very rare 1960 LP Junior TV lefthand

[Fred Hullerum]

Hello,
after I mentioned the existence of my lefthanded 1960 Les Paul Junior TV DC in the Historic District, I was asked to post some pictures in the Vintage-Les-Paul-area. Please allow me to present some selected pics. This beautiful guitar is up to now the only known lefthanded "golden era" LP TV junior double cutaway in the world.

Fred

[torger]

nice one and love the stinger. so, does this prove that the stinger was not necessarily ment to cover up imperfections in the wood. the tv finish is solid?

trgr

[MapleFlame]

Don't let Greg at BCR see this, he will wet his willie. Unbelievable guitar, the Stinger is so cool. Thank you Fred for sharing your great lefty example and what an entrance to the Forum. Welcome to the LPF and I hope you hang around for a while.

Do you have a weight on her.

[DANELECTRO]

Originally Posted by MapleFlame

Don't let Greg at BCR see this, he will wet his willie.

Looks like George popped his willie when he caught glimpse of it also.

[MapleFlame]

Originally Posted by DANELECTRO

Looks like George popped his willie when he caught glimpse of it also.

That would mean he's strapped

[moonweasel]

Why are you guys looking at this guy's crotch when you could be looking at that guitar?

Go here now: www.playboy.com --- redeem yourself.

[Electric Lloyd]

Originally Posted by torger

nice one and love the stinger. so, does this prove that the stinger was not necessarily ment to cover up imperfections in the wood. the tv finish is solid?

trgr

Thank you, & Fred! A very nice entrance, indeed!

Torger, though the later TV finishes are more opaque than earlier years, the finish still shows the grain. I don't know for sure, but I'm thinking there was a knot or some other imperfection when the neck was milled. I'm a firm believer that stingers (on models that didn't come stock with them, L-5s, Super 400s) are for covering up wood imperfections. I had a '60 ES 125TC witha stinger, & you could make out a knot in the wood, under the finish.

[Steve Craw]

Awsome!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MIKE20]

hubba!...

[Dire Wolf]

And a Stinger to boot, WOW!

[John Vasco]

No 'Les Paul model' on the headstock together with a stinger - headstock refin? I don't know, just asking the question.

Note the righty dot position markers.

Love to plug that in and crank it up.

[MapleFlame]

Originally Posted by John Vasco

No 'Les Paul model' on the headstock together with a stinger - headstock refin? I don't know, just asking the question.

Note the righty dot position markers.

Love to plug that in and crank it up.

They ware off very easy, or just wasn't applied. If I'm not mistaken, didn't some of the 60's jr. not have them.

[Rev.WillieVK]

Technically it should have 'Les Paul TV Model' on the headstock but like MF said, some '60s didn't have the silkscreen.

I assume that it has the correct lefty side dots as well as the righty side dots?

[Joe Ganzler]

Originally Posted by Rev.WillieVK

I assume that it has the correct lefty side dots as well as the righty side dots?

Good question; doesn't LOOK like it has 'em...

[Fred Hullerum]

You might be interested to get to know how I found this guitar.

I am not a collector; I bought my guitars along my personal needs als a musician, depending on what kind of shows I did and what kind of music I played.

Please allow me to write a little bit about "The Struggle Of Being A Lefthanded Guitar-Player In The Old Days". This struggle since my first gig in 1969 was the reason for me to learn more about guitars than my guitar-friends around me. Until about 1978 I did not know anything about the theory of guitar construction. I just took right handed guitars (Hofners) and put the strings on them like Jimi Hendrix did. When I got semi-professional (album 1979) I needed better tools. So I started to look for books; Tom Wheeler and Hideo Kamimoto opened my eyes. Then I found my ES 120 T, the guitar I love the most until today. She has no cutaways, the bridge can be moved freely for sting compensation.

After having left university early 1980 I went on a USA-Trip. In Santa Barbara I walked the "State Street" and eventually found "California Guitars". The only lefthanded guitar there (a 1962 ES 335 with custom ordered ebony fingerboard and block inlays - a perfect "Alvin Lee Guitar") was too expensive for me. So I took for half the price (950 $) my 1965 Firebird.

A Firebird - when NOT fitted with a Tunamatic-Bridge - is (harmless modification needed) the almost perfect tool for a lefthanded person - probably better than a "real lefthanded Firebird". (I have learned that at least one exists). I will post my ideas on that and some pictures in "The Other Gibsons" area. See this modified Firebird (video taken Feb. 1982) at youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktlPqedUeHI

In the years since 1980 Frank Lucido of "California-Guitars" sent me letters of his offers to Germany. In 1982 there was the Jr. in his April-May-letter. I called immediately. I knew, this was the only chance to get a lefthanded LP. I had never heard of any lefthanded Burst and I couldnt ever expect to get one. Would there be any? (Now I know there are four.) The prices for Bursts in general were too expensive for me also in these days (up to 10.000 $ including german customs and taxes); so a Jr. for 850 $ was the only and a good alternative...

Here is the "Gibson part" of this letter from 1982. Please allow me to post it; those were the days and the prices...






Thanks to all your kind (and funny) comments.

No, the headstock has never been refinished. Tom told me in Oldenburg that the lack of the "Les Paul Model" is normal. It is also normal that the guitar has dot markers on both sides of the neck. Sorry that my pictures do not show that. Maybe Toms pictures are better. He said he will post them until he is back home.

Well I have to admit that I didnt know until recently what a "stinger" is. When I got the guitar I thought this "stinger" to be a normal feature. And it made sense to me. I had seen this beautiful Gibson archtop guitars with the same feature on the back of their headstock and I interpreted this to be a "quote", a "hint" that this guitar was made in the tradition of the best industrial luthiers in the world - referring to their heritage.

Well I have played the guitar for 26 years now; I thought and still think there MUST be this stinger. The yellow color on the back of the neck reminds me of violin necks made of maple and archtop necks made of the same wood. The shellac gives maple a "yellow touch". At both ends of the violin neck the colour gets darker. So I see this neck with the stinger as a legacy. I have already seen pictures of guitars showing a "stinger" on the neck-body joint. This makes only sense to me when you see this as a "quote" to the violin/archtop neck colour-design.

Not until 2004 I was aware that my Junior was different. (In books you see front pics most of the time.) I visited London and checked the shops in Denmark Street. I was struck by the large amount of lefthanded guitars there - maybe 20 percent of the inventory was lefthanded. And "my" lefthanded Junior was there - a new reissue hanging next to a righthanded 1960 LP Junior TV DC. This view of these two guitars hanging side by side ("bookmatched") was amazing. I told the dealer that I have "the mother" of that l/h Junior at home and asked the dealer to give the reissue in my hands. Then I found out, that the back of the headstock was "wrong". He corrected me and made very clear, what is "normal" and what not.

See you later in "The other Gibsons" area.

Fred

[John Vasco]

Fred,

Great story, and amazing to see the list you posted. The prices of those 58-60 LPs will reduce some forum members to tears...

[Dire Wolf]

3 Bursts for $20950; OMG, those were the days! Great piece of history and thanks for sharing !

[Joe Ganzler]

Impeccable provenance!

[moonweasel]

Great story!

[moonweasel]

Joe, TW,

Is this the only lefty jr you have seen or heard of?

[TW59]

Hi Fred

I am just home, and have not had time to get my photos yet [felt the need to catch up here, and in the shop].

It was great to meet you and check this beauty out in person. I am sure a few of my pics will be worth posting.
Stay tuned!

[TW59]

Originally Posted by moonweasel

Joe, TW,

Is this the only lefty jr you have seen or heard of?

This is not a Junior. It is a TV Model. It is the only left handed TV I can remember ever seeing, especially a double cutaway version.

I have seen left handed Juniors.

[JJ Jones]

As it is a 1960 TV, it is an SG TV. Like the Specials Gibson changed the name and therefore - no silk screen logo.

[kthesheep]

Originally Posted by Rev.WillieVK

Technically it should have 'Les Paul TV Model' on the headstock but like MF said, some '60s didn't have the silkscreen.

I assume that it has the correct lefty side dots as well as the righty side dots?

I would agree, That's probable the case.

[Steve Craw]

I've been archiving left handed 50s Les Pauls for twenty-three years now, and this is the only double-cut Junior I've ever heard of. I know of four DC Specials, two 59s, and two from 1960, and at least as many single-cut Juniors and Specials, but this baby is the first of it's kind to my knowledge. Thanks for sharing her!

[MikeSlub]

Originally Posted by JJ Jones

As it is a 1960 TV, it is an SG TV. Like the Specials Gibson changed the name and therefore - no silk screen logo.

It is clearly not an SG - shape or designation. During 1960 and even into early 1961 the factory was still calling them LP Juniors and LP Specials - and this occurred even in the early period after they switched to the SG style body! I have the original shipping log from my '61 Special that is clearly an SG body, but designated as a "Les Paul Special" in the shipping log.

Very cool guitar and great story - thanks for sharing!

[JJ Jones]

My only vintage Gibson is a 1960 Special. Therefore I have tried to find as much info about it as possible. It is not an "iconic" guitar like other Gibsons so there is very little written about them.
But when I have found something it has been referred to as an SG Special. Same thing with the TV's. I know it is in "Gibson The Classic Years" and in "American Guitars". I'm not saying you are wrong and I am right, it's just what I've read. I haven't a lof of hands on experience like the rest of you.

[MikeSlub]

[j45]

Originally Posted by MikeSlub

It is clearly not an SG - shape or designation. During 1960 and even into early 1961 the factory was still calling them LP Juniors and LP Specials - and this occurred even in the early period after they switched to the SG style body! I have the original shipping log from my '61 Special that is clearly an SG body, but designated as a "Les Paul Special" in the shipping log.

Very cool guitar and great story - thanks for sharing!

It actually is an SG TV. Not what we call an SG but the Gibson catalog did in 1960 (and price list as early as Nov. 1959):



1959 Price List

[MikeSlub]

Originally Posted by j45

It actually is an SG TV. Not what we call an SG but the Gibson catalog did in 1960 (and price list as early as Nov. 1959)

So they obviously didn't tell the folks handling the shipping ledgers to change the model name. The marketing people out of sync with the production people, once again.

[TW59]

In actuality, the change of names was overlapped, by part of Gibson using the old terminology, while another part of Gibson used the new terminology [SG].
I would say both are correct.

[j45]

I would never call a DC '60 TV model an "SG" myself just out of tradition. The only point I was trying to make is that the name SG was originally given to the big slab body DC's before the "traditional" SG's were in production. The name carried over to the new design and then finally stuck to the thinner "SG's". It did not signify a change in shape or design.

[sunburst1]

Originally Posted by j45

I would never call a DC '60 TV model an "SG" myself just out of tradition. The only point I was trying to make is that the name SG was originally given to the big slab body DC's before the "traditional" SG's were in production. The name carried over to the new design and then finally stuck to the thinner "SG's". It did not signify a change in shape or design.

& that was due to Les Paul's contract with Gibson thus the name change at or around that time , No?

[Sean]

Wow, thanks for sharing the great photos and story, you're a lucky guy!

I feel like I'm waiting for a bus, none for ages then three come along

[Mcloudnine]

And they dropped the LP name at different times for the different models. I think the Special was first and the JR was one of the last to lose the LP designation.

[TW59]

Originally Posted by sunburst1

& that was due to Les Paul's contract with Gibson thus the name change at or around that time , No?

The contract ran out sometime in 1962, 10 years after it started.
The name changed at different times for different models.

[MapleFlame]

Now this thread is what the forum is about and what I love. Thank you guys for educating us. Bits and pieces make a very nice puzzle in tact.

[sgtvjr]

I have a 1960 LP TV Junior a 1960 LP TV Special and a 1961 SG TV Junior (thin body) all with no silkscreen logos. Right handed.

[VirtualJazzbo]

You know, the little vintage advertisements and booklets don't lie, but I find it screwy that Gibson changed the name from "Les Paul TV model" to "SG TV" in 1960, when clearly the man's contract had not expired and the traditional SG body had not yet been introduced. Assuming those facts and timeline are true, what was Gibson's impetus for changing the name to something like "SG" when Gibson could clearly still use the Les Paul name AND the guitar appears identical to a 59 Les Paul TV model. Am I missing something?

That's akin to introducing the 2009 R9s and instead of calling them Les Paul historics, advertising them as BGs or XMs or something.

[Electric Lloyd]

Originally Posted by sgtvjr

I have a 1960 LP TV Junior a 1960 LP TV Special and a 1961 SG TV Junior (thin body) all with no silkscreen logos. Right handed.

to The Forum, & it sounds like you have a nce collection of the guitars we love so much around here! I hope you'll start a post & include some pics of your babies!