Gibson The Paul reissued for its 40th anniversary – A ’70s revival?
It has been 40 years since The Paul was first released
Gibson first introduced the “The Paul” in 1978 and produced it until the 1980s. The peculiarity is the wood, as it is all walnut. Time to celebrate the Seventies?
The Paul 40th Anniversary 2019
Gibson has just the reissued The Paul, and according to their own statement everything has been done the same as back in the old days, so expect the same specifications as the 1979 original models, which is not as expensive on the second-hand market, as you might think.
I have to say that I was never a massive fan of the original The Paul guitars, I’ve played loads of them and never found them to be very exciting, or nice to look at. They just remind me of avocado bathroom suits and the fixation with brown as a colour during the late ’70s, so for me, this reissue would be a hard pass!
You may love them though, so now you can buy a brand spanking new one, rather than trying to find a decent secondhand one on the used market.
Gibson The Paul 40th Anniversary. How much walnut? · Source: Gibson
Walnut
Both the body and quartersawn neck are made of walnut. The fingerboard is made of rosewood, fits visually but excellently, at least in the product images it is a shade. In the case of the originals, the rosewood has, according to experience, been rather darker. The Paul 40th Anniversary is varnished with nitro varnish in vintage gloss so that the grain is shown to advantage.
The top is bevelled and so the forearm does not rub over a sharp edge – a luxury that is wrongly often withheld from Gibson players, it also has a belly cut to make it more comfortable to play sat down, or stood up.
Gibson The Paul 40th Anniversary, rear · Source: Gibson
Hardware
With a mix of 490R on the neck and 498T on the bridge, Gibson also goes the classic way in the selection of humbuckers. There are also Tune-O-Matic bridge and stop tail, four controls, two Tone and two Volume and the three-way pickup selector switch on the controls. That pickup selector is not on the top horn like a regular Les Paul, but rather, down with the rest of the controls instead.
RRP – USD 1399
More Information
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4 responses to “Gibson The Paul reissued for its 40th anniversary – A ’70s revival?”
You say “In the case of the originals, the rosewood has, according to experience, been rather darker.”
Well if you have actually played “loads of them…” you would have realised that the fretboards of all the original walnut versions of The Paul’s were ebony…
Not very observant for a ‘cough’ Pro reviewer.
I’m not a pro reviewer, I write news only and occasionally my memory for guitars woods isn’t as great as it could be, the fun problems of getting old. The Last one I played was roughly four years ago and belonged to the singer in my old band. I have played loads of them though (worked in a guitar shop in my twenties) and will say, they have never been on my list of Gibsons to own. Still, think they are a bit ‘meh’. I know a lot of post-punk guys liked them and the guy out of the Waterboys played one, but I wouldn’t spend my money on one.
Thanks for clearing things up. Apologies for seeming ‘snarky’.
I still own 2 The Pauls, having bought years ago when they were cheap as they weren’t as popular as they have become over the last couple of decades (I’m an old guy too).
Both with T-Tops, but very different in tone, both handle well & sound great (to me & a good few others).
I wouldn’t blow over $1000 on the new one either 😉
Honestly, when we first saw this reissue over here in the States, the first question was generally “why?” For reference, the “The Paul” was one of the poorest selling Gibsons I sold back in the day at the store and were not very popular at all.