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Help identifying Les Paul Junior double cutaway


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Hi all, I was given this guitar a short while ago by my Daughters partner.  It used to be his fathers but his dad is long gone.   Apparently this is how the guitar has always been, no hardware at all , just the two bridge screws.  Apparently it was "very rare" and his fathers pride and joy and used to hang on a wall in the studio.    There are some things about it that are odd. Firstly, the pickup cut out is larger than the usual LPJ and the only numbers stamped are 22 where the pickup goes (indicate number of frets??)   and the serial number 0001 stamped in the same place above the 22.    I have tried to include photos of this.   It is fixed neck, quite heavy and more likely mahogony by the feel of it.     Anyway , please see the photos and hopefully someone may know what exactly this is. Possible an early prototype?? 

 

Paul

 

Video containing photos below

 

 

 

Edited by h11poc
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Looks to be a 58-59 Les Paul Junior, but the pickup hole is curious. These had P90s and the hole is too large for that. Head stock looks wrong where it blends into the neck.  The bevel on the upper part of the body looks wrong. No serial number evident. Weird.

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Hi, thank you for the replies.  So is it a hybrid of some sort??  So the neck is 1970s?? maybe thats a custon body ?  I am not sure, it,s the 0001 serial and mahogany body that gets me.. 

WHatever this is , someone really wanted it kept safe

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The 0001 is not a gibson serial number, that's not where they put it.  It's a post 1970 -ish reissue double cut junior, all of them were mahogany, possibly Cardinal Red, that was a color they did back then.  No hybrid or custom body or prototype about it.  The weird routing for the pickup is just that, some weird routing, possibly some Kahler or other type of trem bar that people put on them back then.  Maybe, I'm not saying it is, I'm saying maybe.

Might be hard to see, but serial should be on the back of the headstock. Sometimes the paint is a bit thick up there and fills it in.  Some guitars of that time(approximately) had stamped serials, and that may have come and gone if it was one of them.

rct

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RCT - So what is that 0001 and the 22 stamped in the pickup area for??   Thats the bit I cant work out.   The pickup holes where the cover screws in are on the lower part of the body so whatever the add-on was it would be above the pickup where the 0001 is.   I might just add some period hardware now and try and work out something to fill the upper part of the pickup cutout   

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I think it’s a really cool artifact as is, and if it were mine I’d not do anything to it. I’d hang it on the wall. It may never be resolved but if it were “put together “ it loses its enigma conversation value. 

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3 hours ago, h11poc said:

RCT - So what is that 0001 and the 22 stamped in the pickup area for??   Thats the bit I cant work out.   The pickup holes where the cover screws in are on the lower part of the body so whatever the add-on was it would be above the pickup where the 0001 is.   I might just add some period hardware now and try and work out something to fill the upper part of the pickup cutout   

No idea whatsoever, in the world of guitars it is not unusual to come across the occasional head scratcher like this one.

rct

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