also incorporated our rolled fingerboard edges for a broken-in feel, upgraded hardware, and have some new body options as well- which underscores our commitment to providing players and creators with the tools they need to express their unique sound and style. The Player II Series is not just an upgrade, it's a detailed re-imagining of our core silhouettes, highlighting our dedication to quality and the continuous refinement of our instruments.”
Additionally, Player II offers new options for chambered ash and chambered mahogany bodies for the Player II Stratocaster and Telecaster models, which will be available in October. Designed for musicians ready to elevate their craft, the Player II Series sets a new standard for quality and performance in the mid-price range.
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The 2018 CCL Deco Custom, in all its Pelham blue glory.
Anyway, we became friends and I started working on him pretty early—my 40th birthday was approaching, and that meant it was time for us to start designing his first solidbody build. If you stopped on this page, it’s because the photo of the finished product caught your eye. Beautiful, right? The 2018 CCL Deco Custom: Never shall there be another.
Old National Glenwood guitars were my design inspiration, but I wanted a slim waist like a PRS and the like. We used a solid block of korina to start, routed like MacGyver to get the knobs and switches where I wanted them. Dale builds all his own lathes and machines (usually out of lumber, y’all), as the task requires. This beast took some creativity—it’s tight wiring under that custom-steel pickguard. Many were the preliminary sketches. Four coats of Pelham blue, 11 coats of nitro. Honduran mahogany neck, Madagascar ebony fretboard with Dale’s signature not-quite-Super-400 inlays. He designed the logo; I just said, “Make it art deco.”
We sourced all the bits and bobs from StewMac and Allparts and Reverb and the like, mostly to get that chrome look I so adore. Graph Tech Ratio tuners, Duesenberg Radiator trem (had to order that one from Germany), TonePros TP6R-C roller bridge. The pickups were a genius suggestion from the builder, Guitarfetish plug ’n’ play 1/8" solderless swappable, which means I have about 10 pickups in the case to choose from: rockabilly to metal. And both slots are tapped, with the tone knobs serving as single- to double-coil switches. I put the selector on the lower horn to accommodate my tendency to accidentally flip the thing on Les Pauls—definite lifesaver.
Reader and guitar enthusiast, Cody Lindsey.
Dale offered to chamber this monster, but I said what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. It weighs in at 11 pounds, if it’s an ounce. We carved the neck to match a ’60s SG, so it’s like the mini bat you get at the ballpark on little kids’ day. Easy peasy. 1 11/16" nut, 25" scale, jumbo frets, just 2 1/8" at the 12th fret.
Delivery in its lovely, hygrometer-equipped Cedar Creek case actually happened a month or two shy of my 41st, but hey, you can’t rush these things. We ended up with a studio Swiss Army knife; it does a bit of everything and does it effortlessly. A looker, too. Dale didn’t spend his career doing this kind of thing—he was in IT or some such—and I imagine he’s winding this “hobby” of his down these days, enjoying retirement with a bottle of Killian’s and a lawn chair at Duluth Blues Fest. But this guitar will live on as a marker of his skill and otherworldly patience. It sits at the head of the class in my practice room, welcoming any visitors and bringing a smile to my face every day. And Dale, my friend, I’ll be 50 before you know it....
Cody requested that Dale design an art deco logo for the guitar’s headstock.