Advertised as ‘the fastest neck in the world’ when it was officially introduced in 1961, Gibson’s forays into the angular took the Les Paul into the new decade with a brave new look. A complete overhaul introduced a lithe, double cut body reducing the weight and giving better access to the upper frets. The slimmer neck made for a faster playing guitar and the sideways trem gave the Les Paul a new weapon in its arsenal.  

This particular example was formerly owned by Deryck Wibley of Sum 41 and was used on the sessions for the Underclass Hero album, notably on the tracks Walking Disaster and Pull the Curtain. 

This is also an exceptional example having a nice, fairly beefy neck which pretty much none of these have. Most have the flat and wide neck, this is more like the sort of neck you would get on a '64 and it is not very often we find this on these early LP/SG's.

It also contains 2 x completely unmolested, classic PAF (Patent Applied For) pickups both with good strong outputs and evenly balanced.

This guitar certainly looks the part with a gorgeous finish. It has faded a little as you'd expect for this period though there is still plenty of red present. There are a few knocks and bumps but nothing too extensive. There is no sign of any touchup and no sign of repair.

The neck, like the body, has faded a bit. The fretboard shows no signs of wear and the original frets have plenty of life left in them. Correct tuners are still present.

The all nickel parts look very good with little corrosion.

The plastics are in great shape. 

Electronically everything looks to be correct. Both PAF pickups are correct though it looks as though the covers have been removed. No solder joints look to have been disturbed.

The guitar comes with a Clydesdale flightcase.

Tonally, this guitar  really brings quite a unique perspective on the twin humbucker combination. The smoothness of the neck pickup with the bite of the bridge and never too woofy. Like any Gibson from this period and earlier, there is such a scope to the sound.

If you’re searching for an SG for the collection then you cannot go wrong with this one. Grab it before it gets away…