Gibson has expanded its Certified Vintage programme with seven prototype electric guitars and one super-rare U-2 S-style from the ‘80s.
There are a few things to take from this. Firstly, there will be an audible groan from players of a certain age at the realisation that an ‘80s guitar is officially a vintage guitar. That hurts. Secondly, the release offers a fascinating snapshot of a time when guitar culture was in flux, and Gibson’s design team was responding in turn.
To put it in context, some of these designs would have been as radical as seeing a new-for-2025 Gibson coming out of Nashville with a headless Strandberg-inspired build.
Some of these still look kind of radical, certainly iconoclastic – especially the 1985 Explorer XPL Prototype. That looks like the sort of thing Ace Frehley would have jumped all over.
Gibson never did get around to incorporating smoke bombs and an onboard rocket launcher on the prototype’s design – perhaps why the Explorer XPL never really, err, took off – but they did stick a pair of Dirty Fingers high-output humbuckers on it, an electric guitar pickup choice that reflected the need for more gain.
This would be an interesting design for Gibson to revisit in the here and now – it is a great metal guitar shape.
Mitch Conrad, manager of the Gibson Certified Vintage programme, says these guitars feature unique details that would not be found on any production model.
“These prototypes represent the moment an idea for a new guitar becomes a playable instrument in the physical world,” he says. “Early iterations often feature unique details that never make it to production, but highlight the ingenuity and problem-solving efforts of the product development team. It’s fascinating to see the in-between steps that lead to the instruments we know and love.”
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Some of these prototypes look more finished than others. Take the Challenger Prototype from 1983, for instance, in its Natural finish.
Just look at that headstock – there’s no silkscreened Gibson logo. It’s also a bolt-on, with a soft maple body in a Les Paul-style singlecut. And yet it was refined and made it to market.
The 1986 Gibson US-1 Prototype, resplendent in Cherry Sunburst with a highly figured maple top is another rare bird. This play-faster S-style dates back to the time when Wayne Charvel was working with the brand, and it has a spec sheet that, in 2025, reads like an AI hallucination; that maple top is sitting on top of a poplar and balsa body. Balsa!
Well, that never become a common sight on but nonetheless makes for an interesting alternative to the strategic chambering we see on some of today’s models. And those who played the finished US-1 loved it.
It has an HSS pickup configuration that would be beyond the usual three-way Gibson selector switch’s capabilities, so Gibson has equipped each pickup with its own toggle switch, and there is a push-function for splitting that bridge humbucker. Note the raised logo on the six-in-line headstock (and that sharp pointed edge!).
Conrad’s pick of the bunch is one he describes as a “missing link” in the evolutionary sweep of Gibson’s high-performance designs.
“One standout is the Q Series Prototype – the missing link between the Victory and Q Series guitars, with features from both instruments and an unreleased Gibson vibrato system,” he says.
These and the other Certified Vintage models are available direct from Gibson, available for pickup from the Gibson Garage Nashville, or they can be shipped to a US address.
See Gibson to browse the full range.
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