ANNIVERSARY GIBSON LES PAULS
Aluminium, silver, pearl, gold and diamond may very well be traditional names for different landmark anniversaries, but all of the above materials actually went into making a Les Paul at one time or another. Because every so often, Gibson made something just a little bit different and a little bit special – sometimes a lot more special, in fact – to mark an occasion. Whether it be a Standard or a Custom (or somewhere in between the two), these anniversary guitars are all unique. They also tell a story about the evolution of Gibson’s most popular solidbodies, those iconic guitars that have a long-earned reputation as the ultimate rock machines: the Les Pauls.
“These Les Paul anniversary models aren’t so much reissues as they are commemorative interpretations,” begins Steve Hove, co-owner of Vintage ‘n’ Rare Guitars in Bath. “Gibson mixed it up a little bit. It depended on what was fashionable at the time or what other guitars they had in their catalogue. A lot of people bought them as collectors’ items. And they still do.”
The earliest stirrings of an anniversary Les Paul occurred in 1974 when the Les Paul Custom was embellished with an engraving reading ‘Twentieth Anniversary’ on its 15th-fret block inlay. This subtle
