Here’s a very cool and increasingly collectible piece of Gibson history a 2009 Gibson Dark Fire Les Paul, presented here in Very Good Condition.

For a guitar now approaching its second decade, this Dark Fire has survived remarkably well. It shows only a little light wear from age and use, along with the natural signs of ageing you’d expect from a guitar of this era. It’s precisely this combination of minor cosmetic wear and natural ageing that keeps us from calling it Excellent, but overall it remains a very clean and well-preserved example.

The Dark Fire is, of course, one of Gibson’s more unusual and ambitious creations: a Les Paul built around the Tronical robotic tuning system and a whole host of technology that made these guitars genuinely unlike anything else Gibson was producing at the time. As a result, complete, original examples with their associated accessories are becoming increasingly interesting to collectors.

There are a few points worth noting for full transparency. The original battery is included, but the original unit has failed with age. It has been replaced with the correct replacement battery sourced directly from Tronical, so the guitar has the appropriate replacement rather than a generic substitute.

The original 'Neck Vol' knob has also been replaced, but importantly, it has been replaced with a genuine Gibson part.

For some reason, the shroud has been removed from the case and is not included. We have no explanation for its absence, so we're mentioning it here rather than pretending the package is 100% complete.

That said, there's still a lot of the original Dark Fire 'candy' here. Much of the original collection of accessories and paperwork remains with the guitar, and perhaps most pleasingly, the original Gibson box is included.

The guitar also comes with its wonderfully over-the-top, original blinding-white Gibson hard case, which is very much part of the Dark Fire experience and makes this a particularly nice package for someone looking to own one of these unusual Gibsons as a piece of modern Gibson history.

In short: a very good, honest and unusually well-equipped example of a fascinating Gibson. It isn't being presented as mint or completely untouched, and we've detailed the notable deviations from originality above, but the overall condition is very good for its age, and the inclusion of the original case, box, and substantial amount of original candy makes this a particularly interesting Dark Fire.

A great opportunity to own one of Gibson's strangest and most technologically ambitious Les Pauls, and one that still looks every bit the part.

Gibson Dark Fire Les Paul 2009