How the ... is this possible?

Gearhead

http://www.gbase.com/gear/gibson-les-paul-special-1956-tv
Maybe some collector passed away and his wife decided to give some back to the community. Wonder what she got for the lot...

Bob-Dubery

Gearhead wrote http://www.gbase.com/gear/gibson-les-paul-special-1956-tv
Maybe some collector passed away and his wife decided to give some back to the community. Wonder what she got for the lot...

Not every vintage [fill in the name] is accounted for, so collectors and dealers live in hope, and every now and then something falls out of a cupboard somewhere.

I talked to Hugh Cumming about this a while back. He used the example of Gibson mastertone banjos. Serious collectors and dealers have gone over production records, orders, shipping manifests and so on. They know that total production of the really desirable mastertones, before Gibson changed the design of the tone ring, was X. They know that Z of that model left the Gibson factory for South Africa. They know that numbers less than X and Z are accounted for. OK... the unaccounted items may have been destroyed, but they may also be lying under a bed somewhere.

So there may still be surprises to be had.

Hugh has a 1957 gold top for sale right now.

Gearhead

Standards are overpriced compared to Specials, imho. I mean, older goldtops have carved hog bodies, single cutaway, two P90 pups, bound Rosewood boards and a wraparound tailpiece. Specials have hog bodies, single cutaway, two P90 pups, bound Rosewood boards and a wraparound tailpiece. The TV yellow is as ugly as the gold and yet the Standards are 4x the price of Specials...
But back OT: I am beginning to think this guy actually acquires each one of those guits individually, his market just allows him to be lazy about putting up pictures for each. Something to be said for that: if I would be ready to fork out $50k on a guitar I would also prefer to travel there and play all 20 LPSs they have in the shop. And then some.

Bob-Dubery

Gearhead wrote Standards are overpriced compared to Specials, imho. I mean, older goldtops have carved hog bodies, single cutaway, two P90 pups, bound Rosewood boards and a wraparound tailpiece. Specials have hog bodies, single cutaway, two P90 pups, bound Rosewood boards and a wraparound tailpiece. The TV yellow is as ugly as the gold and yet the Standards are 4x the price of Specials...

Well a pre-war Bugatti is ridiculously underspecced compared to, say, a Getz.

This game is about quantity, not quality.

But back OT: I am beginning to think this guy actually acquires each one of those guits individually, his market just allows him to be lazy about putting up pictures for each. Something to be said for that: if I would be ready to fork out $50k on a guitar I would also prefer to travel there and play all 20 LPSs they have in the shop. And then some.

But isn't Gbase a sort of meta site? A couple of times now I've seen something that gets my credit card all restless and that you don't see many of. Then I google and I find the same thing on gbase. And when I say "the same thing" I mean a link to the one I already saw and got all gaseous over.

Gearhead

X-rated Bob wrote Well a pre-war Bugatti is ridiculously underspecced compared to, say, a Getz.

Agreed, my estate Audi outperforms most supercars from the seventies despite running on diesel and being able to carry all my guitar gear.
The thing is, I was comparing early fifties Les Pauls to other late fifties Les Pauls, made in the same factory.

X-rated Bob wrote But isn't Gbase a sort of meta site?

It is, but if I were a pro trader I would also want to be listed on Gbase. And Bob, you can actually just go to Gbase first if you want to feel gaseous :?

vic

Gearhead wrote Standards are overpriced compared to Specials, imho. I mean, older goldtops have carved hog bodies, single cutaway, two P90 pups, bound Rosewood boards and a wraparound tailpiece. Specials have hog bodies, single cutaway, two P90 pups, bound Rosewood boards and a wraparound tailpiece. The TV yellow is as ugly as the gold and yet the Standards are 4x the price of Specials...
But back OT: I am beginning to think this guy actually acquires each one of those guits individually, his market just allows him to be lazy about putting up pictures for each. Something to be said for that: if I would be ready to fork out $50k on a guitar I would also prefer to travel there and play all 20 LPSs they have in the shop. And then some.

Bear in mind that the Standard was a "professional guitar" whereas the Special was viewed as a "student" guitar. The Std has a carved maple top-mahogany combination body whereas the Special has a slab mahogany body. The later Stds were also played and made famous by "guitar gods" ? which certainly contributed to their iconic status and thus astronomical prices.
Production numbers (just as a matter of interest) : LPsP: 7336 ('55-'60) ; LpSt: 9557 ('52-'60) ; LpCustom: only 1912 ('54-'60)

Gearhead

I remember reading that quite a few of those gold tops turned out to have mahogany tops as well. Plus, carving does not add to Tone whereas light weight does. But anyway, lots did have maple tops and that does affect Tone. I think some new young hot talented guitar-god-to-be should take it upon him/herself to make said Special as iconic.

On a side note: I cannot seem to find out if any non-black three PAF Customs were ever made, possibly after 59? I do not like the black as much as I do the bookmatched flame maple faded cherry burst, yet all three pup LPs you see are Black Beauties.

vic

Gearhead wrote I remember reading that quite a few of those gold tops turned out to have mahogany tops as well. Plus, carving does not add to Tone whereas light weight does. But anyway, lots did have maple tops and that does affect Tone. I think some new young hot talented guitar-god-to-be should take it upon him/herself to make said Special as iconic.

On a side note: I cannot seem to find out if any non-black three PAF Customs were ever made, possibly after 59? I do not like the black as much as I do the bookmatched flame maple faded cherry burst, yet all three pup LPs you see are Black Beauties.

Re the black LP Customs......the colour was the idea of Les Paul. He wanted a guitar that looked classy on stage....he compared it to wearing a black tuxedo, a sign of sophistication (back in the day). Most Customs had all-mahogany bodies and some (very few) Goldtop Stds were also all mahogany...BTW: the '57 Hugh has is also all-mahogany. (Singe spotted that from the pics on his website)
I dont think any Customs before '60 were made in sunburst.