ladytexan
Senior Member
Should be interesting to see how much the original 'Black Beauty' brings at auction.
P.S. If this has been posted previously, mea cupla. :biggrin:
P.S. If this has been posted previously, mea cupla. :biggrin:
Holy Grail of Electric Guitars - Auction
- Thread starter ladytexan
- Start date
AcornHouse
Venerated Member
Going to bid on it, Toni? :encouragement:
ladytexan
Senior Member
Oh, Chris, you know my limited talents on an ACOUSTIC. This guitar is MUCH more for bluesypicky, and not me. Besides, I don't have a gazillion $$ stashed somewhere. :::teehee:::
Walter Broes
Enlightened Member
Can't really blame the guy for trying to make a buck on it, but the whole campaign about that guitar is a little sad. It's one of Les Paul's many hacked up Les Pauls, and it's neat to a Les Paul (as in Les Paul, the man, the musician) fan - and I am a big fan, btw - but the whole "first this, first that, holy grail" thing is, well....a bunch of BS and kind of sad.
ladytexan
Senior Member
Walter, so glad to hear your thoughts....very valuable for someone like myself who knows little to next-to-nothing about electric and, specifically, Les Paul guitars.
Agreed, Walter. An extremely cool guitar, historical in it's way, etc., but it seems wrong to treat it like a baseball card or something...
I'd love to see it being *played* by someone!
walrus
I'd love to see it being *played* by someone!
walrus
Walter Broes
Enlightened Member
Well...it's not even thàt historical, really. It's being presented as "the grandaddy of all Les Pauls", and it's a lot of things, but it isnt that. The first Les Pauls were the Goldtop Standards, so the very first ones LP received were different spec guitars than this one. The Custom came one and a half to two years later, and as far as legendary rock stars and resulting collectability go, the Les Paul Standard was always the one - especially the later twin humbucker sunburst ones.
And the video shows that that except for Les Pauls own (crude) modifications, this is a garden-variety archted top early Les Paul Custom. It's been documented that Gibson gave two or three flat topped ones to Les Paul fairly early on to make his incessant pickup/electronics swapping easier, he put his electronics and pickups on almost Fender-style pickguards to make swaps easier, and to cover up his crude "hot screwdriver/chisel" pickup cavity enlargment work. And from the looks of it, this guitar "isn't even one of those", so it really isn't all that special or historical among the Gibson Les Pauls that Les Paul owned over the years. Again, it would be nice to see the guy make some money on it, but the presentation of the guitar is way over the top, and there are things being said and written about it that are plain not right.
And the video shows that that except for Les Pauls own (crude) modifications, this is a garden-variety archted top early Les Paul Custom. It's been documented that Gibson gave two or three flat topped ones to Les Paul fairly early on to make his incessant pickup/electronics swapping easier, he put his electronics and pickups on almost Fender-style pickguards to make swaps easier, and to cover up his crude "hot screwdriver/chisel" pickup cavity enlargment work. And from the looks of it, this guitar "isn't even one of those", so it really isn't all that special or historical among the Gibson Les Pauls that Les Paul owned over the years. Again, it would be nice to see the guy make some money on it, but the presentation of the guitar is way over the top, and there are things being said and written about it that are plain not right.
The Honus Wagner of guitars!
walrus
walrus
If it's as iconic as he claims, it belongs in a museum, or maybe the R&R hall of fame, not on an auction block.
adorshki
Reverential Member
Thank you sir.
I second Toni's sentiments and I LOVE to see myths debunked.
In fact usually the facts, like you presented, are more interesting than the "myth".