Freezing Les Paul Age

Vintage-style tuners, meanwhile, are better if you’re chasing the exact specifications of a past model year. Like the vintage knobs we mentioned above, these tuners also save you time — just be aware that you might need to age these tuners anyways!If you have a week or more to get your project done (and enough space in your freezer!), try freezing your guitar overnight and setting it back out each day. As it thaws, the temperature fluctuation can cause the lacquer to check. This is more of an art than a science; you may see results instantly or it may take multiple tries before cracks begin to show. After you’ve sanded the finish down how you want it, you may find sanding lines on your guitar. To eliminate these and make your relic look much smoother overall, you should buff and polish your axe. You can use high-grit sandpaper for this (between 3000-5000 grit or higher). Beyond the obvious targets, you should also think about your own playing mechanics. Adding in a couple of personal touches can make your relic job seem more authentic and true to you rather than the haphazard work of a random player.Before you get out your sandpaper, files, and saws, consider whether or not you really want to relic your instrument; there’s no way to guarantee that it will look the way you want it afterwards and there’s certainly no way to undo any damage once you’ve started!

If you want the true reliced look found on guitars like Eric Clapton’s “Blackie,” you can relic the fretboard as well. You should only attempt this on guitars with maple fretboards — ebony, rosewood, and other materials are much more difficult to work with and don’t give the same visual contrast. To create fretboard wear, sand with lighter-grit sandpaper to replicate wear from the strings.

Ageing the finish in the sun can go a long way towards creating a true vintage relic. However, many other historic instruments possess a key feature you may forget: checking. These spiderweb patterns are a hallmark of prized old-time models; they give your axe tons of character. Unfortunately, they’re difficult to replicate the artificial way.

This article walks you through a few of the steps to “artificially” relic your guitar with tools. It’s important to know that this process is more of an art than a science — there’s no guarantee of success! But to age your guitar without putting in the years or miles, this is what you’ll need to do.You should never jump into a relicing job without any prior planning. Pay attention to these steps before you relic to make your project as successful as possible.However, not all players want to wait for so long to get the look they love. If you want your guitar to look like a beautiful road-worn artifact but don’t have the patience, you’ll need to do the job yourself. And despite the widespread myth, dragging your guitar behind your car won’t relic it, it will just destroy it.Certain guitars are far more delicate than others, but you should be prepared to change the strings and adjust the truss rod when you bring your axe back inside. If you’re worried about cracking or splitting other parts, remove them before you place the guitar in the sun. Playing your axe is the best way to find unique locations for potential relic marks. Examine your motions carefully and find some personal touches — do you rest your pinky next to the bridge? Do you pull your thumb up around the edge of the neck as you fret chords? Do you strum across the highest frets of the neck, like Keith Richards? The exact amount of dents you create is up to you, but remember that you want to keep your relic looking natural! Three dents give your guitar character and flair, but 30 just make you look careless as an owner. Seriously, who smashes an input jack into the body of their guitar 30 times on accident?

If you love the reliced look, start out with a cheap guitar that you don’t care too much about. Even if you have to buy a beater model to practice on, it’s worth the extra expense. The practice will be valuable if and when you choose to relic your favorite instrument.You should also know that relicing is controversial in parts of the guitar community. Certain players, especially older ones who have naturally reliced guitars over years of use, may look down on newer guitarists who try to recreate the look artificially. Whether fairly or not, you may be judged for relicing your own guitar, particularly if your playing isn’t up to standards.

Once you have all of your metal hardware and pickup casings, you can relic them a couple of different ways. If you want to add some scratches, use a file or some steel wool to add a couple of nicks. To rust the hardware, you can leave them exposed outdoors for a few days. When you sit down to relic your guitar, your first priority should be keeping the instrument safe. Certain relic techniques have the potential to damage your axe, particularly if the neck and body are under high tension from the strings. Taking the hardware and pickups off of your guitar isn’t essential to relic them, but it will help you get a more detailed finish; if you don’t need to worry about damaging your guitar’s body you can use more precise techniques on the hardware. Many players feel squeamish about pulling different items off of their instrument. Most hardware can be removed and put back on without any trouble, so there’s no reason to worry! Just be careful and you should be alright.

However, certain guitars have evolved and changed throughout the years and the knobs used on vintage models are different today. In those cases, players often buy sets of vintage-style caps from other dealers and fit them on their axe. These knobs will look and feel the part and don’t require any extra work on your part. If you need the perfect reliced look down to the smallest details, you shouldn’t ignore the knobs.

Knobs are an important part of any reliced guitar for their feel as much as their appearance. It’s common for relicers to sand down the finish around their knobs to simulate years of twisting and adjusting the dials during performance. Once you’ve chosen a guitar to work on (hopefully a guitar you don’t care about if this is your first relic job!), it’s time to plan out where you want to do the relic work. Skipping this step will make your finished product look sloppy and obviously fake; plan carefully to end up with a more convincing result! Like we mentioned at the beginning, relicing is an art rather than a science. It’s still impossible to predict exactly how the wood of your guitar will react to chips and scratches, blowtorches, or other rapid changes in temperature!Of course, many other players absolutely love a beat-up, old-looking guitar — and a good relic job will always win much more support than a crappy one. As long as you’re confident in your choice and happy with the look, there’s no reason to pay attention to the minority of players that disagrees.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to get rid of this gloss and give your guitar a worn-in, dull look. A quick and easy way to get the process going is to leave your guitar exposed in the sun for a couple of days. Over time, all lacquer finishes will yellow and age, which will create that vintage patina so many players crave — leaving it in the sun can help speed up that process.If you play the bass, you can copy many of these tips. Just be careful not to go too hard on the strings and tuners, which are under a lot more tension than the strings on a guitar! This will also depend on which type of bass you play: a budget bass, for example, won’t be as scary to knock around as a five-string bass.

Lacquer finishes tend to check because of quick variations in temperature. These are difficult to recreate in a short timeframe, but with a bit of extra effort you can bring checks out of your relic as well.

When done properly (like on this Telecaster), heavy relic jobs with sanding and buffing can transform your guitar into a completely unique piece of art.

It’s up to you whether or not to try and recreate this look — some people love it, others hate it. However, it’s certainly a more personal and unique touch than some other relic strategies — and it doesn’t take much effort to give it a try. For similar results in a shorter time, you can also break out the chemicals. A diluted solution of bleach and water will do the trick to prematurely age all your metal hardware. The exact strength can vary, but many players recommend a solution of three parts water to one part bleach. Areas like the input jack and bottom edges of a guitar often receive a lot of damage from drops or pokes. Over time, many players rub away at the finish towards the back of the guitar where their forearm makes contact with the body. You could even relic the fretboard itself to simulate years of exposure to strings and oil from your fingers.Remember that you can only use sandpaper to wear down your guitar if your instrument has a nitrocellulose finish! Polyurethane finishes are highly resistant to sandpaper and similar materials — rather than ending up with a beautiful relic guitar, you’ll just end up with a mess. If you want to fix the problem, you can either age the set along with the other hardware components or swap them out for a package of vintage-style tuners. While aging modern tuners might not copy earlier styles exactly, it will have a bit more character and will blend in well with the color and feel of all of the other metal parts on your guitar. Relicing guitars is a popular trend that’s only growing more common. Of course, the “natural” — and best — way to relic a guitar is to buy your axe new and simply play it for decades! Over time, it will pick up dents, dings, and scars that come together to create a stunning vintage look.

We may link to products if we deem helpful to the reader. Some of these links are affiliate links meaning we may earn commissions on purchases. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.Thankfully, the metal parts on your guitar are some of the easiest things to age. As we’ll discuss later, you can get the job done with some techniques that are almost totally hands-off. As long as you have a bit of wiring or soldering experience, relicing these metal parts is a cinch.

There are few things more ugly than large patches of wear with abrupt transitions into a perfect factory-new finish. Relicing your guitar like this is a dead giveaway of a homespun relic job, and will take all of the mojo out of your axe. As you wet sand the finish, make sure to “blend” the grits together for a more natural wear pattern. Your goal should be to make the transition from exposed wood to untouched finish as smooth and natural as possible.You should keep your guitar on a workbench or another flat, stable surface whenever you relic it. You can sit in your practice chair while you work to give yourself a comfortable platform. Like we mentioned above, make sure to keep all of the parts organized at all times! While it may seem simple to re-arrange everything with the memory fresh in your mind, struggling to reconstruct the look of your guitar after relicing it can suck the fun out of the relicing job and delay you from seeing your final result.Finish checking is the most important extra touch you’ll need to take care of. It’s the signature sign of a well-aged nitrocellulose lacquer finish. Besides, many players love it for the look alone. Unfortunately, the checking will only develop on guitars with a nitro lacquer finish — no matter how hard you try to artificially age the paint, a urethane finish will look shiny and new.It goes without saying that you should also have any and all the tools that you plan on using ready before beginning. Keeping everything at your fingertips makes it easier to complete your work as quickly and efficiently as possible. The less time you spend searching for tools, the less time your axe spends without strings on. This includes basic maintenance tools like a good peg winder. Just in case, you’ll also need to learn how to change strings before you start relicing your instrument.After you’ve gotten your axe ready to relic, you can begin with the big jobs: dents, scratches, and finish wear. How far you take this step depends on how heavy of a relic you want — some players go crazy, while others are more conservative and prefer to add lighter touches later in the process.

Before you throw your guitar outside in the heat to let it wither, make sure it’s in stable condition and that you haven’t left any delicate parts on it. While the sun can age the finish of your guitar, it may also cause the instrument to expand slightly, throwing your tuning and action out of whack.Relicing your guitar is an outstanding way to personalize your instrument. Players prize reliced guitars for their character and visual flair. However, few things in the guitar world look uglier than a bad relic job!

Though it’s difficult to change aspects about your guitar’s headstock like the shape or logo to match vintage specs, there are other adjustments you can make to give it some more character. First, you should focus your efforts on the hardware that goes through the headstock: tuners.

Beyond the standard “play wear” relicing, many players also add in some strategically placed dents to emulate years of drops, falls, and accidents. These are optional, and you can always lighten up your touch if you’re worried about harming your instrument. However, a couple of added marks will go a long way towards making your relic job seem more realistic.

Likewise, if you play 12-string guitar you’ll also need to adjust your process a bit. The basic tenets still apply, but you’ll need to be particularly careful so as not to damage the strings or carefully ordered tuning pegs. If you get in over your head when relicing your guitar or just want someone to check your work, it’s always a good idea to find a guitar tech and ask him for advice with your more advanced projects. It could save you a lot of heartache (and money) down the line. The neck is a sore subject for many guitar relic fanatics. While reliced necks can look amazing, feel and playability are far more important to consider. Before you break out the sandpaper, practice on some cheap guitar necks to make sure that you like the effect and can replicate it consistently.If you’re not sure which finish your guitar uses and you can’t find any information to answer your question, try sanding an inconspicuous area of the body to see whether or not it wears down at all. A urethane finish will resist the sandpaper, while a nitro finish will rub away with some elbow grease.Brand new hardware can ruin any relic job — bright and shiny metal sticks out awkwardly against a beat-up body. Don’t overlook the pickups, bridge, tailpiece, and pickguard on your guitar when you begin to relic it.

If you’ve never worked with guitar electronics before (or done any wiring or soldering work), it might be a good idea to practice a bit before popping out your guitar’s pots and pickups. While in a perfect world you could successfully relic your electronics in one piece, in practice you’ll need a bit of knowledge to fix anything that goes wrong.Blunt objects are best to scratch and dent your finish. If you can, use items that might actually cause chips in real life — say, an input jack or belt buckle. Then, knock them into your guitar at locations where they would hit you instrument if you played it normally.

If you want the knobs themselves to look vintage, though, you can use multiple different strategies. Some players prefer to age their knobs along with the rest of the hardware for a more uniform look.Finally, you can use the surface of the headstock itself to add a bit of flair to your relic job. Many famous players, most notably Eric Clapton, have stuck cigarettes vertically behind the nut on Fender-style headstocks while they play. Over the years, this can create a series of cigarette burns on the top of the headstock between the nut and the first tuning peg.

Once you’ve identified your quirks, think of creative ways to show those traits in your relicing. For example, you might wear away the finish where your pinky rests, as though it’s been moving there for years. If you fret chords with your thumb, you could sand off the fretboard binding or file down the edge of the neck on that side. You could also cut or chip at the last couple of frets on the neck to make it look as though you’ve done damage with your heavy strumming.

The major exceptions to this axiom are the pickups. Messing with the wiring may be a daunting task for players without any soldering or wiring experience. Because plenty of things can go wrong here if you’re not careful, it’s best just to leave your pickups in your guitar and not mess with them too much.To alleviate the tension, you should detune and cut the strings off of your guitar before you start. While you’re at it, it’s also a good idea to remove every piece of metal hardware you can. While you should remove the pickguard and electronics if you know how to deal with the electronics, you can also cover them with masking tape if you don’t feel equipped to remove and replace the wiring. Once you’ve finally figured out everything you want to do, it’s time to sit down with your guitar and get down to work. These pieces of advice are designed to guide you through a completely independent relic job. Remember, though, that there’s no shame in getting someone to help you! If your guitar has a nitrocellulose finish and you’re still confident that you want to relic it, you can go ahead and get to work! Your first step should be to mark the areas you want to sand on your guitar’s body. Freehanding your relic without evaluating the look of it beforehand is a recipe for disaster.Les Paul guitars are particularly well-known for their brilliant finish patina. This can be difficult to acquire in a short time, but the results are worth it!

Even after you’ve sanded down parts of your guitar, you may still be unhappy with how the rest of the instrument looks. If you don’t put the proper effort into your relic job, some parts of the instrument will look beat up while other parts may still retain their factory sheen.Like knobs, tuners are a seemingly minor detail that make a reliced guitar look so much more authentic. A shiny modern-style set of tuners on a guitar that looks beat to hell is a surefire example of an artificial relic job. You can also use vinegar to achieve similar tarnished results. Place all of your metal components in a small container without a lid. Then, place the small container in a larger container with a lid. Pour some vinegar into the big container and close the lid, then let it sit for a few hours. If all goes well, you should get the look down! Place the metal parts in an organized pile and set them aside to relic on their own. You can separate the neck from the body at this stage if you’d like, though this step is only possible for guitars with bolt-on necks.Certain areas of the body are obvious targets for relicing. The places that your hands rest when playing — usually the neck and bridge — should be your first locations. The goal is to duplicate natural wear, so you’ll also want to simulate chips, dings, and dents that an old guitar might have picked up throughout its life.

“There exists a set of initial parameters, and a pair of temperatures, such that given two bodies of water identical in these parameters, and differing only in initial uniform temperatures, the hot one will freeze sooner.”

Mpemba was at first ridiculed by both his classmates and his teacher. After initial consternation, however, Osborne experimented on the issue back at his workplace and confirmed Mpemba’s finding. They published the results together in 1969, while Mpemba was studying at the College of African Wildlife Management.While the actual occurrence of the Mpemba effect is a matter of controversy, several theoretical explanations could explain its occurrence. In 2017, two research groups independently and simultaneously found a theoretical Mpemba effect and also predicted a new “inverse” Mpemba effect in which heating a cooled, far-from-equilibrium system takes less time than another system that is initially closer to equilibrium. Lu and Raz yield a general criterion based on Markovian statistical mechanics, predicting the appearance of the inverse Mpemba effect in the Ising model and diffusion dynamics. Lasanta and co-workers predict also the direct and inverse Mpemba effects for a granular gas in a far-from-equilibrium initial state. In this last work, it is suggested that a very generic mechanism leading to both Mpemba effects is due to a particle velocity distribution function that significantly deviates from the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. James Brownridge, a radiation safety officer at the State University of New York, has said that supercooling is involved. Several molecular dynamics simulations have also supported that changes in hydrogen bonding during supercooling takes a major role in the process. Tao and co-workers proposed yet another possible explanation, on the basis of results from vibrational spectroscopy and modelling with density functional theory-optimized water clusters, they suggest that the reason might lie in the vast diversity and peculiar occurrence of different hydrogen bonds. Their key argument is that the number of strong hydrogen bonds increases as temperature is elevated. The existence of the small strongly-bonded clusters facilitates in turn the nucleation of hexagonal ice when warm water is rapidly cooled down. “The fact that the water has previously been warmed contributes to its freezing quickly: for so it cools sooner. Hence many people, when they want to cool water quickly, begin by putting it in the sun. So the inhabitants of Pontus when they encamp on the ice to fish (they cut a hole in the ice and then fish) pour warm water round their reeds that it may freeze the quicker, for they use the ice like lead to fix the reeds.” The Mpemba effect is the name given to the observation that a liquid (typically water) which is initially hot can freeze faster than the same liquid which begins cold, under otherwise similar conditions. There is disagreement about its theoretical basis and the parameters required to produce the effect.

In 2016, Burridge and Linden defined the criterion as the time to reach 0 °C (32 °F; 273 K), carried out experiments, and reviewed published work to date. They noted that the large difference originally claimed had not been replicated, and that studies showing a small effect could be influenced by variations in the positioning of thermometers: “We conclude, somewhat sadly, that there is no evidence to support meaningful observations of the Mpemba effect.”

New Scientist recommends starting the experiment with containers at 35 and 5 °C (95 and 41 °F; 308 and 278 K), respectively, to maximize the effect. In a related study, it was found that freezer temperature also affects the probability of observing the Mpemba phenomenon as well as container temperature does.”Even if the Mpemba effect is real — if hot water can sometimes freeze more quickly than cold — it is not clear whether the explanation would be trivial or illuminating.”

Ball pointed out that investigations of the phenomenon need to control a large number of initial parameters (including type and initial temperature of the water, dissolved gas and other impurities, and size, shape and material of the container, and temperature of the refrigerator) and need to settle on a particular method of establishing the time of freezing, all of which might affect the presence or absence of the Mpemba effect. The required vast multidimensional array of experiments might explain why the effect is not yet understood.Mpemba and Osborne described placing 70 ml (2.5 imp fl oz; 2.4 US fl oz) samples of water in 100 ml (3.5 imp fl oz; 3.4 US fl oz) beakers in the icebox of a domestic refrigerator on a sheet of polystyrene foam. They showed the time for freezing to start was longest with an initial temperature of 25 °C (77 °F) and that it was much less at around 90 °C (194 °F). They ruled out loss of liquid volume by evaporation as a significant factor and the effect of dissolved air. In their setup, most heat loss was found to be from the liquid surface.

“One can see by experience that water that has been kept on a fire for a long time freezes faster than other, the reason being that those of its particles that are least able to stop bending evaporate while the water is being heated.”

“If you take two similar containers with equal volumes of water, one at 35 °C (95 °F) and the other at 100 °C (212 °F), and put them into a freezer, the one that started at 100 °C (212 °F) freezes first. Why?”

Even with this definition it is not clear, however, whether “freezing” refers to the point at which water forms a visible surface layer of ice, the point at which the entire volume of water becomes a solid block of ice, or when the water reaches 0 °C (32 °F; 273 K). The above definition suggests simple ways in which the effect might be observed, such as if a warmer temperature melts the frost on a cooling surface, thereby increasing thermal conductivity between the cooling surface and the water container. Alternatively, the Mpemba effect might not be evident in situations and under circumstances that could at first seem to qualify for it.The Scottish scientist Joseph Black investigated a special case of this phenomenon comparing previously-boiled with unboiled water; the previously-boiled water froze more quickly. Evaporation was controlled for. He discussed the influence of stirring on the results of the experiment, noting that stirring the unboiled water led to it freezing at the same time as the previously-boiled water, and also noted that stirring the very-cold unboiled water led to immediate freezing. Joseph Black then discussed Fahrenheit’s description of supercooling of water (although the term supercooling had not then been coined), arguing, in modern terms, that the previously-boiled water could not be as readily supercooled.By 1957, Gibson’s evolving Les Paul Model guitar had already undergone several key modifications that would remain the foundation of the iconic version known around the world today as the Les Paul Standard. Made in 2001, the Historic collection of Gibson guitars is amongst some of the most popular Custom Shop guitars Gibson has ever produced. These highly desirable guitars were individually hand-aged by Tom Murphy himself using a razor blade, as opposed to the modern ‘Murphy Lab’ guitars where Tom simply oversees a team at Gibson and less intricate freezing methods are used instead. If that wasn’t enough, this guitar is also a Yamano import from Japan, meaning it was hand-selected by the retailer Yamano, who have a prestigious reputation for only selecting the best!If all the entries are sold sooner the draw will be brought forward. We have never (and will never) extend a competition’s draw date. Keep updated on the confirmed draw date via our Facebook page and website.

Once your order has been placed your ticket number(s) will be randomly allocated and will show on your order confirmation. They will also be emailed to you, and will be available in the My Account area.This is one of the most valuable and desirable Les Pauls we’ve ever had up for grabs! Hand-aged by Tom Murphy prior to the opening of the Muprhy Lab, good examples of hand-aged Tom Murphy Gibson guitars now fetch over £6,000!

This competition is open to residents of the UK & USA aged 18 or over. You can enter this competition up to 300 times. This competition will close at 5:00 pm on March 6, 2023. The live draw for this competition will be at 5:00 pm on March 6, 2023. You can watch the draw LIVE on our Facebook page and YouTube channel. We will also be posting updates on this competition and future competitions on social media so make sure you are following us! To enter for free, please see our terms & conditions. If entering our competitions either by post or online please ensure you have read and agree to our terms & conditions, if your entries do not comply with the terms they will not be included in the draw. Please note you must sign up for an account before making your entry! Entries without an account cannot be processed. You must add your billing address to your account in order for your entries to be processed.The serial number is one of the first places to start for how to date a Gibson Les Paul guitar. It should be on the back of the neck at the top just between and above the tuning machines. If the Gibson Les Paul serial number is six digits or less then your guitar may be older than 1975. Gibson reused this serial number scheme for reissue guitars starting in the 1990s, so check the picture below to compare vintage versus reissue serial numbers.

Gibson used the 6 digits or less die stamped serial number style from 1961 until 1975. Gibson guitars with “MADE IN USA” impressed below the serial were made from 1969 and on. If your guitar has 6 digits impressed on the headstock and a “MADE IN USA” underneath then it was likely made between 1969 and 1975. Gibson reused serial numbers during this time period so that’s as close as we can narrow these guitars down without reading the potentiometer codes. The serial number is only one way for how to date a Gibson Les Paul from the 1960s. Often the features and potentiometer codes are a better way.

I have what appears to be a late 1960’s Gibson Melody Maker. It was purchased as a package with a Kalamazoo amp. The serial number is 590712. It still has the original strings on it and was bought by my grandmother. I remember her playing it in the late 60’s. Can you verify the year by the serial number?8 digit serial number die stamped on the headstock: these guitars were made after 1977. The first and fifth digit will indicated the last two digits of the year it was made.

Knowing how to date Gibson Les Paul serial numbers is a study of its own. Gibson’s serial number scheme changed in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, so a simple Les Paul serial number lookup isn’t often very helpful. Never fear! This page is intended to clear up some some of the inconsistencies of dating Gibson guitars. If you’re looking for “How old is my Gibson Les Paul guitar?” then you’ve come to the right place.Do you have a Gibson Les Paul with an ink stamped serial number? I am looking to buy Gibson Les Pauls with ink stamped serial numbers like this from the 1950s. Click the Contact Me button in the corner of your browser or click here to sell a Gibson Les Paul.

Is your Gibson Les Paul serial number ink stamped like the 1959 Gibson Les Paul on the left? Gibson used 5 or 6 digit ink stamped serial numbers on Les Paul guitars from 1952 until 1960. The first digit of this style serial number indicates the last digit of the year it was manufactured. For example, this Les Paul’s serial number is “7_6227” so it was made in 1957. This is how to date a Gibson Les Paul serial number from the 1950s. Gibson reused this serial number scheme for reissue guitars in the past 20 years as well, so check to see that the style matches. 1950s era Gibson Les Paul serial number stamps will have a thinner and sharper font than the larger font of the 1990s to now.1961, 1962, 1963: It’s a little known fact that even though the body style changed to what we call the SG, it was still called the Les Paul Standard until 1963. These can be worth $15,000 – $30,000. 1952: The first Les Paul Model was introduced this year with a goldtop finish, wrap under trapeze bridge, and two cream covered P-90 pickups. Example: 1952 Les Paul 1953, 1952: Les Paul Models (Goldtops) from these years often have neck angle problems which make them less comfortable to play. They are still valuable guitars which can fetch $20,000 – $35,000.

1956: The Junior, TV, and Special’s bridge pickup is shifted forward and bridge post bushings are doubled in length. Many made prior to the change suffer from leaning posts.

Gibson Les Paul collectors are looking for certain features which correspond to generally agreed upon values for Les Paul guitars. The two most important features that affect value are finish color and pickup style. Each Les Paul model changed differently over time, but the most significant change is the transition from gold finish or goldtop to Cherry Sunburst on the Standard model in 1958. A late 1958 Gibson Les Paul Standard is worth nearly double the value of an early 1958 Les Paul Standard with gold features.1956, 1955, 1954: Les Pauls from these years have either the Tune-O-Matic bridge or wrap tail and are considered to be excellent playable guitars. This is the second tier of value. Goldtops and Customs are typically worth $25,000-$70,000The first part of finding the value of an original Les Paul is to accurately identify the model. Gibson introduced five different Les Paul models during the 1950s: Les Paul Junior, Les Paul TV, Les Paul Special, Les Paul Standard, and Les Paul Custom. The values for each model range wildly depending on which model 1950s Les Paul you have. Some of them will have the model name underneath the Les Paul signature on the headstock of the guitar, but the Les Paul Custom has a large split diamond pearl inlay instead of the model name. The Cherry Sunburst 1958, 1959, and 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard is the most valuable model.

1959: Jumbo frets become standard across the Les Paul line. The neck profiles begin to slim from the mid 1950s 0.90″-1″ to 0.85″ – 0.95″. The Special and TV Models drop the Les Paul name and begin the SG line (body style doesn’t change yet).I am actively looking to buy all models of the Gibson Les Paul from each year in the 1950s and 1960s. If you’re curious about how much I would value your Les Paul then you can contact me here: Sell a Gibson. I can help you identify the exact model, find the year by serial number, and identify important features. I may be the guitar buyer you’re looking for.

1958: The Cherry Sunburst finish replaces the formally gold finished Goldtop (1958 Les Paul). The Junior, TV, and Special’s single cutaway body style is updated to the double cutaway. The Cherry Red finishes replaces the Sunburst on the Junior and is now offered on the Special.1961: The classic SG body style now replaces the carved top single cutaway Standard and Custom as well as the double cutaway Junior, TV, and Special. The Les Paul name is retained on the Standard, Custom, and Junior until 1963.

I’m always on the hunt for the nicest examples of all models of original Les Paul guitars made in the 1950s and early 1960s. If you’ve inherited a vintage Gibson Les Paul and are curious about how much I would value your guitar then you can contact me here: sell a Gibson. Or if you’d like help with using the serial number to find the year then check out the Les Paul Serial Number lookup.

1955: The Les Paul Special and Les Paul TV Model are introduced. Both feature the muted yellow finish Gibson called Limed Mahogany, but the TV has only one pickup like the Junior. The Goldtop’s wrap tail bridge was updated to the Tune-O-Matic (ABR-1) bridge introduced on the Custom two years earlier: 1956 Les Paul.1960: Neck profiles continue to slim down to 0.80″ – 0.90″. The red dye in the Cherry Sunburst finish changes to a brighter red which doesn’t fade as easily. The volume and tone knobs now have a circular foil cap (reflector knobs).

1959, 1958, 1960, 1957: The Standards and Customs from these years typically have humbucking pickups and are the most desirable. This is the most valuable time period for the Les Paul guitars. Humbucker guitars from these years can be worth $50,000 to $400,000. Contact me if you are looking to sell one: Sell a Gibson.

I guess with the first method you also run the risk of it cracking in ways which aren’t aesthetically pleasing… I’m not chucking any of my guitars in the freezer.Note On Deluxe Packages – In 2013 Gibson started using hide glue for the neck joint. So we offer a simplified Deluxe Makeover at a lower price for these 2013 and later Historics that leaves out the hot hide glue neck reset necessary on earlier guitars. All the other steps in our Deluxe package are included.

Our Makeover packages and pricing are recently updated with new, simpler designations: Standard and Deluxe. Don’t have a guitar or don’t want to wait? No problem. You can buy already completed Makeovers on our Real Deal Series page. Do you know which package and guitar finish and aging options you want? Are you ready to get started? Follow the link to begin the makeover process today. Our most complete Makeover for Gibson Historics. On guitars made before 2013, we steam out the neck and reset with hot hide glue. On all guitars, we re-carve the top to vintage spec, reshape the neck to vintage “C” shape, and use hot hide glue to install a Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard with correct binding ledge and inlay routs. We inlay the fingerboard with our exclusive 1950’s style cellulose nitrate inlays, and install frets. The fingerboard and guitar body are bound with our Royalite binding and the fingerboard binding edges are rolled. The guitar is completely refinished with aniline dyes and unplasticized nitro-cellulose lacquer in one of our vintage correct finishes. The package includes a Vintage Patina (weather-checking and aging optional). We also re-stamp the serial number in a correct 50’s typeface.We have gone to great lengths to bring you the most authentic un-plasticized nitrocellulose lacquer giving the guitar the same vintage properties and aging characteristics of a real 1950’s Gibson guitar.

Un-plasticized lacquer is very hard and brittle by nature, which can cause it to chip and weather check very easily on its own. Every aspect of our process has been intentionally implemented to promote the natural aging and wear associated with a Makeover that is emulating the look and feel of a 60 year old instrument. This lacquer will continue to age and weather check on its own well after it leaves our shop.Weather checking will sometimes start on its own before it leaves the shop or can happen in the cargo hold of an airplane at 35,000 ft. during shipping, where the air is near freezing. We have no control over this. We will do everything we can to accommodate the wishes of our customers but please remember that this lacquer is specifically designed to act in this way.