1968 Les Paul Custom Reissue, Light Aged Jade Green

This Gibson Custom Select 1968 Les Paul™ Custom features a hand-mixed Jade Green finish with Murphy Lab Light Aging and nickel hardware. Gibson Custom Select showcases what is possible through the Custom Shop with hand-selected specifications chosen by experts at the Gibson Custom Shop. These special features include unique finishes, special pickup specifications, and hand-selected figured tonewoods. This model has all the normal features from a 1968 Les Paul Custom, but with a few unique twists that make this guitar unique. The Jade Green finish was originally in the 1959 Oldsmobile catalog, where other famous finishes originated such as Cardinal Red. Paired with nickel hardware, this 1968 Les Paul Custom is a colorful yet subtle guitar.

From 1960 to 1968, the Les Paul model’s original single-cutaway body shape had been absent from Gibson’s lineup. With the demand from players during the height of rock ‘n’ roll during the mid-1960s, the Les Paul returned to Gibson’s catalog in 1968 in the form of a humbucker-loaded Les Paul Custom and a P-90-equipped Les Paul Standard. The original Les Paul Customs from the 1950s were made from a solid piece of mahogany, while the Les Paul Standard models had a mahogany body with a maple top. The reintroduction of the Les Paul Custom in 1968 brought the construction of a 50s Les Paul Standard to the Les Paul Custom, which is how Les Paul Customs from the Modern Collection are constructed today.

This Gibson Custom Select 1968 Les Paul Custom features a hand-mixed finish that is sourced from Oldsmobile’s catalog of finishes from 1959. Other Gibson Custom Colors from the 1960s were also sourced from this same catalog, such as Silver Mist, Polaris White, Kerry Green, and Frost Blue. There is a possibility that Gibson could have used Jade Green during the Golden Era. This finish is hand-mixed to account for the color appearing different when it is applied to sheet metal versus when it is applied to maple and mahogany. The Jade Green finish is aged by the Murphy Lab. Its Light Aging level makes the finish slightly more yellow than what is underneath the clear antique finish. The typical gold hardware on a normal Les Paul Custom is swapped for the more subtle nickel hardware. This special finish and changed hardware are features that can only be found through Gibson Custom Select and Made to Measure.

Loaded with a set of Custombucker pickups with 500K CTS® potentiometers, this Gibson Custom Select 1968 Les Paul Custom is a unique take on a classic model. Other defining features of a ’68 Custom are the Witch Hat knobs and a 1968 Les Paul Custom neck profile, which is 3D scanned from an original example, which makes this guitar true to form. Included with the guitar is a reissue hardshell case and a Gibson Custom Certificate of Authenticity.