Here is a really unique guitar that sort of got lost in the ever-expanding Gibson marketing chaos of the mid 2000-teens. The Gibson 120th anniversary Les Paul Futura was based on a Les Paul Studio body and neck with surprising electronics and showcased a variety of new at the time finishes including Brilliant Red, Bullion Gold, Inverness Green, Plum Insane and Pacific Blue . The Pacific Blue burst finish was easily the best looking-just look at it. This one leans towards an Aqua-Turquosie hue, and looks less "bright Blue' than the other ones I've seen. This model was only produced for a short run-I have only seen 2014 versions. This guitar was made at the Gibson factory in Nashville Tennessee, U.S.A. The guitar has been professionally set up and is ready to go-it needs nothing. Take a whiff-
The body is mahogany with a maple top-standard Les Paul construction. It features a set-neck construction. The neck is maple with a rosewood fingerboard. The pacific Blue finish is really cool. The tops of these guitars were usually pretty plain in order to showcase the burst finish...but this one got a really nicely grained and figured maple top anyway! It has a bit of flame as well-it is very striking, just look at it. The previous owner rested his strap buckle on the side of the front cutaway-you can see some marks in the wood that were caused by that. There is light handling evidence elsewhere on the body-overall it is in really good shape and presents nicely. The backside is mahogany and the color looks a bit more greenish-you can see this contrast really well where the maple neck meets the mahogany body-see photos. The neck joint is nice and solid with an excellent neck-angle.
The neck itself is really clean with minimal playing evidence. The neck is smooth and straight, it has a vintage slim-profile with the wider vintage nut width-it measures 1.70" wide. The neck depth measures .617" at the 1st fret and .665" at the 12th fret. The original tuners were indeed the showcased "Robot" electronic tuners that bankrupted Gibson (way to go!) and they have been removed and replaced with a nice set of Grovers-which look so good and natural on there that you would think they are original. The robot module is included-so you can put them back on in 30 years when no one will believe that Gibson did that. Surely that will be collectible some day? Anyways-the guitar stays in tune nicely and the Grovers are super smooth. The headstock and logo display very nicely. The truss rod cover is a plain one. The rosewood fingerboard is super clean and the trapezoid position markers are nice. They are a pearloid design and the 12th marker has the 120th anniversary notation. The frets have been professionally leveled, crowned and polished and appear close to new condition and height. The action is set low for an easy and fast playing experience. The string height is currently .010" at the 1st fret and .050" at the 12th fret. It plays like butter up and down the fingerboard with zero dead spots. This thing shreds. It has a nice flat feel and is hard to put down because you just want to play it. Know what I mean?
Alright alright-now we get to what really makes this guitar special: the unique pickup design and incredibly versatile tones it offers. Both pickups are original and have an excellent signal. The bridge is a Burstbucker III that has a typical high-gain output and starts overdriving your amp almost immediately. The neck is a P-90H. It sounds super-smooth and full, just like a vintage unit. The familiar 3-way toggle switch selects either pickup or the combination of both. The controls feature two individual volume push-push units. The push feature taps the coil of the corresponding pickup and gives you a very "stratocaster" tone. The rear controls are the corresponding tone levels. The top tone control is also a push-push unit that activates a 15db boost to whichever pickup you have selected. The guitar is very responsive no matter what pickup you are using and the combination of coil tapping and boost really offers a wide variety of options. Again, it is really fun to explore and once you plug it in, you will want to play it a lot. The guitar is very well made and the tone is very full-you can feel the resonance immediately.
The bridge and tailpiece are the familiar tune-o-matic and stop tail piece. The guitar is a chambered-body design. It weighs 9.27 lbs. This guitar is really great in the studio or on-stage, it is even at home on the couch. It is a really good guitar in so many ways and is destined to be a collector's piece due to the short production run and 120th anniversary annotation. It is currently very affordable.
Comes with an aftermarket hardcase.
