very rare 1960 LP Junior TV lefthand

[Fred Hullerum]

Hello,
after I mentioned the existence of my lefthanded 1960 Les Paul Junior TV DC in the Historic District, I was asked to post some pictures in the Vintage-Les-Paul-area. Please allow me to present some selected pics. This beautiful guitar is up to now the only known lefthanded "golden era" LP TV junior double cutaway in the world.

Fred

 

[torger]

nice one:applaude and love the stinger. so, does this prove that the stinger was not necessarily ment to cover up imperfections in the wood. the tv finish is solid?

trgr

 

[MapleFlame]

Don't let Greg at BCR see this, he will wet his willie. Unbelievable guitar, the Stinger is so cool. Thank you Fred for sharing your great lefty example and what an entrance to the Forum. Welcome to the LPF and I hope you hang around for a while.

Do you have a weight on her.

 

[DANELECTRO]

Don't let Greg at BCR see this, he will wet his willie.

Looks like George popped his willie when he caught glimpse of it also.

 

[MapleFlame]

Looks like George popped his willie when he caught glimpse of it also.

That would mean he's strapped:rofl

 

[moonweasel]

Why are you guys looking at this guy's crotch when you could be looking at that guitar?

Go here now: www.playboy.com --- redeem yourself.

 

[Electric Lloyd]

nice one:applaude and love the stinger. so, does this prove that the stinger was not necessarily ment to cover up imperfections in the wood. the tv finish is solid?

trgr

Thank you, & :welcome Fred! A very nice entrance, indeed!

Torger, though the later TV finishes are more opaque than earlier years, the finish still shows the grain. I don't know for sure, but I'm thinking there was a knot or some other imperfection when the neck was milled. I'm a firm believer that stingers (on models that didn't come stock with them, L-5s, Super 400s) are for covering up wood imperfections. I had a '60 ES 125TC witha stinger, & you could make out a knot in the wood, under the finish.

 

[Steve Craw]

Awsome!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MIKE20]

hubba!...

 

[Dire Wolf]

And a Stinger to boot, WOW!:2cool

 

[John Vasco]

No 'Les Paul model' on the headstock together with a stinger - headstock refin? I don't know, just asking the question.

Note the righty dot position markers.

Love to plug that in and crank it up.

 

[MapleFlame]

No 'Les Paul model' on the headstock together with a stinger - headstock refin? I don't know, just asking the question.

Note the righty dot position markers.

Love to plug that in and crank it up.

They ware off very easy, or just wasn't applied. If I'm not mistaken, didn't some of the 60's jr. not have them.

 

[Rev.WillieVK]

Technically it should have 'Les Paul TV Model' on the headstock but like MF said, some '60s didn't have the silkscreen.

I assume that it has the correct lefty side dots as well as the righty side dots?

 

[Joe Ganzler]

I assume that it has the correct lefty side dots as well as the righty side dots?

Good question; doesn't LOOK like it has 'em...:ganz

 

[Fred Hullerum]

You might be interested to get to know how I found this guitar.

I am not a collector; I bought my guitars along my personal needs als a musician, depending on what kind of shows I did and what kind of music I played.

Please allow me to write a little bit about "The Struggle Of Being A Lefthanded Guitar-Player In The Old Days". This struggle since my first gig in 1969 was the reason for me to learn more about guitars than my guitar-friends around me. Until about 1978 I did not know anything about the theory of guitar construction. I just took right handed guitars (Hofners) and put the strings on them like Jimi Hendrix did. When I got semi-professional (album 1979) I needed better tools. So I started to look for books; Tom Wheeler and Hideo Kamimoto opened my eyes. Then I found my ES 120 T, the guitar I love the most until today. She has no cutaways, the bridge can be moved freely for sting compensation.

After having left university early 1980 I went on a USA-Trip. In Santa Barbara I walked the "State Street" and eventually found "California Guitars". The only lefthanded guitar there (a 1962 ES 335 with custom ordered ebony fingerboard and block inlays - a perfect "Alvin Lee Guitar") was too expensive for me. So I took for half the price (950 $) my 1965 Firebird.

A Firebird - when NOT fitted with a Tunamatic-Bridge - is (harmless modification needed) the almost perfect tool for a lefthanded person - probably better than a "real lefthanded Firebird". (I have learned that at least one exists). I will post my ideas on that and some pictures in "The Other Gibsons" area. See this modified Firebird (video taken Feb. 1982) at youtube:

In the years since 1980 Frank Lucido of "California-Guitars" sent me letters of his offers to Germany. In 1982 there was the Jr. in his April-May-letter. I called immediately. I knew, this was the only chance to get a lefthanded LP. I had never heard of any lefthanded Burst and I couldnt ever expect to get one. Would there be any? (Now I know there are four.) The prices for Bursts in general were too expensive for me also in these days (up to 10.000 $ including german customs and taxes); so a Jr. for 850 $ was the only and a good alternative...

Here is the "Gibson part" of this letter from 1982. Please allow me to post it; those were the days and the prices...

Thanks to all your kind (and funny) comments.

No, the headstock has never been refinished. Tom told me in Oldenburg that the lack of the "Les Paul Model" is normal. It is also normal that the guitar has dot markers on both sides of the neck. Sorry that my pictures do not show that. Maybe Toms pictures are better. He said he will post them until he is back home.

Well I have to admit that I didnt know until recently what a "stinger" is. When I got the guitar I thought this "stinger" to be a normal feature. And it made sense to me. I had seen this beautiful Gibson archtop guitars with the same feature on the back of their headstock and I interpreted this to be a "quote", a "hint" that this guitar was made in the tradition of the best industrial luthiers in the world - referring to their heritage.

Well I have played the guitar for 26 years now; I thought and still think there MUST be this stinger. The yellow color on the back of the neck reminds me of violin necks made of maple and archtop necks made of the same wood. The shellac gives maple a "yellow touch". At both ends of the violin neck the colour gets darker. So I see this neck with the stinger as a legacy. I have already seen pictures of guitars showing a "stinger" on the neck-body joint. This makes only sense to me when you see this as a "quote" to the violin/archtop neck colour-design.

Not until 2004 I was aware that my Junior was different. (In books you see front pics most of the time.) I visited London and checked the shops in Denmark Street. I was struck by the large amount of lefthanded guitars there - maybe 20 percent of the inventory was lefthanded. And "my" lefthanded Junior was there - a new reissue hanging next to a righthanded 1960 LP Junior TV DC. This view of these two guitars hanging side by side ("bookmatched") was amazing. I told the dealer that I have "the mother" of that l/h Junior at home and asked the dealer to give the reissue in my hands. Then I found out, that the back of the headstock was "wrong". He corrected me and made very clear, what is "normal" and what not.

See you later in "The other Gibsons" area.

Fred

 

[John Vasco]

Fred,

Great story, and amazing to see the list you posted. The prices of those 58-60 LPs will reduce some forum members to tears...

 

[Dire Wolf]

3 Bursts for $20950; OMG, those were the days! Great piece of history and thanks for sharing !:applaude

 

[Joe Ganzler]

Impeccable provenance!:applaude

 

[moonweasel]

Great story!

 

[moonweasel]

Joe, TW,

Is this the only lefty jr you have seen or heard of?