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1960 Burst Restoration

Jumping@Shadows

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 11, 2003
Messages
1,330
Hi all, the LPF has always been receptive to vintage Les Paul restoration threads, and as this guitar came from our very own LPF member ‘Stoker’, and has been discussed before, I thought some would be interested in the full process.

For those with less patience, this:

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Is now this:

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As in the previous LPF thread, this was a factory flame top ‘60 Les Paul that was factory finished as an LP Custom- so has full Burst construction with correct internal routing, but LPC cosmetics and ebony fretboard and ornate headstock etc.

As I understood it, this lived anonymously as a run of the mill ‘60 LPC until an owner stripped the top revealing the centre seam flame maple cap (as I’m sure most reading this are aware all ‘50s LPC’s were full mahogany with no cap at all, but a single piece carved body), and after staining the top a kinda Gretsch orange played it as such until it eventually made it into Stroker’s hands.

At Stroker’s request HM did a beautiful job of bursting the top while keeping it as a three pickup Custom/Burst, but I had other plans, namely to bring it back to full ‘60 Standard spec by going back to bare wood and methodically correcting the Custom appointments.

The most obvious challenge was of course cleanly filling the middle pickup route to allow for a traditional twin pickup set up and transparent sunburst finish, but tackling the extra wide binding channels on top and back to leave a clean result was actually much more of a head scratcher!
Less troublesome was swapping the ebony board for a ‘60 SG Braz board I’d salvaged and tweaking the headstock to Burst spec, as well as a full vintage correct refinish, but enough blabbing- on to the build log!

Here it is after initial stripping, showing the original heavily flamed maple cap, with original black lacquer still in the cavities- note the 1/2” Burst/Standard spec routed wiring channel, and not the round drilled hole as found on the one piece body LP Custom, undisturbed long tenon neck joint, and traditional LP Standard control cavity with all expected ‘chew marks’ present:

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First came heating off the ebony board, which confirmed the neck was original to the body, with the typical tenon shim I’ve seen on a vast amount of vintage Gibson’s:

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After removing the top binding and levelling the channel, I hand cut a ‘frame’ of flamed and grain matched maple that exactly followed the perimeter of the top, just wide enough to make up the extra width of the LPC binding, but leaving enough space for traditional single ply Burst binding:

TMhVNXg.jpg


The reason I didn’t just use flexible maple trim and steam bent it was because the grain would not have matched, and there would have been a very obvious straight grained ‘halo’ the full way around- this way, although hugely time consuming and technically challenging allowed an excellent grain/flame match, even though it would be all but lost in the sunburst anyway..

nW8oWA6.jpg
 

Jumping@Shadows

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 11, 2003
Messages
1,330
Jumping ahead a bit, but keeping with this narrative, I heated off the LPC headstock veneer, which came away in one clean piece and now lives in the case pocket:

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The LPC headstock is both longer and wider than a Burst, and with the Custom overlay removed, the existing headstock was much thinner, so I replaced the ‘wings’ with full thickness old Honduran mahogany from my stash along with a a 2/3mm mahogany plate over the centre portion, topped with the traditional holly veneer building up the correct tapered thickness with no evidence of work from the back.

I then hand shaped the typically asymmetrical and muted open book Burst headstock using various ‘50s Gibson’s in my workshop- you can see how much mahogany was added on the layer visible in the truss rod cavity:

J965Dfp.jpg


The serial number 0 9300 was pressed into the headstock rear, which presumably was the original restamped after a previous minor headstock repair, and duly was the one I eventually used with vintage correct ink stamped font towards completion:

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Keeping with the neck for now: another challenge was the fact it had been shaved and narrowed in the past, with a near 1 9/16” late ‘60s nut width, and very slim feel, which was unacceptable to me, and there was no way I was going to reneck when all the wood was intact, so I employed a method I’ve used in several other restos where I inlaid a ~2mm quarter sawn tapered mahogany fillet under the fretboard which adds both width and depth, and brought the neck right into chunky ‘59 territory:

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This fillet is all but lost with a very slightly taller, well rolled neck binding and judiciously placed side dots, and to my mind is far preferable than replacing the original ‘60 neck, and it now has the chunky late ‘50s feel we know and love, and the ideal profile for a Burst:

s8EBVjq.jpg
 

Jumping@Shadows

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 11, 2003
Messages
1,330
Addressing the back binding was a much more challenging proposition than the top as there would be no sunburst shading or binding to help blend, but I knew it would be all but lost in the round over and be very clean looking, if not invisible, so after some head scratching opted to sacrifice a trashed ‘59 Melody Maker body to give a ‘trim’ which I painstakingly shaped and inlaid:

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What looks simple actually took many, many hours of hand work, but I’m again, extremely happy with the results

l7Vz7zQ.jpg
 

Jumping@Shadows

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 11, 2003
Messages
1,330
So on to addressing the middle pickup route..

Simply plugging the cavity would always be obtrusive, as three faces is would be visible, and flame/grain matching extremely challenging, so I opted to replace the centre potion between the two pickups leaving only one clean join exposed:

MAHJc46.jpg


Note the maple ‘binding’ is now fully fitted to size, and looks very clean..

I made a centre seamed flame maple block with well matched flame:

H3GCZON.jpg


And plugged and carved it in:

8eHsf7T.jpg


Then routed late ‘50s correct humbucker cavities following the neck plane, as well as bound the top with single ply cream binding leaving this:

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The flame match is excellent, but the grain needed some help so after some artistry I was extremely happy with the results:

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Jumping@Shadows

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 11, 2003
Messages
1,330
Now, on the fun part- finishing!

I use pure nitro lacquers, colour fast pore fillers and aniline dyes in my finishes, and shooting a correct ‘50s sunburst is a personal passion.

With the top repairs and binding restoration to the back, and that beautiful flamed top I opted for something approaching a Hotlanta style Darkburst, but more towards a ‘50s 335 finish with rich cherry blending into burgundy/tobacco.

First comes the yellow base coat:

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Then fast forward through colour and amber coats, the finished product:

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I fitted all ‘50s parts including long magnet zebra PAFs, full ‘59 loom, late ‘50s nickel hardware, cut ‘56 guard, real cream bridge M69 ring and gold bell knobs, and after owning and working on probably 100-120 ‘50s Les Pauls, and playing and handling countless others on a daily basis for several years, even after all this guitar has been through its an absolutely exceptionally killer sounding example!

It weighs 9lbs exactly and has the ideal chunky ‘59 neck shape, and the PAFs are absolutely definitive of the Peter Green/ZZ Top/Led Zep tones that have haunted me all my life, and more so it looks absolutely stunning with a compelling Burst vibe!

I’ll be ageing it over the coming months, but for the moment it’s on a strap around my neck getting played every spare minute I have, and I’m also going to do the unthinkable and actually gig it!!

I’ve had piles of player grade vintage guitars and a good few conversions, but this one feels different to me- to know it’s a factory centre seam flame top 1960 Les Paul, with the original body/neck/top, and looking, playing and sounding as it does, really gives me a heady Burst hit every time I handle it, and it’s the closest I’ll ever come to being in that gang, and having done every last bit of the work myself, from concept to completion makes it all the more special.

Thanks for following the thread, and I hope some of you have enjoyed the process, and if you’d like to see more of my vintage restorations please follow me on Instagram under ‘playergradevintage’.
 

J.D.

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Joined
May 24, 2006
Messages
10,030
Wow.

Looks like a lot of work, and good quality work, but when I compare the before and after I'm not really sure I understand this.
 

StSpider

Active member
Joined
Aug 24, 2002
Messages
2,148
Frankly, I'm appalled that someone can take something cool unique and of historic value and destroy it like this. So sad and distasteful. Besides, this will never be a real burst and you know it. You talk about chew marks? Really? We obsess about these things because they offer cool insights of the manufacturing process that happened in the Gibson factory back in the day. This guitar was another testimony of it, and now it's not. It's just a fake.

This is no "restoration" at all, if anything, it's the exact opposite of it.
 

2002standardmat

Active member
Joined
Oct 19, 2002
Messages
1,152
I've had the privilege of playing some of your previous work at LPF meets in the past and I was impressed then but I'm really impressed with the work on this one - the work you have done on the top and binding really is something special.

I always had in mind that if I end up in the position to have someone do this kind of work on a job for me that you'd be my first choice, this just confirms it.

:salude
 

Progear

Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2014
Messages
652
Frankly, I'm appalled that someone can take something cool unique and of historic value and destroy it like this. So sad and distasteful. Besides, this will never be a real burst and you know it. You talk about chew marks? Really? We obsess about these things because they offer cool insights of the manufacturing process that happened in the Gibson factory back in the day. This guitar was another testimony of it, and now it's not. It's just a fake.

This is no "restoration" at all, if anything, it's the exact opposite of it.


You can be appalled all you want, but it’s his guitar and he can do what he what’s.:ganz
 

LPunbound

New member
Joined
Jul 19, 2002
Messages
194
What a shame. His guitar yes. His right to do what he wants but it’s not something I understand or would do. My original post was out of line.
 
Last edited:

Ed Driscoll

Les Paul Forum Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2002
Messages
4,691
The end result is a very attractive guitar with some brilliant craftsmanship to bring it to fruition, but I think the headline is somewhat misleading. This isn’t a 1960 ‘Burst “Restoration,” this is a conversion, much like stripping a P-90-equipped goldtop, routing it for humbuckers, adding late ‘50s appointments, and ‘bursting it. As with the goldtop conversions, this is a faux original sunburst Les Paul, not an original 1960 Les Paul Standard that’s been given its 500,000 mile tune-up. But as with many conversions, it does look great.
 

VamboRool

Active member
Joined
Nov 25, 2015
Messages
424
The guitar looks great, but I agree with the comment that it is a conversion and not a restoration. I think it would have been better to have left it as a Custom and finish it in cherry red. Anybody know how many maple topped 1954-61 Customs were made? There is one less now.
 

latestarter

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 9, 2009
Messages
4,173
Fabulous work, but I’ll admit I don’t understand the motivation given how largely complete/original this guitar “was”.
 

fakejake

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Joined
Sep 3, 2010
Messages
1,274
Would have loved to see this restored to a 3 or maybe 2 PU black beauty custom, but I don't get this....
 
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