The Les Paul Behind One of the Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time!
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Like any great Les Paul Standard, the Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul starts with great wood. Gibson Custom selects figured maple for the two-piece top to replicate the look of Felder's own iconic 'Burst, and joins each set to a select, lightweight, solid one-piece mahogany back. Way beyond merely recreating the look of the original instrument, however, this maple/mahogany pairing perpetuates a tonewood match made in heaven: a best-of-both-worlds palette that gives you the perfect blend of maple's clarity, snap and bite, and mahogany's warmth, depth and richness.
A one-piece mahogany neck is glued in with the preferred long neck tenon for superior resonance and sustain, and carved to match the neck on Felder's own '59 Les Paul Standard. Taking all this tonal goodness to your amp of choice are a pair of BurstBucker pickups, Gibson's most accurate PAF recreations to date. It's all anchored with the rock-solid pairing of a Tune-o-matic bridge and stopbar tailpiece, and topped with a set of vintage Kluson-style green-button tuners. And with a guitar that sounds and feels this good, you want it to look perfect, too.
To get the Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul just right, Gibson Custom has painstakingly formulated a unique "Felder Burst" finish, which accurately matches the mellowed, sand-hued fade of Felder's own '59 'Burst. Reproduced in nitrocellulose in a hand-executed process that involves several steps, the results are then treated to either meticulous hand-aging by Gibson Custom (150 guitars, 50 of which also will be signed by Don Felder), or Gibson Custom's acclaimed VOS process (150 guitars).
All told, it's a guitar worthy of its namesakes: one of the greatest guitar albums of all time, and player who laid down the leads that helped to make it so. All guitars come with a black, plush-lined Gibson Custom hardshell case, a Certificate of Authenticity, and full owner's manual and adjustment literature. Each also is covered by Gibson's Limited Lifetime Warranty and 24/7/365 Customer Service.
Body
Species
The body of each Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul is crafted from a two-piece figured maple top with attached to a solid, one-piece lightweight mahogany back.
Tonal Characteristics
The Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul's body woods present the classic combination of good clarity, definition and treble bite from the maple, and excellent depth and richness from the mahogany, all of which are elements that are found in the legendary tone of the original '59 Les Paul Standard. This is one of the most revered wood combinations of all time, and truly offers a best-of-both-worlds design in the way that mahogany and maple complement each other to offer superior resonance, sustain, depth, clarity and definition.
Design
The Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul follows the body lines and dimensions of the original '59 Les Paul Standard, with a gently arched carved top and rounded lower bout, and combines the classic tonewood combination of mahogany back and carved maple top. The body's back is cut from a single piece of solid, high-grade, lightweight clear mahogany, and capped with a two-piece top of figured maple that is carved into a period-correct "dish," or arch.
Average Weight
Weights vary slightly, according to wood supplies, but Gibson's Custom Shop seeks out the lightest, most tonally advantageous mahogany for the one-piece bodies of the Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul, in order to closely match the weights and densities of original examples from the late '50s.
Neck and Headstock
Neck Species
The neck of the Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul is constructed from one solid piece of mahogany for improved strength and resonance. The luthiers in Gibson's Custom Shop carefully match the grains and weights of these guitars' bodies and necks to optimize tone and sustain.
Neck Profile
The neck on the Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul is carved to recreate the feel of the neck on Felder's own '59 Les Paul, which is a thinner than usual '59 profile.
Tonal Characteristics
The neck and fingerboard play a big part in the effort of bringing '59 Les Paul tone to the Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul, and the angled, classical-style peg head and mahogany neck work together to provide exceptional tonal richness and resonance, with a good string definition and sustain.
Joint
Gibson uses what is known as the Mortise & Tenon joint to bind neck to body so that the two pieces form one solid unit. On the Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul, this technique incorporates the lauded "long neck tenon" which extends further into the body than the tenon on the necks of many other, later guitars, greatly enhancing resonance and sustain, as well as neck strength in general.
Joint Angle
4.0° (+/- 15 seconds)
Headstock Angle
Just like the original Les Pauls of the late '50s, and many classic Gibson models, the Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul headstock is carefully angled at Gibson's traditional 17 degrees, which increases pressure on the strings and helps them stay in the nut slots. An increase in string pressure also means there is no loss of string vibration between the nut and the tuners, which equals better sustain.
Truss Rod
Gibson's traditional truss rod, found in most all of our guitars, is highly responsive to the individual adjustments you'll want to make to personalize and optimize string action and sustain.
Logo
The traditional, period-correct Gibson logo is inlaid in mother of pearl across the top of a holly headstock veneer, with "Les Paul Model" silkscreened in gold along the center of the headstock face.
Adhesive
Franklin Titebond 50, one of the strongest glues on the market today, is used to join body and neck together.
Tolerance
When fitting the neck and body together, we take advantage of our precise measuring equipment so that all angles, pitches and alignments maintain a correct tolerance. Not only does this help to keep your guitar in tune but it also maintains proper string alignment relative to the fingerboard.
Fingerboard and Nut
Fingerboard Species
The Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul carries a rosewood fingerboard, the traditional fingerboard of the original Les Paul Standard. Rosewood is both hardwearing and sonically superlative, adding sweetness and depth to the guitar's overall sound.
Frets
To replicate one of the small but significant changes brought to the Les Paul in 1959, the Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul's fingerboard carries 22 medium-jumbo frets, all smoothly dressed and finished with the optimum crowns for easy, precise playability.
Tonal Characteristics
Rosewood fingerboards are known for enhancing the depth and warmth of an outstanding guitar.
Radius
In the image of the original 'Bursts, the 12-inch radius of the Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul fingerboard provides smooth note bending capabilities and eliminates "dead" or "choked out" notes, common occurrences on fingerboards with lesser radiuses.
Inlays
The Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul fingerboard carries aged acrylic trapezoid position-marker inlays, echoing the traditional look of the original Les Paul Standard.
Nut Material
The nut on the Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul is made from bone, a material preferred by many discerning guitarists. It is installed into the top surface of the neck, butting up to the end of the fingerboard to ensure proper tone and sustain transfer, and its nut slots are cut with Gibson's PLEK system to ensure precise fit, break angle, and string spacing.
Nut Width
The width of the nut on the Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul is approximately 1.687", to match the width of the nut on Felder's own Les Paul.
Hardware
Tuning Keys
The headstock of the Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul is equipped with vintage Kluson-style tuners with green "keystone" buttons and stamped-steel covers plated in nickel.
Trussrod Cover
The truss rod cover on the Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul follows the period-correct "antique bell" shape of the originals, and is made from black and white vinyl plastic.
Strap Buttons
The guitar's aluminum strap buttons are the same style and design that Gibson has used since the early 1950s.
Pickguard
The guitar carries a vintage cream Les Paul Standard pickguard.
Bridge
In the image of its predecessor, the Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul carries a Tune-o-matic bridge that is made from zinc and plated in chrome. This bridge provides a firm seating for the strings, allowing the player to adjust and fine-tune the intonation and string height in a matter of minutes. It also yields excellent coupling between strings and body, maximizing resonance, tone, and sustain.
Tailpiece
Every Tune-o-matic bridge is combined with a separate "stopbar" tailpiece, which is essentially a modified version of the earlier wraparound bridge that's designed to further enhance the connection between the strings and the body. The Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul's stopbar tailpiece is also plated in chrome.
Control Knobs
The Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul's Volume and Tone controls carry historically correct gold "Top Hat" knobs.
Strings
The Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul is fitted with vintage strings, sizes .010-.046.
Pickups
Pickups Model
The Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul is equipped with a pair of Gibson's popular BurstBucker humbucking pickups, a BurstBucker 2 in the neck position and a BurstBucker 1 in the bridge. Gibson's BurstBuckers are widely regarded as the most accurate reproductions of original PAF humbuckers available today, and even go so far as to reproduce some of the inconsistencies that are credited with contributing a certain magic to original Gibson humbuckers from 1957-'62.
BurstBuckers are made with unpolished Alnico II magnets and coils that are wound to slightly different numbers of turns, like the originals. Using two slightly mismatched coils gives these pickups a little more edge - a sound that you could even say comes a little closer to single-coil bite - than can be achieved with perfectly balanced coils. Furthermore, BurstBuckers in the Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul are wax potted to combat microphonic squeal at high volume levels.
Magnet Material
Gibson's BurstBuckers use unpolished Alnico II bar magnets, just like many of the most prized original PAF humbuckers.
Tonal Characteristics
The BurstBucker 1 and 2 accurately translate all the warmth, depth, and clarity of this guitar's woods and construction into a tone that is instantly recognizable as "that 'Hotel California' sound."
Electronics
Volume Controls
Just like the original, the Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul uses an independent Volume control for each pickup, which consists of a quality CTS 500k audio-taper potentiometer for a smooth, natural volume roll-off.
Tone Controls
Individual CTS 500k audio-taper potentiometers with accurate .022mF "bumble bee" tone capacitors provide independent tone controls for each pickup.
Toggle Switch
The Don Felder "Hotel California" 1959 Les Paul features the classic three-way Switchcraft toggle switch with cream plastic tip. In the down position this selects the bridge pickup, in the up position the neck pickup, and in the middle it selects both pickups together.
Output Jack
The guitar features a 1?4" output jack made by Switchcraft, for years of trouble-free service.
Body
Top 2-Piece Figured Maple
Back 1-Piece Solid Mahogany
Binding .04, Cream
Body Type Non-Chambered
Adhesive Franklin Titebond
Neck
Species Mahogany with Maple Spline
Profile Rounded small '59
Truss Rod Traditional
Joint Angle 4° (+/- 15 seconds)
Adhesive Franklin Titebond
Neck Fit
Joint Mortise & Tenon
Adhesive Franklin Titebond
Joint Angle Tolerance +/- .005"
Fingerboard
Species Rosewood
Frets 22
Radius 12"
Nut/E.O.B 1.687/2.062
Inlays Aged Acrylic Trapezoid
Binding .04, cream
Other Reissue Fret Wire/Tortoise Side Dots
Nut
Material Bone
Width 1.687
Slots Gibson PLEK System
Headstock
Inlay Mother of Pearl
Logo '59 Reissue, .040 holly with Gibson Logo
Truss Rod Cover Gibson Bell Shaped Molded
Angle 17 Degrees
Tuners
Model Vintage Kluson-style with Green "Keystone" Buttons
Tuning Ratio 12:01
Bridge
Type Tune-o-matic
Material Zinc
Plating Chrome
Tailpiece
Type Stop Bar
Material Zinc
Plating Chrome
Hardware
Knobs Gold Top Hats
Toggle Switch Washer Cream with Gold Silkscreen
Strings .010 - .046, Vintage Strings
Pickguard Cream
Strap Buttons Aluminum Strap Buttons
Pickups
Neck Position Burstbucker 2
Bridge Position Burstbucker 1
Magnet Material Alnico II
Electronics
Potentiometers 2 Volume Controls, 2 Tone Controls
Type 500k Audio Taper
Capacitors .022mF "Bumblebee"
Coil Wiring Parallel-Machine Wound
Toggle Switch Switchcraft Three-way with Cream Toggle Cap
Output Jack 1/4" Switchcraft |
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