Rare and clean Les Paul Classic Premium Plus in a limited edition hand-rubbed aniline dye finish... yet with a professional headstock repair. It was a clean break which didn't damage the truss rod cover and left some stress lines on the headstock veneer as well as some small checking lines next to the repair area. I included some blue light pics after the case pics. The repair was done with minimal glue seepage (the darker blue) and the other darker blue areas are 'nitro burn' from a guitar hanger, which don't show with the naked eye. The repair area is smooth and almost unnoticeable in many lights, but of course it's extremely unfortunate this happened to such a rare and cool guitar. I've priced in the headstock break... this guitar model would and has sold for over double my listing price had this never happened to it.

It weighs in at approx 9.3 lbs on my digital scale. The neck is a 60's or r0 profile but has a bit more shoulder than a rounded C profile, measuring .8in at the first fret and .89 at the 12th. Great neck for leads yet enough mahogany for comfy chording. The mahogany back is one piece. It's currently set up with Ernie Ball Turbo 9.5-46 with medium-low action and slight relief to the neck.. though the repair job should hold up with any string gauge and the truss rod functions perfectly. The factory fretwork is fantastic.. there's no wear to them and very little buzzing up and down the fretboard when played unplugged.

Besides the headstock break/repair area there aren't any noticeable dings or blemishes, the gold hardware is very clean, and no checking besides some small fret sprout lines in the binding. Typical of guitars from this era is an outline to the mother of pearl Gibson logo and some 'nitro sink' to the top where the nitro settles in to the vertical lines of the maple top (different from horizontal checking from humidity/temp swings). A bit of rambling about this series...

The Classic lineup began in late 1989 and had vintage inspired features like a real ABR-1 bridge, ink-stamped serial, and smaller peghead with push-in bushings. In fact to set them apart from reissues Gibson changed the headstock script from "Les Paul Model" to "Les Paul Classic" in 1993 when the Custom Shop was introduced (see my '93 translucent purple example currently listed). This particular lineup had hand-rubbed aniline dye finishes, gold hardware, and 490r/498t alnico pickups as opposed to the ceramic 496r/500t pickups all 90's Gibson USA Classics got. Because these were a limited edition and had wild finishes and gold hardware these actually got the "Les Paul Model" silkscreen. These aniline dye finishes often don't stand the test of time due to UV exposure. The blue and green ones turn brown or even orange and the rare red ones can fade to a salmon color. The brown ones seem to fare the best since they just turn a darker brown from the clear coat yellowing. This one has a deep honey amber hue despite its unflattering 'translucent brown' name. In sunlight the figuring has a golden hue to it and looks like a dark amber in lower light. As a hand-rubbed dye finish the figuring is very active and the maple is highlighted with a golden hue in most lights. The top's figuring and hue are very dynamic so I photo'd it in at least four different lighting conditions.

The pickups measure 7.8k for the 490r neck and 14.1k at the 498t bridge. I made a slight inprovement to the electronics by soldering the bare wire of the switch wire so that it's properly shielded.

The case is in great condition with minimal wear/weathering to the gold hardware. The tolex has a few small blemishes as well as a thin tear by the hinge-side latch (pictured). Case candy includes the warranty card and a Gibson USA hang tag. There are no twists to the neck and the guitar is a fantastic player. It'll be shipped to you fully insured and just as clean and glossy as photographed, except with the switch tip stowed away in the case compartment.