Gibson Custom Shop Collectors Choice Burst #1: Melvyn Franks

The Music Zoo is proud to announce that we have been selected by Gibson to represent and carry the very exclusive “Collector’s Choice” guitars.  These Les Pauls are replicas of famous ’58-’60 Sunburst Les Pauls that have been immortalized in the book some would call the “Burst Bible”, The Beauty Of The Burst by Yasuhiko Iwanade.  Our copy in the store is worn and drool stained, but still inspires us every time.  Gibson will be releasing very limited numbers of each replica to select dealers: 100 full aged and 300 VOS versions.

The first announced Collector’s Choice Les Paul is the Melvyn Franks 1959 Les Paul Standard (pictured above).  This legendary ’59 Burst is now in the Melvyn Franks collection, but used to belong to Peter Green and then Gary Moore.  We know it’s got the correct flipped out of phase pickup, but further details have not been released.  Follow the jump for Gibson’s press release on the Collector’s Choice program.

There are a great many desirable and famous guitars that are well known to serious guitar players, aficionados, and collectors, made famous through the player/historical/collector grapevine, and through publications such as Yasuhiko Iwanade’s iconic book “The Beauty of the ‘Burst”.  These guitars are seldom if ever available to the general consumer for purchase, typically trading hands between known players and collectors behind the scenes and below the radar.

Gibson Custom Shop will be producing accurate reproductions of a select few of these guitars available through the new “Collector’s Choice” program in partnership with their owners. These guitars will be accurately reproduced, at a fraction of the value of the original guitar, over the coming months and years.