Epiphone has served up another doozie from its Inspired By Gibson range, teaming up with Japanese guitar icon Takahiro “Tak” Matsumoto on a replica of his 1955 Les Paul Goldtop.
We say Goldtop – but this is a gold all over, with Epiphone applying the Antique Gold finish to the body’s top, back and sides, and to the neck. The headstock facing is painted black, and, as per the new way of things with these high-end Epiphones, we have the Gibson-style open-book headstock shape to get the pulse racing.
Once more, this collaboration with the Gibson Custom Shop in Nashville blurs the line between top-of-the-range Epiphone and entry-level Gibson USA models.
Matsumoto’s signature guitar is fitted with a pair of Gibson USA electric guitar pickups, with Burstbucker Pro Alnico V humbuckers at the neck and bridge positions.
These are hooked up to a ‘50s-style wiring loom featuring CTS pots and Luxe Grey Tiger paper in oil capacitors and controlled in the usual fashion, with individual volume and tone knobs serving each pickup, a three-way pickup selector mounted in a washer on the instrument’s shoulder.
The build is old-school Gibson, too, with a long neck tenon being one of the key selling point. The neck is crafted from one piece of mahogany and is carved into a custom Custom Tak ’59 profile that Epiphone describes as a “rounded C” – C for comfort, it’s “slightly slimmer” than your regular ’59 profiles.
There are vintage details throughout, such as the Historic wraparound bridge with the intonation set screws. The cream pickguard matches the pickup selector’s mounting ring and is a ’59 replica with no bevel. Gold speed knobs match the finish, while a set of Epiphone Deluxe tuners do a good job of looking like the Kluson Deluxe tuners you would get on a Gibson model.
Matsumoto’s Les Paul follows the familiar tonewood recipe, with a solid mahogany body and a maple top. We don’t have rosewood on this model, however, with a 12” laurel fingerboard in its stead. We do have the mother of pearl trapezoid inlays. Under stage lights, it will be hard to tell this apart from Matsumoto’s original model – and the exacting replicas that the Gibson Custom Shop has released over the years.
This is a borderline high-end electric guitar and has a hard-shell guitar case to match. That brown case lined with pink fur nails the Custom Shop look. Matsumoto’s signature is written on it in gold.
The Tak Matsumoto 1955 Les Paul Standard is available now in Japan and from the Gibson Garages in Nashville and London. Hat-tip to the Gibson Gazette for the launch details. For more, head there or to Epiphone.
