The iconic stripped Black Beauty that shaped the sound of Ziggy Stardust and beyond.

Gibson Custom celebrates the legacy of guitar icon, songwriter, producer, and arranger Mick Ronson with the Mick Ronson 1968 Les Paul Custom Collector’s Edition, a breathtaking tribute to the instrument Ronson used on tour and in the studio with David Bowie. Produced in an extremely limited run, this model benefits from the meticulous aging artistry of the Murphy Lab, enabling a remarkably accurate recreation of the guitar’s appearance, feel, and voice as it was during the Spiders from Mars era.
 
The instrument is constructed with a mahogany body and plain maple cap, paired with a mahogany neck carved to an Authentic ’68 Medium C-shaped neck profile. An ebony fretboard with 22 medium jumbo frets and mother-of-pearl block inlays completes the neck. Throughout, aged gold hardware is employed, including Grover® tuners, an ABR-1 bridge, and a heavily worn Stop Bar tailpiece. The mismatched volume and tone knobs recreate the distinctive details of Ronson’s original guitar. 
 
Electronics include unpotted, aged ’68 Custom humbuckers™ with Alnico 2 magnets and no covers, delivering the forceful, cutting tone that defined Ronson’s sound. CTS® 500k audio taper potentiometers, hand-wired to Black Beauty capacitors, round out the controls, while the Murphy Lab aging faithfully reflects the precise wear patterns created by years of Ronson’s playing. 
 
Limited to just 100 instruments, each guitar is handcrafted by the skilled luthiers of the Gibson Custom Shop and Murphy Lab in Nashville, Tennessee. The Mick Ronson 1968 Les Paul Custom arrives in a Custom case featuring a Mick Ronson signature reproduction on the exterior, accompanied by a replica strap and a Certificate of Authenticity booklet bearing his reproduced signature on the cover. This release offers a rare chance to own a tangible piece of music history connected directly to one of rock’s most iconic guitarists.

Mick Ronson was an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, arranger, and producer whose ability to translate avant-garde concepts into powerful, melodic rock anthems made him a defining architect of the glam rock sound. His work as an arranger reached well beyond his most famous collaborations, spanning artists such as Pure Prairie League, Ellen Foley, and Roger McGuinn, and even extending to the arrangement of John Mellencamp’s Jack & Diane. Ronson partnered closely with Ian Hunter following Hunter’s time with Mott the Hoople, collaborating on four albums, and his versatility made him a sought-after session musician for artists including Bob Dylan, Roger Daltrey, and Van Morrison. 

In the role of producer, he guided recordings for artists such as Morrissey and Roger McGuinn, alongside numerous lesser-known performers, but it is Lou Reed’s landmark album, Transformer, where Mick’s distinctive sound is on full display. He co-produced the album with David Bowie and contributed the guitar, piano, and recorder parts. He also wrote and arranged the strings, brass, and piano. 

His solo output consisted of five studio albums, among them Slaughter on 10th Avenue, which reached the Top 10 on the UK charts.
 
Still, Ronson is best remembered for his defining work with David Bowie across multiple landmark albums, including The Man Who Sold the World, Hunky Dory, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and Aladdin Sane. His playing style—bold, melodic, aggressive, and instantly recognizable—frequently incorporated a fixed-position wah pedal, fuzz, and echo, paired with the 1968 Les Paul™ Custom whose stripped Ebony top gave it a raw, unmistakable look that became inseparable from his identity.