Gibson Les Paul Junior TV (1959)

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.