2016 Gibson Custom Shop Limited Run Les Paul Axcess Custom – Bronze Cobalt with Floyd Rose

This is an exceptionally rare 2016 Gibson Custom Shop Limited Run Les Paul Axcess Custom finished in the striking Bronze Cobalt color. Despite its name, the finish presents as a deep metallic blue with subtle bronze undertones that shift depending on the lighting. Gibson completed the look with an almost entirely blacked-out aesthetic, including black hardware, black fingerboard inlays and even a black headstock inlay. It is easily one of the coolest and most distinctive Les Paul Customs Gibson produced during this period. Ishibashi originally highlighted this exact limited-run configuration as part of its 2017 Custom Collection Fair, specifically noting its rare color and unusual specifications.

The Les Paul Axcess was designed for players who love the sound and appearance of a traditional Les Paul Custom but want the comfort, upper-fret access and versatility of a modern performance guitar. The body retains the classic combination of weight-relieved mahogany with a carved maple top, but it is slightly thinner than a traditional Les Paul. Gibson also added a sculpted rear belly contour, allowing the guitar to sit much more comfortably against the player whether standing or seated. It still has the depth, sustain and authority expected from a Custom Shop Les Paul, but without the bulky feel traditionally associated with the design.

The defining feature of the Axcess design is its dramatically sculpted neck joint. Instead of encountering the large heel found on a conventional Les Paul, the back of the body flows smoothly into the mahogany neck. This creates an almost heel-less feel and makes reaching the highest frets remarkably easy. Lead players can move all the way to the 22nd fret without having to fight the guitar, making this one of the fastest and most comfortable Les Paul designs Gibson has ever built.

A Floyd Rose double-locking tremolo transforms this Les Paul Custom into a serious hard-rock and metal machine. It can handle aggressive dive-bombs, dramatic pitch raises, vibrato effects and heavy rhythm playing while providing the tuning stability needed for demanding performances. The Floyd Rose also gives the guitar a tighter and more immediate response than a conventional stop-tail Les Paul. It is a particularly unusual feature on a Gibson Custom Shop instrument and a major reason this limited model stands apart from an ordinary Les Paul Custom.

The guitar is powered by a Gibson 496R humbucker in the neck and a 498T humbucker in the bridge. The ceramic 496R delivers a powerful, articulate neck sound that remains clear under heavy gain, while the hotter 498T bridge pickup produces the thick midrange, sharp attack and muscular output needed for hard rock and metal. Cranked through a driven amplifier, this guitar has the enormous sustain and snarling power people expect from a Les Paul. Roll back the controls and the pickups clean up surprisingly well for blues, classic rock and more traditional Les Paul tones.

Two push/pull tone controls provide coil splitting for the pickups, greatly expanding the guitar’s tonal range. In full humbucking mode it produces the heavy, saturated voice expected from a hot-rodded Les Paul Custom. Pull the tone controls and it can deliver brighter, leaner and more percussive sounds that work beautifully for clean passages, layered rhythm parts and funkier single-coil-style textures. Ishibashi’s original feature specifically describes both tone controls as push/pull coil taps. 

A dark Richlite fingerboard complements the black appointments and gives the guitar an exceptionally smooth, consistent playing surface. Combined with the rounded neck profile, rolled fingerboard edges, precision fretwork and contoured heel, the result is a Les Paul that encourages fast playing and effortless movement up and down the neck.

Notable features

• Built by the Gibson Custom Shop
• 2016 Limited Run model
• Rare Bronze Cobalt metallic finish
• Carved maple top
• Weight-relieved mahogany body
• Slightly thinner Axcess body construction
• Sculpted rear belly contour
• Mahogany neck
• Heel-less Axcess neck joint
• Dark Richlite fingerboard
• 22 frets
• Black fingerboard and headstock inlays
• Black hardware
• Gibson 496R neck humbucker
• Gibson 498T bridge humbucker
• Two volume and two tone controls
• Push/pull coil splitting
• Floyd Rose double-locking tremolo
• Custom Shop construction

This guitar is what happens when Gibson takes the elegance and unmistakable sound of a Les Paul Custom and removes nearly every limitation of the traditional design. It looks like a futuristic, blacked-out Custom, feels considerably more comfortable against the body and offers upper-fret access that most Les Paul players can only dream about. The hot Gibson pickups provide plenty of power for heavy rock and metal, the coil splits add genuinely useful tonal variety, and the Floyd Rose lets you take the guitar into musical territory that a standard Les Paul simply cannot reach.

If you have been looking for a Les Paul that can chug, shred, scream and still produce the thick sustain and authority that made the model famous, this is it. The Bronze Cobalt finish is absolutely stunning in person, and its rarity makes the guitar as collectible as it is playable. These limited-run Axcess Customs do not appear for sale very often...especially in this color and blacked-out configuration. Whoever buys this guitar is going to have an incredibly special Gibson in their hands, and once they start playing it, they are not going to want to put it down. Don’t wait too long and lose the opportunity to someone else.