Junior (1954–1960) and TV (1955–1960)

In 1954, to widen the solid-body electric market still further, Gibson issued the Gibson Les Paul Junior. Although previously the Melody Maker was marketed toward the novice guitarist, Gibson targeted to the beginner again with a Les Paul Junior design. Over time, this Gibson design has proven well-suited for even professional use.

There were marked differences between the other Les Paul models and the Les Paul Junior. For instance, although the Junior's body outline was clearly reminiscent of the original upmarket Les Paul guitar, the Junior issue was characterized by its flat-top slab mahogany body, finished in traditional Gibson Sunburst. The Junior was touted as an inexpensive option for Gibson electric guitar buyers[citation needed]: it had a single P-90 pickup, simple volume and tone controls, and the unbound rosewood fingerboard bore plain dot-shape position markers. However, as a concession to the aspirations of the beginning guitarist buyer, the Junior did feature the stud bridge/tailpiece similar to the second incarnation of the upscale Gold-Top.

  Later, in 1955, Gibson launched the Les Paul TV model, which was essentially a Junior with what Gibson called a natural finish. This finish was actually more of a translucent mustard yellow through which the wood grain could be seen, and was not unlike the finish that competitor Fender called butterscotch yellow. The idea behind this TV Yellow was that white guitars would glare too much on early black and white television broadcasts, whereas TV Yellow guitars would not cast a glare.

  In 1958, Gibson made a radical design change to their Junior and TV models: with the design change came cosmetic changes to these guitars that would later take on enormous importance. To accommodate player requests for more access to the top frets than the previous designs allowed, Gibson revamped both these electric guitar models with a new double-cutaway body shape. In addition, the Junior's fresh look was enhanced with a new cherry red finish, while the re-shaped TV adopted a new, rather yellow-tinged finish for its new design.</p>