Review of Gibson 58 Plaintop Les Paul Reissue
This review for the Gibson 58 Plaintop will be short and sweet, because that’s what this guitar is sweet!!! My particular guitar has a nice subtle flame to it, a nice additional smiley face moment for me. Outfitted with what I believe to be by far the best sounding hum buckers I have heard since the 60’s era “black sticker” humbuckers.
The guitar has a lot of the original specs like the long neck tenon and the correct placement for the truss rod opening and cover. The neck is big and perfect for a Les Paul, I have forgotten how much the beefy neck affects the sound of a guitar. That fact alone has made a lot of Kay’s and older Martins such killer sounding guitars.
The 58 sounds great into a Marshall whether it’s an 18 watter or a Super Lead 100 watt monster, lots of bite and midrange honk. That is expected from a “good Les Paul” (what an underappreciated aspect of Les Pauling). But how can you ignore the “Bloomfield factor”, that magical sound that Mike got from his 59 flame top with the Electric Flag and on the unbelievable “Super Session”. That sound is a “good Les Paul” through a blackface Twin Reverb. When I plugged this guitar into my BF Twin I almost started crying….not for any reason except know what a special player Bloomfield was and what a perfect combo this was. I had to plug in every Les Paul I had at that point just to hear would there be a difference……boy was there ever!
Now this guitar retails for about $2500, and I never thought I would ever say this but, this guitar is a steal at that price, Considering that Reissue 59’s go for $4500 to $5500. The Les Paul world and Gibson guitars is a whole set of reviews themselves.
One thing I will say is how Gibson made their previous “Reissues” obsolete is incomprehensible, and how they spit in the face of customers who purchased “Historic” guitars that were less then accurate. I mean after all they had the f-ing blueprints didn’t they?
All in all the Gibson 58 Reissue Historic Plaintop Les Paul is a great guitar. It’s the best Les Paul I have ever owned and I have owned lots of Pauls including an original 60 Burst.
Peace
Joey leone fall 2005