1972 "Black Beauty" '54 Limited Edition

This great guitar weighs in at 9.60 lbs. and has nice, fat nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Solid mahogany body, one-piece mahogany neck, and ebony fretboard with 22 frets and inlaid pearl block position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and five-piece pearl split-diamond inlay. "Les Paul Custom" on truss-rod cover. The body has seven-ply binding on the top and five-ply binding on the back, the headstock has five-ply binding, and the fretboard is single bound. Individual Kluson Super tuners with tulip-shaped metal buttons. One Alnico pickup in the neck position with an output of 6.66k and one P-90 pickup in the bridge position with an output of 8.03k. Five-layer (black/white/black/white/black) plastic pickguard. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way selector switch. Black plastic barrel-shape "speed" knobs. ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic bridge and separate stud tailpiece. All hardware gold-plated. The serial number impressed on the back of the headstock is "LE 774323" The potentiometers are stamped "137 7251" (CTS December 1972). This totally original "Black Beauty" Custom '54 Limited Edition is in near mint condition (9.25). Housed in the original Gibson black hardshell case with purple plush lining (9.00).

According to Larry Meiners Gibson Shipment Totals 1937-1979 , only 1,150 Les Paul Custom '54 guitars were shipped between 1972 and 1973 (although there was apparently 3 more in 1975 and 1 more in 1977) with 60 being shipped in 1972 and 1,050 in 1973. This guitar is one of the 60 that were shipped in 1972.