Gary Moore Signature Models

The guitar most associated with Gary Moore is his 1959 Les Paul Standard (The Holy Grail), once owned by Peter Green. So it's no surprise that his signature guitar models have echoes of this holy grail model.

The first Gary Moore signature model was the Heritage Gary Moore model, appearing around 1990. It was a Les Paul style guitar with EMG 81 pickups. This model was followed by two Gibson signature models: the Moore signature Les Paul and the BFG. Both of these were stripped down lemon burst Les Pauls, with no body or neck binding, with Burst Bucker pickups (and a P-90 in the BFG model).

The next model, the Gibson Collectors Choice #1 1959 Les Paul Standard, was not strictly speaking a signature model. This guitar was a meticulous copy of the Holy Grail Les Paul, but the first 125 were specially aged and supplied with a certificate of authenticity signed by Gary Moore.

In 2013, two years after Moore's death, Gibson reissued his unbound Signature Les Paul, with some cosmetic features from the Collector's Choice #1 model (like the mismatched controls). This was the only one of his signature models that Moore never played.

HERITAGE GARY MOORE MODEL

HERITAGE made the  GARY MOORE MODEL between 1989 and 1992. This guitar was based on the Heritage 150 model and production was limited to 150 instruments: the first 75 were finished in amber and the final 75 finished in almond sunburst. Moore was already player of Heritage guitars - with three H150s and a H140CM, when Terry Haselden (Heritage’s UK distributor) suggested a Moore signature model. Haselden designed the signature guitar in collaboration with Moore and supplied the signed certificates of authenticity.

Read more

GIBSON GARY MOORE SIGNATURE LES PAUL

Gibson made the Gary Moore Signature Les Paul from 2000 to 2001. It was a standard production model, with no body binding, an AA flamed maple top finished in lemon burst (inspired by Moore's Peter Green Les Paul), 1959 profile neck and an unbound rosewood fingerboard. This was the first Gibson standard production model to feature BurstBucker pickups, on this model the pickups are exposed with a reversed zeba pickup in the neck position. I believe these were wired to reproduce the out of phase wiring in Moore's Peter Green Les Paul.

Read more

GIBSON GARY MOORE SIGNATURE LES PAUL BFG

The Gary Moore Signature Les Paul BFG is a stripped-down Les Paul, with no body or neck binding. This model has an uncovered Zebra Burstbucker 3 humbucker in the bridge, with a single-coil P-90 in the neck, all controlled by two top hat style volume controls and one tone knob. The traditional toggle switch has been wired to act as a kill switch, and a smaller toggle pickup selector switch in the place of the missing tone knob controls pickup selection.

Read more

GIBSON COLLECTOR'S CHOICE #1 1959 LES PAUL STANDARD

The Gibson Collector's Choice #1 1959 Les Paul Standard is an exact replica of the legendary 1959 Les Paul owned by Peter Green, Gary Moore and Melvyn Franks. This guitar combines the  historically accurate details of a Custom Shop 1959 Les Paul Custom with the unique features of the "Holy Grail" like the deep-amber finished highly figured maple top, reversed neck pickups, missing silver inserts on the top two "Top Hat" control knobs and Bumble Bee tone capacitors.

Read more

GIBSON GARY MOORE LES PAUL STANDARD

The Gibson Gary Moore Les Paul Standard is a reissue of the 2000-2002 Gary Moore Signature Les Paul model. It was introduced in 2013, two years after the death of Gary Moore. This model has no body binding, an AA flamed maple top finished in lemon burst (inspired by Moore's Peter Green Les Paul), a 1959 profile neck and an unbound granadillo (cocobolo) fingerboard. It has two Burst Bucker pickups, on this model the pickups are covered unlike the first Gary Moore LP.The neck pickup is reversed in its mounting, in recognition of a similar modification to Peter Green’s Les Paul.

Read more

Specifications:

ModelImageBindingFinish colorsFinish effectsMade inNumber of stringsScale lengthFinish material
HERITAGE GARY MOORE MODEL
1990 to 1992
body binding, neck bindingamber finishtransparent finishUSA6 strings24.75 inches scale-length-
GIBSON GARY MOORE SIGNATURE LES PAUL
2000 to 2002
-yellow finishsunburst finishUSA6 strings24.75 inches scale-lengthnitrocellulose finish
GIBSON GARY MOORE SIGNATURE LES PAUL BFG
2008
-yellow finishsunburst finishUSA6 strings24.75 inches scale-lengthnitrocellulose finish
GIBSON COLLECTOR'S CHOICE #1 1959 LES PAUL STANDARD
2010
body binding, neck bindingamber finishsunburst finish, worn or aged finishUSA6 strings24.75 inches scale-lengthnitrocellulose finish
GIBSON GARY MOORE LES PAUL STANDARD
2013
-yellow finishsunburst finishUSA6 strings24.75 inches scale-lengthnitrocellulose finish
ModelBody materialBody shape featuresBody styleBody top materialPickguard material
HERITAGE GARY MOORE MODEL
1990 to 1992
mahogany bodycarved top, single cutawayLes Paul-style bodymaple body topwooden pickguard
GIBSON GARY MOORE SIGNATURE LES PAUL
2000 to 2002
mahogany bodycarved top, single cutawayLes Paul-style bodyflamed maple body top-
GIBSON GARY MOORE SIGNATURE LES PAUL BFG
2008
mahogany bodycarved top, single cutawayLes Paul-style bodymaple body top-
GIBSON COLLECTOR'S CHOICE #1 1959 LES PAUL STANDARD
2010
mahogany bodycarved top, single cutawayLes Paul-style bodyflamed maple body top-
GIBSON GARY MOORE LES PAUL STANDARD
2013
mahogany bodycarved top, single cutawayLes Paul-style bodyflamed maple body top-
ModelBridgeHardware colorTailpieceTuners
HERITAGE GARY MOORE MODEL
1990 to 1992
tune-o-matic bridgechrome hardwarestop tailpiece-
GIBSON GARY MOORE SIGNATURE LES PAUL
2000 to 2002
tune-o-matic bridgechrome hardwarestop tailpieceSchaller tuners
GIBSON GARY MOORE SIGNATURE LES PAUL BFG
2008
tune-o-matic bridgechrome hardwarestop tailpieceGrover tuners
GIBSON COLLECTOR'S CHOICE #1 1959 LES PAUL STANDARD
2010
ABR-1 bridgenickel hardwarestop tailpieceSperzel tuners
GIBSON GARY MOORE LES PAUL STANDARD
2013
tune-o-matic bridgechrome hardwarestop tailpieceTonePros tuners
ModelFingerboard inlay materialFingerboard materialFingerboard position markers
HERITAGE GARY MOORE MODEL
1990 to 1992
pearl fingerboard inlay materialrosewood fingerboardtrapezoid fingerboard position markers
GIBSON GARY MOORE SIGNATURE LES PAUL
2000 to 2002
-rosewood fingerboardtrapezoid fingerboard position markers
GIBSON GARY MOORE SIGNATURE LES PAUL BFG
2008
-baked maple-
GIBSON COLLECTOR'S CHOICE #1 1959 LES PAUL STANDARD
2010
-rosewood fingerboardtrapezoid fingerboard position markers
GIBSON GARY MOORE LES PAUL STANDARD
2013
-cocobolo fingerboardtrapezoid fingerboard position markers
ModelNeck materialNumber of fretsPeghead (headstock)Tuner layoutNeck jointNeck widthNut
HERITAGE GARY MOORE MODEL
1990 to 1992
mahogany neck22 fretblack face headstockthree-each-side---
GIBSON GARY MOORE SIGNATURE LES PAUL
2000 to 2002
mahogany neck22 fret-three-each-sideset neck--
GIBSON GARY MOORE SIGNATURE LES PAUL BFG
2008
mahogany neck22 fret-three-each-sideset neck1.69 inches wide at nutcorian nut
GIBSON COLLECTOR'S CHOICE #1 1959 LES PAUL STANDARD
2010
mahogany neck22 fret-three-each-sideset neck1.69 inches wide at nut-
GIBSON GARY MOORE LES PAUL STANDARD
2013
mahogany neck22 fret-three-each-sideset neck--
ModelPickup selector controlsTone controlsVolume controlsControls shape
HERITAGE GARY MOORE MODEL
1990 to 1992
3-way selector switch2 tone controls2 volume controls-
GIBSON GARY MOORE SIGNATURE LES PAUL
2000 to 2002
3-way selector switch2 tone controls2 volume controls-
GIBSON GARY MOORE SIGNATURE LES PAUL BFG
2008
3-way selector switch1 tone control2 volume controls-
GIBSON COLLECTOR'S CHOICE #1 1959 LES PAUL STANDARD
2010
3-way selector switch2 tone controls2 volume controlstop hat controls
GIBSON GARY MOORE LES PAUL STANDARD
2013
3-way selector switch2 tone controls2 volume controlstop hat controls
ModelPickups brand and modelPickups configuration
HERITAGE GARY MOORE MODEL
1990 to 1992
EMG 81 pickup(s)2 humbucker pickups
GIBSON GARY MOORE SIGNATURE LES PAUL
2000 to 2002
Gibson Burstbucker pickup(s)2 humbucker pickups
GIBSON GARY MOORE SIGNATURE LES PAUL BFG
2008
Gibson Burstbucker pickup(s), Gibson P-90 pickup(s)-
GIBSON COLLECTOR'S CHOICE #1 1959 LES PAUL STANDARD
2010
Gibson Burstbucker pickup(s)2 humbucker pickups
GIBSON GARY MOORE LES PAUL STANDARD
2013
Gibson Burstbucker pickup(s)2 humbucker pickups