frettedamericana | 2 decades ago
This very light guitar weighs just 8.50 lbs. and has a very fat nut width of over 1 11/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Solid mahogany body with a solid carved maple top covered by a bookmatched highly figured maple veneer, one-piece mahogany neck, and bound rosewood fretboard with 22 jumbo frets (expertly refretted) and inlaid pearl crown position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and "Les Paul Model" silk-screened in gold. Individual single-line Kluson Deluxe tuners with single-ring Keystone plastic buttons. Serial number "5 0520" inked on in black on back of headstock. Two original double-black PAF humbucker pickups with outputs of 7.51k and 8.08k. Cream-colored plastic pickguard. Four controls (two volume, two tone) on lower treble bout, plus three-way selector switch on upper bass bout. The potentiometers are stamped "134 738" (Centralab September 1957). Gold plastic bell-shaped "Bell" knobs. ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic non-retainer bridge with metal saddles and separate stud tailpiece. This guitar is in mint (9.50) condition, with a fantastic veneer maple layer over the solid maple. It sounds absolutely unbelievable. Housed in the original 1955 Gibson brown hardshell case with maroon plush lining (8.00).
This conversion was done ca. 1995 by Scott Lentz for a Southern California University professor. The wiring harness, the PAF pickups, the ABR-1 bridge, and the stud tailpiece are all 1958 to 1959. The following parts are not original to a 1959 Burst: the pickguard, which has been cut to size, and the control covers are from the original 1955 Goldtop; the pickup rings are the facsimile English rings, which are virtually indistinguishable from the originals; the tuner buttons, the switch ring, and the jack plug cover are later.
