Beauty of The Black Beauty - The "Alnico" Custom thread

[maxwedge]

This is 10 mlies from me, I want it!

This '56 popped up on my Gbase feed this morning!

[zhivago]

I was waiting for him to bang the neck on the boot lid.

Hahaha!!

Same here!!

The video is general is a bit cringe-worthy, but still, a Black Beauty is a Black Beauty!

[agogetr]

This is not about a vintage Lifton case . I just ordered a Anvil road case for my Les Paul's when I ship them out via UPS for service . In December I got the talk from my tech who said the "what if it falls off the back of the truck and gets run over ? " I got the flush lock and my name on both sides of the case .It is going to take 4 weeks to custom build as I thought they were pre fab made and sitting in there warehouse . I also asked about a road case for my Marshall 2555X and 2551 AV cab . So now with the Anvil case I should be good and protected when ever I am sending one of my Les Paul's out for service ,which is fairly often . I matched the color of my Gibson Chainsaw case of the exterior in black and the interior in Navy Blue and the nice lady from Anvil says to me "oh you must be a rocker "

awsome! hey i spoke with the lady from anvil and she was hip and seemed really well informed. just curious why not ship in the protector case? if your sending les pauls out all the time for service i,m thinkin you do 325 dates a year and live in montana? tryin to walk a mile in yor shoes brother.

[El Gringo]

awsome! hey i spoke with the lady from anvil and she was hip and seemed really well informed. just curious why not ship in the protector case? if your sending les pauls out all the time for service i,m thinkin you do 325 dates a year and live in montana? tryin to walk a mile in yor shoes brother.

That was my thinking as well and the protector is A okay for flying but if it is getting shipped by commercial transit as my tech explained it to me "what if it falls off the back of the truck and gets squished by the truck rolling over it ? " Guitar destroyed . That's where the Anvil comes in and will provide the much needed protection and in actual reality the small price to pay for a Anvil case is well worth the piece of mind that it provides and protects and that was really a no brainer . My friends were telling me that the tech was trying to hustle /sell me a case , well he does not provide that type of inventory . The lady from Anvil is very cool and so well informed as well and you know what I will be getting Anvil cases for the Marshall amps as well ! Anvil is the best !

[TinyBabyBrandon]

I'm sure most of you hip cats have seen this already, but there's some good footage of Dan test driving a 55 LPC in the new ATB That Pedal Show episode. The Black Beauty footage starts at about 25:30 and the playing begins at 39:00. Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpJJkSBP-YQ

[zhivago]

Indeed, I watched a bit of it last night...great playing by Dan. (as usual!)

[agogetr]

That was my thinking as well and the protector is A okay for flying but if it is getting shipped by commercial transit as my tech explained it to me "what if it falls off the back of the truck and gets squished by the truck rolling over it ? " Guitar destroyed . That's where the Anvil comes in and will provide the much needed protection and in actual reality the small price to pay for a Anvil case is well worth the piece of mind that it provides and protects and that was really a no brainer . My friends were telling me that the tech was trying to hustle /sell me a case , well he does not provide that type of inventory . The lady from Anvil is very cool and so well informed as well and you know what I will be getting Anvil cases for the Marshall amps as well ! Anvil is the best !

makes sense. more mass around the guitar. i have some real old anvils just beat but still hangin in there! one is from the band 'america' has the name on it. ventura highway! i got it from a bass player that shared some gigs with them back in the day. its got a lot of miles on it, its really cool! id go with anvil too

[zhivago]

I was on holiday for a couple of weeks, so this thread slipped off the front page...let's fix that!

The year was 1955...

[zhivago]

...conitinued...

[zhivago]

Breaking news!

Looks like Metallica's Kirk Hammett is one of us now...

Looks like he scored, (or is at least holding), Mick Ralph's '56 Black Beauty.





Here's what I dug up from an internet article:

In his last Instagram photo, Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett mentioned Mick Ralphs’ Les Paul Custom. At the same time, Kirk explained that Mick’s tone had a big impact on him in his youth.

We think that this photo he shared under the name of ”#guitarsinhotelrooms” was taken by the Worldwired Tour in Berlin yesterday.

Here’s what Kirk absolutely wrote:

Mick Ralphs’ 56 Les Paul Custom , Mick’s tone was a big influence on me when I was a teenager … #mickralphs #lespaul #guitarheroes #guitarsinhotelrooms

[Rex Carlson]

God, those photos of Kirk Hammett with Mick Ralph's LP Custom make me gas for one so bad! I wish I could find one in that condition. I told my wife to prepare for the day I bring one home - its a matter of time. She says I deserve it, which I do...LOL.

[zhivago]

God, those photos of Kirk Hammett with Mick Ralph's LP Custom make me gas for one so bad! I wish I could find one in that condition. I told my wife to prepare for the day I bring one home - its a matter of time. She says I deserve it, which I do...LOL.

You should definitely try and get one...they are truly great guitars...my '56, after 6 years of owning, it is still my undisputed #1

[zhivago]

Singing the praises of being a Fretless Wonder...

[zhivago]

According to the dealer, this is a '53...













continued below...

[zhivago]

...continued...

[zhivago]

It's Bigsby time, courtesy of the year 1956!

[Midnight Blues]

Exquisite!

[AA00475Bassman]

Beautiful how is the dealer dating ? Pot code's only date the pot I can not make out the serial number !

[zhivago]

Beautiful how is the dealer dating ? Pot code's only date the pot I can not make out the serial number !

My feeling is that they usually just use the pot dates for the early ones...that's why there are some many that are claimed to be '53s.

It's definitely pretty murky when it comes to the early non-serial guitars...from '55 onwards things are a lot clearer once the serial numbering appears.

[poor man's burst]

Very early Les Paul Custom have shorter headstock than later ones, though I don't know when the change happened. Any info on that matter will be welcome.

[zhivago]

Very early Les Paul Custom have shorter headstock than later ones, though I don't know when the change happened. Any info on that matter will be welcome.

True...it is hard to put a finger on it...the guitars in my archive that claim to be '53s all have the shorter headstock...the bell cover goes literally over the bottom part of the split diamond decoration...I have some guitars in my archive that claim to be '54s...of these, some have the shorter headstock and some that don't...so I guess sometime in '54 is my best guess.

[darkwave]

It was always my understanding that the inlay was repurposed from a different model and they eventually changed the size of the inlay – not the headstock. I never confirmed this, just accepted it as gospel.

-Douglas C.

True...it is hard to put a finger on it...the guitars in my archive that claim to be '53s all have the shorter headstock...the bell cover goes literally over the bottom part of the split diamond decoration...I have some guitars in my archive that claim to be '54s...of these, some have the shorter headstock and some that don't...so I guess sometime in '54 is my best guess.

[maxwedge]

It was always my understanding that the inlay was repurposed from a different model and they eventually changed the size of the inlay – not the headstock. I never confirmed this, just accepted it as gospel.

-Douglas C.

The last 2 guitars clearly show the difference, the later head stocks are longer in the area just past the nut. Cool, never knew this!

[darkwave]

Just took another look and compared it to my ‘56. You’re right, guess I never knew that either – thanks!

- Douglas C.

The last 2 guitars clearly show the difference, the later head stocks are longer in the area just past the nut. Cool, never knew this!

[zhivago]

Thanks for all your input, gents!

[Midnight Blues]

I’m sure you all know this, but I just found out that Koss’ ‘55 is for sale on Reverb. Duh...

[zhivago]

I’m sure you all know this, but I just found out that Koss’ ‘55 is for sale on Reverb. Duh...

I saw it the other day...some nice pictures of it in the ad...not many, or terribly detailed, but nevertheless some nice pictures

[Midnight Blues]

I saw it the other day...some nice pictures of it in the ad...not many, or terribly detailed, but nevertheless some nice pictures

Agreed Z. Not only is she a beauty, but given the provenance, I think it’s reasonably priced for those who can afford it.

[zhivago]

A gorgeous guitar for sure...just in case the auction disappears, here are the photos of the guitar.

[Midnight Blues]

That she is for sure Z!

[dleake]

It's hard to believe how clean this '56 is. On hold at ATB Guitars right now.

https://www.atbguitars.com/store/pro...m-1956lpcmint/

In case the ad gets taken down here are a few pics -

[zhivago]

Wow! You can eat your lunch off that thing!!!!

[dleake]

Wow! You can eat your lunch off that thing!!!!

Hard to believe the shape it's in!

[Midnight Blues]

Had to be a case queen.

[zhivago]

Here is an interesting guitar I came across a few weeks ago while looking through Facebook's classifieds section.

While I have seen a ton of 70s Greco copies of Sunburst Les Pauls, and humbucker Les Paul Customs, I've never seen one so close to an Alnico Custom...to be quite honest I was almost tempted to buy it!

[PierM]

This thread always been my bible!

My Krieger, properly reverted. (hope it’s not a problem to post this here)

[El Gringo]

This thread always been my bible!

My Krieger, properly reverted. (hope it’s not a problem to post this here)

I like it and looks really cool

[zhivago]

Very cool...do we know anything more about the story on the Krieger guitar?

[PierM]

Very cool...do we know anything more about the story on the Krieger guitar?

I did my research and seems this was kind of “special setup”, that Krieger used only for sliding. Lately in its life, the staple stopped working, so instead fixing he mounted the SD SM1N. The GOTOH bridge (GE103) was an alterative to the ABR1 (does mount on 6-32 threads as the ABR) , probably helping intonation because of the much larger footprint. The original setup, that he used for LA woman and sometime during live, was also sporting a Bigsby. Honestly I don’t understand why Gibson replicated the post-LA setup, with SD mini and no Bigsby, instead the original version, with the stock staple. Anyway, I do love it.

[zhivago]

Thanks, Pier! A very cool guitar for sure!