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1960 Les Paul ‘Burst’ Restoration

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  • WezV said:
    Given the skill on show, I would assume the restoration of the other guitars was not possible and/or cost effective.
    There's the rub. For that to be the case the ticket on this must surely be more than it would have been for the combined post-restoration value of the three donor guitars. Perhaps the poster who mentioned £50,000 wasn't actually far off! 

    I can't be the only one thinking quanto costa?
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  • guitars4youguitars4you Frets: 14026
    tFB Trader
    WezV said:
    Given the skill on show, I would assume the restoration of the other guitars was not possible and/or cost effective.
    There's the rub. For that to be the case the ticket on this must surely be more than it would have been for the combined post-restoration value of the three donor guitars. Perhaps the poster who mentioned £50,000 wasn't actually far off! 

    I can't be the only one thinking quanto costa?
    I'm confused - Are you thinking @jumping@shadows ; takes a clean, unmolested 61 SG worth £12/15K and rips it apart so he now has a players grade SG worth say £6/7K

    He has said many times before on other postings that the guitars he works on are already 'molested' and poor players grade models - He doesn't just work on 59 burst grade guitars - He regularly shows on FB, postings about  SG's and 335 models, plus others, that have had similar treatment, after finding them in a poor and molested condition
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  • I'm confused - Are you thinking @jumping@shadows ; takes a clean, unmolested 61 SG worth £12/15K and rips it apart so he now has a players grade SG worth say £6/7K
    I never suggested that. I am sure that all three donor guitars were at best 'player grade', and the 61 SG and 59 Melody Maker might well have been in a right state. (Although given the skills shown here I would think just about anything could be restored, given the will).

    All I suggested was that to make economic sense the finished article must be worth more than the combined value, or potential value, of the donor instruments. 

    So is this really a fifty-grand guitar? Twenty-grand? Ten-grand?  I would love to know!

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  • DanielsguitarsDanielsguitars Frets: 3260
    tFB Trader

    So is this really a fifty-grand guitar? Twenty-grand? Ten-grand?  I would love to know!

    It's what someone is willing to pay for it, all i know is even player grade stuff is getting out of reach for most, I'll never be able to afford them that's for sure, i do get to play some really nice vintage stuff so that helps
    www.danielsguitars.co.uk
    (formerly customkits)
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  • poopotpoopot Frets: 9098
    @jumping@shadows top work fella... a 1000% improvement on the first picture and a guitar that will give someone lots of joy no doubt!... 

    and hey!... it’s just wood at the end of the day dude ;)
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  • If I wanted to know the price of this guitar, indeed any guitar, I'd pick the phone up and ask.

    I always have a response when the owner asks the simple question.."why?" 




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  • guitars4youguitars4you Frets: 14026
    tFB Trader
    I'm confused - Are you thinking @jumping@shadows ; takes a clean, unmolested 61 SG worth £12/15K and rips it apart so he now has a players grade SG worth say £6/7K
    I never suggested that. I am sure that all three donor guitars were at best 'player grade', and the 61 SG and 59 Melody Maker might well have been in a right state. (Although given the skills shown here I would think just about anything could be restored, given the will).

    All I suggested was that to make economic sense the finished article must be worth more than the combined value, or potential value, of the donor instruments. 

    So is this really a fifty-grand guitar? Twenty-grand? Ten-grand?  I would love to know!

    the level of any restoration has to be based on cost, time spent on the project and the price a customer is willing to pay - So yes a 59 burst conversion/rebuild will have a higher resale value than a similar 60's SG - Yes, just about  anything can be restored, but the sales potential will ensure many are not, as the cost/time is not worth it 

    The already molested SG will still be a players grade, albeit with a different fingerboard, but I'm sure such a guitar will be 'restored' as required and priced accordingly - maybe in something cool like Pelham Blue to add some desirable character

    Regarding economics and you can see why many lower priced late 50's guitars, that original had a pair of paf pick-ups, have now had them removed - A pair of pafs can sell more than the cost of a 59 ES350T - Not all, but many such guitars have been raided for the wealth that such parts can deliver
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  • Mixed feelings for me but gotta say that your skills are without doubt absolutely top drawer .. I hope you get a lot of pleasure out of it as that is ultimately the bottom line. You certainly delivered what you set out to do in spades..

    Bravo..

    Si
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  • Surprised that so many seem uninterested in the cost of this confection. Somehow, I think the suggestion that this would cost you 50-grand might be about right after all. To my mind, that is madness! Still, to each his own, and that. :)
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  • tone1tone1 Frets: 5111
  • robgilmorobgilmo Frets: 3351
    50k? No, surely not? For an old , unoriginal guitar?
    A Deuce , a Tele and a cup of tea.
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  • TA22GTTA22GT Frets: 362
    It's crazy that people are trying to attach a value to it!
     
     Yuki wants it for himself. If he sells it later then a value will be attached. Right now it isn't for sale and not worth worrying about a value. Allow him to enjoy it in peace. 
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  • GuyRGuyR Frets: 1323

    GuyR said:
    I can't help feeling a little regret at the loss of a really interesting historical anomaly, but it's your guitar and I have to say the result is a testament to your obvious skills. Thanks for posting and I look forward to your next project.
    Thanks man, but really is it any less the ‘same guitar’ as when it was painted black and everyone thought it was just another Custom? By that token stripping the top to paint it orange was the travesty, and it should have gone back to black, regardless of it being a flame top Standard..
    I think it’s all semantics based on a particular belief- I’d never dream of adding a maple cap to a ‘50s LPC, that’s just bonkers, but returning a ‘60 Burst with added Custom cosmetics and black paint job, back to Burst spec if you have the skills to execute such a job to honour the goal, then it’s a no brainer imho. 
    Just to be clear, no criticism is implied or intended of your choice.
    To me, the first refin or irreversible modification is the mistake, everything after that is fair game. I recently added an unmarked Brazillian rosewood fretless fingerboard to an original, but modified, '62 jazz bass, so I am definitely not averse to further modifications, if an instrument is non-original.

    Keep up the good work, and keep posting the results.  Guy
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  • fendergibsonfendergibson Frets: 562
    edited October 2018
    I dunno....... so many peeps think this project it’s sacrilege, wrong, not historically correct, a shame, I would have done this blah de flippin blah......just watch those same usernames commenting on how Gibson are crap, useless, wouldn’t buy one etc etc etc...but can’t play a pentatonic scale, or put together ikea wardrobes...worrying about their tone or which pedal will make them sound ace et al.

    Makes me laugh at the shallowness and pure envy.

    Once again, thanks OP for an inspiring thread and showing your work  3


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  • fendergibsonfendergibson Frets: 562
    edited October 2018
    danny_777 said:
    I've got two views on this:

    1) WOW. Incredible work - finishing, replacing binding, etc. Great details and clearly a very talented luthier.

    2) I also, however, agree that the overall project is quite a shame - it has destroyed what appeared to be an interesting historical anomaly to dress it up as something much more common, but more valuable (were it original). As far as I could see, there wasn't much wrong with it barring the refinish - it was and is a 1960 Les Paul Custom (regardless of what the pieces of wood were 'intended' to be when Gibson picked them off the shelf) which has been stripped, routed, cut up and modified 60 years later so that it looks like a Standard. 

    So very mixed feelings here, but I can't help but feel that we've lost a really interesting piece.


    [admin edit - deleted]
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  • fendergibsonfendergibson Frets: 562
    edited October 2018
    ICBM said:
    Yukki has restored this guitar to it's original form. 

    A one off snatch off the line does not a summer make. 

    Unless of course I'm a halfwit and 50's LPC's came with flame maple caps, specific examples anyone? 
    No, because it was never finished as a Standard. It never had a Standard neck - as Yukki said, the neck hasn’t been replaced so it was always originally a Custom.

    If I had to guess why, it’s because the odd bit of missing flame on the treble side of the seam, and maybe the seam itself, weren’t thought good enough to be finished in sunburst, so the body was converted to a Custom before it ever got near being assembled.

    I just feel sad because the overly elevated status of the Standard has resulted in the loss of a much more interesting example of an original vintage Gibson, which had survived more or less intact for 60 years.

    To make a ridiculously exaggerated analogy , it’s like repainting an original - albeit damaged - Botticelli in order to make a fake Leonardo.

    [admin edit - deleted]
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  • robgilmorobgilmo Frets: 3351
    Looks like someone has nicked Fendergibson's phone. =)
    A Deuce , a Tele and a cup of tea.
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  • fendergibsonfendergibson Frets: 562
    edited October 2018
    You are clearly a very, very talented dude and you are a master at your craft but I do feel a little sad that the last two examples of your work that I have seen have ended up as burst conversions. 
    This guitar was so unique and had a great story about it. A 60s maple capped custom with 3 pafs surely is a much more unique piece than a burst conversion?
    It seems a shame to eradicate it from history.
    [admin edit - deleted]
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  • fendergibsonfendergibson Frets: 562
    edited October 2018
    bodhi said:
    Your skills are admirable, but I can't seem to get past the thought that a truly unique specimen is now gone forever.  Seems a shame to me, but then I'm fond of quirky stuff.
    [admin edit - deleted]
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  • robgilmo said: it
    Looks like someone has nicked Fendergibson's phone. =)

    Henry Juszkiewicz?
    The Bigsby was the first successful design of what is now called a whammy bar or tremolo arm, although vibrato is the technically correct term for the musical effect it produces. In standard usage, tremolo is a rapid fluctuation of the volume of a note, while vibrato is a fluctuation in pitch. The origin of this nonstandard usage of the term by electric guitarists is attributed to Leo Fender, who also used the term “vibrato” to refer to what is really a tremolo effect.
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