Burty459 Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Hi! I am new to this forum and just thought I would throw this out there, been playing a Les Paul studio since 2001 and just took the plunge and got myself a classic 1960. I found it really hard to find any definitive info on these guitars, and when I did I was normally reading about 90's models, '03 or '05. Mine is a 2004 so thought people on here could maybe shed some light on this year for me, plays great, sounds cracking and looks fantastic so I am really happy, weighs in around 8lb6 and feels superb around the neck. So if anybody does know the full ins and outs it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks guys and gals! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Hello and welcome... I have one of these guitars from 2002... AWESOME guitars Hmm, whats to know about them.... Well they have 496R and 500T hot ceramic pickups, traditional weight relief and a 60s slim taper neck. The only thing that makes them slightly different from normal classics is the 1960 printed on the pickguard.. OF course even though its official name is a Les Paul Classic 1960, its not a real re-issue like what you get from the custom shop.. More of a nod to the design... Not a lot else to say about them really. I love my one and wouldn't give it up for anything.. even though mine comes in at almost 11 lbs so is quite a beast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burty459 Posted October 4, 2015 Author Share Posted October 4, 2015 Hi Rabs, thanks for the info, I love mine as well, certainly will not be parting with it! How on earth did yours manage to come in at 11lbs? That is immense, was this before weight relief or chambering came in on the classic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Hi Rabs, thanks for the info, I love mine as well, certainly will not be parting with it! How on earth did yours manage to come in at 11lbs? That is immense, was this before weight relief or chambering came in on the classic? No... well when I bought it had no idea about Les Pauls, I had a LP studio previously and this was my first jump to the Standard level... I had tried a standard before buying the classic and was really disappointed with the fat neck.. So I asked the guy in the shop and boy am I glad I did... the 60s neck was a revelation :) And well when weight is concerned its just individual to each guitar and what pieces of wood they use to make it... and actually that's exactly why weight relief was started in the first place when in the 70s era guitars were weighing 15lbs+ which is crazy.... Its why you should always shop around when buying a guitar.. each guitar is kind of unique in that way, different weights and slightly different neck shape (as they are finished by hand) and each one is set up slightly different etc etc... Its one of the things that make guitars so cool... So really it comes down to the batch of wood that's being used at the time they were built... Oddly enough, some of the original 50s LPs that were NOT weight relieved only weighed about 7lbs or so cos the wood back then was lighter I think cos they were naturally grown trees rather than the growth chemicals they use today. Fun fun :) Oh and by the way, we love pictures on here... would love to see yours (use http://www.photobucket.com once uploaded there use the IMG link in your post) And in that spirit, heres mine :) (yes I removed the pickguard) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burty459 Posted October 4, 2015 Author Share Posted October 4, 2015 Wow, I didn't realise that there was so much diversity, I knew that the woods varied slightly but some of those numbers are staggering! I really like the eye on your top there, nice looking guitar you found yourself! And now in the same spirit here is some pictures of mine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Ohh yeah.. that's a beauty too... these 1960 Classics are just spot on for me... When I think of a LP this is what I think of first (and a dark burst like ours ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burty459 Posted October 4, 2015 Author Share Posted October 4, 2015 Thanks, like you say it's the classic look in my eye and the colour is one I have always loved! It's nice to hear some other thoughts on them, I know a lot of people hate the inlays but again I really like them. I saw another post on here that was a club for each model but no classic 1960, which was a shame, would be nice to see what people have out there and see how varied each year was, although I am enjoying trawling the posts and checking everything out, my Mrs is happy I take my guitar talk elsewhere hahaha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Thanks, like you say it's the classic look in my eye and the colour is one I have always loved! It's nice to hear some other thoughts on them, I know a lot of people hate the inlays but again I really like them. I saw another post on here that was a club for each model but no classic 1960, which was a shame, would be nice to see what people have out there and see how varied each year was, although I am enjoying trawling the posts and checking everything out, my Mrs is happy I take my guitar talk elsewhere hahaha. Found it :) http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/84308-the-les-paul-classic-1960-club/ You will see.. Pippy in particular has some spectacular examples Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burty459 Posted October 4, 2015 Author Share Posted October 4, 2015 Ha! Legend, Better eyes than me! I'll get over and have a look, cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Ha! Legend, Better eyes than me! I'll get over and have a look, cheers :) Well I generally search through Google.. the search function on this site is pretty bad... So I type in to Google "Gibson forum" and then the subject I want to find an it usually finds it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flight959 Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 I love the Classic... dont mind the green inlays... prefer the ABR to the Nashville... Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burty459 Posted October 5, 2015 Author Share Posted October 5, 2015 I like your system Rabs! Hi flight! So what's the major difference between the ABR and Nashville? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Hi and welcome to the Club, Burty. Very nice looking LP you have found. Seems to be in really fine condition, too! If I may butt-in on a few of the points you raise? How on earth did yours manage to come in at 11lbs? That is immense, was this before weight relief or chambering came in on the classic?............. ...(it) would be nice to see......how varied each year was... ...what's the major difference between the ABR and Nashville?... As Rabs has already hinted the Classic series was always weight-relieved. In fact all LPs with the exception of the Custom Shop Re-Issues and the 2013/14 Traditionals have been W-R'd in one form or another since circa 1982. A little bit of the history of the 1960 Classic; The 1960 Classic was introduced in 1989. This pre-dates the official re-issue program by four years. Before 1993 various attempts had been made, by Gibson, to re-create the 1959-style Standard with varying degrees of success. These are usually known as the 'pre-historics' for obvious reasons. Many players at the time liked the '59-style instruments but the then-current trend was for guitars to feature slimmer neck profiles and hotter p'ups. After repeated requests had been made Gibson introduced the 1960 Classic. At the time it was priced roughly half-way between the price of a regular Standard and the pre-historics; i.e. around 40% higher than the Standard of the day. The earliest instruments seem to have been released with very slim neck profiles which were later beefed-up - presumably to counteract pitch-problems which were a downside to these instruments. I've played a few and they all have very slim necks and, of course, my own '91 example suffers from this 'problem'. Once in tune it stays in tune but tuning-up can be a PITA as each turn of one tuning-peg throws all the other strings out of pitch. The early Classics were similar in construction and appointments to the pre-historics and also to the first R9's proper when these instruments appeared in 1993. Weight-relief and neck profile apart the only other 'real' difference was the neck-tenon which was longer in the R-I's. Consequently buyers started to wonder why they were being asked to shell-out so much more for an Historic over the 1960? It's almost certain that the Historic Division - later Custom Shop - was losing sales because the Classic was so close to the Historics in specification. The end result was that the Classic was gradually changed so as to become visually different from the R-I's - such as the introduction of the aged-inlays, the wider style of binding in the cutaway and the change from Les Paul MODEL to Les Paul CLASSIC silkscreen from around '94/'95. Later, and has been mentioned by Flight, the bridge was changed from the (original style) ABR-1 version to the more usual Nashville. The Nashville was introduced as an improvement over the ABR-1 in the late '70s when the bulk of Les Paul production moved from Kalamazoo to, erm, Nashville. It's a beefier design which allows for greater saddle adjustment but it's not the original design so....... As can be seen in the snaps posted by yourself (2004) and Rabs (2002) the Nash came in sometime between the manufacture of these two instruments. The '1960 Classic' stayed in this spec until it was finally discontinued in 2008. A bit of a shame that it was dropped but a nigh-on 20-year lifespan for the model suggests it was pretty popular with the masses. I love mine. Pip. EDIT : By way of illustration; Early style - narrow binding (this is actually a '95 R0 but for the purposes of illustration is identical to the pre-'95 'Classic' binding); Later style - wide binding. 1995 '1960 Classic'; "Les Paul MODEL" silkscreen on '93 1959 R-I (left) and '91 1960 Classic (right). R-I has slightly different typeface and spacing on the word 'MODEL'. Compare the peghead widths as well; Classic has a narrower head; Hope that helped a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaygl Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 And the new style classic with the boost switch..... I still may drop a tone pot in that switch position....just havn't decided between dropping a new PCB with 4 pots or traditional wiring... I get lots of comments on how great it sounds and on how beautiful it is to look at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Oh and by the way to further show the differences between bridges... Basically a Nashville bridge is a modern one with body studs that hold the bridge posts... where as an ABR bridge is the original style and just has the small threaded post that screw into the body without any studs. There are other small differences but that's the main one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burty459 Posted October 5, 2015 Author Share Posted October 5, 2015 This is amazing! I don't know why I didn't get on here years ago, an absolute wealth of information! I can't thank you all enough! Pippy, I was looking at the binding pictures you posted and thought I would compare to mine, it seems as though the binding is not as thick and you can see a line where the maple cap must begin, would the binding normally follow the thickness of the cap? Also I thought I would get a good one of the top too just for woods sake! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burty459 Posted October 5, 2015 Author Share Posted October 5, 2015 Oh and how are you guys uploading photos? Rabs I tried what you mentioned in an earlier post but not having much luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Oh and how are you guys uploading photos? Rabs I tried what you mentioned in an earlier post but not having much luck! So you uploaded to photobucket? Don't use the insert media button if that's what you are doing.. just copy the IMG link and insert that into your post.. It looks like this.. (I removed a few characters so it doesn't show a picture) URL=http://s1173.photobucket.com/user/Rabs2010/media/BM003BIG_zpsnyoufla3.jpg.htmlG]htt://i1173.photobucket.com/albums/r588/Rabs2010/BM003BIG_zpsnyoufla3.jpgIMG][/url Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burty459 Posted October 5, 2015 Author Share Posted October 5, 2015 Let's see how we go then Rabs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 You got it Nice pics of a sweet guitar :) (oh and you can post up to 10 pics per post). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burty459 Posted October 5, 2015 Author Share Posted October 5, 2015 Winner! Hopefully start seeing others posted up here now, always nice to see what's out there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valtyr Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 I recently traded in a Shred Les Paul Studio and got a 2008 Les Paul Classic. I wasn't using the Floyd on the Shred LP all that much and the slimmer neck profile on the classic works much better for my small hands. I took the pick guard off. I believe the later models are chambered, I haven't weighed my LP but it feels a little lighter than the Shred and that guitar was chambered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 ...I was looking at the binding pictures you posted and thought I would compare to mine, it seems as though the binding is not as thick and you can see a line where the maple cap must begin, would the binding normally follow the thickness of the cap?... With a 1960 Classic in Vintage Sunburst finish it's hard to say for sure because that part of the cutaway is finished in a solid colour. It might very well be that the line you see is where the maple cap starts but it could also be that it's the lower edge of the binding and when the binding was scraped after the guitar was sprayed the person scraping the binding chose to finish it the 'traditional' way leaving just a narrow band. The only way to find out for sure would be to chip off some of the finish to see whether it's wood or plastic under the lacquer - but I'd advise against trying this method out... I must say that although the vast majority of 1960s follow the general pattern as mentioned earlier there have been examples which show changes to the 'rules'. Some later Classics have sported the 'Les Paul MODEL' silkscreen, for example, a long time after the '...CLASSIC' silkscreen had appeared and it's quite possible that some were made with a visible 'maple smile' which is what we are discussing above. As the vast bulk of LP production uses the '...MODEL' silkscreen it was probably just a case of using whichever necks were to hand. Perhaps stocks of the '...CLASSIC' necks were low those days? My guess, FWIW, is that the line you can see is wide binding which has been oversprayed but that really is just a guess. Pip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burty459 Posted October 7, 2015 Author Share Posted October 7, 2015 With a 1960 Classic in Vintage Sunburst finish it's hard to say for sure because that part of the cutaway is finished in a solid colour. It might very well be that the line you see is where the maple cap starts but it could also be that it's the lower edge of the binding and when the binding was scraped after the guitar was sprayed the person scraping the binding chose to finish it the 'traditional' way leaving just a narrow band. The only way to find out for sure would be to chip off some of the finish to see whether it's wood or plastic under the lacquer - but I'd advise against trying this method out... I must say that although the vast majority of 1960s follow the general pattern as mentioned earlier there have been examples which show changes to the 'rules'. Some later Classics have sported the 'Les Paul MODEL' silkscreen, for example, a long time after the '...CLASSIC' silkscreen had appeared and it's quite possible that some were made with a visible 'maple smile' which is what we are discussing above. As the vast bulk of LP production uses the '...MODEL' silkscreen it was probably just a case of using whichever necks were to hand. Perhaps stocks of the '...CLASSIC' necks were low those days? My guess, FWIW, is that the line you can see is wide binding which has been oversprayed but that really is just a guess. Pip. It's hard to be sure, it certainly looks like it may be the cap but overspray on the binding makes sense also, certainly doesn't take anything from the guitar. I think it's amazing how there can be all these variations on a theme, boiling down to what the luthier was doing that day and what was close to hand. I am already saving again and having all this info from the previous posts means I can head out and make a real well informed purchase, I certainly think I will be searching for some character! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 With a 1960 Classic in Vintage Sunburst finish it's hard to say for sure because that part of the cutaway is finished in a solid colour. It might very well be that the line you see is where the maple cap starts but it could also be that it's the lower edge of the binding and when the binding was scraped after the guitar was sprayed the person scraping the binding chose to finish it the 'traditional' way leaving just a narrow band. The only way to find out for sure would be to chip off some of the finish to see whether it's wood or plastic under the lacquer - but I'd advise against trying this method out... My guess, FWIW, is that the line you can see is wide binding which has been oversprayed but that really is just a guess. Pip. Great info, Pippy. I have a "Classic Antique" from around 2008, and it has the narrow binding. My guess, (because I can't confirm and don't know), is that at some point Gibson didn't do the wide binding on anything for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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