## Custom (1954–1961, 2010-present)

The second issue of the Les Paul guitar was introduced to the public in 1954. Called the Gibson Les Paul Custom, this entirely black guitar was dubbed the Black Beauty. The Les Paul Custom featured a mahogany top to differentiate the instrument from its Goldtop predecessor's maple top. It also featured the new Tune-o-Matic bridge design and a pickup with an alnico-5 magnet, P-480, in the neck position. In addition, since 1957, the Custom was fitted with Gibson's new humbucker pickups, PAF, and later became available with three pickups instead of the more usual two. The three pickup model retained the standard Gibson 3-way switch so not all pickup combinations were possible. The neck and bridge-only settings were retained, but the middle was changed to switch in the middle and bridge pickups. A common modification was to restore the standard neck/both/bridge switching combination and add a switch to enable the middle pickup on its own.

The Les Paul Custom single cutaway was discontinued in 1961 and replaced with the SG (as we know it) designation for solid guitar. This model featured a thin 1-5/16' body and a double cutaway. Confusion abounds to this day over the name Les Paul Custom. Since the single cutaway was discontinued, Gibson transferred the name Les Paul Custom to the new models.