In hindsight, it’s certainly difficult to fathom Gibson’s Les Paul Standard of the late 1950s and early 1960s not appealing to the masses. Yet that’s exactly what happened, even as Gibson officials tried desperately to fine tune the instrument and make it suitable to the general guitar-playing public. Sadly, their efforts proved unsuccessful as the Les Paul Standard was shelved midway through 1960 to make way for a new design that featured beveled edges, twin cutaways and a much thinner body – the guitar known today as the SG Standard.