1960 Burst Restoration

ourmaninthenorth · Nov 19, 2018

Restoration in the truest sense of the word.

Reno_1ted · Nov 19, 2018

The amazing attention to detail, the painstaking work to match wood that wont really be seen, the passion and the drive to get this one "right" is inspiring.

Any project like this will always divide opinion, which is cool. Personally I feel like this was half way between burst and custom and felt wrong being in that inbetween camp (I do get the people who like that unique camp for sure). The direction to go down the burst route with this would have been my choice too FWIW. It was basically a burst with custom specs, or a custom with burst specs, depending on your view so for me either direction could make sense. The work on the neck needed doing regardless, the real crime in all this being the person who shaved it! Whoever owns this guitar next will be able to get a rose by any other name in my view - at what will certainly be a cheaper price than a factory burst.

While opinions should always be welcomed, anyone calling this guitar a fake burst needs to give their head a wobble. You just read an entire thread showing every single bit of work done to this guitar, including the before pictures and history of it - not something that the OP needed to share with us all. So he is telling everyone, publicly, in a respected forum, exactly what this guitar is and isn't. Not many people in this industry would do that, and documenting it avoids any future confusion which i think is laudable and exactly why the OP is one of the most trusted luthiers and vintage guitar specialists in the UK.

ourmaninthenorth · Nov 19, 2018

I can dress up as a Woman ( steady boys, steady ) but my DNA remains unaltered.

'Burst.

StSpider · Nov 19, 2018

Reno_1ted said:
While opinions should always be welcomed, anyone calling this guitar a fake burst needs to give their head a wobble. You just read an entire thread showing every single bit of work done to this guitar, including the before pictures and history of it - not something that the OP needed to share with us all. So he is telling everyone, publicly, in a respected forum, exactly what this guitar is and isn't. Not many people in this industry would do that, and documenting it avoids any future confusion which i think is laudable and exactly why the OP is one of the most trusted luthiers and vintage guitar specialists in the UK.

I did not mean fake as in "done to fool someone else". Besides, and I say this with all due respect to OP, despite being done with exceptional care you can totally see the mods that went through even in the photos, and they're bound to be even more evident in person. I don't think this guitar could ever fool anyone as a real 'burst.

T.Allen · Nov 19, 2018

VamboRool said:
The guitar looks great, but I agree with the comment that it is a conversion and not a restoration. I think it would have been better to have left it as a Custom and finish it in cherry red. Anybody know how many maple topped 1954-61 Customs were made? There is one less now.

That would look awesome!

Tom Wittrock · Nov 19, 2018

So, could one of you "in-the-know" please tell us exactly what this was before this work was done? :hmm

StSpider · Nov 19, 2018

As far as I understand the guitar started it's life as a body made for a burst with a bookmatched maple cap that for whatever reason ended up as a custom, with all the aesthetic appointments and a factory black finish. I don't see any evidence of the contrary and the black paint in the pot cavity seems to point there too.

deytookerjaabs · Nov 19, 2018

Tom Wittrock said:
So, could one of you "in-the-know" please tell us exactly what this was before this work was done? :hmm

I'm not "in the know" but from what was stated, as far as I can tell:

Factory 3 Pickup Les Paul Custom with a 2 piece maple cap hiding under the black.

At some point a Bigsby, a headstock repair, a neck shave.

And a refin to translucent orange showing the cap.

Then another refin to a sunburst.

Then this full on cosmetic surgery to standard specs.

ourmaninthenorth · Nov 19, 2018

Best guess...

An order for a Custom that Gibson lifted a Standard off the line to complete.

Lets face it, contextually the Standard in 1960 was coming to the end of it's life...I think it's a reasonable scenario. I doubt this would have been a big deal and simply Gibson filling an order with what they had to hand.

It can of course join the plethora of Maple capped Customs from the 50's....that is of course if anyone knows of one...

Serial number(s) ?

Anyone?

zacknorton · Nov 19, 2018

It’s certainly an impressive amount of work.

The pickup plug and grain matching is really impressive.

Your “body rim binding ring” is ingenious!

I am surprised at how much of the top binding repair is visible....or is that some artifact in the picture??? How does the back look?

VamboRool · Nov 19, 2018

From what has been presented, the guitar was sold new as a black, three pick-up, ebony fingerboard, large split diamond headstock Custom. Now it is neither a Custom or a Standard, I guess it is a Custard.

Ed Driscoll · Nov 19, 2018

ourmaninthenorth said:
I can dress up as a Woman ( steady boys, steady ) but my DNA remains unaltered.

'Burst.

The guitar left the factory in black paint, with three pickups, an ebony fretboard, a split diamond headstock, and a birth certificate that says Gibson was selling this guitar as a Les Paul Custom, and it spent all of its life as a three pickup Les Paul Custom until a few months ago, when expensive surgery was begun that converted into a guitar that successfully passes as a Standard unless one checks very carefully. What exists now is a handsome conversion of a different model guitar to the more desirable 1958-1960 sunburst Standard model. Not a restoration of an aging factory 1960 Sunburst.

J.D. · Nov 19, 2018

VamboRool said:
From what has been presented, the guitar was sold new as a black, three pick-up, ebony fingerboard, large split diamond headstock Custom. Now it is neither a Custom or a Standard, I guess it is a Custard.

This guitar will forever be known in my mind as "custard" :salude

Tom Wittrock · Nov 19, 2018

ourmaninthenorth said:
It can of course join the plethora of Maple capped Customs from the 50's....that is of course if anyone knows of one...

Can you point to others of this "plethora"? :wah

Ed Driscoll · Nov 19, 2018

Tom Wittrock said:
Can you point to others of this "plethora"? :wah

Tom, in your estimation, how many maple-capped LPCs were built in the 1950s?

ourmaninthenorth · Nov 19, 2018

Tom Wittrock said:
Can you point to others of this "plethora"? :wah

No Tom, but I can point you in the right direction to the Department of Sarcasm....:laugh2:

I repeat my earlier posed question, Maple capped 50's Les Paul Custom? With factory correct Custom architecture? ....show me one.

I view this as a lost 'Burst, another example of Gibson's infamous "one off things" rather than a "destroyed" 50's Custom dressed up via refin to look like a 'Burst.

The Standard was in the toilet in 1960, Gibson had a Custom order to fill, not rocket science...get that cheque to the sales office..pronto...

What shape is the cavity hole leading to the jack Yukki?

Of course I may be completely wrong, and am happy to be proved wrong...again, show me another 50's example of this guitar that's supposed to have been destroyed by this restoration...anyone?

:biggrin:

MeHereNow · Nov 19, 2018

Amazing craftmanship as we are used to see from you J@S.

Now.. for all of you that don't understand, are appalled, or one, literally not bound by any subtlety calling it "an asshole move"...

Read!

J@S explaines in the conclusion below the last photo's why he made this guitar the way it is now.
And it should be a recognizable reason for most people on this forum.
[h=1][/h]

MWR · Nov 19, 2018

I read the commentary after the last photo, unless I missed it I don't get the compelling reason. Looks like great craftsmanship. It's his geetar he can do whatever he wants. However I am in the camp that I would have tried to bring it back to how it came into this world. If that meant a 3 p/u black LP Custom , so be it. YMMV

pinefd · Nov 19, 2018

ourmaninthenorth said:
Best guess...

An order for a Custom that Gibson lifted a Standard off the line to complete...

If this were the case...and this may have been what you meant...they would have had to lift the Standard off the line as a body only, before the neck was attached (this would be my guess as to what happened). Since the binding channel for a Custom is different than that of a Standard, then routing for the binding would have taken place before a neck was attached. And when they did attach the neck, it received a Custom neck, which would be different than a Standard.

Frank

MeHereNow · Nov 19, 2018

MWR said:
I read the commentary after the last photo, unless I missed it I don't get the compelling reason. Looks like great craftsmanship. It's his geetar he can do whatever he wants. However I am in the camp that I would have tried to bring it back to how it came into this world. If that meant a 3 p/u black LP Custom , so be it. YMMV

"I’ve had piles of player grade vintage guitars and a good few conversions, but this one feels different to me-to know it’s a factory centre seam flame top 1960 Les Paul, with the original body/neck/top, and looking, playing and sounding as it does, really gives me a heady Burst hit every time I handle it, and it’s the closest I’ll ever come to being in that gang, and having done every last bit of the work myself, from concept to completion makes it all the more special. "

There it is..

People buy/play les paul historics or conversions to get as close as they can to the real 58/59/60 Burst experience because of the simple fact that most of them can't afford to purchase the real deal.
Or send historics/coversions to be "Made over", refinished, re-carved/re-glued/retro-fitted with original 50's parts to have LP's be more "Authentic" "Burst-like"

J@S has the luck that he actually has the incredible woodwork and craftmanship skills, AND an authentic 60's flamed maple body/neck to build his version of the late fifties/early Les Paul everyone worships and wants.

And: to me this isn't what i would call a "restoration" as others mentioned before, but indeed a "conversion".

But he converted it into the guitar that it originally supposed to be/what gibson first intended it to be.
Remember the facts that were already named before:

-there were no maple capped customs in the 50's, not until they reissued the LPC in 1968.
-the routing is square diagonal "Burst routing " instead of the through hole drilling routes of 50's customs

This is one of the most "authentic" conversions out there if you will..

1960 Burst Restoration

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