My Decades Long Search For a Les Paul Junior Has Lead Me Here

It’s been years and there’s too many great guitars out there that can fill that void.

My contentious feelings about Gibson are no secret. While I do not hate Gibson, nor am I ever ruling out buying from them again, I’ve kind of come to a point where I’m not sure covering their gear is worth my time and energy. I’m fortunate enough to own two Gibson guitars, including an Explorer from a few years ago and a heavily modified Les Paul Special that’s been through many iterations. So clearly, I do have a lot of love for Gibson guitars.

I have arguably the most love of all for the humble Gibson Les Paul Junior. While I’m mostly a Fender player, the Les Paul Junior has always been my favorite guitar. I dreamed of owning a proper Junior after growing up idolizing Mick Jones, Billie Joe Armstrong, and then in recent years falling in love with Brian Baker of Bad Religion.

However, I’ve also spent the majority of my life strapped for cash, which meant getting a proper Junior was hard. I tried modding that aforementioned Les Paul Special into a Junior, though that guitar has been a let down in terms of quality control. I tried a Harley Benton version that was fun, affordable, but again, missing something.

Dozens of other P90 guitars passed through my hands but none stuck. Finally, in a turn of luck, someone offered to trade me a Gibson Tribute Series Les Paul Junior Doublecut for my Fano Omnis JM6. This too was still not the magical Junior that I wished for. The Tribute Series were relatively affordable, and overall solid, guitars put out by Gibson in the late 2010s, early 2020s. But ~$750 was riddles with tuning stability issues and a relatively underwhelming P90. I sort of realized that trying to find the a traditional Junior on a budget wasn’t going to be the answer.

Fast forward to November 2022 and I finally decided to go down a different direction. After spending some time with a Moon Guitars Moon Burn, and forming a bit of a friendship with the owner Kyle, I finally decided it was time to invest in another custom guitar. I was and still am not particularly wealthy, so anytime I was going to pony up that kind of cash for a guitar, I had to really think on it. Even more so when you consider the wait times associated with a custom build.

Meet The Moon Asteroid

Sometime ago Moon Guitars had come into ownership of another East Coast-based guitar company whose designs I was fond of. Once Moon entered the picture, I rushed to order this take on the Coronet meets Les Paul Junior. While Kyle and Moon are no longer associated with said brand, he was kind enough to still make me a one off version of the Asteroid with a unique headstock and self indulgent sparkly metallic purple finish.

This guitar sports a single P90 (from Bare Knuckle), a wraparound bridge, and it all equates to a stunningly simple guitar. But it’s so effective for so few bells and whistles. The clean sounds of this Asteroid are loud, punchy, and unlike any other guitar I own. I immediately took this band practice the night I got it and was not disappointed in the slightest.

I’ve been moving more and more towards these shorter scale lengths after years of preferring Fender’s 25.5″ scale length. I think it’s because the more I’ve played with a band, the more I’ve realized it helps to make bends and some awkward chord shapes accessible over long setlists. So this 24 and 5/8ths was a nice, comfortable change from my standard Strats and Teles.

Some other key features include the Honduran Mahogany body and neck, Ebony fretboard, and set-neck construction. Unfortunately no more Asteroids with this exact spec will be made, but after Moon Guitars relocate to the West Coast of the US, rumor has it some more classic shapes, including the Asteroid will appear in the lineup with some altered specs! So definitely stay tune for more of these in the wild!

Obviously this is not a traditional guitar review, as I can’t possibly compare a custom ordered guitar made for me to the other gear I review. But I still thought it would be cool to share some backstory and point you towards Moon Guitars and Kyle, who make some of the coolest stuff in the biz! What do you think of my new tool? Too over the top? Or just right?