1958 Les Paul

anthonyrogan

Hi everyone,
I own a Les Paul which I acquired in Durban in 1976, unfortunately the serial number is missing but I have now estabilished that it was manufactured in 1958. I know it's a long shot but is there anyone out there who could be the previous owner?
I would like to trace the history of this guitar.
Thanks
Antonio

vic

Hi Antonio...why would the serial number be missing....was it refinished?......please post a few pics of the guitar. Let's make sure it's indeed a '58.

anthonyrogan

When I bought it in 1976 it had been stripped down to bare wood, but from the codes on the pots I estimate time of manufacture to be March 1958. I'll take some photos and post them when I have time.

vic

anthonyrogan wrote: When I bought it in 1976 it had been stripped down to bare wood, but from the codes on the pots I estimate time of manufacture to be March 1958. I'll take some photos and post them when I have time.

OK...looking forward to the pics.

singemonkey

Vic wrote:
anthonyrogan wrote: When I bought it in 1976 it had been stripped down to bare wood, but from the codes on the pots I estimate time of manufacture to be March 1958. I'll take some photos and post them when I have time.
OK...looking forward to the pics.

+1,000

anthonyrogan

How the hell do you post photos?

Psean

anthonyrogan wrote: How the hell do you post photos?

Here ya go :
http://www.guitarforum.co.za/how-to/how-to-post-pictures-t4055/
?

nick

Very keen to see this 8)

Delta-Male

Can't wait for the pics!!

anthonyrogan

el-guapo

I'm dying to know more about this: what is original, as far as you can tell? Need more pics than that!

Psean

I like the look of that bare maple ? Would it have been a burst originally?

Reinhard

With a 3 piece top that would have been a goldtop.

Pics of headstock, better pics of inlays, pics of bottom of pickups, pickup routes and cavities would be great.

Psean

Reinhard wrote: With a 3 piece top that would have been a goldtop.

Cool ?Thanks

Reinhard wrote: Pics of headstock, better pics of inlays, pics of bottom of pickups, pickup routes and cavities would be great.

Yip. I'd love to see some too.

Nitebob

Looks gorgeous for a 55 year old instrument :yup:

Tokai-SA

This is an interesting guitar.

The last one I saw like this was in Marshall Music about 18 months ago....however, it was a 1976 model.
Kid brought it in, said he didn't like it and one of the guys at Marshall gave him R8,000 for it which he used to buy an ESP.
The guy who bought it took it to Andy McGibbon who re sprayed it Goldtop, and aged it as well.

The 1976 I'm talking about had some strange specs.
3 piece maple neck.
3 piece maple top.
Solid "Pancake" body, not a single piece of mahogany, 2 pieces joined together.
Large volute.
Some of them had "Deluxe" written on the back of the neck.

It looked identical to this guitar, in every way.
If this is a 1958 then that's a completely different story, and a completely different guitar. ?
However the OP (Anthony) does mention he bought the guitar in 1976...same year as the one I'm talking about.

anthonyrogan

I bought it in 1976 second hand as I could not afford a new one, paid 200 rand for it.
It has PAF pickups and is all original except obviously the finish, it was definitely a goldtop originally as i remember seeing specks of gold paint in certain areas. The headstock had been broken and repaired badly so in 1983 I had it repaired by Syd Kitchen RIP who did an excellent job.
The body is 1 piece solid mahogany and the guitar is very light. It's definitely either a late 57 or early 58. There was no-one bothering to fake guitars in 1976 as these weren't even that valuable then.
By the way this guitar has been out of South Africa for 22 years. I will post some more photos soon

vic

anthonyrogan wrote: I bought it in 1976 second hand as I could not afford a new one, paid 200 rand for it.
It has PAF pickups and is all original except obviously the finish, it was definitely a goldtop originally as i remember seeing specks of gold paint in certain areas. The headstock had been broken and repaired badly so in 1983 I had it repaired by Syd Kitchen RIP who did an excellent job.
The body is 1 piece solid mahogany and the guitar is very light. It's definitely either a late 57 or early 58. There was no-one bothering to fake guitars in 1976 as these weren't even that valuable then.
By the way this guitar has been out of South Africa for 22 years. I will post some more photos soon

Thanks Anthony.
Please post pics of the back, of the electronics in the cavities at the back, the cutaway, the undersides of the pups, the neck-body joint while you have the pups out, and the back of the headstock. Sjoeee....thanks ?

Tokai-SA

anthonyrogan wrote: I bought it in 1976 second hand as I could not afford a new one, paid 200 rand for it.
It has PAF pickups and is all original except obviously the finish, it was definitely a goldtop originally as i remember seeing specks of gold paint in certain areas. The headstock had been broken and repaired badly so in 1983 I had it repaired by Syd Kitchen RIP who did an excellent job.
The body is 1 piece solid mahogany and the guitar is very light. It's definitely either a late 57 or early 58. There was no-one bothering to fake guitars in 1976 as these weren't even that valuable then.
By the way this guitar has been out of South Africa for 22 years. I will post some more photos soon

Cool stuff. 8)

singemonkey

Definitely not a '70s LP right off the bat.

A former goldtop as people have said. Then if the pot codes say '58 that's highly possible. Presumably when you say it has PAFs you mean it still has the PAF stickers on the underside of the pickups?

Looks like you have a rare and valuable guitar. The neck break, the missing serial, and the refinish will bring down the value, obviously, but '57/'58 goldtops are still damn rare guitars and in great demand.