Looking For A Goldtop With A 1960 Style Neck. Does It Exist?

G0RSB · Oct 13, 2016

Hi-

I am interested in a Goldtop Les Paul that has 1960 style neck. It is my understanding that they only made Goldtop's back in the day with the thicker 57 and 59 style necks.

I know now they make a certain reissue that is a goldtop with a 1960 style neck, but it has that swiss cheese weight releif garbage in the body.

So, to recap:

Goldtop
1960 style neck ( I like the thin neck)
no swiss cheese body (weight relief)

I know that combination might not exist. But, I am throwing a hail mary. I heard a rumor that they made such a beast briefly in the early eighties. But, I have not been able to find evidence of this.

Any info you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

DanD · Oct 13, 2016

It's been discussed here before and word is the Swiss cheese treatment started sometime in '82. Any of the 70s to '82 LPs should have the thinner neck and solid bodies. Build construction was all over tho. Three piece maple necks are common on these but at one point Gibson went to a one piece mahogany neck. I'm not sure what year that was but I think it's later in 70s. Most of these models will be rather heavy compared to newer Historics.

I know there are a handful of recent Custom Shop special run and Made to Measure GTs that have the '60s neck. They are out there.

eace2

El Gringo · Oct 13, 2016

What about Les Paul classics 1993 ,1994 and forward ? They have the slim taper 60 style neck .

rockabilly69 · Oct 13, 2016

Quite frequently Wildwood has Historic Goldtops with thinner 59 and 60 profiles...

here's a '59 style standard historic (2014 spec) https://wildwoodguitars.com/product/R760039/standard-historic-1957-les-paul-vos/?cat_id=16758

Triplet · Oct 13, 2016

El Gringo said:
What about Les Paul classics 1993 ,1994 and forward ? They have the slim taper 60 style neck .

Swiss Cheese

There might be a G0 goldtop out there...

El Gringo · Oct 13, 2016

Triplet said:
Swiss Cheese

There might be a G0 goldtop out there...

Really , please tell me about the Swiss Cheese(i know about the weight relieve part) and how Heavy these guitars are because they claim to be weight relieved? Does not make sense to me because i would think that they would be lighter weight .I know a friend that has one that weighs 9-10 lbs .how can that be ? it is a 94 classic.

Triplet · Oct 13, 2016

El Gringo said:
Really , please tell me about the Swiss Cheese(i know about the weight relieve part) and how Heavy these guitars are because they claim to be weight relieved? Does not make sense to me because i would think that they would be lighter weight .I know a friend that has one that weighs 9-10 lbs .how can that be ? it is a 94 classic.

Those holes don't really take off much weight. I have a 2007 Custom well over 9lbs. I have a '77 Custom over 10. I'm sure if that had 9 holes drilled in it it would still be over 10 lbs.

There are a couple good swiss cheese threads here. One fairly recent if I remember correctly.

Tim Plains · Oct 13, 2016

Gibson has made a couple R7s with 60s necks but they will be hard to find. Maybe put a wanted to buy ad on a few guitar forums. You might get lucky.

El Gringo said:
Really , please tell me about the Swiss Cheese(i know about the weight relieve part) and how Heavy these guitars are because they claim to be weight relieved? Does not make sense to me because i would think that they would be lighter weight .I know a friend that has one that weighs 9-10 lbs .how can that be ? it is a 94 classic.

Regular Les Paul Customs have swiss cheese and they're often 11 lbs.

P.Walker · Oct 14, 2016

besides a couple of limited runs where the spec sheet explicitly says "thinner neck" it's the luck of the draw I think.
Honestly for R7s they have been relatively thick for me; I have test-drived a couple, ended up with two, one of which had a very slim R-0 like neck. For whatever it's worth, I kept the thicker necked one. To complicate matters, the neck profile hardly was a determining factor...

renderit · Oct 14, 2016

How much do you want to pay? Call Wildwood and tell Lance what you want. If nothing else you could get an HS built with those specs. They WILL do that. But at least they can look through what they have and pick you a skinny one.

G0RSB · Oct 14, 2016

renderit said:
How much do you want to pay? Call Wildwood and tell Lance what you want. If nothing else you could get an HS built with those specs. They WILL do that. But at least they can look through what they have and pick you a skinny one.

Thanks for the reply.

I would spend up to 8 or 9K...maybe a little over...MAYBE.

Triplet · Oct 14, 2016

Just get a G0 and have a makeover done. $2500 for the git and another $1500 for finish and goodies. Dream git in hand for under $4k.

renderit · Oct 14, 2016

You are more than in the price range. Give them a call.

Tim Plains · Oct 14, 2016

G0RSB said:
Thanks for the reply.

I would spend up to 8 or 9K...maybe a little over...MAYBE.

Does originality matter to you? That is a hearty budget and opens lots of doors. New replica, R7 with full Historic Makeover RDS package with lots of money to spare. Heck, even buying a used R7, shaving the neck, and refinishing it would run under $4,000. Forget a HS, that is the last thing I would do.

Come to think of it, there is (or was) a 2013 or 2014 R7 for sale in Toronto with a '60s neck. It was refinished and below $3,000 Canadian. That's somewhere around $2,400 US.

Marcel M · Oct 14, 2016

If thats your budget, yeah, call a good Gibson Custom dealer and tell them what you want and they will make it happen. :salude

Elmore · Oct 14, 2016

You could also get a used R7 and have the neck shaved and refinished. That could hurt resale value, but if you are not selling it, then it does not matter as much.

CAGinLA · Oct 15, 2016

As others have stated, go the Made 2 Measure/Historic select route through a preferred dealer - you can choose a bunch of options, including finish and neck carve.

DoubleBoogie · Oct 24, 2016

There are some "30 over 60" necked Gold Tops out there. These are 0.030" larger than a 60's neck as I understand it. I also have a Gold Top from 2009 that I bought used and it is somewhere between that and an R9 neck. Definitely thinner than an R9 but not as thin as an R0. The Gold Top necks I have sampled over the years have had quite a bit of variability in terms of the neck thickness.

Progrocker111 · Oct 25, 2016

As written above, there are 57 Goldtop Historic RIs with thinner 60s neck. I have had 2014 one with Custombuckers, it was great sounding guitar, very resonant and articulate. They are rare though. I really dont know, why i sold her. :hmm

El Gringo · Oct 27, 2016

Try Carter Vintage Guitar https://cartervintage.com/collections/gibson-electrics/products/gibson-les-paul-classic-2003 Gibson Les Paul Classic 2003 GS 1377

Looking For A Goldtop With A 1960 Style Neck. Does It Exist?

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