The Gibson Les Paul Junior: A Short History; featuring Jeff McErlain

Whether you buy or build, have the top of the line or bottom, there is this spectacular simplicity of control a single pup gives you! No pedals and a volume and tone control. You could almost not use the tone control! YOU control the tone that the guitar creates. The amp certainly contributes to the sound,but using the volume control to add distortion or clean it up puts YOU in control! The Jr. with the P-90 certainly fills the bill! I’m designing a version of a Jr. with loads of custom hardware things like body/neck/headstock binding and fretboard with block position inlays and side position markers on the fretboard. Mahogany neck and body finished in cherry red and an ebony fretboard. I did consider a gloss black with a tortoise shell pickguard. Double ring keystone tuners, a P-90(the choice of it is still being researched). I do want the soap bar style pup. The body a full 1 3/4” thick, adjustable wrap around tailpiece, bwb pick guard. A bass model the same as the Jr. and a thin body semi hollow version with out cut always for just rhythm cording(cowboy chords). That’s about it. Thanxz

Two quickies
#1 - I first encountered the jr. on a trip in79 from Long Island to Red Bank NJ GUITAR TRADER in the back were the $ 200 undesirable Jr's. And they couldn't give them away - well actually they were Giving them away Free - if you bought a 59 Real Deal at a whopping 4- 5000 lol😂
#2 - after battling with an Unamed dealer for an unamed custom color guitar that took 11 months to do - in Mont 7 I took the remainder of the deposit to Gil Southworth in DC to buy a 60 jr. He Begged me to buy two for 2000 or one for 1200 like a fool I only bought one bc the rest of the $ was tied up in the other custom guitar - like he said it would That Was The Year They Doubled In Price
I still have it and I'm Convinced it is The Cleanest in the country

That TV yellow is a classic

Also John Mellencamp featured his vintage junior in his Album "Whenever We Wanted Too" and his "Get A Leg Up" video,

Loved the presentation. I was wondering if anyone knows why the some of the Gibson les paul juniors made between 2001-2012 have the JUNIOR script on the trust rid cover and others don't, is it purely random or does it signify something ?

I've just done a deal, to trade my 2002 R6 Gold Top, for a Custom Shop 2001 built, re issue, 1958 Double Cut Junior. Merry Xmas to me!!!! And everybody else, as well. This is the one I've lusted for, since i first started playing, back in about '66. I couldn't let this one get away. Checking the freight tracking, my guitar, should be at the destination tomorrow, so hopefully, the Junior will be on its way in the next couple of days.

Most music from the least gear? WHY DO YOU KEEP USING THAT TAGLINE WHEN IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR HISTORY VIDS

I paid $240 for my 56 jr in 1976. Tuners started disintigrating so I replaced with vintage style klusons. Kept the originals if I run into a fickle buyer.

Thank you.

how many Lefthanded Jr's were Made ???❤

Blackberry Smoke has been my favorite band since I first saw them in 2008 and nobody gets more great rifs, tone and slide playing out of a Junior than Charlie Starr. Great call

The Les Paul is not entry level guitar it's a sweet guitar 😅 it's made famous by John Lennon

Those three backup singers, including the goddess Debie Harry, sure are lovely to look at; and they don't even need to hold guitars!

I learned a bunch on P90s and the Jr! Thanks for the awesome history. It is making me think about either renovating a Tele with 90s or even building a Jr itself!!
Great stuff, please keep up the great work!)

As always highly informative brilliantly delivered, as a 59 year old budding guitarist just love the trip down memory lane, thank you

Nobody rocked a Les Paul Jr like Leslie West.

I coveted the Junior for a decade from my teens and into my mid twenties as I journeyed down the punk music pipeline, first with Green Day and eventually making my way to the deep cuts like Johnny Thunders, the NY Dolls, Paul Westerberg and the Replacements, and the Clash. I never did get my hands on one, settling with other models loaded with p90s, but the image of the Junior is firmly embedded in my mind when I think about my "angsty" years.

A good guitar and a good amp but also some delay !

I have one of those 59 twin p-90 double cut special. still love it all

Can you make a video about just P90's? Actually it would be nice if you make a playlist about history of pickups as well, like lace sensors vs.. Love from Türkiye <3

Collings 290 S in TV yellow... my go to Junior. Perfection 😊

How can you forget Keith Richards for using Les Paul Juniors. The first guitarist that came to my mind.

my epi les paul special ii AFD (slash siggy) reminds me more of a JR then a regular les paul for a few reasons 1 the pickup selector is on the bottom by then tone knobs has the dot inlays and only has 2 knobs, its thinner and lighter, (i know it has 2 humbuckers) but the looks remind me of one maybe its just cause the knob isnt on the top and the inlays?

One of Glenn Frey’s main guitars as an Eagle was a black LP Junior he called “Old Black”

Unless the beginner could palm a basketball, the gigantic necks on the originals were unplayable

The first LP Jr. I ever heard , in person, was(1970) in the strong, knowing hands of Leslie (Mountain of a Man) West. I thought it was a Melody Maker because (I thought )could see a double set of cutaways. Then again, it could'a been the full hit of double dome,Green Goddess acid I dropped an hour before curtain.

Which one do you prefer? Single cut or double cut?

I have an inspired by Gibson Epiphone TV yellow 2 P 90 single cut Special. Even with having 2 custom shop LPs this Junior is the best playing guitar I own, even with the vintage chunky neck profile. Under $600.00.

😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃

I just wanted to let you know Keith that your mention of Counting Crows' album, Recovering the Satellites changed my life. When saw the name of the band and album, I was intrigued and decided to give it a listen. The track "Recovering the Satellites" is one of my all time favorite songs as it's perfect in almost every way (production, lyrics, vocals, instrumentals). The fact that this came out in the 90s blows my mind, as it still sounds incredibly fresh. Daylight Fading, Angels of the Silences, and A Long December are also top tier songs lyrically. Adam Duritz is a top 5 songwriter for me. No wonder Rick Beato called this a perfect "front to back" album. This album even tops their legendary "August and Everything After" personally. Once again, thank you Keith for introducing me to this amazing band. Now, for some reason, I have this strange urge to go out and buy a les paul junior. :^)

Man I love P90's.

The Les Paul Junior's best sound and performance is Gary Moore's Live Chippenham 1984. If anyone sees this, no one can look down on Les Paul Jr.

I've always prefered the JR and the Special to the Standard, Custom and Deluxe. But the only LP I've ever owned was a Studio and it wasn't a good experience because of the stock pickups, and I went down a pickup rabbit hole, never finding the right tone. I think a lot of this had to do with the chambering. This Studio was much lighter than a typical LP. Looking back I should have gotten a Jr which was my original idea. As for the Jr, I love P90s, except for the noise. Seymour Duncan and a number of other companies make stacked noise canceling P90s. Fishman makes the Greg Koch signature Gristlebuckers which are also an option. What I love about the single pup Jr is the simplicity. Between the volume, the tone knob and your fingers you can get a lot of tones.

I traded with a close friend ,A 1954 Fender Super amp with the plain brown grill cloth for my 59 double cut cherry LP Jr. I love guitar, but I got the lesser of the trade after years and thoughts . The amp had 2 green label Jensen 10" speakers and the knobs went to 12 , there are 2 mic 1/4 " input and 2 instrument inputs. If you bypass the speaker and plug the out put cable into the external speaker jack , and turn everything on 10 , it really is an awesome sound hat no other amp makes. I learned that from EVH .He said it was his favorite amp, but you can wear out the output X-former too. Oh well the best part was. I paid $15.00 for the amp that his dad had in the garage for years, and after his dad died he came to my house and asked $15.00 for it. That was probably 1983 .I made the trade in 1988.I got a 59 JR with alligator skin case for $15, that plays and sounds awesome . The amp I saw listed for 6 grand and the JR. is probably close ,but now, I wish I would have kept the amp

I really enjoy the videos. Thank you. How about doing a video on the Gibson Byrdland ?

So good👍🇦🇺🎶

Guy Days from 999, Mick Jones from the Clash, and Paul Westerberg form the Replacements.

Big love and respect to the great Leslie West, of course.

Late comment...
TV stands for transparent varnish. You can see the grain through it.
The television glare idea was a misunderstanding that started in the 1960s when some items on television shows WERE coloured yellow to limit glare...police cars, for instance.
As stated, few, if any, Juniors were ever on TV....and notice that the Les Pauls and Stratocasters which artists would have used weren't offered in that finish.

I grew up and started playing guitar in the Hair Metal era, obsessed with 50's, 60's and 70's rock. So when I think of Juniors it's always Leslie West and Jeff Carlisi that come to mind. I really dug Foghat as well but I don't remember ever seeing pictures of them performing back in the day, only the album covers. I was into Strats back then as most of my heroes played one, including Clapton by this time. I remember my naive thoughts that Fender had to be superior to Gibson if Eric switched. Ironically over 35 years of playing (to varying degrees, I had years in between that I didn't touch a guitar) I discovered that I don't really care for the Strat control layout, and that the Gibson scale length suits me and my playing style better. I still have a Strat but I only break it out for certain things. It's hard to replicate those in between tones on anything else.

have you done a video on the history of charvel yet?

Great channel! Subscribed!

Steve Howe used a Junior for Ritual live

You did a masterful job of detailing and explaining the history of the feared Les Paul Junior. Great highlights of the the evolution of the P90 pickup. I have to admit, I love my 61 Junior which is more brown than red now. P90s do growl, and the tone through a 65 AC30TB or a tweed Gibson GA19 Falcon goes a long way to putting a big old smile on my face. Thanks again for putting this together for everyone’s enjoyment and edification.

Junior's and P90's!

In the late 90s I nearly had a deal made with an elderly gentleman for his 56 Junior. He wanted it to go to a good home and was unable to play anymore. At the last minute he backed out saying it would hurt just not being able to see it in the corner everyday. He had had it more than 30 years. I clearly understood his nostalgia for it. A couple years after he passed and his kid immediately sold it for 200 bucks for drug money.

I was so lucky to get the Epiphone "'57 Les Paul junior limited edition reissue" - possibly a hot contender for the top prize in the competition for guitar-with-the-longest-name... It might be cheap and Chinese made, but it's also a close remake of the original - Bargainateous at under £100 !! I'm getting similar sounds - not exact, obs. but near - to the guitar the geezer with the hat treats us to - oh yes !! There is a god, after-all !!

Not a single mention of Paul Westerberg from The Replacements? Yikes.

Hello, Five Watt World and crew! I am looking at wiring a LP style guitar to get this sound. I have the pickup, I have the diagrams, however, it seems that many of the vintage LP JNR's, had not two 500k pots, but sometimes a 500k volume combined, with a 300k or 250k or? tone pot, as well as, different cap values in the harness. Any thoughts or opinions to share, would be greatly appreciated.

I see people spending money on Dumbles, Les Pauls, Strats and I tell them instead of spending the cash on stuff that’s not going to made them play any better, spend it on lessons. I tell them the same thing when it comes to golf!
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Great video and information again. Also, your today prices are better than Gibson’s, so I’m buying from you for now on!
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