Electric Guitar Review

Lordy, they’re trying to kill me… Gibson this week finally pulled the veil on their latest super-high-end Custom Shop re-creation (read: cha-ching!) –– a painstaking replica of Jimmy Page’s iconic “Number Two” Les Paul.

Based on Page’s original ’59 Les Paul ‘Burst –– which was massively modified by the guitarist in order to explore its full tonal capabilities –– the Jimmy Page ‘Number Two’ Les Paul will sport a number of custom features, including a switching system built to re-produce the numerous coil splitting, series/parallel, and phase-reverse options of Page’s original instrument; all via push/pull pots on the four control knobs, and a pair of hidden switches beneath the pickguard.

Other custom specs will include a one-piece body of genuine mahogany capped by a “uniquely figured” two-piece Eastern maple top, a single-piece, quarter-sawn mahogany neck carefully grain-matched to the body for improved tone and sustain, and a pair of Jimmy Page BurstBucker pickups; covered version at the neck, uncovered w/black bobbins at the bridge.

The guitar will also feature a rosewood fretboard with 22 frets and a 12″ radius, aged acrylic trapezoid inlays, and tortoise side dots, while top shelf hardware will include 12:01 ratio Grover tuners, a tune-o-matic bridge, light-weight aluminum stop bar tailbar, and a period-correct antique bell truss rod cover.

As with previous high-end Custom Shop Replicas, the Gibson Jimmy Page “Number Two” Les Paul will be made available in extremely limited quantities, and will come in three different finishes: 25 guitars will be aged by Tom Murphy and signed by Jimmy Page, 100 guitars will be simply aged, and a final 200 will be available in a VOS model.

The guitars are expected to sell for a street price of $25,882, $15,294, and $11,176 respectively, and will ship with a black pleather Custom Shop case silkscreened with Page’s signature, an interior of maroon crushed velvet, and a leather-bound Certificate of Authenticity.