Following a pair of five-figure Custom versions, here’s the everyman Greeny. But is it a valid introduction or a slightly pimped version of an existing Les Paul?
TESTED BY DAVE BURRLUCK PHOTOGRAPHY BY PHIL BARKER
FEW GUITARS COME with such a historic and evocative backstory as this one. Pretty much whatever your age or taste in music, at least one if not all of the players involved — Peter Green, Gary Moore, Kirk Hammett and let’s not forget Les Paul himself — will be on your playlist. The appeal, the blanket publicity and the social media buzz mean that this guitar is a more than significant introduction. But what do we actually get for just shy of $3,200?
It seems like a modded Les Paul Standard ’50s, the cornerstone of the Original Series, which has remained unchanged since its introduction, under Gibson’s new ownership, in late 2019. But thanks to its satin nitro finish, it’s actually based on the Faded version that appeared last year.
As for the pimps to its starting point, first off we get a maple top upgrade from AA to AAA. Then, reflecting the neck repairs of the original Greeny model, the headstock is left plain, with no “Les Paul Model” script or truss rod cover ID. The toggle switch ring is left plain, too, and the control knobs differ — a Gary Moore mod, we believe. The bridge pickup’s pair has the gold top-hat knobs with silver reflectors of the current ’60s models, while the neck pickup has the standard gold top-hat knobs of the ’50s Standards.
The Greeny Burst finish is a slightly deeper-hued version of the Faded’s Vintage Honey Burst and is applied just to the top. The rest is a mid-brown stain over the slightly open-pore feel of the lighter colored mahogany. We also get Grover Rotomatic tuners with “contemporary” Schaller-like knobs, not the vintage Kluson style of the current ’50s guitars.
As for the pickups, the spec of the Custom Shop Greeny tells us it uses “Custom Greeny Buckers with Alnico II magnets,” while the USA model’s spec just calls them “Greenybuckers.” On both, the bar magnet of the neck pickup is flipped, its polarity reversed, so when both pickups are on together they’re out of phase. Also, the neck pickup is physically reversed, so the screw poles face the bridge, which really shouldn’t make too much of a difference, even if the pickup coils are slightly unmatched, like the Burstbuckers, for example — and these appear to be wax potted.
Our advice is to forget the backstory and just enj
