TYPE
Electric Solid Body Double or single cutaway guitar
FEATURES
Mahogany body and neck
Rosewood fretboard
One P-90 single-coil pickup
INFORMATION
The Les Paul Junior was promoted as Gibson’s budget line: it had a flat unadorned body and a single-coil pickup for just $ 99. Today, a copy of this Junior line in good condition can yield tens of thousands of euros.
The Les Paul Junior had a flat top body and a sunburst or cherry red finish for the Junior model and a mustard yellow for the TV model. It was not a frivolous instrument: the key had simple position dots and the instrument had only one knob for volume and tone. The finish of the TV model was intended by Gibson to be natural, but was rather striking yellow with the wood grain visible. The name of this model referred to the idea that beginning guitarists would dream that their instrument was ideal for appearing in front of the TV cameras (TV was in black and white), white would be too dazzling, but yellow was just the right color.
From 1958, the Junior received an innovative double cutaway, so that the upper frets were more easily accessible. A Les Paul Special series was developed around the same time. It had a similar flat body, but was equipped with two P-90s and four control buttons.
