The Les Paul Junior

This blog is most commonly searched for information about Bob Marley's Les Paul Jr.  Bob Marley is probably the most legendary guitarist and musician (along side with John Lennon) to ever play a Les Paul Junior.  People probably assume that the Les Paul Jr isn't a full-grown or real guitar by it's name and are surprised that Bob Marley and John Lennon amongst many other guitarists (you can view our post about other guitarists who played this guitar) favored this guitar.

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4Speed Tone Volume Knob for GIBSON Guitar LES PAUL A17

US $1.99

18m

NEW GIBSON LES PAUL 59 VOS RI 1959 REISSUE HISTORIC R9

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US $4,950.00

41m

Genuine GIBSON Les Paul Standard Pickguard

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US $.99

44m

CHROME BRIDGE TAILPIECE FITS GIBSON EPIPHONE LES PAUL

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US $.99

53m

Here is some information about Bob Marley's guitar:

Bob Marley played a legendary mahogany Gibson Les Paul Special.

Although the guitar is known for it's raw and thick sound,  Marley was one of the first people to play it's clean tones.  He focused on the up strokes rather than the four on the floor rock sound that the guitar is best known for.  The difference between a Les Paul Junior and a Les Paul Special is very minimal.  They came out the same year.  Originally the Les Paul Junior was intended to give entry level guitarists an affordable but nice guitar.  Later that same year the Les Paul Special came out with a second pick-up and was a more versatile model (as far as tone is concerned) but was slightly more expensive.

Many variations of both the Les Paul Jr and the Les Paul Special have come out since then, including many signature series guitars like Billy Joe Armstrong's (from the band Green Day) Custom Les Paul Jr.

Junior Marvin was the lead guitarist for the legendary recordings on Exodus and many other albums recorded with Marley and the Wailers.  He is known for his heart throbbing leads and smooth tones as well.  He too played a Gibson Les Paul Special and recorded Exodus on a TV Yellow Les Paul Special.  TV Yellow was a fairly unique shade of yellow that was made to make guitars look better on black on white TV.  When color TV came out the TV Yellow guitars were still quite popular and almost building a legendary status to them.  Some of the vintage TV yellow guitars sold on Ebay are extremely expensive and sought after.

Junior Marvin and Bob Marley were best known for their smooth tones and upbeats rather than the thick distorted sounds that their Les Paul's are known for.  They are both iconic guitarist and without question the most influential reggae musicians of all time.  Their dedication to their sound and craft, show that the Gibson Les Paul sound is not only one of the thickest rock sounding guitars, but also one of the most versatile guitars ever.

One of the more common issues with purchasing a guitar, is finding the right one.  Sure, anyone can go down to their local guitar shop, or even the corporate monster Guitar Center and play an assortment of cheap to expensive guitars offered from their product line.  They have been touched by hundreds of hands, mistreated, misplayed and degraded!  But that's not always an issue for some people.  The idea of finding your dream guitar, is finding the right fit.

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Brand New Epiphone Limited Edition Les Paul Junior

US $129.99

18d 21h 52m

GIBSON LES PAUL NASHVILLE JR JUNIOR WEEK 41 2007

13 Bids

US $710.00

6h 30m

Gibson Les Paul Junior Billy Joe Armstrong LP Jr 2006

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US $540.00

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GIBSON LES PAUL NICKEL KNOB POINTERS JUNIOR VINTAGE

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The Les Paul Junior was introduced originally to offer an inexpensive guitar to the line, for students or beginning players.  It had one P90 or soap box pickup, which was located near the bridge.  If you are a regular player and have played a guitar using two pickups, you'll know that this is a sort of twangy placement for one pickup.  This gave an edge to players that wanted simplicity and perfection, of Rock and Blues.  In the years to follow, this is exactly what happened.

So how do you know if the Les Paul Junior is the right axe for you?  You might want to dig a little deeper into the setup.  I think the absolutely most appealing thing about the Les Paul Jr is the look.  Having only one pickup gives it an edge.  It's unique in sound and appearance and most importantly to the gigging professional, it was simple.  Unlike traditional Les Paul Guitars there is no blend knob to adjust which of the two pickup to get your sound from.

While we can spend hours and hours digging into what makes the guitar unique and how, we can simply look at the work that has already been done for us by the greats of the Les Paul Jr era.  Here is a small list of some of the famous guitarists that have played this amazing guitar from our resourceful online wikipedia.

A

• Billie Joe Armstrong, from Green Day

[edit] B

• David Bryson, from Counting Crows

[edit] C

• Allen Collins

[edit] G

• Billy Gibbons

[edit] J

• Mick Jones, from The Clash

[edit] L

• John Lennon, ex-Beatles

[edit] M

• Bob Marley
• Steve Marriott
• Mike McCready, from Pearl Jam

[edit] R

• Mick Ralphs
• Keith Richards, from the Rolling Stones

[edit] T

• Johnny Thunders

[edit] U

• Keith Urban

[edit] W

• Leslie West, ex-Mountain
• Paul Westerberg

If you are interested in a Les Paul Guitar, then you might want to look into these artists and see if their guitar sound is something that interests you.  One of the more legendary artists on the list would be Bob Marley.  His guitar tone was reggae, not Rock or Blues.  I think it goes to show the versatility of this instrument, despite its single pickup configuration.  John Lennon was known for playing a Les Paul Special as well as a Les Paul Jr and is of course one of the most legendary musicians of all time.  In short, these artists of dedicated their lives to giving you a resource to see if the Les Paul Junior is the appropriate guitar for your taste and playing style.

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1956 Gibson Les Paul Junior Jr Vintage Guitar Sunburst

US $6,899.00

26d 20m

Gibson 1980 Les Paul Special Junior P90 Pickups Vintage

US $1,199.99

25d 1h 49m

Gibson Les Paul Junior Vintage Pickguard New

US $17.99

20d 6h 2m

1955 Vintage Gibson Les Paul Junior Jr 100 original

US $8,995.00

8d 2h 21m

There are a lot of different things to keep in mind when you finally get your hands on a Les Paul Jr.  The first thing is obviously going to be the case.  If you are a regular gigging musician having a gig-bag with backpack straps might be the best option.  This is particularly useful when you have to carry a hard-case acoustic with you while also carrying an electric guitar because you can get your axes into the venue in one trip!  A hard case is definitely a better way to go, but you are going to have shill out a little more money.

The next thing to consider, is some kind of a kit to take care of your guitar when you restring it.  Let's face it, there is no value in having someone else restring and care for your Les Paul all of the time.  So it's best to invest in a small kit to take care of your equipment.  One of the best things to do is go online or to a local guitar shop and see if they have some kind of all inclusive kit to get this done.  You'll find things like a scraper tool for the grime under the strings, possibly a "spinner" for your tuner and some furniture polish like material that is intended for preserving the finish on the guitar.  Something that must be done in order to keep the smooth fretboard feeling on your guitar is to remove the strings completely and spray it down with furniture polish.  Next take a guitar pick or thing plastic material and scrape off the grime completely and clean any excess with a paper towel or moist towelette.

This is going to ensure that the fretboard is clean and it will actually make your strings last a bit longer, as they are not going to have any toxins or dirt in the wind.  It is best to change your strings at least once a month.  When you do this you are going to want to remove only half of the strings at a time.  This is not an entirely common method but it really helps to keep your truss rod in adjustment (for your action).  You do this to keep constant tension on the neck.  If you are always removing and adding tension you'll find that the guitar gets loose and the action becomes to far from the fretboard creating a poor playing guitar, especially for beginners and people with not so strong of hands.

One feature that can and possibly should be upgraded on a lot of Les Paul guitars is the tuners themselves.  They have a rather low-end ratio to them and seem to fall out of tune quite a bit when first putting on fresh strings.  You can get something like a "grover" tuner that has a much nicer ratio keeping the guitar in tune for longer, while giving you a lot of precision in the process.

Lastly, if you are not one to change your strings frequently or are someone who sweats a lot when they play, it is best to invest in some coated strings for your guitar.  The leading brand for coated strings are Elixirs.  There are many brands that would work, but Elixir was the first major coated string on the market.  They are known to last almost three times longer than a traditional string because they offer the metal wound strings a coating that keeps out sweat, which keeps out rust.  Coated strings are probably one of the best things a regular gigging guitarist can invest in.  They cost nearly twice as much as a regular string though, so you might see the obvious dilemma.  Elixir Polyweb strings are so bright when you first put them on, that they actually have a break-in period.  They will typically sound their best after several hours of play, due to the extra brightness that is added from the Polyweb coating.

Whatever you do, take care of your Les Paul guitar.  There are many guitar shops that will buy them back for the price you bought it for, as well as a huge online community of people who will buy, sell and trade their guitars.  You will want to keep your guitar in pristine shape, so one day you can get some of your investment back and perhaps invest it in another guitar or Les Paul Jr. of your liking.