Whenever we do a run of Wildwood Spec Les Pauls, our primary goal is to capture vintage magic in a brand-new instrument. Together, Gibson and the Wildwood team pulled out all the stops and went deeper down the rabbit-hole of guitar nerdery than ever before. Before we get into the obsessive details (I swear, you've never heard anyone geek out about plastics as much as we did when these guitars arrived), let's talk about some of the design choices that make these '58s so Wildwood Spec-tacular.
All great guitars start with great woods, so our resident Gibson expert visited the Custom Shop to hand-pick each and every top and fretboard. Historically, the '58 Les Paul had lighter figuring than the flamed-out '59s and '60s. But, that doesn't mean that we simply picked some plain maple tops and called it good! No, we scoured for the most elegant, understated pieces of maple we could find. As a result, these luscious Lesters are sure to induce uncontrollable drooling every time they come out of the case. Of course, such high-quality woods also produce exceptional resonance and sustain.
Speaking of sustain: our friends at the Custom Shop then used hide glue to attach each piece of wood together. Here at Wildwood, we love hide glue the way Pete Townshend loves windmilling. It's a protein-based adhesive that promotes the greatest possible energy transfer between two pieces of wood. This results in maximum resonance and sustain, but it isn't easy. Hide glue is incredibly difficult to work with, and it requires a master's touch (as well as a tremendous amount of patience and elbow grease). The Custom Shop luthiers were up to the task, though, and their incredible skill made these guitars true sonic heavyweights.
Wildwood Guitars: https://wildwoodguitars.com/product/82612/wildwood-spec-19…tandard-gloss-48/
'The Greg' Amp: https://wildwoodguitars.com/product-category/amps/koch-amps/
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Greg Koch on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/6CDf
Serial Number: 82612