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Les Paul Traditional Pro Exclusive
The Les Paul Traditional Pro gives you the to-die-for vintage look and feel of the very first Les Paul Standards. With BurstBucker pickups to replicate the sound of Gibson’s original “Patent Applied For” pickups and three classic finishes to choose from, your friends will swear you just cashed in your life’s savings to afford this gem. With a slim, comfortable ’60s neck, a gorgeous maple top, mahogany body, rosewood fingerboard and luxe details like antique binding and a mother-of-pearl Gibson logo, this guitar is the total package.
Body
Species
Each Les Paul Traditional Pro gets its stunning three-dimensional look courtesy of its “bookmatched” maple top. The guitar’s tight-grained top fits snugly atop a two-piece mahogany body, and top and body are bonded together with ultra-strong Franklin Titebond 50 glue. This wood combination yields not only a gorgeous exterior but also a specific yet versatile tone that many guitarists have come to demand.
  Grade
This Les Paul’s maple top and mahogany body are both Grade A.
  Design
To achieve the Les Paul’s desirable “bookmatched” top, a Gibson luthier gathers two pieces of the finest maple, chosen for its grain patterns, and carefully lines them up to achieve the classic center seam look. Once the finishing process is complete the top rim of the guitar is scraped by hand to reveal exquisite antique binding. Beyond the façade, the guitar’s interior is treated to Gibson’s traditional 9 hole relief to give you enhanced tone and a guitar of manageable weight.
  Average Weight
The average weight of a Les Paul Traditional Pro body is 5.88 lbs.
  Tonal Characteristics
The mahogany body of the Les Paul Traditional Pro cranks out tone that is somewhat soft, but extremely well-balanced, with good grind and bite. It has the potential for good depth, with full (though not super-tight) lows, velvety highs and a slightly compressed response. Its maple cap adds snap, sizzle and sustain. And like a number of Gibsons, the Les Paul’s interior has weight relief cavities, which gives you a guitar that is louder acoustically and features increased sustain and resonance.
Finish
Color
The Les Paul Traditional Pro comes in the classically beautiful Vintage Sunburst, Heritage Sunburst, Ebony, Goldtop and Wine Red finishes. This high-gloss lacquer was selected to accentuate the beautiful wood grain patterns of the maple top.
  Surface Texture
The 90-sheen lacquer finish gives the Les Paul Traditional Pro a sleek surface that’s smooth to the touch.
  Process
The Les Paul Traditional Pro is finished by hand in a process that demands several coats and many hours. Unlike a lot of other manufacturers, who settle for a polyurethane finish, Gibson opts for a nitrocellulose finish that will encourage the natural vibration of the instrument for a purer tone. In addition, a nitro finish is very porous and actually gets thinner over time. That way your guitar’s wood can breathe and age beautifully.
Neck and Headstock
Species
The neck of the Les Paul Traditional Pro is constructed from a solid piece of Grade-A mahogany, the hands-down best choice for guitarists who demand a strong but lightweight neck. Before becoming “putty” in the hands of Gibson’s skilled craftsmen, the mahogany is milled and cut to a highly desirable “quarter sawn” wood grain orientation and then kiln dried until it has reached optimum moisture levels.
Truss Rod
Gibson’s traditional truss rod, found in most of our guitars, is highly responsive to the individual adjustments you’ll want to make to personalize and optimize string action and sustain.
  Grade
A-grade
Profile
This Les Paul Traditional Pro is fitted with Gibson’s classic ’60s neck profile, which is the more modern, slim-tapered neck most commonly associated with the Les Paul and SG models of the early 1960s.
  Joint Angle
5.0°
Headstock Angle
The Les Paul Traditional Pro headstock is carefully angled at a tried-and-true 17 degrees, which increases pressure on the strings and helps them stay in the nut slots. An increase in string pressure also means there is no loss of string vibration between the nut and the tuners, which equals better sustain.
Logo
The Gibson logo — one of the most globally recognized logos of all time — is inlaid in mother of pearl into the headstock of the Les Paul Traditional Pro.
  Tonal Characteristics
The angled, classical-style peg head offers enhanced sustain.
  Average Weight
The average weight of the neck on a Les Paul Traditional Pro is .94 lbs.
Neck Fit
Joint
Gibson uses what is known as the Mortise & Tenon joint to bind neck to body so that the two pieces form one solid unit. This time-tested joint style has been used in all the great woodworking arts — from shipbuilding to cabinetry — and has been proven to yield a stronger neck and body than if the instrument was made from a single piece of wood.
  Adhesive
The adhesive used to join neck and body on the Les Paul Traditional Pro is Franklin Titebond 50, one of the strongest glues on the market today.
  Tolerance
When fitting the neck and body together, we take advantage of our precise measuring equipment so that all angles, pitches and alignments maintain a tolerance within .005 of an inch. Not only does this help to keep your guitar in tune but it also maintains proper string alignment relative to the fingerboard.
  Joint Angle Tolerance
0.0° (+/- 15 seconds)
Fingerboard
Species
The Les Paul Traditional Pro is equipped with a Grade-A rosewood fingerboard, loved by guitarists the world over for its comfortable playability and mellow tone.
  Radius
The 12-inch radius of the Les Paul Traditional Pro fingerboard provides smooth note bending capabilities and eliminates “dead” or “choked out” notes, common occurrences on fingerboards with lesser radiuses.
Frets
The Les Paul Traditional Pro sports 22 frets.
  Inlays
The figured acrylic trapezoid inlays that decorate the fingerboard of this Les Paul are made of white ABS plastic, giving these classic inlays the mother-of-pearl look you lust for. The guitar gets extra aesthetic oomph with its antique binding along the fingerboard.
  Average Weight
The average weight of a rosewood fingerboard is approximately .24 lbs.
  Tonal Characteristics
Rosewood is a very popular fingerboard material, known worldwide for its warm tone.
  Plek Setup
Each Traditional Pro is set up using the German-made, computer-controlled Plek machine which carefully measures each fret, along with the fingerboard height under each string, and then automatically dresses each fret, virtually eliminating string buzz and greatly improving the overall playability of the guitar. This pioneering process does in minutes what it takes a luthier several hours—sometimes even days—to accomplish. Every fret is accurately aligned, and the guitar is properly intonated, leaving the instrument "Plek'd" and amazingly playable.
Nut
Material
The nut on the Les Paul Traditional Pro is made from Corian, which is mainly composed of acrylic polymer. It’s a very durable material, delivers enhanced sustain, and holds the tolerances of the precision cuts made by Gibson’s PLEK machine. It is installed into the top surface of the neck, butting up to the end of the fingerboard to ensure proper tone and sustain transfer.
  Width
The width of the nut on the Les Paul Traditional Pro is approximately 1.695”.
Pickups
Neck and Bridge
In the neck position, the ’57 Classic is made to the exact same specs as Gibson’s original PAFs, including Alnico II magnets, nickel- or gold-plated pole pieces, nickel slugs, maple spacers, and vintage-style, two-conductor braided wiring. Additionally, the wiring is poly-coated instead of enamel-coated, which improves consistency by eliminating thin or thick spots on the wire. They are also wax potted, which removes all internal air space and any chance of microphonic feedback. In the bridge position, the BurstBucker 3 provides historically accurate PAF tone with two slightly overwound coils, creating a raw, airy tone packed with enough punch to cut through any mix.
  Coil Tapping
The bridge and neck pickups can each be split via their own push/pull switch on the volume knob to achieve a single-coil tone. This coil-tapping function allows you to instantly achieve brighter, snappier tones from this humbucker-loaded guitar, to replicate the sounds of other classic guitars equipped with single-coil pickups, and to return to the Les Paul Traditional Pro's thick, warm, powerful, full-humbucking tone at the push of a knob.
  Wire Material
The wire used in both the neck and bridge pickup is made of enamel.
  Coil Material
The coil of each pickup is made from ABS plastic, which is hard and durable and can withstand a broad range of temperatures.
  Pole Piece Material
The pole pieces inside each pickup are made from either nickel or gold.
  Pole Piece Position From Nut
In the neck pickup, the pole pieces are positioned 18.16” from the nut, while the pole pieces in the bridge pickup are positioned 23.56” from the nut.
  Magnet Position From Nut
The Alnico 2 magnet in the ’57 Classic is positioned 19” from the nut, while the Alnico 2 in the Burstbucker 3 is positioned 23.19” from the nut.
  Tonal Characteristics
These uncovered Burstbucker pickups replicate the sound of Gibson’s original "Patent Applied For" pickups. You’ll get warm, full tone with a balanced response, packing that classic Gibson PAF humbucker crunch.
Electronics
Volume Control
The Les Paul Traditional Pro features two Gold Top Hat volume controls with potentiometers made by CTS. The pots (short for potentiometer) have an ohm reading of 500k, which allows for a smooth variation from soft to loud.
Tone Control
The Les Paul Traditional Pro features two Gold Top Hat tone control knobs with a potentiometer made by CTS. The pot has an ohm reading of 500k, which is the highest value for a panel pot, and provides a very smooth transition between highs and lows.
Toggle Switch
The Les Paul Traditional Pro features one three-way toggle switch made of stainless steel and adorned with a crème cap and a crème washer. This switch acts as the instrument’s pickup selector. In the down position, only the bridge pickup is active. In the middle position, both pickups are active. In the up position, only the neck pickup is active.
Output Jack
The Les Paul Traditional Pro features a 1⁄4” output jack made by Switchcraft. Its super heavy duty construction holds your guitar cable securely in place. The jack is offset by an aluminum jack plate.
Hardware
Tuning Keys
The headstock of the Les Paul Traditional Pro is equipped with chrome-plated Grover Locking Keystone tuning keys. With a gear ratio of 14:1, these tuners deliver precision tuning in a durable housing that provides maximum protection for the gear and string post. All moving parts are cut for exact meshing, eliminating the possibility of slippage, with a special lubricant inside the gear box for smooth and accurate tuning stability.
Bridge
In 1954, Gibson rocked the world when it debuted the tune-o-matic bridge, setting a standard for simplicity and functionality that has never been surpassed. Included on the Les Paul Traditional Pro, the tune-o-matic provides a firm seating for the strings, allowing the player to adjust and fine-tune the intonation and string height in a matter of minutes. It also yields a great union between the strings and body, which results in excellent tone and sustain. The bridge on this Les Paul is made from Zamak then plated with Chrome, and each one weighs approximately .11 lbs.
Tailpiece
Every Tune-o-matic bridge is combined with a separate “stopbar” tailpiece, which is essentially a modified version of the earlier wraparound bridge that’s designed to further enhance the connection between the strings and the body. The stopbar tailpiece on this Les Paul is made from Zamak then plated with Chrome, and each one weighs approximately .24lbs.
Strap Buttons
The Les Paul’s aluminum strap buttons are the same style and design that Gibson has used since the early 1950s.
Plastics
Truss Rod Cover
As with most Gibson guitars, the truss rod cover on the Les Paul Traditional Pro is made from vinyl plastic, and is shaped like an antique bell.
Control Knobs
The control knobs on the Les Paul Traditional Pro are Gibson’s Gold Top Hat knobs, found on many vintage and modern Gibson guitars.
  Pickup Trim Rings
The pickup trim rings on the Les Paul Traditional Pro are made of cream ABS plastic.
Strings
  Gauge
The Les Paul Traditional Pro is fitted with genuine Gibson strings, sizes .010 - .046.
Accessories
  Hardshell Case
Your Les Paul Traditional Pro comes protected in one of Gibson’s durable hardshell cases with the Gibson logo silk-screened across the front in white lettering.
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