1960 Les Paul ‘Burst’ Restoration

jumping@shadows

Hi all, I thought I’d share my latest, and arguably most significant vintage Gibson restoration to date- a genuine vintage 1960 Les Paul Standard/Burst!

Some of you may have seen this guitar elsewhere online, and it had already been through a ‘makeover’ with Kim LaFleur at Historic Makeovers to a kinda neither fish nor fowl ‘Custom Burst’, which I felt missed the essence of what this is, so I decided to take it on and restore it to my own vision.

Here’s it’s previous HM incarnation:



This is a truly exotic guitar straight out of the gate, as it’s a flame maple capped 1960 Les Paul Standard that was factory finished as an LP Custom!

I can only speculate that one day back in 1960, Gibson needed to fulfill an order for an LPC and came up short, so simply plucked a Burst out of early production and reassigned it to be a Custom, in the knowledge no one would ever know once it was painted solid black.

As most will know, all ‘50s LPC’s had one piece bodies with no separate ‘cap’ added- so a solid slab of Mahogany, with the traditional top contours carved into said slab, which this guitar, with it’s centre seamed flamed maple cap, clearly is not.

When it was found previous to the HM makeover it retained its’ original factory black LPC finish on the body, three PAF pickups and full Custom cosmetics, but the flame top stripped and stained an almost Gretsch orange! 

I saw this as a unique opportunity to acquire the chassis of a genuine ‘60 Burst, and restore it back to how it would have been if it hadn’t met that fork in the road..

Here is it stripped, showing the routing details and black paint still in the wiring channel and cavities:











The presumably original serial number was impressed into the headstock after a minor fracture repair, and is the one I only stamped on completion:



A little mock up with a spare Brazilian RW board and some loose parts:

Iamnobody

Thanks for sharing - I never tire of seeing these posts. How are you getting around the issue of the middle route? A veneer?

jumping@shadows

First step was to heat off the original LP Custom Ebony fretboard:



The tenon area is tight as can be, and shows no sign of modification or a reneck:



The obvious challenges with this project are dealing with the multi ply body binding front and back...Oh, and that gaping middle pickup hole(!), but we’ll get to that shortly..

I cut a ~3mm ttrim’ from an eastern maple top and painstakingly inlaid it to fill the oversized binding channel, taking care to match the grain orientation: 



Then ‘bound it’ to make up the missing maple to accept a vintage correct single ply LP Standard body binding:

jumping@shadows

Next comes the fun part- the middle pickup fill! 

I’ve sawn off a good few ‘50s Gibson headstocks, and routed many a vintage guitar, but its a peculiar feeling to route a great slab of maple out of what would normally be a £175,000 Burst, but you need to crack some eggs as they say:



I then selected some centre seamed flame maple for the plug, taking care to match the figure, and shapes to give a really tight, seamless join:



After much scraping and shaving the broad woodwork is coming on, and a quick mock up suggests what’s to come:

robgilmo

Please forgive my ignorance but surely to 'restore' it would be to paint Black?

jumping@shadows

Next challenge is filling the back binding channel, which I did by scanning the body into the CNC router and cutting a ‘trim’ from a hacked up ‘59 Melody Maker body:



This took an absolute AGE of hand carving and hand shaping, but have a very clean and presentable result that is all but lost in the roundover:



The middle pickup plug I also extremely clean, and barely noticeable:

goldtop

Well, before it was black, it was a LP Standard body, so...

longjaw

Great job so far.

WezV

I love this.  I have seen some pics along the way. 

andrewaward

stunning work so far

jumping@shadows

Fast forward through prep sanding, pure filling and sealing, and it’s ready to paint with traditional Aniline dyes, starting with the yellow base coat:
 


And the big reveal:



As I wanted to mute the binding repairs I opted for a ‘darkburst’ a la Kossoff/Duane, and couldn’t be happier with the result  

I’ve a full complement of late ‘50s parts and electrics including a set of zebra PAFs saved for this project, and all in all it far exceeds my wildest expectations considering the technical and aesthetic challenges, and it is pretty thrilling to finally be a Burst owner, something utterly preposterous to hope for via conventional avanues.

I hope some of you enjoyed the process  

iseverynamegone

Awesome work. 

ICBM

I normally love your work when you’ve taken something damaged and made something good out of it, but I can’t help feeling that this time you’ve taken a very interesting, unique and perfectly good original guitar and ruined it, turning it into something much more ordinary and in fact now damaged, for the sake of the “burst” mystique.

It was *much* better as an original factory maple-cap Custom in my opinion. I admit I do prefer Customs to Standards anyway, but it’s not just that.

Sorry. Like I said, I normally love your work.

meltedbuzzbox

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.

TA22GT

Just awesome work.

jumping@shadows

Fair ICBM said:

I normally love your work when you’ve taken something damaged and made something good out of it, but I can’t help feeling that this time you’ve taken a very interesting, unique and perfectly good original guitar and ruined it, turning it into something much more ordinary and in fact now damaged, for the sake of the “burst” mystique.

It was *much* better as an original factory maple-cap Custom in my opinion. I admit I do prefer Customs to Standards anyway, but it’s not just that.

Sorry. Like I said, I normally love your work.

Fair enough man, but this was already stripped on the top with a refinished and repaired/shaved neck, and had enlarged pickup cavities BEFORE it was again refinished and had the neck rebound by HM, so was far from a ‘perfectly good, original guitar’, but I respect and accept your opinion    

jumping@shadows

meltedbuzzbox said:

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.

I guess we’ll always stumble on that mate.. Personally the Burst is the pinnacle of ‘50s Les Pauls, so I tend to aspire toward that aim, but you have differing inclinations, which is perfectly valid   

Winny_Pooh

Do you own this guitar? If so I'd probably do just the same,(not a fan of black nor 3xHB guitars) it looks beautiful. 

Panama_Jack666

Amazing work! 

Arktik83

I think it looks bloody brilliant.  Superb work!  

RiftAmps

I think what you’ve here done is fantastic. Allowing the guitar to complete its original intended journey is a brilliant idea, something I appreciate the romanticism of.

The standard of work is outstanding and that paint job is incredible. Good for you.