1952 Les Paul Goldtop

[mikeslub]

Pulled out my 1952 Gibson Les Paul today. I bought this ages ago from an antique dealer with original case. With the exception of a few belt buckle scratches on the back, this guitar was barely played and is near mint. Virtually no lacquer checking. It has a small initial “B” on it that I dare not remove- plus it’s the first initial of my wife’s name, so it is perfect! And even though everyone criticizes the early design due to shallow neck angle requiring the strings to be wrapped below the trapeze stop bar, this guitar plays and sounds glorious! In my opinion it’s perfect for rhythm work. Love it!

 

[seafood]

B is for Beautiful too !!! Beautiful Gibson Les Paul !! Cheers !

 

[J.D.]

That's incredibly clean. Wasn't it Mojo Axe or Music City that made a retrofit top wrap bridge that would install in place of the plain bar with no further/permanent modification? Seems like a good idea to improve playability a bit.

That sticker would drive me mad personally and would have to go

 

[jb_abides]

That's incredibly clean. Wasn't it Mojo Axe or Music City that made a retrofit top wrap bridge that would install in place of the plain bar with no further/permanent modification? Seems like a good idea to improve playability a bit.

That sticker would drive me mad personally and would have to go

Music City:

Trapeze Wrap-Over Compensated Tailpiece, 1952 - 1953 Gibson Replacement Bridge

 

[jb_abides]

And that dark fretboard!

 

[goldtop0]

Cheers Mike.
I played one of these in the early '90s at Auckland Rock Shop, had a baseball bat neck and they wanted NZ$6.5k for it, sold a month later or so to Bryan Adam's guitarist.

 

[Jethro Rocker]

Minty! What a sweet Goldie! Let's see more classic goodies!!

 

[ourmaninthenorth]

I love these.

 

[GreenBurst]

Pulled out my 1952 Gibson Les Paul today. I bought this ages ago from an antique dealer with original case. With the exception of a few belt buckle scratches on the back, this guitar was barely played and is near mint. Virtually no lacquer checking. It has a small initial “B” on it that I dare not remove- plus it’s the first initial of my wife’s name, so it is perfect! And even though everyone criticizes the early design due to shallow neck angle requiring the strings to be wrapped below the trapeze stop bar, this guitar plays and sounds glorious! In my opinion it’s perfect for rhythm work. Love it!
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Very cool. When you say antique dealer do you mean an actual 'antique' dealer selling a bit of everything old? That would be an odd but cool find.

I remember being at Gruhns in 1988 and they had three '52 GTs hanging on the wall of the main floor. They were all priced at $1899. But these all had significant greening.

To put that pricing in perspective they also had a Gibson map guitar finished in natural mahogany for $695. I should've bought one of the GTs.

 

[mikeslub]

Very cool. When you say antique dealer do you mean an actual 'antique' dealer selling a bit of everything old? That would be an odd but cool find.

I remember being at Gruhns in 1988 and they had three '52 GTs hanging on the wall of the main floor. They were all priced at $1899. But these all had significant greening.

To put that pricing in perspective they also had a Gibson map guitar finished in natural mahogany for $695. I should've bought one of the GTs.

Yes, it was an antique dealer, not a guitar dealer. He was advertising on eBay at the time. Again, many moons ago. I treasure this one.
I also own a '53 with trapeze, purchased from Gruhn's a long time ago as well.

 

[mikeslub]

Minty! What a sweet Goldie! Let's see more classic goodies!!

You mean like this? 1952, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 57.

 

[charliechitlins]

I must be the only person for whom a trapeze Lester is my dream guitar.
It used to be they were cheap because nobody wanted to play one.
Now nobody wants to play one and they're expensive.

 

[ampdan]

Beautiful guitar! If it wasn't played much, something chewed on the fretboard first 3 frets.

 

[ourmaninthenorth]

Beautiful guitar! If it wasn't played much, something chewed on the fretboard first 3 frets.

Them Cowboys have got to eat something, gets very lonely out on the range.

 

[jb_abides]

That's incredibly clean. Wasn't it Mojo Axe or Music City that made a retrofit top wrap bridge that would install in place of the plain bar with no further/permanent modification? Seems like a good idea to improve playability a bit.

That sticker would drive me mad personally and would have to go

Apologies, I should give 'fair time' to BOTH, especially a forum brother, @DANELECTRO

So --> Here's the MojoAxe version!

MojoAxe CTT-A Compensated Top-Wrap Trapeze Tailpiece

The MojoAxe Trapeze Tailpiece is designed to improve the playability of 1952-1953 Les Paul Goldtops by replacing the original “wrap-under” bridge with a compensated “top-wrap” bridge which dramatically improving the tuning of the guitar and allows for palm muting of the strings. The CTT tailpiece is CNC machined from 7075 aircraft grade lightweight aluminum bar stock. The tailpiece is designed to fit onto the existing trapeze rods (rods are not included) and it is adjustable for both intonation and height. The standard finish is aged (un-aged available on request)

 

[mikeslub]

Thanks much for the links to the retrofit tailpieces. But besides changing the strings, I'm not going to touch a thing on my '52 or '53, even if it can be removed and replaced. These geetars play and sound perfect as-is. And I'm not going to be the first person who turns a screw on them - the next owner can do that when I kick the bucket.

 

[jb_abides]

Thanks much for the links to the retrofit tailpieces. But besides changing the strings, I'm not going to touch a thing on my '52 or '53, even if it can be removed and replaced. These geetars play and sound perfect as-is. And I'm not going to be the first person who turns a screw on them - the next owner can do that when I kick the bucket.

Absolutely.

BTW, Mike, I don't mean to derail the thread, I just wanted to fully answer JD's query and provide others with the pointers they may need in the future.

 

[Jethro Rocker]

You mean like this? 1952, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 57.

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Yeah yeah yeah! Like that! Nice.

 

[Subliminal lanimilbuS]

Pulled out my 1952 Gibson Les Paul today. I bought this ages ago from an antique dealer with original case. With the exception of a few belt buckle scratches on the back, this guitar was barely played and is near mint. Virtually no lacquer checking. It has a small initial “B” on it that I dare not remove- plus it’s the first initial of my wife’s name, so it is perfect! And even though everyone criticizes the early design due to shallow neck angle requiring the strings to be wrapped below the trapeze stop bar, this guitar plays and sounds glorious! In my opinion it’s perfect for rhythm work. Love it!
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Is the original case manufactured by Geib? Can you post a pic of the case?

 

[mikeslub]

Is the original case manufactured by Geib? Can you post a pic of the case?

First two photos here: https://lilypix.com/thumbnails.php?album=2352