Gibson Les Paul Junior Clearup

An issue that needs clearing up! Ive became quite confused at Gibsons naming of their guitars lately, especially the jr. Not including the Gibson Custom line, could somebody clear up the juniors made by Gibson USA?

I understand there is the Junior and the Junior "faded" (or as some shops call it the "satin"), but are any of these the "1958" model that many other stores also refer to? Or would I be correct in saying that the "1958" model is an older reissue?

Massively confused as I love juniors and am becoming more and more interested in them.

P.S if any of them (apart from the Billie Joe Sig) have slim taper necks, let me know as I have dinky, pathetic hands.

Thanks in advance.

Satin or faded, is a term (to my understanding) used to identify the finish. A gloss finish is real shiny and you may not see any wood grain if its a solid color to light and a faded finish is not so much, just painted wood per se i.e. you can see the wood grain through the paint.

The 1958 juniors have a different pickgaurd than the 1960s, that is the most noticeable difference I've seen. I've always thought the jr.s are cool guitars, myself I like the single cutaways more so than the double cutaways;-)

Satin or faded, is a term (to my understanding) used to identify the finish. A gloss finish is real shiny and you may not see any wood grain if its a solid color to light and a faded finish is not so much, just painted wood per se i.e. you can see the wood grain through the paint.

The 1958 juniors have a different pickgaurd than the 1960s, that is the most noticeable difference I've seen. I've always thought the jr. were cool guitas, myself I like the single cutaways more so than the double cutaways;-)

Yea I agree with you on sc's. I understand that faded refers to the finish, Im just confused as to the different models Gibson make! Especially as some stores stock a Gibson USA Junior 1958 Satin, some stock just the Gibson Les Paul Junior, some stock the faded.

I guess my main question is: is the Gibson Les Paul Junior 1958 Satin (or 1958S) the same guitar as the Junior Faded that Gibson are currently producing?

Joel: i apologize in advance that i can't answer your query about the exact model info you need, i find it just as confusing as you have.

what little bit of clarity i can bring is that i know two models that GC and MF is selling right now cause i've bought one of each in the past two months. 1st, i bought a les paul special. these come in two colors, wine red and walnut. these guitars have a "belly cut" on the back of the body. i think gibson starting making these in 2010. these are single cuts with 2 p-90's and a stop tail bridge, mahagony body and a "repeche" fretboard.

the other guitar is called les paul junior special. 4 differences from the LPS: no belly cut, comes in more colors and two types of finish, and has a "torrified" maple fretboard.

either one of these guitars is killler! the LPS sells at GC for $1000, the LPJS sells for $750 for the satin finish, $800 for the gloss.

i also have small hands and i can tell you that the LPJS i bought plays like a dream! i suspect it was set up with the gibson "plek" gizmo, whatever, it plays like butter.

a little more about my experience with these 2 guitars: i got lucky and found the LPS used at a shop. i got the axe for $650 out the door. it has some dings on it (which truly makes no difference to me) and that helped the price. i loved the guitar so much, i got on the internet to hunt down another. and that's when i had the same problem i think you are having - since 1955, gibson has made several different guitars that they call "les paul special". and you can find them at every price range. if i tried to search "used les paul special", i couldn't find one of the same lot from mine.

but my search kept giving me "les paul junior special" at GC. so i went by GC and tried one and was blown away! i was really expecting something substandard, but this guitar is lacking in no way. GC had 3, one gloss and 2 satin. the gloss was noticably lighter, at least a pound and looked better than the other two, so it came home with me. the maple neck makes it sound way different than the LPS.

the main thing i can help you with is the LPJS i have is very very playable, even to my dinkey little hands so go to GC and try one.

and after you get one, just think: i a year or two these'll start showing up used for 4-500 bucks! the greatest secret in guitardom, so don't tell a soul...

If you search you might find one of the ebony-board models from last year....excellent guitars that won't be around much longer (if they're still around at all....).