GREEN DAY's BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG Partners With GIBSON To Create His Beloved Les Paul Junior Guitar

Gibson, the iconic American instrument brand, has shaped sound across generations and genres of music, becoming one of the most relevant, played and loved guitar brands around the world. Designed in collaboration with GREEN DAY's legendary guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, Gibson has unveiled the new Billie Joe Armstrong Les Paul Junior. The new Gibson Billie Joe Armstrong Les Paul Junior is available worldwide at authorized Gibson dealers and on www.gibson.com.

"The single-cut 50's Les Paul Jr has been the root of my guitar tone for over 20 years," says Billie Joe Armstrong. "Ever since I bought 'Floyd' my 1956 Sunburst Jr, in the early 2000's I have been addicted. It's a simple, raw, and powerful guitar that has a sound that just can't be beat! Plug it straight into any tube amp, crank it and it will roar!"

The new Billie Joe Armstrong Les Paul Junior is an exceptional guitar to rock out on, whether you play rock or punk. This guitar has everything players need for great tone with no frills to get in the way, including a mahogany neck with Billie Joe Armstrong SlimTaper profile, rosewood fretboard, Graph Tech nut, and Billie Joe's signature on the truss rod cover. The mahogany body is equipped with a wraparound bridge/tailpiece and a P-90 DC Dogear pickup. The P-90 DC — Gibson's latest hum-canceling pickup designed by Gibson master luthier Jim DeCola — features a modernized version of the Sidewinder dual-coil technology that was first developed by Seth Lover in 1958, delivering a hum-free P-90 with the most authentic P-90 tonality yet, retaining the classic sound of a single coil P-90 while eliminating the noise. The Gibson Billie Joe Armstrong Les Paul Junior is offered in Silver Mist and Vintage Ebony Gloss nitrocellulose lacquer finishes and a Custom Billie Joe Armstrong Protector hardshell case with a pink exterior, and a striking leopard-print interior is also included.

"The collaboration between Billie Joe and Gibson has been long standing, popular and successful," says Jim DeCola, master luthier at Gibson. "Billie Joe has previously used our P-90 and P-100 pickups to great effect and for him to choose the P-90DC on his latest guitar is quite an honor. The P-90 DC continues the legacy which Seth Lover started by applying his 'Sidewinder' concept (coils rotated 90 degrees with a single row of pole screws) to a guitar pickup. It was introduced in the late '50s on the Gibson EB 0 and EB 2 basses, and not applied to a guitar pickup at the time. Seth's concept has now been reimagined and applied to a guitar pickup utilizing modern components and manufacturing methods to create a hum-canceling P-90 pickup with the most authentic P-90 tonality yet."

GREEN DAY has become one of rock's sturdiest institutions, a band whose sound threads the three-chords-and-a-head-rush excitement that runs through everything from East Bay punk, power pop, '60s garage and hard rock. The band, inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2015, has released thirteen studio albums to date including the diamond-selling "Dookie", punk rock opera album-turned-Broadway-musical "American Idiot". GREEN DAY brought their sold-out "Hella Mega" headline stadium run to Europe last summer, as well as headlining festivals, including Innings, Shaky Knees, Lollapalooza, Outside Lands, Rock In Rio, Sea Hear Now and Firefly. GREEN DAY played Formula 1 Grand Prix's in Austin and Singapore Grand Prix performing to their largest crowds in three years. Outside of GREEN DAY, Billie Joe also fronts THE FOXBORO HOT TUBS, THE LONGSHOT and THE COVERUPS.

Photo credit: Scott Nagelberg