The Les Paul Story 1952-60
This article was researched and written by the webmaster of this site and is © 2001
Although the PAFs were now being fitted to the Gold Top and Custom Les Pauls, P90s continued to be used on the Juniors, TVs and Specials. These latter guitars underwent some cosmetic modification when, in 1958, the Junior acquired a double cutaway body, and in 1959 the same change was made to the Special.
The neck pickup on the double cutaway Special was later moved further away from the neck after it was realised that with the neck pickup cavity so close to the new top cutaway the neck join area had been seriously weakened. Another version of the Special was also made available in 1959 - the 3/4 size version. This had the same reduced scale length of the 3/4 size Junior.
A further change would take place to the Les Paul Gold Top's design in 1958; the gold top finish was replaced with a cherry red sunburst. This produced what have subsequently become the most sought after (and expensive) Les Pauls of all time: the 'bursts'. Often referred to as 'Les Paul Standards', this description is not technically correct. At the time this model was named by Gibson simply as a 'Les Paul'; the description 'Standard' was never used by Gibson in any official literature until at least 1960. To call a 50's Les Paul Sunburst a 'Les Paul Standard' is, strictly speaking, to use an anachronism. However, as with the use of the term 'Gold Top', it does provide a convenient label.
Many of Gibson's late 50's red Sunbursts were sprayed with an ultra-violet sensitive dye and over time with exposure to sunlight often faded to a uniform brown known to collectors as 'unburst'. The tendency for the red dye to behave in this way is the reason why late 50's Les Pauls can now be seen in a variety of red and brown sunbursts.
The extent to which the Sunbursts faded to brown depended not just upon how much UV exposure they'd had but also when they were made. The models from circa 1959 tend to have the red dye that was most susceptible to this effect; models from around 1958 can also be seen faded to brown but less so than those from the following year. Most 1960 models were finished with a red dye that was almost impervious to fading and are often still a cherry red sunburst. A few Les Pauls from the vintage era can be found with an all over, no sunburst, cherry red finish.
A further cosmetic result of replacing the gold top with a sunburst finish was that the grain of the maple was now clearly visible. One of the peculiarities of the maple used was that, due to what is actually a genetic defect in the wood, some maple tops had flamed/figured patterns that ran across the grain and which reflect light in a 3-dimensional way as the wood is turned.
These 'tiger stripe' patterns can be strikingly beautiful and, due to collectors rather than players, the most expensive and sought after 'bursts are usually the ones with the heavily flamed/figured tops. These days Gibson (and others) are wise to this appreciation of flamed maple; maple tops are now graded according to how flamed they are for use in different ranges of guitars which are then priced accordingly. But back in '58 it was just pot luck as to how figured the maple top on any particular Les Paul would be. There was no price-banding on the instrument when new based on flaming/figuring.
Forward to Part Six: More about 'bursts
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This article is © 2001, first published in the UK 2003. It was licensed for use on the UKGuitarShop.com website in 2004 and also appeared on earlier versions of this site previously hosted at vintage-gibson-les-pauls.ukartists.com and freeserve.co.uk. Permission has not been given for it to be reproduced anywhere else. All rights reserved.
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