1960 Les Paul ‘Burst’ Restoration

DrJazzTap

incredible skills on display. If I could anything half as well I'd be chuffed. 

Three-ColourSunburst

It seems we are not going to find out the final cost of this guitar, taking into account the value of the donor instruments, the cost of the work and so on, but I was a little taken aback to see that 1960 customs seem to go for around $50,000 for a battered one and approaching $60,000 for one in good condition. This suggest that had this guitar just been refinished back to its original colour it would still  have been worth serious money, and it was hardly a basket case for which restoration was not a practical option.

Does anyone have any idea what the original would have been worth after a simple refinish? Would the fact it had a maple top have made it more valuable than a standard custom, given that the faithful believe the maple top on a 'real' Les Paul makes a significant contribution to the sound of the instrument? I would guess for some a Custom that sounded like a real Les Paul would have been the ultimate guitar!

poopot

Three-ColourSunburst said:

It seems we are not going to find out the final cost of this guitar, 

And I’m fine with that seeing as it none of my damn business in the first place!!!!

and tbh

it’s no one else’s business other than the OP’s!!!

the work has been done, it looks great, that’s all that matters... 

jumping@shadows

roberty said:

This just popped up on my Facebook feed

Is this person talking bollocks?

People will do anything for attention

edit: this looks to be the OP photo

WTF is this about?! I shall be messaging this chap   

Three-ColourSunburst

poopot said:

Three-ColourSunburst said:

It seems we are not going to find out the final cost of this guitar, 

And I’m fine with that seeing as it none of my damn business in the first place!!!!

Yes, I understand that OP might well not want to put a price on his guitar, and that is fair enough. However, as I said, I have just seen how much 60 customs go for in general, and was wondering what the potential value of refinished 1960 Custom that had a maple cap might have been. 

TA22GT

Why does the value of this guitar matter to anyone but the OP?? What has it got to do with anyone else??

 I don't see it for sale yet. Then it will have a price tag.

It will be either worth it or not worth it according to the buyer....or more importantly, what the Internet thinks it's worth.

poopot

Three-ColourSunburst said:

However, as I said, I have just seen how much 60 customs go for in general, and was wondering what the potential value of refinished 1960 Custom that had a maple cap might have been. 

Whatever someone is willing to pay for one!...

and, unless you are the op’s business manager, bank manager, accountant or wife. It’s not really any of your business... 

it is however the op’s business and I’m sure he is in business to make as much money as possible... so, you can surmise that the guitar now is worth more than the value of the original iteration plus the value of the doner guitars used in the conversion process... or he wouldn’t have done it...

Now, that final value has cock all to do with me, you or anyone else... unless of course me, you or anyone else is actually going to buy it!... in which case I’m fairly certain a deal won’t be struck on this thread on a public forum for the entire world to see...

get over it, move on and just sit back and admire the craftsmanship that went into turning a butt ugly les Paul into something that looks great and is probably now more desirable....


If you really must put a value on it, check the compleated listings on eBay, sometimes that’s quite a good barometer of used guitar prices!...

darcym

this is top drawer, I love these threads, clearly stunning workmanship and skill, that middle pickup fill is amazingly clean.

jumping@shadows

poopot said:

Three-ColourSunburst said:

However, as I said, I have just seen how much 60 customs go for in general, and was wondering what the potential value of refinished 1960 Custom that had a maple cap might have been. 

Whatever someone is willing to pay for one!...

and, unless you are the op’s business manager, bank manager, accountant or wife. It’s not really any of your business... 

it is however the op’s business and I’m sure he is in business to make as much money as possible... so, you can surmise that the guitar now is worth more than the value of the original iteration plus the value of the doner guitars used in the conversion process... or he wouldn’t have done it...

Now, that final value has cock all to do with me, you or anyone else... unless of course me, you or anyone else is actually going to buy it!... in which case I’m fairly certain a deal won’t be struck on this thread on a public forum for the entire world to see...

get over it, move on and just sit back and admire the craftsmanship that went into turning a butt ugly les Paul into something that looks great and is probably now more desirable....


If you really must put a value on it, check the compleated listings on eBay, sometimes that’s quite a good barometer of used guitar prices!...

I appreciate all the contributions on this thread, from all sides of the spectrum and understand why those with differing convictions hold their views, coming from the context of their varying knowledge of vintage guitars, luthiery, market value/trends or just knee plain jerk moral/emotional response.

Long before I was a luthier, focused on the specific niche of vintage Gibson restorations/conversions, I worked on Denmark Street 40-50hrs a week, up to my neck in ‘50s/‘60s Gibson, Fender, Epiphone, Gretsch, D’Angelico, Guild guitars and amps etc day in day out, maintaining, setting up and most relevant to this thread, authenticating and valuing for insurance purposes.

From doing this daily, for several years, as well as buying scores of vintage guitars for myself from my late teens, I have a very, very strong grip (albeit conservative I find..), on the real world values of any guitar in my spectrum of interest, as well as individual parts, regardless of condition or originality.

All that rolls over into my current role, as I buy and restore/convert husks and populate them with vintage parts, and tally cost against ‘value’ as a completed guitar, and in the context of other examples for sale or sold.

Suffice to say, and pretty much regardless of anyone else who isn’t a seasoned collector, dealer or vintage expert, I know exactly what this guitar IS and also it’s worth simply from about 20 years of obsessive focus and hands on experience in the field, and the pretty privileged vantage point of being an extremely experienced buyer, seller, restorer and field expert all rolled into one.

I don’t really feel compelled to comment beyond that, as I’m not motivated to convince strangers and casual spectators why I’ve come to my conclusions from the thousands thousands of hours I’ve lived and breathed this stuff, when they’re just shooting from the hip, but suffice to say in my expert opinion, this is the best thing that’s ever happened to this guitar, and it’s in its most desirable incarnation to date  

johnhe

I have no real interest in commenting much on the “keep it original” drama. I’m in the “is only a guitar” camp so I tend to think the owner had the right to do whatever he wanted to it. I’m still in 2 minds as to what I woudl have done.

Having said that, what has blown me away is the workmanship. If I hadn’t seen the “during” photos, I would have had real difficulty believing the “after” photos. The matching of the grain on the replaced binding, the filling of the back binding channel, and especially the filling of the pickup hole are almost beyond belief.

This is a fantastic thread - it’s been just so wonderful to see it. Thanks so much for sharing.

NorthernPaul

I'll echo most of the other comments, this is amazing work and it's a truly stunning guitar Thanks for putting it on here, it's really interesting stuff, there are some seriously talented folk on this forum.

boogieman

I’m a huge fan of black LP customs but I have to say that the reworked guitar is a vast improvement on the as-bought one shown in the OPs first pic. Superb standard of work. 

mattdavis

I think this looks absolutely stunning. You’ve openly explained what you’ve done so it could never be miss-sold as an original unconverted burst so I can’t see any issue. 
Of more import - does this mean you have a spare PAF floating around? Trade for a boxed anniversary DS-1? :-)
top work 

Grumpyrocker

Good lord at the folks who want this beautiful top painted over. Cork-sniffing silliness. 

Amazing work OP. What a stunning guitar and fabulous talent in making it so.

Skipped

What a great thread.

I can see the argument for a back to black custom. But only j@s has had the guitar in his hands and it seems that making the decision was not difficult. I doubt that anyone in 1960 suddenly decided that he wanted to order an LPC with a maple cap. And therefore, it seems that this  was indeed a factory anomaly in which a 'Burst became a LPC  for whatever reason.

Restoration seems more appropriate than Conversion for this particular guitar.

Talking of Conversions I note that Joe Bonamassa was using his recently acquired Conversion for most of the 90 minute Black Country Communion show currently on youtube. He is also using the same guitar in the clips posted from Nottingham Motorpoint Arena this month.

And wonderful it sounds.

What does this mean?

It means that owning and playing one of the worlds greatest guitars is possible and (arguably) affordable.

Giving exact figures is difficult but let me put it this way. If for some reason you have purchased four R8s that would surely  be a decent deposit.

CHRISB50

I’d echo the comments of a great thread. I’m really not the type the guy who is normally wow’d or interested in this sort of thing, but it’s captured my imagination. I can’t even imagine the level of skill and care that goes into doing something like this. 

I’d guess doing what the op does he’s encountered all kinds of silliness before, and he’s still going, so has grown a thick skin. 

Good on you man. It’s amazing. 

And obviously quite polarising! 

ourmaninthenorth

jumping@shadows said:

 


And the big reveal:

Is this the finished article Yukki, or are you going to put some ageing on it? 

usedtobe

Great work. I might be in a minority (of one, possibly) but I liked it before and I like it after. 

Ossyrocks

@jumping@shadows ; Another great project Yuuki, I think one is one of your most interesting and successful yet as it was quite a complicated one compared with some of your others in my opinion. Your ninja restoration skills are impressive. 

Keep 'em coming

Rob

TA22GT

:

jumping@shadows said:

 


And the big reveal:

 

@jumping@shadows ;

Absolutely love your work and knowledge. Fantastic guitar!

Genuine question:  What's going on with the neck pickup location in relation to the fingerboard end?

I know the ring is not screwed down.

 It's not just the gap, it appears that the pickup ring sits quite low compared to the end of the neck.

The only thing I can think of is maybe the neck angle on a 60 LPC is different to a 59 Burst? I'm not nit-picking as I am genuinely interested!