• Guys, we've spent considerable money converting the Les Paul Forum to this new XenForo platform, and we have ongoing monthly operating expenses. THE "DONATIONS" TAB IS NOW WORKING, AND WE WOULD APPRECIATE ANY DONATIONS YOU CAN MAKE TO KEEP THE LES PAUL FORUM GOING! Thank you!

Joe B.’s ultimate guitar safari...introducing The Bosco Burst!

JBLPplayer

Active member
Joined
Sep 29, 2010
Messages
1,136
How many Bursts does Joe have now? I know he moved a couple along when he got Amos and another early V (I think...)
so I lost count.
How many guitars total (roughly) and how many amps?

I own 12 of them now. The Bosco Burst is a great guitar that I purchased from the original owner in Melbourne Florida. Al and his brother Frank bought the guitar in 1959 from their guitar teacher in New York. After Frank passed Al held the guitar until this year and finally decided to sell it. A friend of Al’s suggested that he contact me about possibly purchasing it. He reached out to Norm at Norman’s Rare Guitars and Norm called me. I spoke to Al via telephone for a few weeks and agreed on a price and arranged to drive down from Nashville to Melbourne Florida a few weeks ago. Three things that I love about this guitar. The Color, The Sound and most importantly I made a new friend in Al Bosco. I had to pay a lot of money for this guitar. There are no deals on this kind of stuff especially uncirculated and an original owner. The deciding factor for me was that I really liked Al as person and knew how hard a process this was for him to finally let it go. It’s 8.4 pounds of Les Paul goodness that I am blessed to own. Didn’t need a screw driver to tell this guitar was right. It revealed itself when the case opened. Joe B
PS: The original photos in black and white helped too.
 
Last edited:

AA00475Bassman

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 26, 2016
Messages
3,769
Cool story , Glad to see JB owning this guitar . The guitar Ambassador Joe is the guy !!!
 

lare65

Active member
Joined
Feb 18, 2017
Messages
110
I own 12 of them now. The Bosco Burst is a great guitar that I purchased from the original owner in Melbourne Florida. Al and his brother Frank bought the guitar in 1959 from their guitar teacher in New York. After Frank passed Al held the guitar until this year and finally decided to sell it. A friend of Al’s suggested that he contact me about possibly purchasing it. He reached out to Norm at Norman’s Rare Guitars and Norm called me. I spoke to Al via telephone for a few weeks and agreed on a price and arranged to drive down from Nashville to Melbourne Florida a few weeks ago. Three things that I love about this guitar. The Color, The Sound and most importantly I made a new friend in Al Bosco. I had to pay a lot of money for this guitar. There are no deals on this kind of stuff especially uncirculated and an original owner. The deciding factor for me was that I really liked Al as person and knew how hard a process this was for him to finally let it go. It’s 8.4 pounds of Les Paul goodness that I am blessed to own. Didn’t need a screw driver to tell this guitar was right. It revealed itself when the case opened. Joe B
PS: The original photos in black and white helped too.

Congratulation to a spectacular find!! Great story and I agree on the colour, magical! And the sound in your hands too..:salude
 

MapleFlame

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 3, 2005
Messages
14,044
I own 12 of them now. The Bosco Burst is a great guitar that I purchased from the original owner in Melbourne Florida. Al and his brother Frank bought the guitar in 1959 from their guitar teacher in New York. After Frank passed Al held the guitar until this year and finally decided to sell it. A friend of Al’s suggested that he contact me about possibly purchasing it. He reached out to Norm at Norman’s Rare Guitars and Norm called me. I spoke to Al via telephone for a few weeks and agreed on a price and arranged to drive down from Nashville to Melbourne Florida a few weeks ago. Three things that I love about this guitar. The Color, The Sound and most importantly I made a new friend in Al Bosco. I had to pay a lot of money for this guitar. There are no deals on this kind of stuff especially uncirculated and an original owner. The deciding factor for me was that I really liked Al as person and knew how hard a process this was for him to finally let it go. It’s 8.4 pounds of Les Paul goodness that I am blessed to own. Didn’t need a screw driver to tell this guitar was right. It revealed itself when the case opened. Joe B
PS: The original photos in black and white helped too.

It reminds me of the dark burst Koss played on Mr. Big video. Enjoy in good health. Bout to go up to Adirondacks to Snowmobile/Ski. N.Y. pride.:dude:
 

Tom Wittrock

Les Paul Forum Co-Owner
Joined
Aug 2, 2001
Messages
42,567
I own 12 of them now. The Bosco Burst is a great guitar that I purchased from the original owner in Melbourne Florida. Al and his brother Frank bought the guitar in 1959 from their guitar teacher in New York. After Frank passed Al held the guitar until this year and finally decided to sell it. A friend of Al’s suggested that he contact me about possibly purchasing it. He reached out to Norm at Norman’s Rare Guitars and Norm called me. I spoke to Al via telephone for a few weeks and agreed on a price and arranged to drive down from Nashville to Melbourne Florida a few weeks ago. Three things that I love about this guitar. The Color, The Sound and most importantly I made a new friend in Al Bosco. I had to pay a lot of money for this guitar. There are no deals on this kind of stuff especially uncirculated and an original owner. The deciding factor for me was that I really liked Al as person and knew how hard a process this was for him to finally let it go. It’s 8.4 pounds of Les Paul goodness that I am blessed to own. Didn’t need a screw driver to tell this guitar was right. It revealed itself when the case opened. Joe B
PS: The original photos in black and white helped too.

Thanks Joe! :salude
 

agogetr

Active member
Joined
Jan 22, 2019
Messages
451
12 bursts! id be guilty as charged too if i had the scratchorama. i saw joe do a rig rundown and he banged some chords out with a burst through his dumbles and !!!!! man even through my 16 dollar headphones.. thick lush awesome crunchy goodness. just flat killer tone. when he combines those with his signature twins i think he has about the best tone goin. imao (in my arrogant opinion)
 

viper007

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 26, 2007
Messages
1,631
I own 12 of them now.

Maybe this is a rude and out of order, please tell me in that case, but is the 12:

9-0378, 9-0829, 9-0917, 9-1948, 9-1951, 0-0162, 0-1491, 0-7171, 0-7452, 0-7453, 0-8089 and 0-8145?
 
Last edited:

StSpider

Active member
Joined
Aug 24, 2002
Messages
2,148
I own 12 of them now. The Bosco Burst is a great guitar that I purchased from the original owner in Melbourne Florida. Al and his brother Frank bought the guitar in 1959 from their guitar teacher in New York. After Frank passed Al held the guitar until this year and finally decided to sell it. A friend of Al’s suggested that he contact me about possibly purchasing it. He reached out to Norm at Norman’s Rare Guitars and Norm called me. I spoke to Al via telephone for a few weeks and agreed on a price and arranged to drive down from Nashville to Melbourne Florida a few weeks ago. Three things that I love about this guitar. The Color, The Sound and most importantly I made a new friend in Al Bosco. I had to pay a lot of money for this guitar. There are no deals on this kind of stuff especially uncirculated and an original owner. The deciding factor for me was that I really liked Al as person and knew how hard a process this was for him to finally let it go. It’s 8.4 pounds of Les Paul goodness that I am blessed to own. Didn’t need a screw driver to tell this guitar was right. It revealed itself when the case opened. Joe B
PS: The original photos in black and white helped too.

Honestly, just from that small clip on instagram I get the feeling that this burst sounds really really darn good. Congrats!
 

joemags54

New member
Joined
May 17, 2011
Messages
1,275
I own 12 of them now. The Bosco Burst is a great guitar that I purchased from the original owner in Melbourne Florida. Al and his brother Frank bought the guitar in 1959 from their guitar teacher in New York. After Frank passed Al held the guitar until this year and finally decided to sell it. A friend of Al’s suggested that he contact me about possibly purchasing it. He reached out to Norm at Norman’s Rare Guitars and Norm called me. I spoke to Al via telephone for a few weeks and agreed on a price and arranged to drive down from Nashville to Melbourne Florida a few weeks ago. Three things that I love about this guitar. The Color, The Sound and most importantly I made a new friend in Al Bosco. I had to pay a lot of money for this guitar. There are no deals on this kind of stuff especially uncirculated and an original owner. The deciding factor for me was that I really liked Al as person and knew how hard a process this was for him to finally let it go. It’s 8.4 pounds of Les Paul goodness that I am blessed to own. Didn’t need a screw driver to tell this guitar was right. It revealed itself when the case opened. Joe B
PS: The original photos in black and white helped too.
Thank you JBLPlayer for filling in the details.
My dear friend Ed Clark had sent me the pic of the guitar prior to sale .
Absolutely blown away by the color.. (And of course the sound when you posted playing in Al's kitchen!)
When Ed told me who he suggested to Al, for a potential buyer, of course, I couldn't have agreed more wholeheartedly.
Al had graciously offered Ed, 2 of the VIP passes if he could make it to FLA.
We both stayed at Al's house, who is an absolute "old school" gentleman, while we were down in Florida.
Thank you again, for the tickets ,and the opportunity to shake your hand after the show.
As tired as you probably were, it was obvious you would talk guitars all night! lol.
So once again, congratulations MR B.
The Bosco Burst couldn't be in better custodial hands..
Being a small part of this has been an amazing experience.
P.S., In one of the B & W photos I noticed the metal pick guard thingy was not there.. Have a look again.
Bless you all, and keep on rockin'. IMG_1916.jpg
 
Last edited:

Rotovibe

New member
Joined
Feb 28, 2015
Messages
1
Congrats Joe! She’s a beauty!
I own 12 of them now. The Bosco Burst is a great guitar that I purchased from the original owner in Melbourne Florida. Al and his brother Frank bought the guitar in 1959 from their guitar teacher in New York. After Frank passed Al held the guitar until this year and finally decided to sell it. A friend of Al’s suggested that he contact me about possibly purchasing it. He reached out to Norm at Norman’s Rare Guitars and Norm called me. I spoke to Al via telephone for a few weeks and agreed on a price and arranged to drive down from Nashville to Melbourne Florida a few weeks ago. Three things that I love about this guitar. The Color, The Sound and most importantly I made a new friend in Al Bosco. I had to pay a lot of money for this guitar. There are no deals on this kind of stuff especially uncirculated and an original owner. The deciding factor for me was that I really liked Al as person and knew how hard a process this was for him to finally let it go. It’s 8.4 pounds of Les Paul goodness that I am blessed to own. Didn’t need a screw driver to tell this guitar was right. It revealed itself when the case opened. Joe B
PS: The original photos in black and white helped too.
 

Pellman73

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 9, 2016
Messages
1,762
cool story

Thanks for taking us along for the ride!

I can imagine these Guitar Safaris can be super addicting. the whole process... the hunt... the deal.... the anticipation on the ride... that moment just before opening the case...

just knowing how excited I get when I get a new guitar-- something like this I'm sure takes it to a whole new level
 

Tom Wittrock

Les Paul Forum Co-Owner
Joined
Aug 2, 2001
Messages
42,567
0D1FD327-CB92-458C-87AF-43BFA80566FD-XL.jpg

If you look closely you can see the ground wire. It breaks thru the maple right on the 90 degree edge of the 1" Fostner bore.

View attachment 9186

I have no idea what a "Foster bore" is or what you are talking about.
It would be better to use the full size photo rather than the tiny version.
I still don't see the ground wire going to the tailpiece or the bridge. :hmm
 

Unbound Dot Neck

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 14, 2004
Messages
1,623
Ah Melborne Beach ~ South of Coco
Know it well, Ital pizza and more , lol
Bizzaro.. Long Board House
A1A

Birth place of the #1 lizard ` , Jim Morrison

Sleepy place. Nice turtle nesting grounds, Leather Backs an more
I have watched egg layin on a full moon,, there. Whoa.
Bucket list , indeed

:salude
 
Top