Ultra-rare 1967 Gibson Trini Lopez Custom. Very cool and rarely seen example of one of the more outlandish Gibson designs of the sixties and a part of the Artist Series of Signature guitars alongside models for Johnny Smith, Barney Kessel and Tal Farlow.
The Gibson Trini Lopez Custom came to life after Gibson contacted mr. Lopez for an endorsement. He agreed, but only if Gibson agreed to building two artist models. One based on the ES-335 and the other based on the Barney Kessel signature model. Gibson agreed! This one here features the large 17-inch body that shares the same deep double cutaway silhouette as the Barney Kessel Signature that Lopez used himself in the early sixties.
A Gibson Trini Lopez Custom is instantly recognizable through the Firebird derived headstock and the diamond shaped sound holes. Very cool!. Less visible but very important is the different choice of neck wood. Barney wanted a Maple neck with Rosewood fingerboard, Trini wanted a Mahogany neck and Ebony fretboard. Mahogany gives that extra growl to the tone, Ebony produces very clear notes. Both these features make this guitar not only suitable for jazz and pop but will do very well in rock and blues too. Trini also requested an extra 3-way switch knob on the bass-bout. This guitar has typical features for 1967, with chrome-plated hardware, enclosed single unit Grover Roto-Matic tuners, the amp-style black molded ‘witch-hat’ knobs. That really sets this baby apart as a one off in a group of less than 100 of these models built.
From an originality perspective, we can say she is completely original internally, The pickups are the original Gibson Pat. No. humbuckers. The pots are still within their protective cans. Sadly, somewhere during her life, the neck broke. Fortunately, an unknown luthier made a beautiful new neck and fretboard. It is unclear why he added the typical Gibson block inlay instead of the split diamond design of the original. Probably the owner like these better. In 2018, she returned home to the Gibson Restoration and Repair department in Nashville for a major restoration and maintenance amongst which also included new frets, the nut, the ABR-bridge, new pickup covers, a new original speck’d pickguard and of course total cleaning and electronics service. Check the picture of the original Gibson invoice for all the details. All the 2018 Gibson paperwork is included in the sale. She comes with her original case, which is in very worn condition. The body had a repair where the jack is located. A new piece of wood was used to reinforce the weak spot, and the color touch-up was near to perfect. The lacquer is vibrant and in great condition with all that nitro crackling all the oldies show. All of this leads to rating her condition as very good. Given the replacement neck, she is not a collector’s grade guitar. She is though a professional grade archtop with history, awesome looks. And she offers sublime tone and playability. Having said that, she sounds like the quintessential 60-ies Gibson archtop and plays like butter. Here is a sound impression of a sister model where Jared James Nichols demonstrates what these guitars can do besides the typical jazz genre:
Price includes:
- Consignment sale, no trades.
- Diamond Guitars 1-year limited warranty.
- VAT is not applicable.
- Free shipping to the Netherlands.
- We ship worldwide. Check your shipping cost HERE.
- All guitars come with a new set of strings and a setup to your liking.
