Secrets of a Vintage 1959 Gibson Les Paul

hello my friends today you'll see a huge release from me about late 50s les pauls my experience of making precise copies of this legendary instrument and lots of nuances that affect the sound and for sure you'll know what makes the difference between modern gibson reissues and their vintage ancestors this video is translated into english so follow this link and you'll get what you want so let's go [Music] first allow me to share my personal background and how i got into the bursts my cognition and starting journey began 10 years ago when a good friend of mine told me that vintage les pauls have a shorter scale than modern grey issues he also mentioned that no more than les paul can compare to the vintage one this got me going i started collecting information and i began experimenting on my own guitars i was rebuilding and refinishing my guitars while testing all possible vintage spec parts available on today's market personally i tested all theories and all details and their practical application there are tons of information and myths out there it took me a while to sort it out finally i stumbled across luthier gilyaran's topic on a forum girl was kind enough to put hundreds of pages documentary in his journey of recreating original 59 les paul i'm really grateful to gil for kick-ass motivation and inspiration since i have read his pages several times i've ended up studying english at that point i've made up a decision to build an uncompromised clone of 59 les paul i've promised myself to crack the code and reconstruct this magical sound in the new guitar i've almost forgotten to mention what i do for a living i'm an artist i specialize in historic art and recreation of old masterpieces i deal with reverse engineering on a daily basis in my profession i believe that it would be beneficial during my journey that's why i've been continuing collecting information searching forums and luthiers articles it took me another 18 months to create a working set of blueprints for the guitar at that point my personal woodworking experience has been pretty limited along with collecting and analyzing tech specs i've started looking for the best healthier around who would have agreed to work with wood for me and i've succeeded i came to his shop we got acquainted and we became good friends i've shared with him all my diagrams and researchers and we started our first projects we're still continuing to cooperate and i do finishing and relicking on some of his guitars built by my blueprints before the first prototype of sophie burst was built we had made seven guitars where we honed necessary skills my goal was to make an absolutely authentic build with appropriate dimensions materials and junctions it took me a year just to find the right wood finally saphir was built and i was stunned how well all individual parts work together to create that organic vibe but is it really worth spending three years or i could have just bought a gibson custom short guitar and relax i've answered this question for myself at the very beginning of this journey and that being said sophie burst was an absolute proof of that so let's figure out what differs modern gibson reissues from original 59 bursts [Music] in the early 50s gibson's vice president ted mccarthy who was also an engineer and designer was cooperating with lester polfos who was a magnificent musician and experimenter this deal led to a solid body guitar model that was named after leicester les paul in 1952 the first ever instance of les paul was sold in gold finish at that point leo fender had some success producing solid body guitars especially the improved square model broadcaster though gibson and fender have radically different approaches fender followed henry ford's business model with more productive and cheaper manufacture of innovative guitar constructors from ordinary wood and minimal leftovers gibson has decided to go a more traditional and complicated way of making guitars using more expensive wood not focusing on the amount of waste the idea was to create a premium and fancy instrument with authentic shape and historic legacy gibson used huge one-piece and non-glued mahogany bodies maple tops that usually were used in violent manufacturing lester supposed that dark brazilian rosewood would perfectly mash guitarist fast figures golden top and bindings were the icing on the cake it was a masterpiece with a bit of shiny gypsy spirit obviously 95 of the guitar players don't have an opportunity to play vintage les pauls you can buy a house for the price of the burst but even in lots of videos you can hear that unique sticky and bright sound with recognizable harmonics and voice there are no modding guitar models at today's market that can touch it the fact is that there are some exceptions when you cannot tell whether it's an original burst or replica there are more and more fakes of les pauls on the market that have been advertised as originals who owns 17 vintage amazingly sounding bursts states that he is not 100 sure that all of them are authentic that's why i am embedding a hidden logo in my guitars that would prevent any chance of the counterfeit you might ask what component of the burst is responsible for the magic sound now after all i can confidently state that it's not a one specific individual part wood selection angles measurements neck scale glue truss rod pickups wiring plastics pods finish material and so on and so forth all these parts work together as a balanced and organic system based on a long-standing tradition of string instruments production there are very specific principles behind the way vibration goes through the neck body and back this vibration cycle creates that infamous les paul's sustain that we all love [Music] first les paul prototypes were not made of the mahogany but of the cedar moreover they had no serial numbers spanish mountain cedar is still considered to be the best material for string instruments unfortunately this wood is pretty much extinguished despite cedar prototypes factory models were made of honduran mahogany it's very stable and medium density wood it is also less likely to have an issue within any parasites there is some information that african mahogany was used for next due to its higher density and resistance to string tension most of the wood those days was taken from wild forests that resulted in using all the trees for creating blanks the older wood had low density that resulted in lightweight blanks nowadays the majority of mahogany is grown for commercial purposes and young trees are getting cut that's why it's very hard to find light weight and one piece blank for the guitar bodies [Music] the ability of the wood to vibrate is an essential part of forming the guitar sound that's why a well-played old guitar body is highly valued one of the ways to achieve this effect is a so-called conversion it's a process of converting vintage les paul from the early 50s that needs restoration or even in mint condition into 57 58 or 59 models the changes being done are neck angle original pafs are getting rooted for humpbackers new flame maple top new sunburst finish instead of gold top lootiers use original wood or old timber vintage parts and original pafs conversions like these have appropriate feel and sound the price is three four times slower than original burst has though you can buy a new car instead of it [Music] i spent a lot of time researching the question why vintage wood and well-played guitars are so valued afterwards i've come to the conclusion that like any other materials wood allows vibrations to go through it and resonate in a specific way the best way to visualize is to look at the kaladani figures you will see the differences between sound frequencies within your own eyes the same thing happens to the guitar wood due to the string vibration since then only specific frequencies are engaged to the formation of guitar sound moreover with itself memorizes these vibrations the more you play guitar the more good responses to these frequencies and finally opens up so what kind of technical process is behind this match freshly cut down wood has a lot of unfermented tars which keep it somewhat flexible as time goes by these stars are getting more fermented and crystallized if guitars are played a lot fermentation catches wood resonations and as a result the shape to those particular frequencies it's like snowflakes that are getting formed this is obviously a very deep and controversial subject but the fact is that the more guitar is being played the better it sounds let's have a look at the whole construction system [Music] for the top east american maple was traditionally used by gibson because of beautiful wavy green this wood contains a lot of sugar and is used a lot for maple syrup production as time goes by sugar and tars are fermented and maple gets greater acoustical qualities in my experience the quality and characteristics of the wood from the north american continent differs a lot from the same european one european wood is fragile brighter and dry while american one has a more viscous texture the difference is quite obvious while whittling and seeing wood chips wetland european and siberian wood produce fragile chips while american one leaves lawn crawled scabs it relates to lots of wood species it's just my observation the actual vintage 59 less pole top carving is quite different in comparison to the modern one but recently custom shop anniversary models and 2019 collected choice reissues have been accurately transformed to vintage top carve on the other side most of the reissues have not such an authentic top the main reason is in the depth of the fillet originally less poles were built based on the principles of the classic string instruments like violins or cellos earlier gibson company specialized in making mandolins so the shape of the top was either decorative or a resonant part of the instrument vintage les paul fill it is deeper and more profound i won't get into details about the resonance right now i'll just tell you that it works like a spring indeed vintage les paul next scale was slightly shorter than modern one actual numbers are 24.56 inches or 623.82 millimeter scale versus modern one with 2475 inches or 628.65 millimeters the difference is 4.8 millimeters the reason for that is that in the 1950s rule 18 was used as a formula for frets layout in those days it was a traditional method due to the lack of computers or calculators later on luthiers started to use more precise instruments and the numbers appeared to be 17.8 which referred to a more accurate layout but you know that any guitar is not an absolutely accurate instrument so an average musician won't notice it musicians with perfect ears are playing the piano and say that any guitar never feels so accurate as well as strings and material affect the sound so do 4.8 millimeters with the whole guitar system we've got to mention here a truss rod which also differs from the modern one [Music] today's guitar truss rod is placed in a radiused notch so that it can arc the neck when you tighten the nut [Music] it's really convenient in addition the truss rod is now covered with plastic inside the neck so that it stays silent if it's installed incorrectly within so-called dimensional tolerance i believe it affects the sound negatively vintage-less pulse had absolutely straight saw notch in the neck up to 1959 thickness had only compression type truss rods only in 1960 gibson began to make radius notches adding arcane function to the truss rod neck profile became thinner and the neck itself became more sensitive to the string tension as a result truss rod became able to provide an additional curve to the whole neck so it's hard to underestimate the importance of the truss rod when forming overall guitar sound traditionally les paul neck radius is 12 inches this is true for vintage guitars as well as for modern races commonly accepted opinion is supposed to be like 59-58 baseball bat 58 still baseball bat 59 perfect next 60 amazing bad 59 is better i could hardly agree with this statement and also need to notice that each neck profile of any vintage less pole was unique sometimes even not symmetrical necks were handmade with the belt sander until they were ready that's why either in 1958 or in 1960 they were both thick and thin necks which slightly different 52 till 58 thickness 59 excellent 60 thin slim taper here's by the way a chart of the original vintage necks you can see now the difference [Music] we've finally reached a very critical construction detail its neck joint to the body we all got used to seeing a long tenon joint on modern bridges but if we have a look inside we'll notice the difference this is how modern tenon looks like and here's a vintage one this step is crucial in transferring resonance from the neck to the body resonant waves are formed in the neck and then transferred to the body overall sustained frequencies and the guitar response depends on the quality of these vibrational waves [Music] both vintage guitars and modern custom shop ratios have holy veneer on a headstock holly has smooth and steady structure as well as high density and springness though modern standard models and other non-custom shock guitars have plastic headstock instead you can only imagine how it affects the sound vintage less pole headstock thickness differs from the age to the neck by one millimeter this is the result of the machine sanding and it also affects an overall tone a bit gibson logo has vintage design and is made of pearl standard gibson logo looks slightly different les paul print is made using silk screen about the varnish on both guitars however cheaper gibson models have this print beneath the varnish and differs slightly just by outlines font [Music] going back to the 50s americans were excited by the space and lots of new materials appeared on the market gibson decided that nylon nut would be an innovative solution this material is hot enough and strings slide quite well on it but i do believe that traditional bone sounds better although nylon nut also contributes to vintage sound sometimes bridge saddles are made of this material however most modern guitars come from factory with plastic nut surely vintage les paul fretboard was made of brazilian rosewood it's rare wood nowadays since brazil has already imposed an export ban of this wood and it is protected there wasn't such a pain in the 50s as nowadays and it was widely used even in production of expensive furniture but this rosewood does look and sound great this wood is greasier than an indian one with a light smell of chocolate and vanilla these days gibson produces limited reishi series with brazilian rosewood and these instruments are much more expensive as far as i know working with brazilian rosewood is banned in the united states so the next are made in china imported as an end product and glued to the body in the united states from the first glance vintage and modern inlays look almost the same celluloid is generally used on both vintage and original instruments however vintage inlays are slightly bigger with more pronounced vertical lines i can say that it affects the sounds but is quite noticeable in overall vintage appearance [Music] formaldehyde furniture glue was traditionally used in the 50s to glue top with body as well as neck joint it was cheap convenient but hazardous for the health these days white glue is used personally i prefer quality hot carpets hot glue firstly it's authentic luthier is used is for ages secondly it's solid and finally it absorbs and gives moisture like wood does providing the same tension this is incredibly crucial for the proper resonance [Music] middle-range gibson models like standard or traditional are usually equipped with zinc bridge and tailpiece however hardware for custom shop is made of lightweight aluminium red like on vintage lesbo such hardware is responsible for better resonance and specific frequency harmonics though modern models have short tail piece balls here are modern balls and here are original 59 ones the same thing goes to the bushings this junction is substantial for delivering strain resonance to the wood everything matters here length of the bolts bushings as well as steel that is made of it is considered that the brighter response to the tap test metal has the better it sounds like bell bronze or hard steel but it's absolutely wrong if metals have fixed molecular structure with tension that corresponds to a clang at a specific frequency this frequency will mute corresponding overtone harmonics produced by the strings the humbucker has the same effect noise from one coil kills noise from another one that's why hardware from soft steel that doesn't clang but tap has better sound conductivity personally i have tested this effect several times [Music] let's have a look at the bot knobs two different guitars have different locations of odds and the question is why so vivid detail was not considered in the reissues if you remember we've already mentioned scale differences to be exact it's 4.8 millimeters that's how far the tailpiece was moved in relation to the tone block moreover vintageless small tailpiece was angled a bit not as straight as it might seem if you draw a line over studs it will be precisely in the middle of two volume pots by the way this is one of the ways to check the authenticity i hope at least it was vintage instruments come with clues and deluxe tuners as well as all modern re-issues these tuners have thin shafts and require 8.6 millimeters routings in the headstock where the little bushings are inserted these tumors are lightweight and have a stamped housing some of these signature series come with grover tuners grovers are heavier requiring wider routing and slightly change the overall sound it's up to you to decide which tuners to install taste differ i believe grovers change response and sustain in a better way i prefer them for convenience that's why i installed them on my guitars [Music] now let's have a look at electronics we all got used to seeing two tone and two volume knobs on a les paul obviously volume knob controls volume and tunnel cuts high frequencies via capacitor both vintage burst and modern reissue have bumblebee capacitors installed one has vintage paper oil caps and another one has film caps packed in vintage cover the difference in sound is terrific gibson has begun to make almost precise copies of paper oil bumblebee caps as for me i prefer either vintage bumblebees or soviet military caps k40u9 or green u2 [Music] what's next is the port legs soldering modern soldering works just fine for playing a guitar however original vintage wiring with slightly adjusted schematics can do miracles with volume and tone rolled off the sound will become brighter and more transparent as if all vocals this schematic is hard to deal with but lots of modern musicians prefer it a lot [Music] as you see both guitars have vintage cloth insulated wires is the highest quality wiring for 59 style instruments can you imagine it without metal plates thin wires or plastics [Music] so we've sorted out what forms the voice now let's sort out the mics that pick up this voice yes i am talking about the mics now vintage pafs are not ported with paraffin and have a microphone effect in fact pif is twin one it's a mic and a magnetic inductive sensor that's why even material used for plastic frames around pickups is very important vibrations also go through these frames and are picked by the pafs these frames as well as bobbins are made of acetate batteries this material was widely used for bra ledges due to its elastic topic qualities paf's as well as materials they are made of is considerable and there are lots of pickups burst backers custom backers boutique bafs from small shops in my experience very few small batik makers have come close to creating that authentic vintage voice of paf pickups similar to the whole guitar construction every little detail in the pickup plays a huge role in voicing i have a detailed video about it here on my channel if you haven't seen it before here is the link i highly recommend it topic about varnish is of high importance to me it's a guitarist's code and it defines both look and voice lots of people believe that nitro finish is all that a guitar needs for good voicing let's figure it out traditionally gibson used nitro cellulose varnish for guitar finishing this varnish appeared in mass guitar building in the first half of the 20th century before that sherlock and expensive violent varnishes had been used they needed more attention and were more tedious nitro vanishes were easier to work with and significantly cheaper nitrocellulose was used everywhere it were used in household items films jewelry and even explosives however nitrocellulose has some cons firstly nitrogens are hazardous secondly nitrocellulose is destroyed by the impact of light and oxygen in order to prevent early checking plastics and resins are added to the nitro varnish these materials reduce shrinkage and improve elastic qualities however despite adding plastics the structure of the nitro varnish might change within time it becomes more fragile and eventually starts checking along with big checks there are many micro ones like pores which fragment overall finish structure exactly this fold has eventually become a merit that helps to improve guitar resonance while using uv light we can see fragmented structure in vintage nitro varnishes this mirroring effect is similar to the one we can see in the eyes but it's tiny and almost invisible in modern production routine finish checking is considered as a defect that's why modern factory nitro varnish includes lots of plastics which you can feel the varnish on the standard gibson models is a bit stinky and there are many people who believe that checked nitro varnish improves guitar tone like nothing can do let's have a look at it thoroughly if a guitar is covered with a thick layer of hot polyester varnish which is normally used in asian factories it changes the whole wood system and it won't work for resonance and on the vibrations side soft varnish is like a damper that kills lots of high frequencies although it doesn't change vibrations using this effect violin lithium managed to mute specific sharp frequencies with soft oil based varnishes but if we talk about solid body guitar especially electric guitar it's not needed a layer of thin and hard nitrogen creates tension on the top of the guitar without restricting resonance but when this layer is being checked it splits up into fragments in this case when the wood resonates each varnish fragment acts independently and doesn't block any resonance wave at the same time this finish code still protects the guitar body from environmental impacts nitro varnish became so popular in the guitar world because of its ability to check and to affect the sound that's why the word nitro is used in a bundle with checks micro fragmentation and tension as a result of shrinkage if you are not a fan of checking then you'd better look for another type of varnish don't even think about nitro just choose the thinnest layer available [Music] it is believed that the lighter the guitar is the better it sounds moreover you'd like to know that this belief has replaced an opposite one about heavy gutters unfortunately it has appeared thanks to the vintage bursts as i've already mentioned in the 50s less poles were made of old wood blacks with more open and even green what's more old-grown mahogany like that is lighter than modern wine although i need to mention the time that this wood has been played stars that have been fermented and the frequency memory of the instrument according to my research original burst weight somewhere from 8.10 to 9.72 pounds it's like 3.67 to 4.41 kilos to my experience light guitars are likely to be greeted to sound however there are some heavy instruments that sound amazing for sure guitars respond to resonance quicker and sound great even unplugged but they are often lost in the mix the weight of my les paul that you've already seen in my videos is 9.37 pounds this weight is close to original vintage instruments and they like it a lot it sounds above the mix on any sound level but there's one aspect that helps the whole system work in harmony it kills resonance feedback and sustain of the guitar no matter what wood it was made of as well it's a tonal match of the body and neck i suppose i'll make an original video about it to give you more details about this theory that i've confirmed several times in my experience if you'd like to see the results of my experiments you should watch the video where we made a guitar according to this theory results are astonishing brand new guitar sounded like a well-played vintage instrument [Music] [Applause] [Music] everything mentioned above is just a part of one big organic system lots of small details and differences like a truss rod bell cover truss rod nut neck joint position tone block specifics uh bridge i've skipped lots of details because this video has already become too long later i'll tell you about each detail thoroughly so don't forget to subscribe to my channel [Music] well let's sum up the peculiarities of the original burst that affect resonance and form its unique voicing so old lightweight and well-played wood vintage scale brazilian rose boot proper top carving proper long neck tenon glue space between tailpiece and tone block material and size of the studs and washings hardware material material of plastic pickup frame high density nitro varnish with curricular and fermented edge structure vintage wiring unpotted pafs so and musicians hands even musicians hands are the most powerful instrument to retrieve the voicing and potential of the guitar and the guitarist is the only one who can make the guitar sound so don't forget about the music when trying to reach that miracle voice the guitar is just an instrument in the musician's hands and we play it for the music i hope you found lots of useful information and i haven't overloaded your attention anyway i'm not saying goodbye for a long time play the music and get high from this process rock and roll for all [Music] foreign

Channel: 8Bomb Custom Workshop

Views: 81,328

Keywords: gibson, les paul, 59 burst, 59 les paul, vintage les paul guitar, 59 les paul replica, paf pickups, vintage guitar, guitar wood, 1959 les paul, guitar resonance, tom murphy, gary moore, peter green, jimmy page, billy gibbons, joe bonamassa, relic guitar, nitro lacquer, guitar nitro finish, gibson history, gibson custom shop, gibson factory tour, gibson les paul, vintage, luthier, paul kossoff, les paul burst, paf, chicago music exchange, vintage guitars, sustain

Id: HYfv8pxs3Wg

Length: 35min 32sec (2132 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 16 2021