by Jef | 3,7 / 5,0 | Approximate reading time: 2 Minutes
Gibson Custom Shop Tak Matsumoto 1955 Les Paul Goldtop

Gibson Custom Shop Tak Matsumoto 1955 Les Paul Goldtop  ·  Source: Gibson

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This Gibson Custom Shop Tak Matsumoto Signature 1955 Les Paul Goldtop signature model has some great specifications. Unfortunately, it is a Japan and Asia exclusive model, therefore we may not see many outside these regions. Based on Tak’s original ’55 Les Paul Standard.

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Tak Matsumoto 1955 Les Paul Goldtop

The Gibson Custom Shop Tak Matsumoto 1955 Les Paul Goldtop is based on the B’z guitarist’s original. The guitar features a lightweight one-piece mahogany body that is paired with a two-piece plain maple top. Then the mahogany neck has an Authentic ’59 Medium C-Shape profile. And you can see that the back of the neck is worn down to bare wood. The Indian rosewood fretboard is fitted with Historic Medium-Jumbo frets and has a set of Cellulose Nitrate Trapezoid fret markers. This signature guitar’s all-over gold nitrocellulose finish and all the nickel hardware have been custom-aged by the Murphy Lab to match Matsumoto’s original 1955 Goldtop.

Alnico 5

Elsewhere, it has a pair of Burstbucker Pro Alnico 5 humbucking pickups that have been hand-wired with vintage taper CTS potentiometers and a set of Grey Tiger capacitors. This I can only imagine will sound pretty sweet, and is a proven pickup layout with a traditional Les Paul control layout.

Aged gold nitrocellulose finish and all the hardware

Aged gold nitrocellulose finish and all the hardware

Custom Shop

The guitar ships in a traditional vintage style brown ann pink reissue 5-latch Gibson case and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity. I get the feeling that this model will command a high price outside of Japan and Asia. Previous Tak signature models have instantly become collector’s items worldwide and so I think this one will follow in a similar way.

I really do love a Goldtop and my main Les Paul Standard is a Custom Shop 57 model, but mine looks a lot more played-in than this Murphy Lab-aged one. Potentially, this Tak Matsumoto is really a guitar just for collectors. There are already a lot of choices for ’56 and ’57 Goldtops as you can see below, so you would really need to be either super into 1955 Goldtops, a guitar collector or a fan of Tak to warrant paying a premium for this one.

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MSRP – TBC

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Image Sources:
  • Murphy Lab aged 1955 Les Paul Goldtop: Gibson
  • Rear of the 1955 Les Paul Goldtop: Gibson
  • Aged gold nitrocellulose finish and all the hardware: Gibson
Gibson Custom Shop Tak Matsumoto 1955 Les Paul Goldtop

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