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1959 Les Paul Special neck radius

05645ci

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Jan 10, 2018
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Hey, all, 1st post from new member, I own a 59 Les Paul Special and 2014 Les Paul Classic; thanks for the join; can anyone tell me what the neck radius is on my 59 LP?
It's all original except Grover keys added in 74 and a compensated saddle added a few years ago...by the way, the compensated saddle allowed this guitar to intonate for the first time in it's life!
 

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Wally

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Welcome... I'll guess that there is a 12" radius on the fretboard. I have seen some 10" radii on some vintage Gibsons, but they were all acoustics, iirc.
 

Big Al

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All Les Pauls have 12" radius. 10" was listed in some Gibson literature but do not exist.
 

Wally

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All Les Pauls have 12" radius. 10" was listed in some Gibson literature but do not exist.

Big Al, I understand that this is a vintage 'burst forum, so your info is correct for the vintage eras. However, there are Les Pauls that have 14" radius 'boards. Quite a few modern Gibsons do....ES-335's, L.P.'s, SG's.... A lot of them have out of phase pickup relationship in the middle position, too.
 

Big Al

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Big Al, I understand that this is a vintage 'burst forum, so your info is correct for the vintage eras. However, there are Les Pauls that have 14" radius 'boards. Quite a few modern Gibsons do....ES-335's, L.P.'s, SG's.... A lot of them have out of phase pickup relationship in the middle position, too.

Which models, Wally? Is it the ones with the wider fretboard and adjustable nut dealybob?
 

Wally

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No, Big Al. I have been seeing 14" radii on various Gibson electrics for some years now....all types of models in the regular production....L.P.'s, SG's, 335's.... I set up a lot of guitars, so I take notice of these things since I do radius bridge saddles to match fretboard radii. It is not restricted to those 'zero nut' guitars with the side necks and narrow string spacing.


re: those zero nut,wide neck, narrow string spacing guitars.....What in the world was Gibson thinking when they put that stuff out?
 

Tom Wittrock

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re: those zero nut,wide neck, narrow string spacing guitars.....What in the world was Gibson thinking when they put that stuff out?

Not sure about the zero nut, but the neck change was apparently Henry's idea, when he pointed out that it was too easy to push a string off the edge of the fingerboard.
 

Wally

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Not sure about the zero nut, but the neck change was apparently Henry's idea, when he pointed out that it was too easy to push a string off the edge of the fingerboard.

And there wasn't a guitar player around who had the balls to tell the boss that pulling the strings off of the end of the fret was an indication of poor playing technique?? I would not give more than the hardware is worth for one of those guitars....and I have experience setting them up. they are some of the worst guitars Gibson has ever produced in that price category....or any price point, perhaps, imho.
 

Tarcisioo

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There was somebody here who once said he believes that the secret sauce to vintage necks were that they had 10-ish radiuses. He said he personally measured it
 

Wally

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^^^^ Was his name Paul Reed Smith? PRS uses 10" radii on his electrics.
 

sws1

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I always read that the magic was that the bridge radius didn’t match the neck radius. I.e., the g and d strings are closer to the board than the others.
 

Tom Wittrock

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And there wasn't a guitar player around who had the balls to tell the boss that pulling the strings off of the end of the fret was an indication of poor playing technique??

I think he was told, but rejected their opinion.
 

deytookerjaabs

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The guitar wasn't designed initially for UP/DOWN vibrato thus keeping traditional string spacing when solid bodies came to be, which there's nothing wrong with, but having the additional equivalent space for vibrato on the high e string means you don't have to scoop the pitch a hair sharp (which is what we're used to playing and hearing by now) when you're using even vibrato but not bending on the high E.

At the shop I worked at we had a few custom orders for gibson-esque solid bodies with extra wide nut widths too so I always thought there was a small market for it though not enough to warrant a total re-vamp of the guitar line. As for the other 2015 changes, they're easy to swap out.

CSmY0Vct.jpg
 

renderit

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Use the right tool for the right job there bucko! Chain saw, stat!
 

hogy

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All Les Pauls have 12" radius. 10" was listed in some Gibson literature but do not exist.

I have refretted hundreds of original vintage Gibson electrics. They were all close to 10" fingerboard radius, and none were ever 12". This is not some conjecture on my part, but something I have measured every time I refretted a guitar, over decades.

The bridge radius on vintage Gibsons, however, is 12". That is actually a big part of "that feel", a 12" string radius over a 10" fingerboard radius. It puts the center strings closer to the board, making the action feel lower, while giving the outside strings a bit more clearance needed for bends and better excursion on the low e.

I don't know if Gibson did this consciously or not, but a 12" radius on a Gibson does not feel "vintage correct".

Those fingerboards are 10". Always.
 
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