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The Red Thread: Factory Red Gibsons from the Golden Era

JimR56

Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2012
Messages
588
Thanks guys. It's a bit of a "player's guitar", but still a gem.

Those cherry guitars (Super 400, Crest, Johnny Smith) in the Tsumura book really belong in this thread, but I can't find any images online. I did find a small image of a Crest, though:

image0062.jpg
 

bluesforstevie

New member
Joined
Jun 20, 2002
Messages
12,771
After seeing J45's pictures of his red hollowbodies in another thread, I was inspired to start a thread on these red beauties. Please add any pictures you may have of factory red Gibsons from the 50s and 60s.

I'm not really talking about the common examples like cherry SGs and ES-335s, I'm talking about models that don't usually come in red, or custom examples like Sparkling Burgandy, Cardinal Red...

I'll start with a few:

Wow!! Year? More pics? Info?


Amazing...tell me about this one below?


What year is the SG? Is it Candy apple?



Killer guitars man...thanx!!!! :dude:
 

captaincanada

Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2004
Messages
599

Brown Recluse

Active member
Joined
Aug 11, 2006
Messages
1,108
Besides '58 and '59 double cut juniors, this is my only entry that I have shown before:

c9634a80.jpg
[/IMG]
 

bluesforstevie

New member
Joined
Jun 20, 2002
Messages
12,771
BFS, I believe the red singlecut Special belongs to a friend of TW's, he mentioned in a thread here:

http://www.lespaulforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=179622&highlight=singlecut+special+cherry

It's got to be super rare, I think it's the only one I've ever seen that wasn't a refin.

The SG is Sparkling Burgandy and it's circa 67' if I recall correctly. I know someone here in my town that has one just like it, but these are pics I found online..

A '67 SG special with HBs??? I've only seen them with P90's....is that in itself kind of rare??? I don't remember seeing many SG's after '65 with hum buckers, at least until the 70s...????
 

JimR56

Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2012
Messages
588
Besides '58 and '59 double cut juniors, this is my only entry that I have shown before:

c9634a80.jpg
[/IMG]

I'm new around here, so can you please tell me about that guitar? I thought it looked like one of those new models combining features from different traditional Gibsons, but then I noticed the truss rod cover (I had a custom trc like that on a 1962 Johnny Smith I sold a few years ago).
 

captaincanada

Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2004
Messages
599
A '67 SG special with HBs??? I've only seen them with P90's....is that in itself kind of rare??? I don't remember seeing many SG's after '65 with hum buckers, at least until the 70s...????

I'm not sure I follow you...the 67' SG is a Standard..
And the Red 59' Singlecut is the Special
 

captaincanada

Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2004
Messages
599
Brown Recluse, can you give any details on your contribution?

A ES-330 with a 345 fingerboard and crown inlay? It's quite beautiful!
 

Brown Recluse

Active member
Joined
Aug 11, 2006
Messages
1,108
Brown Recluse, can you give any details on your contribution?

A ES-330 with a 345 fingerboard and crown inlay? It's quite beautiful!

It's a '59 with several original non-standard features: 345 fingerboard, crown headstock inlay, Grovers and the Bigsby. I know the orange Duchossoir book doesn't list any Cherry finished 330's for '59, so the finish might also be considered a custom feature. Since the 330's didn't have serial numbers, I can only go by the 'S' FON to date the guitar as a 1959.

I found the guitar and an accompanying GA-20 amp on ebay years ago. It came from an upstate New York antique shop. It came in an equally clean and original brown hard case. It's definitely a keeper.
 

jb_abides

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 6, 2005
Messages
5,274
Thank you guys, love the posts. I can only spectate and appreciate on this one. My only vintage is an lefty SG Jr and we all know what those look like...
 

JimR56

Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2012
Messages
588
Besides '58 and '59 double cut juniors, this is my only entry that I have shown before:

c9634a80.jpg
[/IMG]

I just realized that your Bigsby is the B7 type, which screws into the top. I find this puzzling, since you said it's a 330, and 330's normally have the B6 floating type, since the guitar is hollow.

Just curious now... could there be a partial center block in there (under those Bigsby screws)?
 
B

bigsby'd

Guest
I just realized that your Bigsby is the B7 type, which screws into the top. I find this puzzling, since you said it's a 330, and 330's normally have the B6 floating type, since the guitar is hollow.

Just curious now... could there be a partial center block in there (under those Bigsby screws)?

Most factory Bigsby'd 330s came with B7s.
 
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