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Cool Photo of a '59 Darkburst

marshall1987

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Jan 30, 2005
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'75, but that was my only year there (freshman) - but I still remember that concert, and the guitarist with his Les Paul (and the drummer!), even though I didn't start playing until the next year. Man, Crank was kick ass, and his guitar tones were awesome!

Back on topic: I'm no help to you at all as to whether the Les Paul was vintage or not - sorry, I just didn't know enough about them at that time to draw any conclusion.

Did you catch the "Spirit" concert at Fort Hunt in '69? Randy California was great! He played one of those Dan Armstrong Lucite guitars.
 
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Bluestar

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Feb 28, 2006
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Did you catch the "Spirit" concert at Fort Hunt in '69? Randy California was hot! He played one of those Dan Armstrong Plexi guitars.

No, I didn't. But you know the rules - can't hang at a high school until you are in it!
spin.gif
 

es336td

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Nov 6, 2002
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15
Folks, it's a scanned 36 year-old Polaroid photo. Recall these old cameras would take the shot and produce a paper photo in about 60 seconds. Trust me, in person it looked like a regular Darkburst Les Paul. My buddies and I used to follow Crank around all over the place. I saw that guitar from 6 feet away alot. Also Crank was the real deal, I doubt they would even consider using second tier gear. Geoff grew up in England not far away from the "big boys" of that era. When they appeared at the "Berlin Airlift" concert at RFK stadium in 1971, Mark Farner of GFR was blown away by Geoff, and suggested they go up to New York to record. I have learned that they opened for Allman Bros., The Byrds, and Jimmy Hendrix at stadium and arena shows. They eventually put out two albums. Got 'em both.

Have any pix of the Berlin Airlift? I was at that show and all the local acts rocked! The Allman Brothers were amazing... as was Crow... GFR was cool, but after the ABB... a little bit of a let down. I also remember Pacific Gas & Electric going on AFTER Grand Funk and everyone leaving during their set. It was a great day, even though Hendrix had passed... BTW, wasn't the Berlin Airlift done in September of 1970? Thanx.

L
 

60pinstripe

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Don't know how I missed this thread.
I used to hear Crank all the time back in the day.
The Les Paul that Geoff used to play sounded incredible. It was a 1957 Gold Top that Marty at Chuck Levins refinished in Tobacco Sunburst. The uniform border was Marty's trademark when he did Sunburst finishes.
 

marshall1987

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Jan 30, 2005
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Don't know how I missed this thread.
I used to hear Crank all the time back in the day.
The Les Paul that Geoff used to play sounded incredible. It was a 1957 Gold Top that Marty at Chuck Levins refinished in Tobacco Sunburst. The uniform border was Marty's trademark when he did Sunburst finishes.

Then maybe the Les Paul Geoff is playing in the B&W photo in post #15 is the '57 Goldtop you are referring to? Hard to tell from a B&W photo, but that guitar sort of looks gold to my ancient eyeballs. Geoff also has retained the pick guard on his Les Paul in that photo.
 

Unbound Dot Neck

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Just another DC lurker here, great post. Off topic ~
Danny at the Gentry SE / and on Conn and Porter early 90's

Regular bar ,name escapes me ~ killin it.
night after night..
Atomic Billiards ? is its name now
wow

c
:salude
 

marshall1987

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Jan 30, 2005
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3,278
Just another DC lurker here, great post. Off topic ~
Danny at the Gentry SE / and on Conn and Porter early 90's

Regular bar ,name escapes me ~ killin it.
night after night..
Atomic Billiards ? is its name now
wow

c
:salude

Crazy Horse maybe? Or the Quonset where Southeast DC hit the Maryland line?
 

Unbound Dot Neck

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Jun 14, 2004
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ah, Club Soda , less than 15 folks on a given night , insane music makin
same for the Gentry in SE DC

crazy horse was the g'town hang much earlier
of course Bayou, Desperados and Cellar Door , Short lived Wax Museum in SW DC !
Fleetwoods and Warner th. too
:##

memories.. glad they exist
 
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pinefd

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Jan 22, 2004
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How the heck did this 8 year old thread get dug up again? :hmm
 

marshall1987

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How the heck did this 8 year old thread get dug up again? :hmm

Simple......folks are passionate about rock music history in D.C. There is always something new to learn about the great bands and music that rocked the nation for decades. :dude:
 

marshall1987

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Jan 30, 2005
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ah, Club Soda , less than 15 folks on a given night , insane music makin
same for the Gentry in SE DC

crazy horse was the g'town hang much earlier
of course Bayou, Desperados and Cellar Door , Short lived Wax Museum in SW DC !
Fleetwoods and Warner th. too
:##

memories.. glad they exist

I was at the Bayou in 1976 (I think?) when Foreigner played their very first American gig prior to playing in arenas and other large venues on the East Coast. The place was f_____ing insane! :salude
 

jimmi

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Oct 8, 2012
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2,077
The pattern of the burst is very wide on the lower bout and follows the body profile rather than being sprayed in a teardrop shape. This is not typical of an original Burst finish. Since the photo was taken in 1969, I'd say its unlikely that he routed and refinished a brand new '68 or '69 Les Paul. My guess is that it's most likely a 50's guitar that was refinished, possibly a burst, more likely a goldtop. You mentioned he was a fan of Clapton and the Bluesbreakers. He may have refinshed it to look more like EC's burst.


There where several guys spraying these. Each did it slightly differently. This includes at least one guy who did follow the body more...which is good since i like that more.
 

capitalbear

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May 17, 2011
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It didn't look like the Polaroid photo in person. Let's say that again....It didn't look like the photo in person. Old 36 year old Polaroid photos bleed badly.

If the photo does NOT show the guitar as it looks like in real life, why did you post the pic as "cool"? Or do you mean "cool" in an artistic/abstract way?
 

Wally

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Feb 27, 2003
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Yessir, this old thread is of value at any time as a model of how not to spray a Gibson sunburst, imho. when I saw the pic in the first post, my eyes almost crossed due to the confusion....it didn't look correct to my eye in any way. The refin 'burst in the post just above doesn't fit for me, either.
 
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