Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page remains one of the best-known hard rock and heavy metal guitarists of all time. His work with the Yardbirds and, naturally, Led Zeppelin has forever established his reputation in the rock and roll pantheon (we’ll forgive him his work with the Honeydrippers and the Firm). His extraordinary control over the Gibson Les Paul guitar and the tones of which it is capable of creating set a bar that may be met but never surpassed.

So it goes without saying that our pals over at Gibson would want to capitalize on the fame of one of their best-known users. So, in the mid-90’s, Gibson issued a Jimmy Page signature Les Paul Standard that would capture the unique features that Page included in his guitar as well as meet the fantasies of legions of Page-wannabees who happened (back then) to have three and a half grand lying around.

Out of the box, this looks like a garden-variety Custom Shop Les Paul. The Jimmy Page Signature is based on a 1959 Les Paul Standard. The guitar looks spectacular with Gibson’s Vintage Light Honeyburst on maple topped mahogany body with single-ply cream on top binding. The gold hardware looks terrific and the body is set off by the white pick guard with Page’s signature on it. The construction is superb.

There are two features that make this Les Paul particularly interesting. First, the glued-on mahogany neck is customized to match that on Jimmy’s own instrument. It has a usual 12” radius at the headstock but gets flatter than the typical LP neck as you move up toward the 12th fret, making the guitar easier to play and a little faster than other Standards. I don’t understand why Gibson doesn’t use this design on other Les Pauls, it’s really cool. The fretboard inlays are trapezoid and look sharp.

The other unusual feature is the electronics. The Page LP is equipped with the 496R and 490T humbuckers that are on so many other LP’s. These create a hot, nicely overdriven sound when maxed out at 10 and are capable of a very wide range of tones. Indeed, I’ve heard some guys complain that these pickups are a little too hot and that they prefer either 57 Classics or PAFs. The pickups are controlled with two volume and two-tone knobs with a three-way switch. I’ve always found this arrangement to be superior to the Stratocaster’s single volume control because this gives much more versatility to the guitar.

But what’s important about these pots is that they are push-pull. The volume controls permit you to split each humbucker, the neck tone pot lets you switch the combined pickups between series and parallel, and the treble pickup puts the pickups out of phase. This adds some nice versatility to the guitar’s tone. Needless to say, the pick-ups sound fabulous either separately or in combination. You’ll not only be able to produce classic Zep sounds but some Cream-era Clapton (he used a LP on most of those albums), Mick Ralphs, Peter Townsend, Aerosmith, just about any 60s, 70s and 80s era hard rock and heavy metal. The overdriven sound is amazing. I played it through a Fender Twin and the blues wails you can get with this thing will make you weep.

As with any Les Paul, this guitar is heavy. It’s a strain on performers, which is why I use my Strat most of the time.

This guitar also has excellent collector's value, considerably more than the ordinary Standard or Custom. This is a very good investment, as far as musical instruments go.

This guitar is a pleasure to play and sounds great. You’ll have a riot tearing around with it. The neck really sets this guitar apart—the push-pull pots are nice but the neck and construction are what you are paying for. Speaking of which, the price matches the fun: I’ve seen 2006 Custom Shop models on sale on ebay for seven grand. If you’re lucky, you have a rich buddy like me and get to mess with his axe.

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