Gibson sold the first Les Paul in 1952, a gold-finished guitar with two P-90 pickups. Seth Lover's humbuckers arrived in 1957, and in 1958 the gold top gave way to a cherry sunburst on what Gibson now called the Les Paul Standard. The sunbursts sold poorly. Estimates of how many were made from 1958 to 1960 run from about 1,200 to 1,700, and in 1961 Gibson replaced the design with the double-cutaway guitar that became the SG. Then Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Mike Bloomfield and Jimmy Page made the old sunbursts famous, Gibson brought the Les Paul back in 1968, and it's been reissued ever since. That's why a listing titled vintage Les Paul can be almost anything.
What makes a PAF-era Les Paul
PAF stands for Patent Applied For, the words on the decal under the pickup. Gibson started fitting Lover's pickups to Les Pauls in early 1957. The decal appeared in late 1957 and stayed on even after the patent was granted in July 1959. By mid to late 1962 Gibson switched to a Patent No. 2,737,842 decal, a number that actually belongs to Les Paul's trapeze tailpiece. Guitars with nickel hardware moved to patent-number pickups first, and gold-hardware models sometimes kept PAFs as late as 1965.
The rest of a 1958 to 1960 sunburst is a mahogany body with a carved maple cap, a Tune-o-matic bridge and a stop tailpiece. A minority left the factory with a Bigsby, and a Bigsby, or the holes one leaves behind, lowers a burst's value next to a stop-tailpiece guitar. The serial is ink-stamped on the back of the headstock, and its first digit is the last digit of the year, so a number starting with 9 is a 1959. Necks start thick in 1958 and get noticeably thinner during 1960.
The burst and its fade
The cherry dye Gibson used in 1958 and 1959 faded fast in sunlight, so originals now range from bright red to honey, lemon and brown, though they all left Kalamazoo looking much the same. In early 1960 Gibson changed to a fade-resistant red that's more orange, sometimes called tomato soup. A spotless deep-red 1959 should make you ask about a refinish.
Goldtop conversions
Under the paint, a sunburst Standard is the same guitar as a 1957 humbucker goldtop, so goldtops get refinished as sunbursts. Guitar HQ gives the cleanest test. An original 1958 to 1960 sunburst has a two-piece maple top with a center seam, and the few off-center 1958 exceptions may themselves be refinished goldtops. A one-piece or off-center top under a burst points to a conversion. Goldtops from 1958 also have a stair-step in the toggle switch route that most sunbursts lack.
The 1968 reissue
When the Les Paul returned in 1968, the Standard was a goldtop copy of the 1956 model, with P-90 pickups and a narrow 1950s headstock. The differences between a 1968 Les Paul and a 1950s one show up in photos. Hardware is chrome rather than nickel, the knobs have metal reflector caps, the headstock is pitched at 14 degrees instead of 17, and the board is Indian rosewood instead of Brazilian. The serial is stamped into the wood instead of inked, the tuners say Gibson Deluxe, and the cutaway binding is wider and covers the maple. The control cavity was routed before the top went on, so its floor is flat. The Les Paul Custom came back in 1968 too, now with a maple top in place of the 1950s all-mahogany body.
Norlin-era changes
During 1969 the Les Paul changed quickly. The headstock got wider early in the year, the long neck tenon became a short one, the center-seamed top gave way to several pieces, and the pancake body arrived, with a thin layer of maple sandwiched in the mahogany that shows at the edge. In June 1969 the Standard became the Les Paul Deluxe with mini-humbuckers, and from December 1969 Made in USA appears under the serial, with a volute behind the nut to cut down on headstock breaks. Gibson became part of Norlin in 1974, and in this era many necks went to three-piece maple. The Standard proper returned in 1976 with full-size humbuckers. Humbuckers from these years are often T-tops, named for a T molded into the bobbins that you can only see with the cover off.
Later serials follow the era. From 1961 the number is pressed into the wood, Made in USA appears from about 1970, decals cover 1975 to 1977, and from 1977 it's eight digits with the year in the first and fifth.
Custom Shop reissues
Gibson formed its Custom Shop in 1986 and started out making accurate reproductions of early Les Pauls. Its historic-spec, aged VOS and (since 2019) Murphy Lab guitars are the copies most likely to be mistaken for originals. Gibson ink-stamps them on the back of the headstock in the old style, with the first digit as the year being copied and the next as the year built, so a 1959 reissue starts with 9 just like a real one. The Les Paul Classic (1989–2014) also carries a reissue-style ink serial, with no Made in USA stamp before 2007.
Guitar HQ points to two physical tells. On an original, a line drawn through the two tailpiece studs touches the top edge of the neck volume knob and the bottom edge of the bridge volume knob, while on the reissues it checked, the line runs into the neck volume knob. The inlays are the other tell, since no modern celluloid looks like the 1950s batches.
Japanese copies
From the late 1970s, Japanese makers came very close to copying the 1958 to 1960 Standard. Tokai's Les Paul Reborn started in 1978, became the Reborn Old by 1980 and later the Love Rock. Greco's Super Real series arrived in 1979, and Burny made close copies too. Norlin sued the companies behind Ibanez in 1977 over a headstock design, which is why mid-1970s copies are called lawsuit-era guitars. Gibson's own Orville by Gibson brand made guitars for the Japanese market from 1988 to 1998. Most carry their maker's name on the headstock, so read the logo before anything else.
Which one to buy
If you want a 1950s Les Paul, get every photo on the list below before you commit. If you want the PAF sound to play, Guitar HQ's tip is a Gibson patent-number humbucker with an unopened nickel cover, which sounds very close to a PAF. The 1968 goldtop is Gibson's first reissue, and Guitar HQ rates it well above most 1970s Les Pauls. The same PAF checks apply to an early ES-335, and a single-cut Les Paul Junior is the 1950s Les Paul with one P-90 and none of the burst questions. Our Les Paul Standard burst page tracks the originals.
What to check in a listing
- Serial. Look at the back of the headstock in the photos. An inked number whose first digit is the year fits the 1950s, and a number pressed into the wood means 1961 or later.
- Top seam. Ask for a straight-on photo of the top. A 1958 to 1960 burst should show two pieces of maple joined down the center.
- Under the guard. Ask for a photo with the pickguard lifted. Faded originals show stronger color where the guard covered the top.
- Pickup decals. Ask for photos of the pickup bottoms with the covers left on. You want a PAF or patent-number decal and untouched solder on the cover.
- Headstock back. Check the back of the neck behind the nut in the photos. A volute or Made in USA stamp means December 1969 or later, and a glue line or touch-up means a repaired break.
- Control cavity. Ask for a photo with the back plate off. A flat floor with straight walls fits 1968, and the edge of the body shows pancake layers on many Norlin guitars.
- Tailpiece line. Look at a straight-on photo of the top. On an original, a line through the tailpiece studs grazes the top edge of the neck volume knob.
Ready to look? Browse the guitars we track, or see every Gibson in one place.
