Gibson Les Paul Junior Doublecut, Cherry (1960)

Slab Mahogany. One Pickup. You can already hear the tone in your head, right? It's one of Gibson's great classic recipes that has stood the test of time, and remains the pinnacle of P90 tone in so many ways.

This 1960 Gibson Les Paul Junior is a great example of what these doublecuts are all about. They generally have a beefier, more stout attack and midrange compared to the single-cuts that preceded them, and there always seems to be a bit more "attitude". That doesn't mean it can't deliver on what we love about it most - the clean-up factor is all there. Loads of range with manipulation of the volume and tone controls, just like we'd expect in a great old Junior.

At just about 7.5 lbs even on our scale, it's very well balanced with incredible resonance and sustain. Laurent Brondel's refret really maximized the acoustic response of the guitar too, adding even more of that energy into the mix with the glorious original P90.

Early on in its life it was outfitted with a set of old Grover Rotomatics, which we've decided to leave on the guitar. Possibly around the same time as the tuner swap, someone made a rather hasty attempt at installing a humbucker in the existing P90 rout; they must have quickly realized it wasn't going to work out well and abandoned the mod after only making a couple of small screw holes off of the edge of the dogear cover, where the humbucker mounting ring would've sat. The factory P90 rout remains undisturbed, and the electronics are also still original to the guitar.

A rock 'n' roll machine at its core, this '60 Junior can work in just about any context, which is what makes these guitars so sought-after.