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60th anniversary of the sculptured Les Paul Standard

blueline

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This year marks the 60 year release of the new styled Les Paul standard. It was about this time 60 years ago that the first new Les Paul models were released but no one really knows for sure because the ledgers for the 1960 solid bodies have disappeared. Gibson is now offering a reward for the return of the missing ledgers. If you have that ledger feel free to contribute.

I thought this year would a good time to update my knowledge on the historical development of this new les Paul model and encourage readers to contribute their knowledge.
Most writers and dealers employ the terms Les Paul/SG or SG/Les Paul or Les Paul-SG style to refer to the new styled Les Paul Model. From a historical perspective, these terms represent a conceptual muddle and historically incorrect.
According to Gibson literature, the Les Paul was not a style but a “series” or a “line” of “Les Paul Models” (various Gibson ads, 1961).
By 1960 Gibson had expanded the Les Paul series from the original gold top to include LP models with varying styles including the LP Custom, LP Standard, LP Special, LP Special ¾, LP-TV, LP Junior and LP Junior 3/4 years ago. Gibson also added the new styled LP Standard to the fall line up. To distinguish the two Les Paul standard models, the Gibson literature simply calls the single cutaway Les Paul as “old style” and the new model as “new style” (Gibson vibrola instruction sheet; ledger copy, Lawrence, 2008).


 

blueline

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Part 2
Robb Lawrence (2008) quotes Ted McCarty as stating that: “...the sales department again felt that we had to have something different and new and modern. So we went to these sculptured models [double cutaway] and dropped the single cutaway”. Indeed the double cutaway LP Junior was the big seller of 1959. It looks like the Special was the inspiration for the sculptured Les Paul Standard design.
In 1960, Gibson removed the Les Paul Special name from the headstock and began to market this Special as a SG Special.

The reason for this move as told by Ted McCarty to Tony Bacon was that the Les Paul ”association was becoming less of a commercial bonus for Gibson” (Bacon, 2015). Again this was strictly a marketing move as the SG Special was still a Les Paul model. We know this because the SG Special was still noted in the ledgers as a “LP Spec.” (61 ledger, Lawrence 2008).

I am sure Les Paul still received his dollar royalty on every SG Special sold (Bacon, 2018). So the first move to remove the Les Paul name was made by Gibson not Les Paul. But it doesn’t look like such as big deal.


 

blueline

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Part 3
The McCarty team built upon the success of the LP Special design and turned it into a sculptured Les Paul Standard . This was no ordinary flattop with some humbuckings on it.
The Gibson craftsman carved a single piece of Honduras mahogany into a contoured, bevelled thin body with Florentine horns, along with a new vibrola and cherry finish.
A long neck tenon extending in to the pickup cavity made sure it was a solid fit. The new model kept old style Les Paul appointments including PAF hum bucking pickups, tuning pegs,
ABR-1 bridge, and fingerboard inlays and the same Les Paul Model script in gold on the headstock. (see the promo picture May 1961).

Lawrence (2008) describes the new Les Paul this way:
The overall shape, with its feminine curves and shape points, is somewhat reminiscent of a classic shield or family crest.... The twin horns-shaped cutaways actually harken back to the old Mirecourt, French-designed guitars. Like a finely tailored garment, the sculptured solid-body Gibson was the easiest to hold, without jutting into your arm or chest. Its sleek new lines had a simple yet attractive elegance, quite unique and innovative shape for this long-standing guitar and mandolin company.

 

blueline

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Part 4
The common story is that Les Paul first saw the new styled LP Standard in a shop window and further opined that “a guy could kill himself on those sharp horns.” He went to state that “they moved the front pickup away from the fingerboard so they could fit my name in there” (Wheeler, 1992). Maybe some humour was being expressed with that line. Les Paul gave a variant of this story in a interview with Bacon :
So the SG [new style Les Paul model] was a guitar that was made with my name on it and when they sent me the prototype, I said, ‘I want you to reinforce the neck of it.’ Because you could bend it like a bow and arrow. It was bad. So tighten up on that neck and then you can have my name on it. This was before the divorce, going back to 1960. So they reinforced the neck, and I said, ‘Okay, you can put it out.’ (Bacon, 3rd September 2019 Guitar.com).
I pretty sure that Les Paul did not like this new style guitar but then again he did not seem to like any Les Paul Model.


The killing horn of a 1960 new style Les Paul


 

blueline

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Part 5
However by the time these new LPs began to ship in the fall of 1960 there was no Les Paul script on the headstock or any Les Paul markings anywhere on the guitar (see previous post 2017).
But the tags included were the same as the old style Les Paul so if you looked hard enough you could determine it was a Les Paul model.

Shipping information based on direct examination of Gibson records indicates that 635 “LP model/standards” were shipped in 1960. (Duchossoir 1981).
Bacon looking at this same data, estimated that approximately 50 new styled les Paul Standards were shipped in 1960 based on 1 month total production for the new LP. So 1/12[SUP]th[/SUP] of 635 is 53.

However it might be even higher than that. When I looked into this a few years ago I counted 21 new styled LP standards beginning with 0-8765 through 0-12104. I found two main batches of guitars, the 0-8000 range and the 0-10000 range. Batches are sometimes known to consist of 35 or so guitars this amounts to 70 of the new styled LPs (es-335.0rg).

I estimated the shipping dates from the pot codes of 0- 8779 and 0-8869. These pot codes indicated a “not-before-date of the first week in July 1960”.
Given a 2 month lag between pots and shipping, we can guess shipping began about September 1960. The later LPs have codes of October 1960 found in 0-10513 old style LP custom and 0-11186, new style LP Standard. These are most likely the December shippers.

The production of the sculptured les Paul Standard got ahead of the promotion for this new model with most of the adverts appearing in 1961 proclaiming a “New Les Paul Standard”.
The production of the new styled LP standard was well underway before the demise of the old style LP. The production of the sunburst Standard and the sculptured Standard overlapped in last quarter of 1960. The last of the new styled Les Paul Standard rolled off the assembly line on Oct 21[SUP]st[/SUP] 1963, so a 3 year run. The demise of the Les Paul model meant the end of PAFS and sideways vibratos. It also meant the beginning of the end for a high quality solid body Gibson. Under the SG moniker, the sculpted standard lasted a few more years before descending into a utilitarian solid body guitar.

Headstock of a 1960 new style Les Paul Standard

 

Strings Jr.

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Part 5
However by the time these new LPs began to ship in the fall of 1960 there was no Les Paul script on the headstock or any Les Paul markings anywhere on the guitar (see previous post 2017).
But the tags included were the same as the old style Les Paul so if you looked hard enough you could determine it was a Les Paul model.
Thanks for the info. I never realized these were made with a script logo on the peghead face.

Also, any idea when the Les Paul truss rod covers started? My Dad's '61 had one.
 

blueline

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Thanks for the info. I never realized these were made with a script logo on the peghead face.

Also, any idea when the Les Paul truss rod covers started? My Dad's '61 had one.


I am guessing that the LP script on the truss rod appeared in 61 with the 4 digit serial numbers and on. Those with 3 digit 61 serial numbers did not appear to have any LP markings. A blank truss rod cover would be rare in 61. So your Dad's 61 would be the norm.
 

Bruce R

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Thank you, "blueline," for that amazing and definitive information!!
 

toneville

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Apr 3, 2019
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This is a very interesting thread. I am looking forward to hearing more minutia about the introduction and changes made to Gibson's "red headed stepchild" solid body. Keep it coming.
 

PHILBERT

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The killing horn of a 1960 new style Les Paul



Too bad Gibson can't get this horn shape, that is so iconic of real 60's SG guitars, right. You would think someone would have noticed every reissue version is WRONG.

Not to derail this thread. It's a great history lesson. :salude

Phil
 

crashbelt

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Apr 10, 2016
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I'm a bit late to this thread, but many thanks to blueline for great information which has filled gaps in my knowledge.

I've always been fascinated by the few sculpted LPs which emerged in late 60. Great to see an estimate of numbers and detail about the silk screened LP logo and no LP on the trc of those. Presume your reference to Robb Lawrence is his second book on the later Les Paul legacy years. I didn't buy that book as I'm only interested in pre- Norlin Gibson (unless I've missed it in the first book.)

My mid-61 Standard has no silk-screened logo, but has the logo on the trc of course.

I wonder what information is out there about any sculpted Juniors Specials or Customs that may have left the factory in late 60. Id better look at the books again!
 
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