The BEST Guitar ever made? | 1956 Gibson Les Paul Junior | Martin Meets Guitars!

I absolutely love this video. The look of joy and pure creation and happiness. Subscribed. Best Regards and Best Wishes!

A good friend and decades ago bandmate still has his '54. It's a great guitar that's even better because he played it and wrote great songs and parts with it... and he won't give it up to me (or anyone).

How much? :D

So is it in his home currently?

what was the overdrive pedal used

just bought a Gibson Les Paul Jr about an hour ago !

I have a ‘56 that I found in a furniture repair shop about 1975. Long story but it was my first electric guitar. It got a lot of sneers back then and wasn’t really appreciated until the early 90s when all of a sudden everyone wanted one. It took everyone that long to figure out what I knew all along.

I dig mine. I had since the 80`s.

Incredible playing and what a tone! I got Jeff Beck vibes at points during this beautiful demo. Thwres something magical about old Gibsons... this guirarist's reaction says it all

Che suono ragazzi

Leslie West of the group Mountain played one of these when I saw them in concert in Memphis Tenn in the early 1970's. I met the band after the concert and shook their hands. I was just 16 years old at the time. Mississippi Queen still one of my favorite songs in the entire world and sounds amazing on the LP Jr.

They almost sounds like a tele with the ringing that goes on. Sustainable forever sounds like. It works ! 👍🎼

This is one of the most watched videos by myself because it brings a smile to my face on 2 levels 😊

What a wonderful guitar and what a great player. Who is he?

World’s best salesman right there

If I played a guitar that affected me like that I would buy it on the spot regardless of the price. Unless of course, that price was far too high. So, how much is or was it that would make him hand it back over and say "here it's yours"?
Also not trying to troll here but I honestly wonder if he would FEEL and say the same things if it were a modern production Epiphone made in China? Assuming it played and sounded exactly the same?

I don't know what I love the most..... the guitar or his enthusiasm 😅

One of, or if not, the only guitar review I laughed at !!! His enthusiasm kills me! I love Juniors. What a great guitar.

Sold my 56 jr.....😢

Never say you love it and then ask how much is it. $$$$$$$

My collection stands @ 62 guitars. My 1955 Les Paul Junior (I’m the 3rd owner-have the original amp as well) is the last one I’ll ever sell. I have a more recent reissue Junior but no comparison to the ‘55.

My late friend used to play one clean through a WEM copycat and it sounded lovely.

sure, LP Junior is a fantastic guitar to play. A very compact and simple design intended as a budget guitar for students. I have one, and consider it my favorite Gibson

Back in the 80s a fellow musician fell on hard times and pawned his beloved Black 59 Jr to me for a couple hundred bucks. Didn't see or hear from him for almost a year. I figured the guitar was mine by then but he did comeback with the cash and I couldn't keep his first guitar in good conscience. It was a keeper. The real deal. I still have a special place in my heart for p90s!

JEEZ - WHAT A TONE :0)

Very lively Jr. I believe the point is the simple slab of mahogany cured for almost seventy years…

Nice! What amplifier?

What a great player, who is this dude?
That guitar sounds unbelievable, exactly how an electric should sound, wow.

Insane! I wish I could give you that guitar. You're an incredible player, sir!

Very sad if this guy didn’t end up buying this guitar since he had it in his hands & clearly fell in love with it then had to give it up. Should scrape together the money or sell some other stuff or pay instalments or whatever & own it if humanly possible. Unreachable amount of money for most of us though. How much did this sell for?

Guitars like this are one of the main reasons I hate being lefthanded. How many of the, 'this is the best guitar I have ever played...and it is available', guitars are out there and are lefties? They essentially do not exist. Just about every guitar I have bought in the last 30 years was a gamble. You can only get the feel for a guitar so much when playing one of the same model upside down before placing ur order for the lefty version. Guitar shopping is always a gamble or a compromise.

Great demo such a joy to watch he’s so inspired.

❤🙏🤗

I suspect this guitar player has this effect on a lot of guitars: “That’s the best guitarist I’ve ever been played by” 😂😂😂 I mean, those fingers are going to make any axe sound like the greatest guitar ever made.

sadly they just don't make wood like that anymore.

Great playing. I have a 58 junior dc. Lovely guitar

I recently bought billie joe les paul jr 2010 model in the same exact color,,almost the same specs except its hum canceling p90 and it got 60s a bit slimmer neck..i dont play as good as this guy but i got the same reaction of how nice the guitar is..

The best player, the best guitar, the best demo. WOW, Martin! ❤

Gibson was still wiring these "50's" well in to the late 60's apparently. You can get this out of any modern single pickup guitar. Just need some good quality audio taper pots. Bare Knuckle make some short shaft ones with a 30%/J taper. My favourite tone from these is that "acoustic guitar" one. That and the cocked wah sound. Great instruments though! Worth 10 grand? If you have 10 grand, 100%.
Edit: Anyone wondering those featherweight Faber bridges are the nuts. And very reasonably priced too.

It’s got the mojo!

I found this difficult to watch. I saw a '56 LP Junior in a second hand general electrical store in Liverpool in 1973. The shop keeper wanted 80 quid for it but even trading my Japanese LP copy I couldn't raise the extra few quid to get it. It has haunted me ever since. What if, eh?

The guitar sounds great, but so does the player.

Some of the finest playing that I’ve ever heard, and on one of the best sounding guitars that I’ve ever heard.

Best guitar demo ever :D

Right guitar in the right hands

Well this took me back to my youth! My dad had two of these when I was under the age of five years old, I don't know long before. Both guitars always had Black Diamond strings AKA cable saws!

Just ask Charlie Starr of BlackBerry Smoke, he'll back up everything said.

Here's a bit of Gibson lore about the Les Paul Junior that most outside of serious collector circles probably don't know.

In 1986, Gibson was bought and the Norlin Era came to an end. The new owners got started right away on revitalizing Gibson's long tradition of issuing "Custom" and "Signature" models even though Gibson didn't have a formal "custom shop" at the time or anytime before.

So, the new owners hand selected the best craftsmen in the factory and set them up in their own part of the factory. Their mission was to re-learn and "practice", if you will, the crafting and construction methods used in Gibson's most iconic guitars. Naturally, their first choice was the 1957 Les Paul Junior.

So, in 1986, these craftsmen reissued the 1957 Les Paul Junior. It was the first time that the Junior was made in this form since 1959, when the original run ended and the name "LP Junior" was given to the SG line. That is, until Les Paul split from Gibson.

The 1986 LP Junior reissue was the first time Gibson produced this guitar since 1959. It had the exact same specs as the original and was made from the same materials. Even the single P90 was wound on the same manually operated winder used to make the P90's back in the 50's and 60's. No two P90's made on that machine were alike. That was its beauty.

The only difference was the two-piece bridge on the 1986 reissue. The original came with a single wrap tailpiece. No one knows for sure why the 86 reissue didn't have the single tail piece. Some say it was because they were just practicing and there was an abundance of the two piece bridges whereas the single piece would have to be specifically molded etc etc. Other say it was because most players who bought the original 57 had the tailpiece swapped out for the more versatile "Tune-O-Matic" bridge system that allowed each string to be individually intonated. Either way, the 86 reissue came with the two-piece bridge system.

In 1987, production of the LP Junior reissue was turned over to Gibson's main production line and the hand selected craftsmen moved on to another iconic model. However, in total, less than 2,500 1986 Junior Reissues were made. This because they were mostly made by hand.

But, what makes these guitars so special is the fact they were essentially the 1957 Les Paul Junior and not a reissue. Reissues are copies of the original. Usually, they are not made from the exact same materials and/or they're construction methods/techniques are not the same as the original. This is not the case with the 1986 reissue. Essentially, Gibson started making the 57 LP Junior again using the same crafting methods, same materials and the same tools. No other reissue from Gibson has been so perfectly reproduced as the 1986 Les Paul Junior.

As a crowning jewel to this story, the craftsmen who made the 86 reissue went on to form Gibson's Custom Shop in 1993. So, basically, the 1986 LP Junior reissue is the very first model made by Gibson's Custom shop.

The 1986 Les Paul Junior is the only truly collectible instrument Gibson has made in more than a generation. Everything else are just novelties. If you have an 86 LP Junior, hold on to it. If you can find one, buy it.

I can't afford the old Juniors so I got the epiphone lp Junior inspired by Gibson and its a amazing guitar, hopefully one day I can afford a proper 50's Gibson 😊

Amazing