Gibson TV Les Paul Fun Fact

DulcetJones

Forgive me if this has been covered but I just saw an episode of "Antiques Roadshow" on youtube and an elderly gent appeared with a mid 50's TV Les Paul in almost new condition with that mustard yellow finish.  The adjudicator said Gibson painted them that color and called them TV models because they wanted them to show up well on black and white teleivision.  He put it's value at $11,000 to $12,000 US dollars.  I often wondered why they chose that finish. 

not_the_dj

That’s it. Proper white was too bright. 

Bucket

Thought that was quite well known! White guitars used to dazzle on black and white telly as far as I know, the yellow was meant to be a softer shade that would show up better. Suppose that's why I can't bring to mind any 50s Gibsons at all that were white - the earliest one I can think of is the '61 SG Custom.

Funkfingers

DulcetJones said:

Gibson painted them that colour and called them TV models because they wanted them to show up well on black and white television. 

Nineteen Fifties monochrome television required extremely powerful studio lighting to achieve much tonal contrast. Under these conditions, a strongly lit pure white finish would flare horribly. By comparison, the yellow finish appeared normal.

richardhomer

And no coincidence it was the same colour combo as the original Telecaster.....

tony99

Why they valuing in dollars on Antiques Roadshow?

Is the pound really that shit now?

DulcetJones

tony99 said:

Why they valuing in dollars on Antiques Roadshow?

Is the pound really that shit now?

This was filmed in Arkansas US.  

Plectrum

I believe it wasn't just guitars. Those whiter-than-white sheets in the soap powder adverts and those gleaming white teeth in the toothpaste adverts would have been anything but in real life.

Voxman

Actually, just had a look for this - apparently this was an urban myth and had nothing to do with TV other than Gibson wanted a 'modern' colour.

In 1954, the Les Paul Junior debuted, targeted the beginning or student guitarist. The Junior is characterized by its flat-top "slab" mahogany body, finished in sunburst. It had a single P-90 pickup, simple volume and tone controls, an unbound rosewood fingerboard with plain dot-shape position markers, and a combination bridge/tailpiece unit similar to the Goldtop.
In 1955, Gibson launched the Les Paul TV model, which was identical to the Junior except for the name and a fashionable contemporary "limed oak" style finish, later more accurately named "limed mahogany". This natural wood finish with white grain filler often aged into a natural wood or dull yellow appearance, and eventually evolved into the opaque mustard yellow, popularly called "TV yellow". The model was not, as a popular myth says, to avoid glare from old TV cameras, but a modern look and a name to promote "The Les Paul & Mary Ford Show" then on television.
Gibson made a radical design change to their Junior and TV models in 1958: to accommodate player requests for more access to the top frets than the previous designs allowed, these electric guitar models were revamped with a new double-cutaway body shape. In addition, Juniors were now available with a cherry red finish, while the re-shaped TV adopted a more yellow-tinged finish.

mbe

Plectrum said:

I believe it wasn't just guitars. Those whiter-than-white sheets in the soap powder adverts and those gleaming white teeth in the toothpaste adverts would have been anything but in real life.

Pepsodent

Plectrum

mbe said:

Plectrum said:

I believe it wasn't just guitars. Those whiter-than-white sheets in the soap powder adverts and those gleaming white teeth in the toothpaste adverts would have been anything but in real life.

Pepsodent

You'll wonder where the yellow went...

DulcetJones

Voxman said:

Actually, just had a look for this - apparently this was an urban myth and had nothing to do with TV other than Gibson wanted a 'modern' colour.

In 1954, the Les Paul Junior debuted, targeted the beginning or student guitarist. The Junior is characterized by its flat-top "slab" mahogany body, finished in sunburst. It had a single P-90 pickup, simple volume and tone controls, an unbound rosewood fingerboard with plain dot-shape position markers, and a combination bridge/tailpiece unit similar to the Goldtop.
In 1955, Gibson launched the Les Paul TV model, which was identical to the Junior except for the name and a fashionable contemporary "limed oak" style finish, later more accurately named "limed mahogany". This natural wood finish with white grain filler often aged into a natural wood or dull yellow appearance, and eventually evolved into the opaque mustard yellow, popularly called "TV yellow". The model was not, as a popular myth says, to avoid glare from old TV cameras, but a modern look and a name to promote "The Les Paul & Mary Ford Show" then on television.
Gibson made a radical design change to their Junior and TV models in 1958: to accommodate player requests for more access to the top frets than the previous designs allowed, these electric guitar models were revamped with a new double-cutaway body shape. In addition, Juniors were now available with a cherry red finish, while the re-shaped TV adopted a more yellow-tinged finish.

Well crap.  I'm right back where I started.  So, if they faded to that "mustard yellow" over time that at least means they didn't do it on purpose.....

ICBM

I had an original yellow ‘57 Les Paul Special once... nice guitar but an absolutely foul colour, it always reminded me of the Afrika Korps khaki from my Airfix kit days.

[/heresy]

All original except for a repaired headstock crack. I paid £850 for it in the very late 80s and sold it for £1250 in the early 90s... and thought I’d done quite well.

john_r

I reckon they borrowed the colour and the name from fender,  telecaster, TV model and blackguard teles were a whiter shade when new. 

DulcetJones

The one on the show was in beautiful shape, the original owner who is now an elderly fellow was given it brand new in his teens and never got past learning a few chords and then forgetting about it.  It had two P-90's and actually looked pretty cool despite the finish.  The close up of the headstock showed that it probably had the original strings on it judging by the dust and the blackening of the strings.

AuldReekie

ICBM said:

I had an original yellow ‘57 Les Paul Special once... nice guitar but an absolutely foul colour, it always reminded me of the Afrika Korps khaki from my Airfix kit days.

[/heresy]

All original except for a repaired headstock crack. I paid £850 for it in the very late 80s and sold it for £1250 in the early 90s... and thought I’d done quite well.

And I came so close to buying that guitar when you had it for sale in Simpsons......................"its not the things you do in life you regert, its the things you dont do", so true in this instance!

ICBM

AuldReekie said:

And I came so close to buying that guitar when you had it for sale in Simpsons......................"its not the things you do in life you regert, its the things you dont do", so true in this instance!

Not as much as I regret not buying the '56 Custom .

Which is currently for sale, at £17K...

Neil

Have to look out for that show.

The LP TV Special is my favourite guitar......but I'll never have one. 

IvisonGuitars

I'm not sure the 'TV Yellow' finish for B&W TV really was designed with that in mind or was just a happy accident. 

The Junior was certainly designed as a quick answer to the Telecaster but the TV Yellow finish is one that changed pretty much every year of production.

It started as 'Limed Mahogany' in '54 then went through a beige 'Wheat' colour with grain showing, then became slightly more yellow and becoming more yellow as the years went on until '60 when it was a fully opaque 'Banana Yellow'.

I was trying to fin some pics to demonstrate. Will sort when I have some more time.

guitars4you

ICBM said:

I had an original yellow ‘57 Les Paul Special once... nice guitar but an absolutely foul colour, it always reminded me of the Afrika Korps khaki from my Airfix kit days.

[/heresy]

All original except for a repaired headstock crack. I paid £850 for it in the very late 80s and sold it for £1250 in the early 90s... and thought I’d done quite well.

I recall those Airfix kit days and the A Korps kit back in the 70's - summer holidays in the 70's with your mates and war games

WezV

miserneil said:

I'm not sure the 'TV Yellow' finish for B&W TV really was designed with that in mind or was just a happy accident. 

The Junior was certainly designed as a quick answer to the Telecaster but the TV Yellow finish is one that changed pretty much every year of production.

It started as 'Limed Mahogany' in '54 then went through a beige 'Wheat' colour with grain showing, then became slightly more yellow and becoming more yellow as the years went on until '60 when it was a fully opaque 'Banana Yellow'.

I was trying to fin some pics to demonstrate. Will sort when I have some more time.

yes, I was going to post similar.   There are at least 3 different versions of TV yellow, before you consider the natural discolouration that adds even greater variety

55 vs 56

57 vs 59