To most guitar and blues aficionados, Michael Bloomfield was more than just a renowned, big-city blues guitarist. A session player who was weaned on Chicago’s legendary south side blues, Bloomfield forever altered American-based blues with his bold and passionate guitar playing and he did it all while strumming a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard.
The master craftsmen at Gibson Custom are proud to announce the much-anticipated Michael Bloomfield 1959 Les Paul Standard, an accurate recreation of the instrument Bloomfield used to create the legendary “Bloomfield Sound.” Whether listening to his recordings with the Butterfield Band, his work on Bob Dylan’s classic Highway 61 Revisited album, or his mastery of the guitar on Super Session, Bloomfield’s technique is without equal, and the tone achieved using his beloved Les Paul is one of the most recognizable of all time. The Michael Bloomfield 1959 Les Paul Standard faithfully captures that celebrated tone, along with every precious detail of the original. Starting with the Les Paul’s traditional hand-carved maple top and solid, non-weight relieved mahogany back, this instrument is pure Gibson, right down to such time-honored appointments like CTS potentiometers and bumble-bee capacitors, holly headstock veneer, Grover kidney tuners and a rounded neck profile similar to those on the original Les Pauls from 1959. The guitar’s Bloomfield Burst finish also replicates the finish on Bloomfield’s original Les Paul, and was achieved through the careful examination of hundreds of photos of the original.
This special reissue is available in a limited release of only 300 guitars: The first 100 will be aged by renowned finish and restoration artist Tom Murphy, while 200 will receive the popular V.O.S. (Vintage Original Specs) treatment. All will come with a standard Gibson Custom case silkscreened with Bloomfield’s signature, a custom care kit and certificate of authenticity.
More information is available here at Gibson guitars. Credit: Gibson Guitars.