GIBSON, INC., KALAMAZOO,
MICHIGAN The reintroduction of the Les Paul had to be an important project for Gibson. For those of us old enough to remember, the search was on for Les Pauls. Public interest and dealer demand was high. It only makes sense that Gibson would assign their best personnel, and with the last sunbursts just 8 years out of production, certainly some staff remained that were familiar with Les Paul production. I have often seen speculation (generally by sellers) that early examples of the '68 GoldTops are somehow "left over bodies & necks" from 1960. This is ridiculous! In Iwanade's book "The Beauty of the 'Burst" he speculates that guitars were produced in lots of 35 pieces. The single-cut Les Pauls were discontinued in 1960, but Gibson's endorsement contract with Les Paul ran into 1963. Why would they abandon even 35 instruments? Certainly someone attempted to order an "old style" Les Paul during this time. If such left over stock somehow made it into the mid 60's, after Gibson's contract with Les was over, there would have been a waiting list even for instruments that did not say "Les Paul" on the headstock. No '68 or '69 Les Pauls are old stock! But lets talk about how these early production guitars are built. Early goldtops have "small" headstocks, just like the goldtops and sunbursts before them. I have a "small" headstock goldtop. It has been refinished and has a 2 piece, seemed down the middle, maple top, just like the Sunbursts. Pull the neck pickup on a small headstock goldtop or early Custom. They have the long neck tenon, just like the originals. This is perhaps the single most important detail that separates the "reissues" from the originals, and in 1993 the Gibson Custom Shop finally figured it out! Sometime in '69 the "large" headstock goldtops appear, why? Think about it... The neck template for the Custom & GoldTop would be exactly the same, the winds of change... Sometime in '69 the long tenon disappears, the volute, 3 piece necks and sandwiched bodies become standard; the winds of change... The reissue Les Pauls were a huge success and the pressure was on to fill orders. Changes were made in construction techniques to allow increased production. Now one such change may work in favor of overall tone, and that is the maple cap on this Custom model. Again, in Iwanade's book, Yasuhiko goes to great length to explain the "internal stress" created by the maple cap. Is this part of the magic of an original 'Burst? He seems to think so. I don't know. Original Customs are supposed to have an all mahogany body, does this change the tone? I had a '59 Custom in the day, I never thought it sounded bad. Do all original Customs have an all mahogany body? Do any RI Customs? #5608XX is a maple cap over 1 piece mahogany body, long tenon 1 piece neck, built
just like the originals, pre compromises Gibson, Inc., Kalamazoo, Michigan Les Paul. A
poor man's Sunburst? That's for you to decide! Want a closer look? PLEASE read on... |