Tweet
I was notified from a seller on Reverb of a 2005 Edwards 100LT TV Yellow Double Cut Junior. The seller saw it on a Japanese site, remembered an old enquiry I had made to him, and contacted me with the link.
So I clicked on the link...2005, full thin skin nitro...the best one Edwards ever made. I had read enough reports on these to know if I ever happened upon one I would definitely try to get it. Reports were always of them having a 58 or 59 neck profile.
This one was listed as "needs a cleaning"...in reality, the nitro was badly flaking off of the headstock, but these are very rare in the wild, so I went ahead and signed up for a Buyee account and went through the steps to bid on it. I was the winner at what converted to $650 USD which I felt extremely good about in 2024 dollars. It was another couple hundred in shipping, but a properly made TV Yellow DC Jr for $850 all-in? Okay...sign me up!
The guitar arrived in 3 days which very much surprised me. No damage.
I looked over the guitar...shade of yellow was right, the neck wasn't a 58 or 59 profile...felt more like an early 1960 profile to me. I got out my calipers and it measured: .88" at the first fret and .94" at the 12th fret...yeah...definite transition profile.
I plugged in the guitar and it didn't have the same oomph that my 2018 single cut limited junior has. I opened up the electronics cavity and saw it had 250k pots. I looked at the pickup...Greco Hotliner. So I ordered a Gibson dogeared P90, two 500k CTS pots and an orange drop capacitor. I also ordered a set of locking Gotoh tuners (vintage style...they drop right in with no new holes) and my normal Dunlop Straplocks. Finally, I bought a dark brown tortoise pickguard to replace the ugly stock red tortoise guard. Once all the parts came in, I installed what I could, and then took the guitar to my tech for a complete overhaul.
The Edwards logo AND the serial on the back of the headstock were not usuble once the old finish was removed as they both pretty much disintegrated. So I quickly ordered vinyl Gibson and Les Paul TV Model logos from the good folks over at Guitar-Restore.net and, upon delivery, took 'em to my tech. Also, I decided to have a serial number that has meaning to me stamped into the back of the headstock (818603 ... I met my wife on August 18th and married her almost 4 years later on June 3rd). Had I looked more extensively at the time, I would have seen that the Edwards logo and Limited MODEL script are also available at Guitar-Restore.net. At some point I may redo this headstock as I’m torn between the Gibson logo and script being perfectly fine as it is clearly a vintage Gibson design (along with it having a Gibson pickup) and the fact that it wasn’t actually Gibson who made & sold it when it was new.
Also, I have since found out that these early Edwards double cut Junior LT guitars (LT means “lacquer taste,” by the way, and this being a 2005 is a first year model) are the ones to get as they are the lightest in weight and have the greatest unplugged resonance.
This particular guitar feels like a Gibson custom shop guitar in the hands…it’s that good! The finish is not the modern day nitro with all the plasticizing agents in it either…it’s the old school recipe.
I like it so much I decided to sell my Gibson 2018 Ltd Edition Junior and my 2019 Original Collection TV Yellow special.
Oh...this guitar weighs 6 lbs 3 ounces.
PICS:
So I clicked on the link...2005, full thin skin nitro...the best one Edwards ever made. I had read enough reports on these to know if I ever happened upon one I would definitely try to get it. Reports were always of them having a 58 or 59 neck profile.
This one was listed as "needs a cleaning"...in reality, the nitro was badly flaking off of the headstock, but these are very rare in the wild, so I went ahead and signed up for a Buyee account and went through the steps to bid on it. I was the winner at what converted to $650 USD which I felt extremely good about in 2024 dollars. It was another couple hundred in shipping, but a properly made TV Yellow DC Jr for $850 all-in? Okay...sign me up!
The guitar arrived in 3 days which very much surprised me. No damage.
I looked over the guitar...shade of yellow was right, the neck wasn't a 58 or 59 profile...felt more like an early 1960 profile to me. I got out my calipers and it measured: .88" at the first fret and .94" at the 12th fret...yeah...definite transition profile.
I plugged in the guitar and it didn't have the same oomph that my 2018 single cut limited junior has. I opened up the electronics cavity and saw it had 250k pots. I looked at the pickup...Greco Hotliner. So I ordered a Gibson dogeared P90, two 500k CTS pots and an orange drop capacitor. I also ordered a set of locking Gotoh tuners (vintage style...they drop right in with no new holes) and my normal Dunlop Straplocks. Finally, I bought a dark brown tortoise pickguard to replace the ugly stock red tortoise guard. Once all the parts came in, I installed what I could, and then took the guitar to my tech for a complete overhaul.
The Edwards logo AND the serial on the back of the headstock were not usuble once the old finish was removed as they both pretty much disintegrated. So I quickly ordered vinyl Gibson and Les Paul TV Model logos from the good folks over at Guitar-Restore.net and, upon delivery, took 'em to my tech. Also, I decided to have a serial number that has meaning to me stamped into the back of the headstock (818603 ... I met my wife on August 18th and married her almost 4 years later on June 3rd). Had I looked more extensively at the time, I would have seen that the Edwards logo and Limited MODEL script are also available at Guitar-Restore.net. At some point I may redo this headstock as I’m torn between the Gibson logo and script being perfectly fine as it is clearly a vintage Gibson design (along with it having a Gibson pickup) and the fact that it wasn’t actually Gibson who made & sold it when it was new.
Also, I have since found out that these early Edwards double cut Junior LT guitars (LT means “lacquer taste,” by the way, and this being a 2005 is a first year model) are the ones to get as they are the lightest in weight and have the greatest unplugged resonance.
This particular guitar feels like a Gibson custom shop guitar in the hands…it’s that good! The finish is not the modern day nitro with all the plasticizing agents in it either…it’s the old school recipe.
I like it so much I decided to sell my Gibson 2018 Ltd Edition Junior and my 2019 Original Collection TV Yellow special.
Oh...this guitar weighs 6 lbs 3 ounces.
PICS:
Comment