Gibson Custom Shop Mick Ronson 1968 Les Paul Custom Murphy Lab Aged Ebony Antique Natural #MR040

Mick Ronson was a producer, arranger, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and, most famously, a seriously underrated and highly influential guitarist. As an arranger, he worked with David Bowie, Pure Prairie League, Ellen Foley, and Roger McGuinn and contributed to the arrangement of Jack & Diane by John Mellencamp. He collaborated with former Mott the Hoople vocalist Ian Hunter on four albums, and as a session musician, he worked with Bob Dylan, Roger Daltrey, and Van Morrison, among others.

As a producer, he worked with artists such as Morrissey and Roger McGuinn, as well as many less well-known acts. He also co-produced Lou Reed’s Transformer, arranged the strings, and played piano and guitar on the album. He released five solo studio albums, including Slaughter on 10th Avenue, which was a top-ten charting album in the UK. But he is best known for his collaborations with David Bowie on multiple albums, including The Man Who Sold the World, Hunky Dory, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and Aladdin Sane. His guitar playing was dramatic, melodic, aggressive, and unmistakable, and he often utilized a parked wah pedal, fuzz, and echo effects to create his unique sound – and a 1968 Les Paul™ Custom, the top of which he famously stripped of its original Ebony finish, giving it a distinctive appearance that’s been identified with him ever since.

Now, Gibson Custom is proud to introduce the Mick Ronson 1968 Les Paul Custom Collector’s Edition, a loving tribute to Ronson’s original Bowie-era 1968 Les Paul Custom. This special limited run uses ultra-precise Murphy Lab aging techniques to aid in handcrafting a reproduction of this legendary guitar. Every detail has been thoughtfully crafted, from the exact playing wear to the sonic character. It features a mahogany body with a plain maple cap and a mahogany neck with an Authentic ’68 Medium C shaped neck profile that is topped with an ebony fretboard with 22 medium jumbo frets and adorned with mother-of-pearl block inlays.

The hardware is aged gold, including the Grover® tuners, ABR-1 bridge, and heavily worn Stop Bar tailpiece. The volume and tone knobs are mismatched, just like on Ronson’s Les Paul Custom. The pickups are unpotted and aged ’68 Custom humbuckers™ with Alnico 2 magnets and no covers, which helps to give them that aggressive tone that Mick Ronson was famous for. The volume and tone controls use CTS® 500k audio taper potentiometers that are hand-wired to Black Beauty capacitors, while the Murphy Lab aging simulates the exact aging and wear patterns that Mick Ronson created. Only 100 of these exceptional guitars have been handcrafted by the expert luthiers of the Gibson Custom Shop and Murphy Lab in Nashville, Tennessee. The Mick Ronson 1968 Les Paul Custom ships in a Custom case with a Mick Ronson signature reproduction on the exterior, along with a replica strap, and a Certificate of Authenticity book let that also bears are production of his signature on the cover. Here is your opportunity to own a piece of music history that is directly tied to one of the world’s most iconic guitarists – Mick Ronson.