The introduction, in 1969, of the Les Paul Personal and Les Paul Professional Guitars saw the start of the low impedance series. All models in this series featured Gibson's low impedance pickups - favoured by Les Paul himself who also had direct influence on the designs of these models. The Personal and Professional were soon replaced by the Les Paul Recording model in 1973 which remained in production until 1980. A semi-hollow body low impedance guitar - the Les Paul Signature - was also made between 1974 and 1980. None of the guitars was produced in great numbers so all are relatively rare.
GIBSON LES PAUL PERSONALGIBSON manufactured the LES PAUL PERSONAL between 1969 and 1973. The Les Paul Personal was the result of Les Paul's improvements on his iconic Gibson design of the 1950s. As a jazz player Les Paul favoured a clean tone and this guitar has oblong slanted low-impedance pickups - with improved fidelity and clarity. The Les Paul Personal also had a wider mahogany body (than the more well known Gibson LP design), phase switching, and 11-position Decade control, and a microphone socket on the bout of the guitar (with its own output and level control!). | |
GIBSON LES PAUL PROFESSIONALIn 1969 Gibson introduced their first Low Impedance Guitars — the Les Paul Personal and Les Paul Professional Guitars. The LP Professional has a Les Paul style body but slightly larger than the regular LP. The key feature of this guitar is its two low impedance pickups. These pickups give a very clear signal but require a special lead with built in impedance matching transformer. According to Dave Gould only around 118 LP Professionals were made - this is a relatively rare model. A Bigsby vibratio was an optional extra. | |
GIBSON LES PAUL RECORDINGLes Paul's first low impedance guitar designs were the 1969 Les Paul Personal and Les Paul Professional models. But these were superseded in 1971 when Gibson introduced Les Paul's recording model. The Les Paul Recording looks very much like a Les Paul Standard model but it has some key differences. The Recording was so called because, by virtue of its low impedance humbucking pickups, it was meant to be plugged straight into a low impedance mixing desk input. | |
GIBSON LES PAUL SIGNATUREIn 1969 Gibson introduced a series of guitars with low impedance pickups including the Les Paul Personal and Les Paul Professional models. Les Paul favoured low impedance pickups for the clarity they gave to his clean jazz tone. |
Specifications:
Model | Image | Binding | Finish colors | Made in | Number of strings | Scale length | Finish effects |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GIBSON LES PAUL PERSONAL 1969 to 1973 | body binding | walnut finish | USA | 6 strings | 24.75 inches scale-length | - | |
GIBSON LES PAUL PROFESSIONAL 1969 to 1973 | - | walnut finish | USA | 6 strings | 24.75 inches scale-length | - | |
GIBSON LES PAUL RECORDING 1971 to 1979 | - | walnut finish | USA | 6 strings | - | - | |
GIBSON LES PAUL SIGNATURE 1973 to 1979 | - | gold finish, tobacco finish | - | 6 strings | - | sunburst finish |
Model | Body material | Body shape features | Body style | Pickguard shape | Body back material | Body sides material | Body top material | Hollow body | Soundhole |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GIBSON LES PAUL PERSONAL 1969 to 1973 | mahogany body | carved top, single cutaway | Les Paul-style body | raised pickguard | - | - | - | - | - |
GIBSON LES PAUL PROFESSIONAL 1969 to 1973 | mahogany body | single cutaway | Les Paul-style body | raised pickguard | - | - | - | - | - |
GIBSON LES PAUL RECORDING 1971 to 1979 | mahogany body | carved top, single cutaway | - | raised pickguard | - | - | - | - | - |
GIBSON LES PAUL SIGNATURE 1973 to 1979 | - | archtop, double cutaway | ES-335 style, archtop | raised pickguard | maple body back, walnut body back | maple body sides, walnut body sides | maple body top | hollow body | 2 f-holes |
Model | Bridge | Hardware color | Tailpiece | Tuners |
---|---|---|---|---|
GIBSON LES PAUL PERSONAL 1969 to 1973 | tune-o-matic bridge | gold hardware | stop tailpiece | Grover tuners |
GIBSON LES PAUL PROFESSIONAL 1969 to 1973 | tune-o-matic bridge | nickel hardware | Bigsby Vibrato tailpiece, stop tailpiece | Schaller tuners |
GIBSON LES PAUL RECORDING 1971 to 1979 | tune-o-matic bridge | - | stop tailpiece | - |
GIBSON LES PAUL SIGNATURE 1973 to 1979 | tune-o-matic bridge | chrome hardware | stop tailpiece | - |
Model | Fingerboard inlay material | Fingerboard material | Fingerboard position markers |
---|---|---|---|
GIBSON LES PAUL PERSONAL 1969 to 1973 | pearl fingerboard inlay material | ebony fingerboard | block fingerboard position markers |
GIBSON LES PAUL PROFESSIONAL 1969 to 1973 | - | rosewood fingerboard | trapezoid fingerboard position markers |
GIBSON LES PAUL RECORDING 1971 to 1979 | pearl fingerboard inlay material | rosewood fingerboard | block fingerboard position markers |
GIBSON LES PAUL SIGNATURE 1973 to 1979 | - | rosewood fingerboard | trapezoid fingerboard position markers |
Model | Neck material | Number of frets | Peghead (headstock) | Tuner layout | Headstock inlays or logos |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
GIBSON LES PAUL PERSONAL 1969 to 1973 | mahogany neck | 22 fret | bound headstock | three-each-side | - |
GIBSON LES PAUL PROFESSIONAL 1969 to 1973 | mahogany neck | 22 fret | black face headstock | three-each-side | pearl headstock inlay/logo |
GIBSON LES PAUL RECORDING 1971 to 1979 | mahogany neck | 22 fret | bound headstock | - | - |
GIBSON LES PAUL SIGNATURE 1973 to 1979 | mahogany neck | 22 fret | black face headstock | three-each-side | pearl headstock inlay/logo |
Model | Pickup selector controls | Tone controls | Volume controls |
---|---|---|---|
GIBSON LES PAUL PERSONAL 1969 to 1973 | 2 3-way selector switches, phase switch | 2 tone controls | 1 volume control |
GIBSON LES PAUL PROFESSIONAL 1969 to 1973 | 2 3-way selector switches, phase switch | 2 tone controls | 1 volume control |
GIBSON LES PAUL RECORDING 1971 to 1979 | 2 3-way selector switches, phase switch | 2 tone controls | 1 volume control |
GIBSON LES PAUL SIGNATURE 1973 to 1979 | 3-way selector switch | 1 tone control | 1 volume control |
Model | Pickups configuration | Pickups brand and model |
---|---|---|
GIBSON LES PAUL PERSONAL 1969 to 1973 | 2 low impedance pickups | - |
GIBSON LES PAUL PROFESSIONAL 1969 to 1973 | 2 low impedance pickups | - |
GIBSON LES PAUL RECORDING 1971 to 1979 | 2 low impedance pickups | Gibson pickup(s) |
GIBSON LES PAUL SIGNATURE 1973 to 1979 | 2 humbucker pickups | - |