Over the past year, Gibson has been rebranding in an attempt to get back to their roots as a company. The guitar-building heavyweights are now adding to their product line with the USA made signature for Lukas Nelson, the son of Willie Nelson and guitarist for Neil Young.
The Gibson USA Lukas Nelson ’56 Les Paul Junior is based on Nelson’s main vintage Junior but includes a few modern enhancements.
Gibson has launched the Lukas Nelson ’56 Les Paul Junior, which comes with period-perfect features for players who like it retro.
The ’56 Junior features a fat ’50s style neck, rosewood fingerboard, and medium-jumbo frets. The bigger frets allow for easier bends while still retaining the traditional look. The satin vintage sunburst nitrocellulose finish adds to the aesthetic and allows the guitar to age just like one that was made in ’56.
The single dog-ear P90 features Alnico-3 magnets and shines in this nuts-and-bolts setup. Including only the essential elements allows the fingers to have more tonal control, Nelson explains “If I hit it lighter, it doesn’t break up as much. If I get into it, it gets a lot of grit and dirt and breaks up. It’s a versatile tone, which I’m pretty grateful for.”
Just like Nelson’s vintage Junior, the signature features a mahogany body. The ’50s style wraparound bridge provides the same look and resonance as the original but with improved intonation accuracy. This carries over to the tuners too, which look just like the vintage original but have a higher gear ratio for improved performance.
For more information, head over to the Gibson website.
