The Gibson Les Paul Junior is a solid-body electric guitar introduced in 1954 as an affordable, entry-level Les Paul. It was first released with a single-cutaway body style; models with a double-cutaway body style were introduced in 1958.[3] The Junior continued through the first three years of the Les Paul/SG body redesign. The initial run was discontinued in 1963.
The Les Paul Junior was designed as a high-quality, affordable guitar. Gibson stripped the standard Les Paul down to the basics: no binding, no carved top, one pickup, and just one volume and tone knob.[4] The Junior was equipped with one P-90 "dog-ear" pickup at the bridge, which was actually a stop tailpiece from the standard Les Paul. It was originally released in sunburst in mid-1954.[5][3]
In 1955 Gibson launched the Les Paul TV model, which was identical to the Junior except for the name and a fashionable contemporary "limed oak" style finish, later more accurately named "limed mahogany".[4] This natural wood finish with white grain filler often aged into a natural wood or dull yellow appearance, and eventually evolved into the opaque mustard yellow, popularly called "TV yellow". The intention was not to avoid glare from old TV cameras, but to offer a modern look and a name to promote The Les Paul & Mary Ford Show then on television.[citation needed] The double-cutaway model was introduced in 1958, nearly doubling Junior sales.[3]
Gibson '59 Les Paul TV (reissued 1959 Junior DC in TV Yellow)
The Les Paul Junior was originally introduced in 1954 as a single-cutaway model, with its double-cutaway debuting in early 1958.[7] The most common color schemes were vintage sunburst, cherry red, and TV yellow. In 2012, two rare black models with tortoiseshell pickguard, from 1959 and 1960, were described in Vintage Guitar; the possibility was offered that black models were special-ordered for a specific store, or that the black finish was used to cover up blemishes in the wood.[8] In 1961, the body style of the Junior was shifted, and after conflict between Gibson and Les Paul, these models were renamed the "SG Junior".[9]
The Les Paul Junior is still offered today[as of?] in several U.S.-made versions that have been given modern touches, including a slimmer tapered neck. These have been seen in several different incarnations since the mid-1980s in both single- and double-cutaway. (see #Timeline) The Gibson Custom shop has also offered a period-correct Junior over the years through both its Historic and VOS branches. These models feature the more notorious large (or "baseball bat") neck.
Several artists have had Juniors produced in the Gibson product line, including John Lennon, Mick Jones, Peter Frampton, and the Bob Marley Les Paul Special. The Lennon model is unique for the single-coil, hexagon-shaped "Charlie Christian" pickup at the neck (which derived its name from the type installed on Christian's Gibson ES-150), a modification Lennon accepted when he had the guitar serviced upon acquiring it in the 1970s. Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong and Gibson have released four signature Les Paul Juniors, the first is in three custom colors including Vintage Sunburst, Classic White, and Ebony, and is based on the actual '54-'57 Juniors. It also has some modern features requested by Armstrong, which include a slim tapered neck, as well as a specially designed "H-90" pickup which is said to be hum-canceling and it is overwound to handle more distortion. Armstrong's second signature model is a double-cutaway in TV Yellow which also includes an "H-90" pickup. However, according to Armstrong's guitar tech, he does not use the H-90 in his guitars. He uses a Seymour Duncan Antiquity P-90 pickup.[10] The third signature is a single-cutaway released in 2018 in cherry, ebony, and sonic blue.[11] The fourth, and as of 2023, most recent signature model is two structurally identical single-cutaway guitars; one in a "vintage ebony gloss" finish[12] and the other in a "silver mist" finish,[13] the second of which appearing in multiple music videos such as Oh Love and Stay the Night and being used in live performances throughout the 2010s and early 2020s.
The Les Paul Special has a generally similar body shape, but has a contoured top, , two P-90 pickups, and Gibson's standard four-knob, three-way switch electronics.
Ace Frehley and Gibson created a unique model of this guitar, The Gibson Les Paul Junior Lighter. It has a DiMarzio Superdistortion pickup as added by Frehley. It contained light bulbs incorporated into sequences that turned on as a marquee, but the lamps gave off too much heat and were reduced. They installed 20 cells for rechargeable ""C" batteries", new circuits, and new lamps.
Leslie West declined an offer to have a signature model of the instrument produced because he did not want a signature guitar based on an already-existing instrument, even though the Les Paul Junior was his main instrument during his heyday in Mountain.
In 2015, Gibson announced the re-release of the Gibson Les Paul Junior into their 2015 USA range.[14] They decided to release a newer version of the Gibson Les Paul Junior in 2018 with vintage specifications including a '50 neck profile.[15]
Epiphone Les Paul Junior
Epiphone, a major guitar company purchased by Gibson in 1957, sells lower-cost Juniors which feature a bolt-on neck configuration as well as being outfitted with a single humbucking pickup rather than the traditional P-90. Epiphone has released limited edition models including the Collegiate Edition and the Epiphone Limited Edition '57 Les Paul Junior Reissue with P-100, which features a set neck, all-solid mahogany construction, and a P-100 humbucker. Epiphone Japan has also released Juniors (with the Gibson headstock) including the LPJ-70 and the Ltd edition Lacquer Series Jr (both in vintage sunburst and cherry). These Juniors were pretty much dead-on regarding the original 1954 Gibson specifications but they were manufactured for the Japanese market only and not for export.
Epiphone Invader
Epiphone manufactured the Invader as part of a starter pack which was marketed mostly in mainland Europe. In essence, the Invader is an identical guitar to the Epiphone Junior, with a single generic humbucker and single volume and tone pots. Invaders were manufactured by the Samick organisation in Indonesia but have now been discontinued in light of the success and production of the Junior.
Invaders are strictly budget-end instruments and do tend to suffer from the not-unusual weakness of occasionally having poor tuning stability, but these instruments can still be regarded as very useful and playable instruments. They are light, versatile, and comfortable.
As with the Junior, the Invader is the Epiphone version of the Gibson Junior and can also be seen as having links with the Gibson Melody Maker.
Models
List of "Junior" models (original and reissue).[2] For "Junior Special" models, Epiphone models, and Robot Guitar models, see Gibson Les Paul Special and #Variations, respectively.
Gibson Melody Maker (1959–1971) – an entry-level guitar model similar to Les Paul Junior but with thinner body
Gibson SG Junior (1961–1971, 2011–present) – successor of Les Paul Junior with SG shape
Gibson Spirit (1982–1986) – a guitar model similar to Les Paul Junior DC but with cutaway at 20th fret
Related Research Articles
The Gibson SG is a solid-body electric guitar model introduced by Gibson in 1961, following on from the 1952 Gibson Les Paul. It remains in production today in many variations of the initial design. SG stands for "solid guitar".
The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typical design features a solid mahogany body with a carved maple top and a single cutaway, a mahogany set-in neck with a rosewood fretboard, two pickups with independent volume and tone controls, and a stoptail bridge, although variants exist.
A single-coil pickup is a type of magnetic transducer, or pickup, for the electric guitar and the electric bass. It electromagnetically converts the vibration of the strings to an electric signal. Single-coil pickups are one of the two most popular designs, along with dual-coil or "humbucking" pickups.
The Gibson ES-335 is a semi-hollow body semi-acoustic guitar introduced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its ES series in 1958. It has a solid maple wood block running through the center of its body with hollow upper bouts and two violin-style f-holes cut into the top over the hollow chambers. Gibson has released numerous variations and models based on the ES-335.
The Gibson Firebird is a solid-body electric guitar manufactured by Gibson beginning in 1963.
The G-400 is an Epiphone solid body electric guitar model produced as a more modestly priced version of the famous Gibson SG. Currently, Epiphone is a subsidiary of Gibson and manufactures the G-400 and other budget models at a lower cost in Asia. Visually and ergonomically, it is almost identical to a 1962 SG.
The P-90 is a single coil electric guitar pickup produced by Gibson Guitar Corporation since 1946, as well as other vendors. Compared to other single coil designs, such as the Fender single coil, the bobbin for a P-90 is wider but shorter. The Fender style single coil is wound in a taller bobbin, but the wires are closer to the individual poles. This makes the P-90 produce a somewhat warmer tone with less edge and brightness, As with other single-coil pickups, the P-90 is subject to AC hum unless some form of cancellation is used.
The Gibson Les Paul Doublecut is a double-cutaway version of the Gibson Les Paul electric guitar.
The Gibson Melody Maker is an electric guitar made by Gibson Guitar Corporation. It has had many body shape variations since its conception in 1959.
The Gibson Les Paul bass is a bass guitar first manufactured by Gibson in 1969, just after the relaunch of the Les Paul guitar in 1968.
The Gibson Les Paul Custom is a higher-end variation of the Gibson Les Paul guitar. It was developed in 1953 after Gibson had introduced the Les Paul model in 1952.
The Gibson SG Special is an electric guitar made by Gibson that has been manufactured since 1961.
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The Gibson Spirit was a guitar model sold under Gibson and Epiphone USA nameplates in the 1980s. This article does not refer to the made-in-China Spirit guitar sold under the Gibson Baldwin Music Education nameplate.
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↑ Steve Howe, with Tony Bacon, photography by Miki Slingsby (1993), The Steve Howe Guitar Collection, GPI Books, p.37, ISBN0-87930-290-9{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link).
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