yngwie308
New member
The 1952 Goldtop I mentioned in the Pickup section regarding P 90's, I thought I would share the story of how that guitar came to be and was reborn from some ashes, ie, it had a nasty neck break, but was reborn and is one of the finest sounding and playing Les Pauls I have ever played, vintage or Historic, apologies for the length, ect.
I am telling the story of one of my favorite guitars, which started life as a 1952 Les Paul Gold top when she left the Kalamazoo factory.
Back when I lived in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, I came to know Jack Romano, who already had quite a reputation as a master luthier in the Philadelphia, Tri-state area. Jack at the time had his shop based in his fathers paint store, next door to a beer distributor in Conshohocken, just south of Philadelphia, near the Schuylkill river. Jack lives not far from the shop and with the pizza/sub shop on the corner, it always was enjoyable to visit the little town and it’s quaint small streets, only the parking meters spoiled the ambiance of a visit!
Jack had done various work on my guitars over the years when I lived in Pennsylvania and I had met him through Paul Hammond, another friend of mine, who is quite well known in his own right as a master electronics tech and he was always wiring studios and involved with the busy Philly area music scene.
Jack always had an interesting guitar or various acoustic instruments in the shop and it was always an enjoyable experience hanging in his shop, talking guitars and watching the customers come and go.
I had heard through Paul Hammond, that Jack had in his possession a 1952 Les Paul Goldtop, that he was restoring. Upon further inquiry Jack told me that it had an extreme neck/headstock break, that was unrepairable. Also it had been ‘converted’ to 1956 specifications, by the addition of an ABR-1 bridge and a stop tailpiece. It also had the original gold finish removed and was painted as a sunburst.
The previous owner also had recessed the bridge into the body somewhat to compensate for the shallower neck angle that had been standard with the original tailpiece. Also one of the pickups was not working, the controls weren’t the originals, but the pickups, the pickup selector and all associated wiring was original. Also the pickguard, switch tip, were the originals.
I remember telling Jack I wanted the snot green tuners eventually and he used the Gibson Deluxe double line with the washer and nut up top.
We briefly discussed making it an ‘all gold’ Goldtop, but decided against that and making it a conventional Goldtop finish
Continued...
I am telling the story of one of my favorite guitars, which started life as a 1952 Les Paul Gold top when she left the Kalamazoo factory.
Back when I lived in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, I came to know Jack Romano, who already had quite a reputation as a master luthier in the Philadelphia, Tri-state area. Jack at the time had his shop based in his fathers paint store, next door to a beer distributor in Conshohocken, just south of Philadelphia, near the Schuylkill river. Jack lives not far from the shop and with the pizza/sub shop on the corner, it always was enjoyable to visit the little town and it’s quaint small streets, only the parking meters spoiled the ambiance of a visit!
Jack had done various work on my guitars over the years when I lived in Pennsylvania and I had met him through Paul Hammond, another friend of mine, who is quite well known in his own right as a master electronics tech and he was always wiring studios and involved with the busy Philly area music scene.
Jack always had an interesting guitar or various acoustic instruments in the shop and it was always an enjoyable experience hanging in his shop, talking guitars and watching the customers come and go.
I had heard through Paul Hammond, that Jack had in his possession a 1952 Les Paul Goldtop, that he was restoring. Upon further inquiry Jack told me that it had an extreme neck/headstock break, that was unrepairable. Also it had been ‘converted’ to 1956 specifications, by the addition of an ABR-1 bridge and a stop tailpiece. It also had the original gold finish removed and was painted as a sunburst.
The previous owner also had recessed the bridge into the body somewhat to compensate for the shallower neck angle that had been standard with the original tailpiece. Also one of the pickups was not working, the controls weren’t the originals, but the pickups, the pickup selector and all associated wiring was original. Also the pickguard, switch tip, were the originals.
I remember telling Jack I wanted the snot green tuners eventually and he used the Gibson Deluxe double line with the washer and nut up top.
We briefly discussed making it an ‘all gold’ Goldtop, but decided against that and making it a conventional Goldtop finish
Continued...
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