fab432 Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Hello to all forum members. I have been meaning to tell my Les Paul story for quite some time so I am finally getting around to it. In the early 1970's I went broke purchasing a black Les Paul Custom. It was an awesome guitar but unfortunately I ended up having to sell it to make ends meet. I always regretted having to sell it and promised myself I would eventually get another one. Well some 40 years passed and I was getting ready to make good on the promise to myself so I decided I would really like to find a 1969 or early 1970's Les Paul Gold Top. I wasn't really concerned about the condition – just as long as it played and had no head stock or neck break issues. I began my hunt in the later part of 2008 and eventually found one on eBay that was being advertised as a 1969 Les Paul Gold Top. At a quick glance it looked like it was just what I was looking for – not too clean and not really trashed. The guitar was not attracting much attention but that usually changes in the last 10 seconds of the auction J I began to look at the auction pictures and was discovering all sorts of odd things. First the Gibson logo looked really bad almost like it was an imitation of the real thing. The tuners weren't right – 5 fake Kluson tuners and 1 double ring two line Kluson Deluxe tuner. The truss rod cover was cracked and looked like it might have been from a Les Paul Jr. The serial number was indicated as 6 0116 which pointed to a 1956 manufacture date but it looked like it had been reapplied and done quite sloppily. I asked the seller about that and he indicated it had been refinished at one point and the serial number was smudged in that process and then fixed!! Right, I thought. If the guitar was a '56 Les Paul the pick ups were humbuckers and not P 90's and the bridge and tail piece looked wrong as well. Lastly there was some finish chipped away from around the pick up rings and the bridge posts indicating something was done in those areas. Now in all honesty 99.9% of all buyers would be bailing at this point. I was just about there but Ihad a gut feel on this one. In the horn area I noticed that there was a wood shim that was not the same color as the binding or the guitar body. I did some checking around and found out that only the original guitars from the 50's had this wood shim in place. The reissues made the binding in this area wider to offer a more seamless look? So here we go with a wing and a prayer and my gut feel. I placed my bid and won – the final price was $2144.22. So now I waited for the guitar to get from California to Toronto – in January! The guitar arrived during the coldest week of the winter with temperatures approaching -20 degrees Celsius which is cold in any man's language! I let the guitar acclimatize to the house temperature and then anxiously opened it up to check out my prize! Well imagine my surprise to find that the entire Gold Top finish had cracked off the top. There wasn't a piece left intact! Great I thought now I have a regular beater!!! Not to be too shattered I boxed it up and shipped it off to the Gibson Repair Centre in Nashville. I needed to have it looked at so I knew exactly what I had as there was no use putting a $100 saddle on a $2 horse!. So Dion and his team gave it the once over and the verdict was a 1956 Gibson Les Paul converted to a 1957 (the humbucker pick ups). The work done on it during the conversion was quite good although it was filled with mismatched parts and accessories. It really was a mystery why or how all the parts got changed. Anyway the decision was taken to restore it to its former glory using the 1956 reissue parts with the exception of the humbucker pickups. I decided to leave them in as they were pretty hot pick ups and converting it back to P 90's just didn't seem like the thing to do. So literally everything was changed with the exception of the pickups – all the other parts were from other guitars. The restoration was completed in 9 months from acceptance at the repair centre and Dion and his team did a remarkable job. It is the best guitar I have everplayed. The tone and sustain are nothingshort of miraculous! I know that most of these stories do not turn out this waybut isn't it great when you read on that does!!! Pics are first from the auction, then what I received and finally the restoration. Enjoy! Pics are in the following reply Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fab432 Posted February 25, 2011 Author Share Posted February 25, 2011 http://i680.photobucket.com/albums/vv167/fab432/gt-14.jpg http://i680.photobucket.com/albums/vv167/fab432/GT-1.jpg http://i680.photobucket.com/albums/vv167/fab432/cutaway.jpg http://i680.photobucket.com/albums/vv167/fab432/g-7.jpg http://i680.photobucket.com/albums/vv167/fab432/g-141.jpg http://i680.photobucket.com/albums/vv167/fab432/56-4.jpg http://i680.photobucket.com/albums/vv167/fab432/56-3.jpg http://i680.photobucket.com/albums/vv167/fab432/56-1.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swleary Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 That is sweet. Very interesting story too. Even though I'm not a GT fan, I'd play it hehe.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristopherJ Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 That's not a shim but part of the top cap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobB Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Thanks for sharing the guitar's story and it does look like the work turned out great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 . Great story. Beautiful GT. B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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