'58-'60 LP Junior or Special..?

Bridgehouse

miserneil said:

Bridgehouse said:

I have to say I like the idea of the special but the pickup placement on the '59 troubles me..

Get a '60 then!! ;-)

Don't seem to be many about tho

Bridgehouse

Hhmmmm there's a '62 Special for sale at one of the vintage dealers - I didn't think they made them as late as 62 and they were all SG's by then? It has the Les Paul logo on the headstock tho... *shrugs* 

IvisonGuitars

Bridgehouse said:

Hhmmmm there's a '62 Special for sale at one of the vintage dealers - I didn't think they made them as late as 62 and they were all SG's by then? It has the Les Paul logo on the headstock tho... *shrugs* 

Link?

Bridgehouse

Will PM

guitars4you

Bridgehouse said:

I have to say I like the idea of the special but the pickup placement on the '59 troubles me..

It has been discussed before on many occassions on many forums inc FB - Certain Specials have a wider gap between fingerboard and the neck pick-up - Yet if you find an original one and it has gone nearly 60 years without 'breaking' then what the 'eck

Bridgehouse

guitars4you said:

Bridgehouse said:

I have to say I like the idea of the special but the pickup placement on the '59 troubles me..

It has been discussed before on many occassions on many forums inc FB - Certain Specials have a wider gap between fingerboard and the neck pick-up - Yet if you find an original one and it has gone nearly 60 years without 'breaking' then what the 'eck

Knowing my luck, it would be a case of

"Check out my new gitwang, it's like my holy grail, and it's never been broke.."

*SNAP*

"Sigh"

IvisonGuitars

Bridgehouse said:

guitars4you said:

Bridgehouse said:

I have to say I like the idea of the special but the pickup placement on the '59 troubles me..

It has been discussed before on many occassions on many forums inc FB - Certain Specials have a wider gap between fingerboard and the neck pick-up - Yet if you find an original one and it has gone nearly 60 years without 'breaking' then what the 'eck

Knowing my luck, it would be a case of

"Check out my new gitwang, it's like my holy grail, and it's never been broke.."

*SNAP*

"Sigh"

If you ever call it a "Gitwang" again, i'll snap it for you....

guitars4you

Bridgehouse said:

guitars4you said:

Bridgehouse said:

I have to say I like the idea of the special but the pickup placement on the '59 troubles me..

It has been discussed before on many occassions on many forums inc FB - Certain Specials have a wider gap between fingerboard and the neck pick-up - Yet if you find an original one and it has gone nearly 60 years without 'breaking' then what the 'eck

Knowing my luck, it would be a case of

"Check out my new gitwang, it's like my holy grail, and it's never been broke.."

*SNAP*

"Sigh"

It is around late 59 and early 60's - the neck pick-up moved around 1/2" towards the tailpiece - I think most/many of these from this period also had no LP Special marking on the headstock facia - plus the scratchplate 'loops' round above the neck pick-up - so easy to identify

Bridgehouse

miserneil said:

Bridgehouse said:

guitars4you said:

Bridgehouse said:

I have to say I like the idea of the special but the pickup placement on the '59 troubles me..

It has been discussed before on many occassions on many forums inc FB - Certain Specials have a wider gap between fingerboard and the neck pick-up - Yet if you find an original one and it has gone nearly 60 years without 'breaking' then what the 'eck

Knowing my luck, it would be a case of

"Check out my new gitwang, it's like my holy grail, and it's never been broke.."

*SNAP*

"Sigh"

If you ever call it a "Gitwang" again, i'll snap it for you....

Used to play in a band where the lead singer called it just so.. used to drive the rest of us mad to the point of distraction. We were merciless in our criticism but he just never seemed to get the message.

It stopped when we came up with a new name for his wife...

andyoz

Anyone catch Jools tonight. What's the Blackberry Smoke lead singer playing. Class band.

Twin Atlantic bring one out as well for their last song.  Rocked the place ...

IvisonGuitars

andyoz said:

Anyone catch Jools tonight. What's the Blackberry Smoke lead singer playing. Class band.

It's a 1956 single cut junior, he's had it years, bought it beat up and had been painted black, used to belong to Rick Richards from the Georgia Satellites.

andyoz

Great vibe with that band...

IvisonGuitars

A slight curve ball here @Bridgehouse but have you considered an Epiphone Coronet?



Basically it's a cross between a DC Junior with a little more 'bite' in the top end like an SG Junior. VERY cool guitars (IMO of course) and a nice alternative to a DC and cheaper too.


.....Basically, I know where there is a beautiful example of one of these for sale and I need someone to buy it quickly to save me from myself. Help a brother out please??

Bridgehouse

miserneil said:

A slight curve ball here @Bridgehouse but have you considered an Epiphone Coronet?



Basically it's a cross between a DC Junior with a little more 'bite' in the top end like an SG Junior. VERY cool guitars (IMO of course) and a nice alternative to a DC and cheaper too.


.....Basically, I know where there is a beautiful example of one of these for sale and I need someone to buy it quickly to save me from myself. Help a brother out please??

Very tempting - I have an Olympic which is far better than it has any right to be as well...

Are you sure you need helping out with that one though? I reckon you need to bite the bullet and accept the inevitable

Blacksheep

I'd think long and hard before going for a DC Special made before Gibson shifted the neck pickup. 
You'd be spending a lot of cash on something that has an inherent design fault. Not an issue perhaps for a collector but if you plan to take it out gigging, I'd personally look elsewhere.
Gibson moved relatively quickly (for them) to change the design in 1959 because they were getting so many of the first DCs returned under warranty.

Coronet players include Hendrix and Steve Marriott. What's not to like?

IvisonGuitars

Blacksheep said:

I'd think long and hard before going for a DC Special made before Gibson shifted the neck pickup. 
You'd be spending a lot of cash on something that has an inherent design fault. Not an issue perhaps for a collector but if you plan to take it out gigging, I'd personally look elsewhere.
Gibson moved relatively quickly (for them) to change the design in 1959 because they were getting so many of the first DCs returned under warranty.

Coronet players include Hendrix and Steve Marriott. What's not to like?

Damn right! 

Bridgehouse

I'm going to look at the '62 I found online tomorrow - will report back.

Pups are 59, the design is the later neck moved pup from 60 onwards, and although the serial is strictly speaking 62, I suspect this is one of the last ones made in 61 before they moved over to the SG style.

guitars4you

Bridgehouse said:

I'm going to look at the '62 I found online tomorrow - will report back.

Pups are 59, the design is the later neck moved pup from 60 onwards, and although the serial is strictly speaking 62, I suspect this is one of the last ones made in 61 before they moved over to the SG style.

good luck with the test drive etc - there always has been that transition period between changes of models and features

Bridgehouse

guitars4you said:

Bridgehouse said:

I'm going to look at the '62 I found online tomorrow - will report back.

Pups are 59, the design is the later neck moved pup from 60 onwards, and although the serial is strictly speaking 62, I suspect this is one of the last ones made in 61 before they moved over to the SG style.

good luck with the test drive etc - there always has been that transition period between changes of models and features

Thanks! I suspect this one was one of the last. Still a DC Special and still has the Les Paul moniker on the headstock. Basically looks like a 60 but the serial suggests 61/62

Bridgehouse

Just as an aside and whilst I think of it - what's the consensus of opinion for the best hard case for a DC Junior or Special?
@miserneil - what do you use?