Solid-Body Simplicity Personified -- Pure Rock'n'Roll Spirit!

This super rare 12 3/4-inch-wide electric solid body weighs 9.20 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of 1 11/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Solid mahogany body, one-piece mahogany neck, and unbound rosewood fretboard with 22 frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Headstock with "Gibson" logo and "Les Paul TV Model" silk-screened in gold. Single-line Kluson Deluxe strip tuners with white plastic oval buttons. Serial number ("613769") stamped in black on the back of the headstock. One hot P-90 pickup with an output of 7.63k. Black plastic pickguard. Two controls (one volume, one tone) on lower treble bout. Black plastic bell-shaped "Bell" knobs. The potentiometers are stamped: "134 641" (Centralab October 1956). Original combination wrap-over bar bridge/tailpiece. At some point, this guitar was fitted with individual Schaller tuners with single screws, which required no other modification other than some slight enlargement of the bushing holes. The original Kluson Deluxe strip tuners were soon after refitted. The only evidence of this is the slightly larger bushing holes, which do not show unless you remove the tuners, and if we had not mentioned it, no one would ever know. The only other thing we feel we should draw attention to on this amazing guitar is that the jack plate has been changed for the slightly wider variant, most likely at the factory at the time of production -- as on several other examples that we have seen. This guitar is a great example, in excellent plus (8.75) condition. There is the usual fine body checking, some belt buckle wear (down to the wood) on the back of the guitar, some playing wear and a few small chips to the edges, a little bit of chipping to the edges of the headstock, and a few small marks on the back of the neck, the largest being behind the fourth fret. On the headstock, the silk-screen "Les Paul TV Model" is almost worn away. The original frets show a small amount of wear, but have plenty of life left in them. Being heavier than usual for these guitars (weighing 9.20 lbs.), this particular guitar has incredible sustain -- and sounds more like a 1955 Les Paul Goldtop than a Junior! Housed in its original Gibson chipboard "alligator" case with brown velvet lining (8.00).

"In 1955, Gibson launched the Les Paul TV, essentially a Junior but with a finish that the company referred to variously as 'natural', 'limed oak' and (more often) 'limed mahogany'. Surviving original TV models from the 1950s reveal a number of different colours, with earlier examples tending to a rather turgid beige, while later ones are often distinctly yellow. Today there is much debate about where the model's TV name came from...One such theory says that the TV name was used because the pale colour of the finish was designed to stand out on the era's black-and-white TV screens. This seems unlikely, not least because pro players appearing on television would naturally opt for a high-end model...Others say the guitar followed the look of fashionable contemporary furniture, where the expression 'limed' was used for a particular look. Certainly Gibson promoted the Les Paul TV as being 'the latest in modern appearance'. There's also been a suggestion that 'TV' might be a less than oblique reference to the competing blond-coloured Telecaster made by Fender. But in fact the name was coined to cash in on Les Paul's regular appearances at the time on television on The Les Paul & Mary Ford Show. This was effectively a sponsored daily ad for a toothpaste company, for which the couple signed a $2million three-year contract in 1953. Gibson reasoned that if you'd seen the man on TV, well, now you could buy his TV guitar. Following a reader's enquiry to Guitar Player in the 1970s, a Gibson spokesman confirmed that 'the Les Paul TV model was so named after Les Paul's personal Listerine show was televised in the 1950s'" (Tony Bacon, 50 Years of the Gibson Les Paul, p. 28).

The Gibson shipping records show that 511 Les Paul TVs were shipped in 1956.