Gibson Les Paul Junior TV (1959)

A stunningly clean, uncirculated, and ultra-rare single cut TV Junior from 1959 - show us another, we dare you!

This 1959 Gibson Les Paul (Junior) TV recently came in from the family of its original owner, and the collective gasp we let out when we first opened up the original chipboard case might still be reverberating through our shop walls.

One of two Les Paul Juniors that came into the shop via the family of the original owner, this '59 TV is perhaps the cleanest example of any single-cut Junior we've had, and it happens to be the rarest and most complete. For those unaware, Gibson had transitioned from the single-cut body design to a new double-cut shape in mid 1958. While some single-cuts slipped through the cracks in early '59 production, finding them is quite uncommon. When you factor in that this guitar has the much rare TV finish, one could venture a guess that there are only a small handful of similar examples out in the wild. We've yet to see another one!

Very seldom played, this '59 TV Junior still shows off a beautiful gloss nitrocellulose finish with no visible lacquer checking anywhere on the body or the neck. There's very little fading to the color as well. The rich, dark Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard shows hardly any play wear (frets included), and outside of some pick scratches on the pickguard, you'd be able to make a case that this guitar was only occasionally strummed in its early days before being stowed away for decades. Luckily its dormancy had no ill effect on performance. The guitar instantly came to life with some fresh strings and cleaning of the potentiometers. It revealed an incredibly powerful guitar, with the heavyweight midrange-forward tone that the very best examples of these guitars exhibit.

The original Kluson single line tuners were the only parts on the guitar to suffer degradation, as the buttons decomposed like many do from this period. We carefully installed new buttons on the original tuners, and they're working exactly as they should.

If the guitar's condition wasn't enough, it came in its original, clean, and fully functional chipboard gator case, along with the original Gibson string hangtag and guitar hangtag stamped 'Les Paul TV'. The collectability factor is astounding! We love the original shop sticker too! This Junior along with the '54 it came in with were both purchased at Twin City Music in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Lifelong local Juniors!

We cannot stress enough how well-preserved this guitar is- arguably one of the finest Juniors to ever resurface after 65+ years off market. We're thrilled to be able to share such a special guitar with you.