The Epiphone 1959 Les Paul Standard is Available for Preorder

Epiphone 1959 Les Paul Standard
(Image credit: Epiphone)

All the way back in January (and how many lifetimes ago does that feel like now?), Epiphone announced that it had teamed up with the Gibson Custom Shop to create the Epiphone 1959 Les Paul Standard.

Now, the much-buzzed-about guitar – promising to bring an ultra-close approximation of the look and sounds of the world's most coveted vintage axe to the masses – is finally available for preorder.

The first-ever collaboration between Epiphone and the Gibson Custom Shop, the guitar features a mahogany body, an Indian Laurel fretboard, a maple top with a AAA figured maple veneer, a 1959 hand-rolled neck profile with a long neck tenon, and an aged finish.

Sonically, it's outfitted with Gibson USA BurstBucker 2 and 3 humbucker pickups, Switchcraft CTS pots, '50s era wiring and Mallory capacitors.

Epiphone 1959 Les Paul Standard in Aged Dark Burst

(Image credit: Epiphone)

Other appointments on the instrument include new Epiphone Deluxe vintage tuners, a Switchcraft selector switch and output jack, a non-beveled pickguard and an Epiphone Limited Edition metal medallion toggle switchplate.

The Epiphone 1959 Les Paul Standard is available for preorder now from Sweetwater – in Aged Dark Burst and Aged Dark Cherry Burst finishes – for $799. It comes with a vintage-style brown hard case.

For more info on the guitar, stop by epiphone.com.

Jackson Maxwell
Associate Editor, GuitarWorld.com and GuitarPlayer.com

Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com and GuitarPlayer.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.