moonweasel
Active member
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2004
- Messages
- 9,427
Factory Humbuckers on LSLP's Update (nothing crazy, but a teaser pic)
Hey everyone,
After the server hiccup, we lost the thread about humbuckers in Les Paul Standards from the factory. First, Les himself wanted humbuckers on the Standard models. The Spring '68 blueprints show that. They are scanned here: http://www.latesixtieslespauls.com/article_blueprints.asp
Quick update on the now four candidates:
1 - The tangerine bursted one out of california - still haven't heard back...ugh. good looking routes, not totally sold on the finish, may have started out black with black plastic
2 - The Japanese Darkburst - a few of us thought it most likely had some finish work done, regardless, I have great pics all coded up and good to go. It is a 518xxx , 1968 guitar. With no checking and some rounded edges, this one's finish is also hard to confirm. However, there is ZERO evidence of gold paint in the routes (which look good), and no evidence of sanding to REMOVE gold paint.... It is has been published in Japanese books before as well. Back finish also looks odd. Maybe started out tangerine burst with a natural back (like a regular GT back) that was overfinished with dark stain and a darkburst?
3 - Jim Peterik's Goldtop with Black Plastic which he bought new -- He agreed to do an interview through email about it!!! Still haven't heard back, but I knew it could take a while. Jim REALLY knows his stuff and has no reason to not be sincere about it's originality. It was used on TONS of live shows and was his main recording guitar with Survivor. He no longer tours with it because he is very sentimental about it. The Gold finish using black plastic is by far the most plausible for two reasons: 1) it used an existing paint color and the same leftover 50's black plastic parts that LSLPC's did. Gibson was in the business of making money, so they would have only done custom orders if it was nearly zero effort outside of regular production. 2) There is a precedent for using gold with black plastic in the 50's. Big Al confirmed that there we still guys there from the 50's, so....
4 - A NEW candidate just dropped into my lap today. Another gentleman out of Cali has owned a claimed factory GT with black plastic and humbuckers since 1971. He has paperwork which I have seen that definitely proves he has owned it since 73, and I am awaiting some cavity pics. Very nice guy, who is eager to share! Cool stuff. Looks to match Mr. Peterik's guitar exactly, except that it seems to be a very early 1969 guitar, with all 68 features. Might be a darkback too! Will finally be able to confirm factory Dark Backs since he has owned it so long.
--
So, figure another week or two, and the whole thing will go up with tons of pics etc. I've got finals and huge end of semester projects right now, and I want to wait until I hear back from Mr. Peterik's people.
Thanks for the patience! I think we are on to something here. Really remarkable that no one had heard of ANY of these, and four promising leads show up within a few months.
--
Teaser Shot:
Hey everyone,
After the server hiccup, we lost the thread about humbuckers in Les Paul Standards from the factory. First, Les himself wanted humbuckers on the Standard models. The Spring '68 blueprints show that. They are scanned here: http://www.latesixtieslespauls.com/article_blueprints.asp
Quick update on the now four candidates:
1 - The tangerine bursted one out of california - still haven't heard back...ugh. good looking routes, not totally sold on the finish, may have started out black with black plastic
2 - The Japanese Darkburst - a few of us thought it most likely had some finish work done, regardless, I have great pics all coded up and good to go. It is a 518xxx , 1968 guitar. With no checking and some rounded edges, this one's finish is also hard to confirm. However, there is ZERO evidence of gold paint in the routes (which look good), and no evidence of sanding to REMOVE gold paint.... It is has been published in Japanese books before as well. Back finish also looks odd. Maybe started out tangerine burst with a natural back (like a regular GT back) that was overfinished with dark stain and a darkburst?
3 - Jim Peterik's Goldtop with Black Plastic which he bought new -- He agreed to do an interview through email about it!!! Still haven't heard back, but I knew it could take a while. Jim REALLY knows his stuff and has no reason to not be sincere about it's originality. It was used on TONS of live shows and was his main recording guitar with Survivor. He no longer tours with it because he is very sentimental about it. The Gold finish using black plastic is by far the most plausible for two reasons: 1) it used an existing paint color and the same leftover 50's black plastic parts that LSLPC's did. Gibson was in the business of making money, so they would have only done custom orders if it was nearly zero effort outside of regular production. 2) There is a precedent for using gold with black plastic in the 50's. Big Al confirmed that there we still guys there from the 50's, so....
4 - A NEW candidate just dropped into my lap today. Another gentleman out of Cali has owned a claimed factory GT with black plastic and humbuckers since 1971. He has paperwork which I have seen that definitely proves he has owned it since 73, and I am awaiting some cavity pics. Very nice guy, who is eager to share! Cool stuff. Looks to match Mr. Peterik's guitar exactly, except that it seems to be a very early 1969 guitar, with all 68 features. Might be a darkback too! Will finally be able to confirm factory Dark Backs since he has owned it so long.
--
So, figure another week or two, and the whole thing will go up with tons of pics etc. I've got finals and huge end of semester projects right now, and I want to wait until I hear back from Mr. Peterik's people.
Thanks for the patience! I think we are on to something here. Really remarkable that no one had heard of ANY of these, and four promising leads show up within a few months.
--
Teaser Shot:
Last edited:
