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Burst 58, 59, 60 Differences

au_rick

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Mar 18, 2010
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871
Just watched a youtube video from 2017 where Phil Harris busrts and he mentioned a couple of things:

1958 has a shallower neck angle than a '59
1960 has a higher bridge than a '59

I've seen a lot of discussions identifying / authentication of 'bursts here but never seen these attributes mentioned.

Anyone care to chime in on the subject and any other notable differences (other than those widely known, ie. neck profile, flame, knobs, finishes, etc.) ??

Cheers :salude
 

Aloha_Ark

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Apr 2, 2020
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154
As a noob who owns none of these instruments, my source of information is Bob and Ramon. Bob notes that the 1958 has a C neck profile, 1959 has a D, and 1960 is the thinnest of all. More plaintops exist in '58, more flame in '59, and a combination of both in '60. Bob says the most comfortable profile (in his opinion) is on the 1959. Given these observations, my experience with the 58 - 60 RI (around six or so examples) is that Gibson has attempted to follow these build characteristics. Thus, if you like the '58 neck and '59 flame, you might have better luck with reissues than vintage. Gibson, thy name is inconsistency and contradiction. We would need Tom Wittrock or Dirk Ziff to tell us whether you can find this combination in a vintage example, from their real experience. Now, given the importance of pickups in the entire equation, I would gamble that the 1959 PAF is a little more esteemed than the other years, given that I own the most Gibsons humbuckers from that particular year, ignoring non-PAF examples outside of the 3 year period. Holdover PAFs used in 1961-3 are hard to date. Other details, such as tuners, frets, bobbin color, bridge construction, etc., are alluded to in the below videos and elsewhere.



Each of the three years has benchmark songs establishing the greatness of these instruments, and that is why you can't just collect one Burst. This is like trying to answer the question, who is the most desirable actress in that time frame? Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot or Rita Hayworth?
 
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MikeSlub

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Jul 15, 2001
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15,166
Hard to generalize on Burst differences, especially neck shape, since they were all done by hand. I don't notice that big a difference between my 1958, 59's and early 60. The early 1960's had all 1959 features, including neck size.

From left to right, 1958, 59, 59, early 1960. :hank

Bursts_on_amps_from_right.jpg
 

El Gringo

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So beautiful Mike and history right in front of us and before our eyes . My compliments ! Tough question , out of this photo which one is your favorite and why ?
 

MikeSlub

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So beautiful Mike and history right in front of us and before our eyes . My compliments ! Tough question , out of this photo which one is your favorite and why ?
Hard to pick a favorite - they all play beautifully and sound great. The most distinctive sound wise is probably the cherryburst 1959 - the guitar was played a lot, has lots of battle scars. The bridge pickup roars. One of my friends who is a much better player than me has played them all and thinks that guitar is from another planet. The darkburst '59 is the brightest sounding of the bunch IMO. :hank
 

somebodyelseuk

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Jun 10, 2020
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454
There aren't any definitive differences. They didn't change on January 1st. There's evolution over a period of 9 years.
Sunbursts didn't become a thing until mid 58.
I read that of the 15-1700 bursts made, less than 25% had flame tops...
In the nearly 40 years I've been playing, I've maybe seen half a dozen genuine bursts in the flesh, from the audience, maybe a couple of hundred in photos in books and magazines and various websites. Not all, but the majority of those were flametops, but how many show off a plaintop anyway? That leaves maybe 13-1500 I haven't seen.
Unless you're in the trade or I've missed a publication that photographed every single sunburst Les Paul made between 1958 and 1961, I doubt there's anyone on the planet today who's seen more than a third of em.
 

El Gringo

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Hard to pick a favorite - they all play beautifully and sound great. The most distinctive sound wise is probably the cherryburst 1959 - the guitar was played a lot, has lots of battle scars. The bridge pickup roars. One of my friends who is a much better player than me has played them all and thinks that guitar is from another planet. The darkburst '59 is the brightest sounding of the bunch IMO. :hank

Thank You Kindly for the info . That sure is a foursome of excellence from Gibson ! Bravo !
 

jrgtr42

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Mar 24, 2005
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If I recall, they changed out the red dye used for the '60 year, so those are more likely to have the bright cherry burst, as opposed to the 58 and 58, which usually have faded due to sunlight exposure.
 

MikeSlub

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If I recall, they changed out the red dye used for the '60 year, so those are more likely to have the bright cherry burst, as opposed to the 58 and 58, which usually have faded due to sunlight exposure.
Changed the red analine dye later in 1960. The early 60’s still fade, as evidenced by the 1960 above.
 

cfh

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Jul 31, 2004
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59, 60, 58, 58gt all original. the 59 looks more 'red' in this photo than it really is. Neck profiles are the easiest differences to feel, with the 59 being the most 'traditional' in feel. the 60 is a little thinner in neck profile (not a lot), and the 58 is more round. 59 sounds best but others like the 60. both 58s are more subdued and subtle and sweet in their sound. 59 is more raunchy and the 60 is a little of both sounds.

4lps_1.jpg
 

K_L

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Sep 11, 2014
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Wow! Very nice!

59, 60, 58, 58gt all original. the 59 looks more 'red' in this photo than it really is. Neck profiles are the easiest differences to feel, with the 59 being the most 'traditional' in feel. the 60 is a little thinner in neck profile (not a lot), and the 58 is more round. 59 sounds best but others like the 60. both 58s are more subdued and subtle and sweet in their sound. 59 is more raunchy and the 60 is a little of both sounds.

4lps_1.jpg
 
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