Most importantly…
I hope that everyone reading this is well and healthy, as well as their loved ones, of course. Right now, more than ever, it is important to take care of the people around you and to make sure that everyone stays safe.
I would love it if you accompanied me on my journey towards the transformation of my Les Paul ´56 Historic Reissue, and chimed in on the many decisions that lie in front of me regarding the makeover. It is very important to me that you give feedback and share your ideas, because the devil always lies in the details and constructive criticism gives me the support I need to solve issues that will present themselves in the course of this project.
Also, this is my way of saying thanks for sharing your projects with the LPF, by sharing my project with you :salude
Most of all, however: if this thread provides some slight diversion from the current grim circumstances and lightens your daily load just a little bit, I will have succeeded in what I set out to do here.
Stay healthy and support each other!
…and I do apologize for all the long-winded and meandering ramblings you will no doubt find below. Feel free to just skim through any them or skip any of them entirely.
I) Where the guitar comes from…
The guitar was made in 1996, one of the early historic reissues. I do not know if it is rare or not. There have never been as many ´56 reissues around as, for example, R9s, but back then, the number of historic reissues …issued (sorry!) altogether was even smaller. All the information I could get from Gibson Customer Service was that mine was originally shipped to a dealer in Hamburg, no case candy included whatsoever, just the standard brown Gibson case with lush pink interior :hmm That was the way things were done in the 90’s. I bought it in Hamburg from the original owner in 2006 or 2007 and it has been with me ever since. I decided a long time ago that this is the one electric guitar I would keep for good. Other guitars come and go. This one stays.
The guitar is very resonant and the stock pick-ups (which are still in there) sound huge. I swapped both the pots and caps for an RS Modern Electronics Kit and the stock tuners for RS aged Grovers, almost immediately after purchasing the guitar, enjoying the vast improvements in dialling in the right tone and actually getting it. It stayed like that for a while, a bone nut being the only major update. Around 2010 I had a B7 put on it and that suited the guitar to my preferences even more. The neck is quite bulky, but not uncomfortable. The back of the neck, however, has a rubbery feel that I would like to see changed. There are a few dings in the finish here and there, that have accumulated over the years, but nothing major.
II) Where I come from…
At one time I bought a set of vintage 1950s P90 pick-ups from Kim LaFleur (I think…) and I was going to have them installed in my R6 to get closer to that elusive vintage sound/vibe, but somehow I never got around to it. Having a makeover done to this guitar made sense to me, since it already possessed the resonance and tonal character that I needed as a starting point. I wanted the guitar to feel, to smell, to look and to sound more like a vintage Les Paul – MY personal vintage-vibe Les Paul. I know that each instrument has its own character and sound. Getting a makeover would never net me a real vintage one, but in terms of authentic feel, smell and, most of all, vibe something akin to the real thing. This guitar already felt great to me and I wanted to build on that, ending up with a personalized instrument that is both unique and a work of art, – an instrument that feels great to pick up and play even before I pick it up and play.
The historical inaccuracies that you find on the early historics have never been anything I was anxious to keep. Rather than being a nuisance, they made this otherwise wonderful guitar an outstanding candidate for a makeover in my book, since they offer more room for development than recent Historics that are more accurate in adhering to vintage correct specs.
I have been a long-time lurker on these forums who has especially enjoyed following the makeover threads, both by HM and Florian. Around 2010 or 2011 I had been on the brink of signing up for a makeover on my guitar, but it just did not come together for me back then.
However, reading and following the awesome and entertaining threads about restoring and embellishing the beautiful Gibson guitars of fellow forum members continued to be an inspiration to me. I never abandoned the idea and I held onto the vintage P90s…
Now, I feel the time is right to take up the old project as kind of a reward for having made it thus far. In fact, it was my wife who encouraged me to reboot this project!!! With that kind of support I contacted Florian Jäger, with whom I had already got in touch ten years before, having been completely blown away and won over by the many examples of his art posted here, once again. I called him up and he instantly remembered me from the one or two tentative e-mails we had exchanged ten years ago! I was completely hooked not only by Florian’s outstanding memory, but also by the gut feeling I got about 10 seconds into the conversation with him. It felt like, within seconds, we were on the same page about what I wanted my guitar to become. Basically, the project began for me right then and there.
I feel like things that have been in limbo for the last couple of years, are now coming together, at last. The stars are in alignment, so to speak. Adnuit coeptis, if you know what I mean :jim
III) Things are already set in motion…
Florian and I talked about the scope on which we would perform the makeover, in general terms only. We did not discuss any finer details at this point on purpose, because we wanted to remain open and unbiased for anything the guitar will present us with over the course of the makeover process.
The two things I am already committed to are that (1) the guitar would receive a Brazilian rosewood fretboard, i.e. the Bavarian Makeover II and that (2) the vintage P90s would be installed. I am also strongly considering keeping the B7, since my kids are very fond of it :hank ALL other options are on the table and up for discussion.
Here are parting pictures I took the morning before I sent the guitar off to Florian, where it would wait for the makeover proceedings to commence:
For me, a goldtop at sunrise is something magical…my limited abilities to take photos notwithstanding.
Here is the guitar having arrived safely at Florian’s, disguised as a MIM Taylor acoustic:
I can't wait for Florian to start working his magic...
IV) Where I would like you to join in…
As mentioned above, I would love to read your ideas and receive your feedback in this thread. My goal is to keep you up to date – and, hopefully, reasonably entertained – during the entire project. As Florian told me, to make this project succeed, he will need my full participation which I would like to share with you as much as possible. It would be great to discuss the different stages of the project with you and ponder all the different courses of action, as they present themselves.
For example, which kind of nut material should I choose? What will we find underneath that factory Goldtop? Should the guitar have a stinger? Should it be a darkback?
You see, there are many questions that need answering.
I will keep you posted and I hope that you will enjoy this thread as much as I do!
I hope that everyone reading this is well and healthy, as well as their loved ones, of course. Right now, more than ever, it is important to take care of the people around you and to make sure that everyone stays safe.
I would love it if you accompanied me on my journey towards the transformation of my Les Paul ´56 Historic Reissue, and chimed in on the many decisions that lie in front of me regarding the makeover. It is very important to me that you give feedback and share your ideas, because the devil always lies in the details and constructive criticism gives me the support I need to solve issues that will present themselves in the course of this project.
Also, this is my way of saying thanks for sharing your projects with the LPF, by sharing my project with you :salude
Most of all, however: if this thread provides some slight diversion from the current grim circumstances and lightens your daily load just a little bit, I will have succeeded in what I set out to do here.
Stay healthy and support each other!
…and I do apologize for all the long-winded and meandering ramblings you will no doubt find below. Feel free to just skim through any them or skip any of them entirely.
I) Where the guitar comes from…
The guitar was made in 1996, one of the early historic reissues. I do not know if it is rare or not. There have never been as many ´56 reissues around as, for example, R9s, but back then, the number of historic reissues …issued (sorry!) altogether was even smaller. All the information I could get from Gibson Customer Service was that mine was originally shipped to a dealer in Hamburg, no case candy included whatsoever, just the standard brown Gibson case with lush pink interior :hmm That was the way things were done in the 90’s. I bought it in Hamburg from the original owner in 2006 or 2007 and it has been with me ever since. I decided a long time ago that this is the one electric guitar I would keep for good. Other guitars come and go. This one stays.
The guitar is very resonant and the stock pick-ups (which are still in there) sound huge. I swapped both the pots and caps for an RS Modern Electronics Kit and the stock tuners for RS aged Grovers, almost immediately after purchasing the guitar, enjoying the vast improvements in dialling in the right tone and actually getting it. It stayed like that for a while, a bone nut being the only major update. Around 2010 I had a B7 put on it and that suited the guitar to my preferences even more. The neck is quite bulky, but not uncomfortable. The back of the neck, however, has a rubbery feel that I would like to see changed. There are a few dings in the finish here and there, that have accumulated over the years, but nothing major.
II) Where I come from…
At one time I bought a set of vintage 1950s P90 pick-ups from Kim LaFleur (I think…) and I was going to have them installed in my R6 to get closer to that elusive vintage sound/vibe, but somehow I never got around to it. Having a makeover done to this guitar made sense to me, since it already possessed the resonance and tonal character that I needed as a starting point. I wanted the guitar to feel, to smell, to look and to sound more like a vintage Les Paul – MY personal vintage-vibe Les Paul. I know that each instrument has its own character and sound. Getting a makeover would never net me a real vintage one, but in terms of authentic feel, smell and, most of all, vibe something akin to the real thing. This guitar already felt great to me and I wanted to build on that, ending up with a personalized instrument that is both unique and a work of art, – an instrument that feels great to pick up and play even before I pick it up and play.
The historical inaccuracies that you find on the early historics have never been anything I was anxious to keep. Rather than being a nuisance, they made this otherwise wonderful guitar an outstanding candidate for a makeover in my book, since they offer more room for development than recent Historics that are more accurate in adhering to vintage correct specs.
I have been a long-time lurker on these forums who has especially enjoyed following the makeover threads, both by HM and Florian. Around 2010 or 2011 I had been on the brink of signing up for a makeover on my guitar, but it just did not come together for me back then.
However, reading and following the awesome and entertaining threads about restoring and embellishing the beautiful Gibson guitars of fellow forum members continued to be an inspiration to me. I never abandoned the idea and I held onto the vintage P90s…
Now, I feel the time is right to take up the old project as kind of a reward for having made it thus far. In fact, it was my wife who encouraged me to reboot this project!!! With that kind of support I contacted Florian Jäger, with whom I had already got in touch ten years before, having been completely blown away and won over by the many examples of his art posted here, once again. I called him up and he instantly remembered me from the one or two tentative e-mails we had exchanged ten years ago! I was completely hooked not only by Florian’s outstanding memory, but also by the gut feeling I got about 10 seconds into the conversation with him. It felt like, within seconds, we were on the same page about what I wanted my guitar to become. Basically, the project began for me right then and there.
I feel like things that have been in limbo for the last couple of years, are now coming together, at last. The stars are in alignment, so to speak. Adnuit coeptis, if you know what I mean :jim
III) Things are already set in motion…
Florian and I talked about the scope on which we would perform the makeover, in general terms only. We did not discuss any finer details at this point on purpose, because we wanted to remain open and unbiased for anything the guitar will present us with over the course of the makeover process.
The two things I am already committed to are that (1) the guitar would receive a Brazilian rosewood fretboard, i.e. the Bavarian Makeover II and that (2) the vintage P90s would be installed. I am also strongly considering keeping the B7, since my kids are very fond of it :hank ALL other options are on the table and up for discussion.
Here are parting pictures I took the morning before I sent the guitar off to Florian, where it would wait for the makeover proceedings to commence:
For me, a goldtop at sunrise is something magical…my limited abilities to take photos notwithstanding.
Here is the guitar having arrived safely at Florian’s, disguised as a MIM Taylor acoustic:
I can't wait for Florian to start working his magic...
IV) Where I would like you to join in…
As mentioned above, I would love to read your ideas and receive your feedback in this thread. My goal is to keep you up to date – and, hopefully, reasonably entertained – during the entire project. As Florian told me, to make this project succeed, he will need my full participation which I would like to share with you as much as possible. It would be great to discuss the different stages of the project with you and ponder all the different courses of action, as they present themselves.
For example, which kind of nut material should I choose? What will we find underneath that factory Goldtop? Should the guitar have a stinger? Should it be a darkback?
You see, there are many questions that need answering.
I will keep you posted and I hope that you will enjoy this thread as much as I do!
Last edited: