1968 Gibson Les Paul Standard Goldtop “Second Batch”!

The Early Series Gibson Les Paul Goldtop Reissues are fantastic instruments with thoroughbred heritage to boot. They are the most sought after of Les Paul Reissues by far and they display decidedly 50's construction throughout. These guitars offer a great alternative to an original 1950's Les Paul as prices have been soaring over the past decades. When you hear the general term "1968 Les Paul" in a guitar nerd conversation, it generally refers to this particular era even though a good bit of these guitars were made in 1969. This is the era that Gibson chose to produce their legendary "1968 Les Paul Reissue", all based upon the original 1955-1956-1957 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop.
 
For this particular guitar all specific details point to a "second batch" guitar built September/October 1968: the one piece body and big 50's style one piece neck with no volute and 50's style heel, long tenon neck joint, small headstock with Les Paul Model Gibson Logo (with open b open o and dotted i), serial number in the 514xxx series, pots dating to week 45 1967, pots cavity routing with straight walls and flat maple floor hinting on the earliest routing method. One of the latest First Series Goldtops with Crown headstock inlay noted has serial 514xxx so the one we have for sale must be one of the first "Second Batch" guitars!

This all original beauty weighs only 4.1Kg which is a very good weight for this era! It has the original P90 pickups, pots dating to week 45 1967, Sprague black beauty capacitors, ABR wire bridge with nylon saddles, stoptail, studs, pickguard, gold reflector knobs, switch, switchtip, R/T ring, Kluson Deluxe double line double ring tuners, jack output and jackplate, even the strap buttons and screws are original. The finish throughout is original front to back, neck and headstock, with no touchups or repairs. During the day it sleeps in its original 1968 Gibson rectangular case with yellow/gold plush lining.

The original warm gold finish shows some beautiful checking with green worming and wear on the body, neck and headstock with several typical wear spots on the neck from playing big solo’s on the 12th whilst wearing a pinky skull ring (educated guess). The neck near the headstock has wear as well as some stress lines on the sides but none deep and no typical cracks or repairs and no sign of any repair. There are 2 lines from the g-string tuner down the headstock but these feel superficial and very old judging to the discoloration and checking. UV light shows it is all ok. The backplate routing is a bit deeper to one side making the backplate sink in more towards the neck. A simple piece of added wood solves the “issue”. Although just optical it’s only good to mention.
 
Oh, almost forgot about the sound with all this corksniffing... The bridge pickup sounds crisp and open and has a lot of clarity. Perfect for lead solos and punching through the mix! The neck has more sweetness and warmth going from jazzy woman tone to full on rock mode. In the middle position you have it all: warm full powerchords with the bells and openness of the bridge. A perfect combination and an extremely balanced and versatile instrument!