Jump to content


Please note: You can easily log in to MPN using your Facebook account!

Got any spare cash?


Recommended Posts



  • Replies 14
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Lets say that I sold off a few things and had the cash available, and I was the winner of the auction, coughing up $150,000 to get this guitar. I'd be afraid to play it very much, since any scratches or scuffs that I put on it (as opposed to Les Paul himself doing the damage) would only devalue it. Then I would have to buy extra insurance for it, and spend more cash to make sure it was protected from fire and flood damage, and locked away securely to deter theft. What a pain in the ash. I'll let someone else experience the joy of owning this historical relic.
I rock; therefore, I am.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[font:Verdana]I'm really interested in that neck pickup; what's going on there?[/font]

 

Decades ago, a friend of a friend brought over a Gibson Super 400, an old one. He was over meeting his new neighbor and saw the headstock sticking out of a cardboard barrel in the garage.

It was a project guitar, painted house paint white and with a coffee can full of parts. He told me he paid his neighbor $50 for it so of course I offered him $300 but he would not sell it at any price (he said).

 

So I set about making it into a guitar. I sent the carcass to a meticulous friend who sprayed nitrocellulose lacquer for a finish job. I started figuring out the wiring harness. The neck pickup on that Les Paul is similar to the pickups that came with the Super 400. Rectangular ferrous metal slugs that could be height adjusted with small screws and were stuck to a magnet underneath. It's an early version of a P-90 pickup. Gibson ended up making the screws the pole pieces which simplifies the construction. And they went with a larger coil so it could hum more! :)

 

Eventually, it turned out awesome, I wonder where it is now. That was probably 35-40 years ago or so.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[font:Verdana]I'm really interested in that neck pickup; what's going on there?[/font]

 

It turns out, that's essentially a modified DeArmond Dynasonic pickup, or perhaps, a homemade pickup using the magnets and pole-pieces from a DeArmond Dynasonic...

 

Tom Doyle, Les' personal Tech and Assistant: 'They may be DeArmond magnets, but they were not DeArmond pickup windings â Les wound everything to be lower impedance.'

 

DeArmond Dynasonic:

2018-Gretsch-DynasonicPickups-300x387.jpg

 

 

It looks like they used the "hot screwdriver" technique for some of the holes in that plastic cover! (For real!) :crazy:

 

Up close 'n personal with Les' personal Les Paul's neck-pickup:

bU7JXcr.jpg

 

The neck pickup on that Les Paul is similar to the pickups that came with the Super 400. Rectangular ferrous metal slugs that could be height adjusted with small screws and were stuck to a magnet underneath. It's an early version of a P-90 pickup.

 

Cool. :cool: You had your work cut out for you and you did a good thing!

 

Sounds like you're describing an early Gibson "Alnico V", designed by Seth Lover:

 

57s400cesn_gd.jpg

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lets say that I sold off a few things and had the cash available, and I was the winner of the auction, coughing up $150,000 to get this guitar. I'd be afraid to play it very much, since any scratches or scuffs that I put on it (as opposed to Les Paul himself doing the damage) would only devalue it. Then I would have to buy extra insurance for it, and spend more cash to make sure it was protected from fire and flood damage, and locked away securely to deter theft. What a pain in the ash. I'll let someone else experience the joy of owning this historical relic.

 

Exactly!

 

It's not a player's Instrument anymore, it's a Museum piece, and like any historic artifact, owning it comes with the responsibility of preserving it, and protecting it: a White Elephant with strings attached.

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Y'all are quite the "Guitar Detective" there, Sir Caevan!!!! :)

 

I got to play a '55 Les Paul Custom that had something very similar in the neck-position; a Gibson "alnico"/"staple" pickup. At that time, the guitar had recently been purchased from Jimmy Vivino, of the Max Weinberg 7, Conan O'Brien's TV show 'house-band'. It was rrreeeaallly cool, and a feather-weight!

 

Here's comedy-actor Jeff Garlin with one- that might even BE THE SAME ONE that I got to play:

 

Jeff-Garlin-82@1139x1707.jpg

 

Jeff-Garlin-1955-Les-Paul-Custom-Neck-Pickup-38@1707x1139.jpg

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[font:Verdana]winning bid was $750k, but there was a "buyer's fee" or something like that that added $180k to the bill...so, out the door for $930,000.[/font] ¯\_(ã)_/¯

 

In a certain sense, it is priceless. Looks like Les Paul's son will be doing pretty well moving forward.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...