Gil Yaron LP-Style, 2013

There’s a short list of builders whose LP-style guitars are spoken about in the same breath as genuine vintage examples. Gil Yaron sits at the very top of that list.

Gil’s story is worth knowing. He grew up repairing guitars for local Fender and Gibson dealerships as a teenager, then spent time in Los Angeles in the early 1990s at the height of the Les Paul revival, doing re-tops and conversions and absorbing everything there was to know about what made those original late-50s Gibsons so special. His quest to recreate the sound and feel of the most exalted vintage electrics involved the kind of investment in time and skill that could never be justified on a dollars-per-hour basis, and yet he pressed on, guitar by guitar, until the world took notice.

What set his builds apart wasn’t just dimensional accuracy. It was the obsessive sourcing: old-growth mahogany, reclaimed flamed maple tops, pre-CITES Brazilian rosewood fingerboards, his own hand-wound PAF-perfect humbuckers, and NOS wiring harnesses and caps. He spent years gathering the data, the tooling, and the materials to do it right. And then he got to work.

What I can tell you about a Yaron is that it goes beyond specs. You pick one up unplugged and it’s already alive, snappy and resonant, with notes blooming under your fingers in a way that tells you the wood is doing exactly what it should. Plug it in and that character only deepens. The neck position is round and vocal, the bridge has real bite without losing the heft, and the controls actually respond the way they’re supposed to. I’ve played late-50s bursts, and what Gil captures is that same elusive magic: warm but open on top, dry on the attack, with a liveliness that most modern guitars simply don’t have.

This particular build is from 2013, right in Gil’s early era, before the model line shifted to his original Bone and Bolt designs. Those early builds are the ones serious collectors go hunting for. The guitar features a 50s-style headstock with his “GilYaron” name inlaid in a script that needs no introduction. Every detail has intent behind it. That extends to the aging, which is as soulful and accurate as I’ve seen on any boutique build. Gil understood that a great relic job isn’t just about making something look old. It’s about evoking the warmth and mojo of a guitar that’s been lived in, and he nails it here. The finish has a depth and authenticity that gives this guitar an immediate vintage vibe the moment you lay eyes on it.

What really seals this one is who it belonged to. Cliff from Destroy All Guitars commissioned this guitar and kept it in his personal collection, saying: “This masterpiece has been in my personal collection and is without a doubt the finest humbucking equipped LP style guitar I have ever owned. In all the years I’ve owned it, I’ve never come across another guitar that could hold up to it.” That’s a serious statement from someone who has handled a lot of serious guitars.

I’ve had the pleasure of selling a Gil Yaron S-style here at CR Guitars, and his work left a real impression on me. This one is a rare find, and worth every bit of attention it gets.

If you'd like to find out more about this item, just call or e-mail me. It would be my pleasure to talk to you about it.