The Ultimate Solid Body Electric Guitar

1997 Gibson Les Paul Ultima (Abalone Border)

Single cutaway solid body. This exceptionally beautiful guitar with a nitro-cellulose finish has a perfect 'Burst' weight of 8.60 lbs. Two-piece book-matched solid carved 'quilted' high-grade maple top with 'exotic' cream plastic and abalone binding on a one-piece solid mahogany body. One-piece mahogany neck with a perfect nut width of 1 11/16 inches, a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches and a very comfortable medium profile (0.83 behind the first fret gently rising to 0.95 inch behind the 12th fret). Bound ebony fretboard with 22  medium frets and inlaid 'Tree-of-Life' with "Ultima" banner at the twelfth fret and abalone side-dot markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo, inlaid pearloid "Custom Shop" banner and "Les Paul" silk-screened in gold. Individual Grover Imperial tuners with 'art deco' stairstep-shaped pearloid buttons. Serial number "8 9920" stamped in black on back of headstock. Two Gibson '57 Reissue PAF Humbucker Alnico ll pickups, each with a small black rectangular label on the underside with "Patent Applied For" printed in gold, each with cream plastic surrounds with outputs of 8.03k and 7.95k. Four controls (two volume, two tone) on lower treble bout, plus three-way selector switch on upper bass bout. The potentiometers are stamped R137 9751 (CTS December 1997). Gold-plastic bell-shaped "Bell" knobs. ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic non-retainer bridge with metal saddles and specific 'Ultima' loop tailpiece. All hardware gold plated. This guitar is in mint as new (9.50) condition. Housed in the original Gibson Custom, five-latch, shaped black hardshell case with black plush lining (9.25).

Introduced in 1996 the Les Paul Ultima is an instrument finished in such magnificence and splendor as to rightly celebrate the absolute finest lineage of solid body electric guitars in the world.