About a year ago, I picked up a really great 1959 Les Paul Junior from a local pawn shop. It's everything you could want in a junior-light, amazing range of tones on the p90, and a big 59 neck shape. Despite that, and because of the tones Keith Urban gets, I've had a single cut Junior on my radar as well-namely one before the bridge got further away from the pickup. Well, on Thursday I took delivery of this 1956 beauty. It's unmistakably a junior, but that bridge placement really makes it a different beast from my 59. The 56 is of course a little more trebly, but in a good way. It stays more distinct under heavy distortion than my 59. It also has a slightly more acoustic-guitar quality when volume and tone are rolled back. And it has a kind of beefed up telecaster snap to it.
Now to the neck-I was worried at first that the 56 neck would be too chunky, but couldn't have been more wrong. It's full-probably as deep as the 59-but it has an amazing soft v-shape to it that makes it feel substantially smaller than the 59. The 59 is really like a bat cut in half, where the 56 is that soft v transitionaing to a c around fret 9. Ones not better than the other-they both feel like your favorite worn in jeans when you pick them up. Anyway here are some pics-two vintage juniors and a long weekend at the lake (with some fly fishing thrown in). Gonna be hard to go back to work.
Now to the neck-I was worried at first that the 56 neck would be too chunky, but couldn't have been more wrong. It's full-probably as deep as the 59-but it has an amazing soft v-shape to it that makes it feel substantially smaller than the 59. The 59 is really like a bat cut in half, where the 56 is that soft v transitionaing to a c around fret 9. Ones not better than the other-they both feel like your favorite worn in jeans when you pick them up. Anyway here are some pics-two vintage juniors and a long weekend at the lake (with some fly fishing thrown in). Gonna be hard to go back to work.
