A GIBSON LES PAUL STANDARD GOLDTOP, 1952 98.5cm x 33cm max ...

Hammer

£7,200

A GIBSON LES PAUL STANDARD GOLDTOP, 1952
98.5cm x 33cm max

The Les Paul was first offered in 1952 with a gold finish, hence its well-known name in popular guitar culture as a ‘Goldtop’. The guitar was originally designed by the Gibson factory manager John Huis and his team but crucially with input from Lester William Polsfuss known as Les Paul. His credentials as a famous blues, country and jazz player and luthier too, led to the development of one of the most iconic electric guitars in history, the Gibson Les Paul. Interestingly, despite its now legendary status the Les Paul was not initially considered a commercial success with lower than expected sales. However, this only seems to have added to its historic status and collectability.

This example was naturally a crucial addition to James’ Gibson stable. Paramount in establishing this guitar as a ’52 are the holes on the end of the body showing that it originally sported a trapeze tail piece , which was dropped in 1953, and this example has been later converted to a stoptail bridge, now with worn gilded finish. These very early Les Pauls were not given serial numbers; hence this example has no number. Some consider these early guitars to be ‘prototypes’. James regularly played this guitar and although the bridge is not original it was set up by the well-known luthier Graham Noden, and plays very nicely.

The guitar has a mahogany body and neck . The Goldtop finish is in remarkably good condition with some but not many craquelure stress lines, mainly around the knobs, and rhythm/treble switch. There are also multiple dints and some scratches and two arc shaped scratches indicative of where the tail piece once sat.  The pickups are cream mounted P-90s with a matching scratch plate and switch disc. The deck is bound with a white edging as is the rosewood fretboard which has trapezoid mother of pearl markers. The controls are gold speed knobs and look to be original to the guitar. The neck has an area of darker recolouring adjacent to the headstock which indicates a repair although given the integrity of the fretboard it doesn’t seem to suggest a break more a re-enforced stress strain. A slight arc is barely visible under the lacquer. The face of the head stock has craquelure with the ‘Les Paul Model’ transfer looking faint but the pearl ‘Gibson’ is strong and slightly yellowed under the old lacquer. The machine heads have been replaced with gilded Schaller examples leaving six screw holes visible from the original examples.

The guitar comes with a black Gibson well-gigged hard case with ‘gold’ plush lining and appears to date from the 1970s.

Sold with non-transferable CITES A10 certificate No. 613902/09