2005 Gibson Custom Shop VOS Les Paul 57 Reissue Gold Top Review

Aloha!

Today we are looking at a lovely 2005 Gibson Custom Shop VOS Les Paul 1957 re-issue gold top guitar. It came from the factory with a gorgeous Antique Gold finish over the carved maple top, along with single-ply cream binding. This guitar has been subjected to Gibson’s VOS process, so it has a gently worn look (but not really reliced). It is one of the coolest looking guitars ever made, and it is a very good reproduction of the original!

The body is made of mahogany, as is the quarter sawn 1-piece long-tenon neck. The neck is killer. It has a bound rosewood fretboard with mother-of-pearl inlays and no wear at all to the 22 frets. It is a shame that many new Les Pauls do not come with a rosewood fretboard anymore. Of course the neck has the chunky and round 50’s profile, as this guitar very accurately replicates a 1957 gold top…

It has nickel hardware, which includes: Gibson vintage tulip tuners, a stopbar tailpiece and an ABR-1 Tune-o-matic bridge. Nickel is so much classier looking than chrome, if you ask me.

The pickups are the original Burstbucker 1 and 2 models, and the Custom Shop got things right by using CTS pots and bumblebee tone capacitors. They do a nice job of emulating the PAF bite that these guitars were originally known for.

Unlike many new Gibson guitars, this instrument really works well, and The Custom Shop guys should be proud of what they did with this one. The neck and the frets are perfect, and the chunky neck provides a tremendous amount of sustain and clarity. It plays like butter and sounds killer. It is quite possibly the best Les Paul I have ever played.

If you wish you could take a time machine 56 years back to 1957 to buy a new one, this is the closest you are going to get. Of course, you will pay for the privilege.

In 2005, the Gibson Custom Shop 1957 VOS Les Paul reissue gold top had a list price of $4778, and the street price was $3099. Fast forwarding to today, the list price is up to an astounding $6351, which works out to a street price of $4128. Though this is a very good guitar, that is a ridiculous amount of money to lay out. You have to want one of these really badly to drop that kind of coin…

Mahalo!