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Pre Owned Gibson 2021 Custom Shop 1956 Les Paul Gold Top Reissue Murphy Lab Ultra Light Aging Electric

Includes case, Certificate of Authenticity, and everything shown

Weight 8lbs 11.8oz

The 2021 Gibson Custom Shop 1956 Les Paul Goldtop Reissue Murphy Lab Ultra Light Aged is a high-end, historically accurate recreation of a 1956 Les Paul Goldtop—not an original 1956 guitar. The 2021 version was part of the first-generation Murphy Lab-era Custom Shop lineup.

The 1956 model year is particularly interesting because it represents the final year before Gibson introduced the PAF humbucker on the Les Paul. This guitar therefore has:

• Two Custom Soapbar P-90 pickups — bright, aggressive, raw, and responsive compared with humbuckers.
• No-wire ABR-1 bridge — historically correct for the period.
• Lightweight aluminum stop tailpiece.
• Mahogany body with a two-piece maple top.
• Solid mahogany neck with a chunky/50s-style C profile.
• Indian rosewood fingerboard, 12" radius and 22 historic narrow/tall frets.
• 24.75" scale length.
• No weight relief.
• Nitrocellulose lacquer with Murphy Lab aging.
• Hot-hide-glue construction and long-tenon neck joint, reflecting Gibson's effort to reproduce Golden Era construction methods. GGibson+1

What does "Ultra Light Aged" mean?

This is probably the most important part of the name.

Murphy Lab is Gibson Custom Shop's aging operation associated with Tom Murphy. Instead of simply making a new guitar look old, they deliberately age the finish and hardware.

Ultra Light Aged is the most subtle level. The idea is that the guitar looks like a vintage instrument that was played relatively gently and spent a lot of its life in its case. You typically get light lacquer checking and subtle wear rather than major scratches, buckle rash, or heavily worn-through finish. SSweetwater

So if you're looking at one and thinking, "Why does this brand-new guitar have cracks in the finish?"—that's intentional.

The Goldtop

The 2021 version you're describing is generally referred to as Double Gold. The gold finish is intended to replicate the appearance of the original Goldtops, rather than the later sunburst Les Pauls.

One interesting characteristic of vintage Goldtops is that the gold finish can develop greenish oxidation/patina ("verdigris") with age. The 2021 Murphy Lab model was designed to provide the starting point for that vintage appearance while still being essentially new.

Why P-90s instead of humbuckers?

This is a very different Les Paul from the famous '58–'60 Standards.

A '56 Goldtop has P-90s:

P-90 →

• more upper-mid bite
• more single-coil character
• more touch sensitivity
• some hum/noise
• excellent clean/crunch tones
• can get nasty and aggressive when pushed

A '59 Reissue has PAF-style humbuckers:

PAF →

• thicker
• smoother
• more compressed
• quieter
• stronger low mids
• famous "Les Paul" rock sound

The '56 is therefore particularly attractive if you want the early Les Paul sound, rather than the classic later PAF Les Paul sound.