Meet a Fake Les Paul Worth More Than Your Car

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Despite being a replica, this guitar commands tens of thousands of dollars on the market.

This video might have been called “Five Things You Don’t Know About the Original Gibson Les Paul Standard.”

In it, Philip McKnight explores five unique aspects of the sunburst Les Paul Standard model, made by Gibson from 1958 to 1960. These guitars are among the most valuable production guitars around, commanding hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Among the features Phillip discusses are the model’s Honduran mahogany body, hide glue and nitrocellulose finish.

But as he reveals at the end, he isn’t actually playing a 1959 Gibson Les Paul. It’s a replica Max Les Paul, built by Peter Max Baranet, who has created Gibson Les Paul and Gibson Flying V replicas for players like Slash, Eddie Van Halen, Lenny Kravitz, Nikki Sixx and Zakk Wylde.

Though it isn’t an original, it’s nevertheless worth a whole lot of money.

Check out Phillip’s YouTube channel for more of his great videos.

Christopher Scapelliti
Christopher Scapelliti

Christopher Scapelliti is editor-in-chief of Guitar Player magazine, the world’s longest-running guitar magazine, founded in 1967. In his extensive career, he has authored in-depth interviews with such guitarists as Pete Townshend, Slash, Billy Corgan, Jack White, Elvis Costello and Todd Rundgren, and audio professionals including Beatles engineers Geoff Emerick and Ken Scott. He is the co-author of Guitar Aficionado: The Collections: The Most Famous, Rare, and Valuable Guitars in the World, a founding editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine, and a former editor with Guitar World, Guitar for the Practicing Musician and Maximum Guitar. Apart from guitars, he maintains a collection of more than 30 vintage analog synthesizers.