“WHO THE HELL is Lukas Nelson?” If you’re like me, that’s probably what you’re thinking. Suffice to say, Lukas Nelson is the son of country music legend Willie Nelson, and this young country-rocker fronts his own successful band, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, with him and his band often pulling double duty as the touring band for Neil Young. If that’s not enough, Nelson played a prominent role for the 2018 film A Star is Born by collaborating with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper and co-writing and co-producing the soundtrack, all of which earned him a Grammy and a BAFTA. The guy’s no slouch, and considering how busy he is making records, Nelson likes to keep things simple, which is evidenced by his new artist model, the Gibson Lukas Nelson ’56 Les Paul Junior. Sure, the Junior is hailed for its minimalism, but before you dismiss this one as just another revamp in Gibson’s USA line of electrics, be aware that Nelson’s signature guitar ticks all the boxes of a custom shop upgrade in a Junior that sounds vintage and plays like a beast, while being surprisingly affordable.
FEATURES Nelson worked closely with Gibson to replicate the sound and feel of his faithful ’56 Les Paul Junior, most notably in three areas: finish, hardware and electronics. Instead of an overly high-gloss finish, Nelson opted for a thinly applied deluxe satin nitrocellulose lacquer in vintage sunburst that closely resembles what an original Junior’s patina would’ve had brand new. The vintage-style compensated wraparound bridge is slightly angled for more precise intonation, and the aged nickel vintage deluxe strip-style tuners with white buttons feature a higher gear-ratio for steadfast tuning accuracy. A cool touch is the aged screws on the pickguard, input jack and back plate. For pure sound, the guitar is equipped with a single custom-voiced “Dog Ear” P-90 pickup with Alnico III magnets, gold speed knobs for volume and tone (just like the ones found on’56 Juniors) that are hand wired with Orange Drop capacitors and feature 500k vintage audio taper pots. Outside of these improvements,the Lukas Nelson ’56 Les Paul Junior is very much your standard-issue Junior, with a single-cutaway slab mahogany body and mahogany neck with a palm-filling Fifties profile, rosewood fingerboard with medium jumbo frets and acrylic dot inlays.
GUITAR WORLD GOLD AWARD