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52-59 Burst Conversion

boogieongtr

boogieongtr

Active member
Joined
May 16, 2006
Messages
938
One last detail is the S/N. If anyone needs a great vintage S/N kit this is as good as it gets. This kit is from forum member Pinefd. Frank put a lot of time into the project and got it right :applaude

SN001.jpg
Click to expand...

I was going for a bit of an aged S/N and not a perfect look.

SN004.jpg
 
JJ Blair

JJ Blair

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 9, 2011
Messages
3,462
ScrapeBinding2.jpg


This dowel idea is genius. I've been using the tape method, which kinda sucks. Wish I'd thought of this.
 
J

JIMI55LP

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 28, 2005
Messages
1,588
I agree that retopping vintage GT's for looks is not a good thing, but try to keep in mind that there are many hundreds of these 1952/ 53' bound neck LPs that are all lousy playing guitars if they are trapeze originals, and very many of the original models are held by collectors like myself that don't play or alter them at all. We aren't going to run out of trapeze 52'/53' GT's with this type of conversion. And these guitars aren't being ruined by this quality of conversions, it's the guys that don't spend this much attention to details that have ruined the guitars, and even those have an after life with folks here that buy them for a song and refurbish them. I don't support folks converting wraptail and stoptail GT's to Burst's, because I don't see any flaw in their design for playability, but if they have issues allready that can't be overcome to preserve the value, it's not my guitar. I believe this guitar was claimed to be unbroken but was found to have a bad top carve making the owner retop it, and I prefer retopping a vintage GT to veneering it, if the retop is done with the correct maple and glued properly. I see this 1952 guitar as a major improvement considering the methods and materials used, and how well documented the work was as far as any future buyer is concerned.
 
B

BARON BURST

New member
Joined
Feb 1, 2006
Messages
516
boogieongtr said:
I scored this 52 Goldtop a couple weeks ago off Ebay and am doing a conversion to 59 Burst specs.

2.jpg



The guitar has a 70's neck and it has to go. I first remove the fingerboard by using a heat blanket. Next I get the depth of the neck and mark my drill bit with some tape.
SN3.jpg


I need to bore several holes along the glue line so I can steam out the neck. Check out the added shim in the neck pocket.
SN4.jpg


Before I steam the neck I strip the finish around the neck joint and with a razor blade I break the joint.
A004.jpg


Add a little steam..
SN5.jpg


And the neck pops right out
SN6.jpg
Click to expand...

Did you ever measure the pickup plane angle??

I measured 1.3 degrees on a 52 before.:hmm :hmm
 
AlexVDL

AlexVDL

Member
Joined
May 29, 2003
Messages
267
I never read a whole thread at once, but this is just plain awesome!! :3zone

Great respect for the craftmanship!! :salude

One thing though, and I've seen nobody mention it.... what happened with the cutaway and the horn? The shape is all different than before and different to a 50's horn. It seems much shorter and the cutaway next to the neck from the 16th to 19th fret is a bit angled (not parrallel to the fretboard)?
Looking at the whole body, I get the feeling that the neck is shifted a bit to the toggle side and the cutaway had to make up for it.

Maybe it's just the angle of the pics, or my monitor. But something looks off.

But all in all, IMO a great save from what was a butchered guitar in the first place.
 
Slashburst

Slashburst

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Sep 14, 2010
Messages
682
boogieongtr said:
Yes, I have been able to gig with the guitar for the past two weeks. I am so excited at how this conversion turned out. It is very, very resonate, smoothe top end, great note bloom. It has great clarity, chords have great note separation and it plays so easy all over the neck. I will say it is better sounding than any replica I have owned or my Max but not as good or responsive as my 1960 burst. I think if I put real PAF's and a vintage harness it would be close. Here is the finished guitar. :2zone

1A007.jpg


1A002.jpg
Click to expand...

:salude
Superb!
 
dlacx

dlacx

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Joined
Sep 8, 2005
Messages
181
Wow! What a thread. Jim rescued an amp for me once. I have a nice '77 Boogie that had a trashed cabinet and Jim squared it away with a beautiful maple cabinet. I absolutely love it! This was fun to read!

Thanks, Jim!:2zone
 
Yunpac

Yunpac

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Joined
Sep 27, 2005
Messages
1,161
Sorry to fire up an old thread, but I read the whole thing and even backtracked to try to find the answer...

...where did the neck come from? If the 70's neck was removed and not used... was it a new neck he made or was it off another 50's Gibson??

Thanks- Yun
 
T

tejastubes

New member
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Messages
2
Yunpac said:
Sorry to fire up an old thread, but I read the whole thing and even backtracked to try to find the answer...

...where did the neck come from? If the 70's neck was removed and not used... was it a new neck he made or was it off another 50's Gibson??

Thanks- Yun
Click to expand...

I think I remember earler in the thread Jim mentions that he had a 50's neck he was saving for a sepcial project like this. ! Killer work! Still stunned!
 
gilapagostortois

gilapagostortois

Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2011
Messages
732
Flyabiplane said:
Reminds me of the Gibson prewar banjo conversions.... by the time you have a new 5 string neck made to replace the tenor, turn the rim down by lathe to accept the flat head ring and start building it up..Not much left of the original banjo...just the rim, resonator flange and hooks and nuts...
Click to expand...

there's more than one way to do a banjo conversion.
 
stringpro

stringpro

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Joined
Feb 15, 2016
Messages
1
Would love to have a parts list and suppliers for your fancy ass copy carver !
Smooth design !
Those floater bearings are the bomb !
 
boogieongtr

boogieongtr

Active member
Joined
May 16, 2006
Messages
938
stringpro said:
Would love to have a parts list and suppliers for your fancy ass copy carver !
Smooth design !
Those floater bearings are the bomb !
Click to expand...


I built the carver 6 years ago. I did some research on companies that built carving machines, then hit the internet and sourced out bearings, rails etc. Trial & error is sometimes the best teacher.
 
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