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rarity of the stinger

humbucking

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Jun 5, 2002
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We all know they put stingers on a number of guitars.
The point of this thread is how rare it is on vintage Les Pauls. Not Gibsons in general. :ganz



Yes. I have seen 3 single cut juniors with stingers. My uncle says his buddy down in DC has an all gold wrap-tail with a stinger. I am waiting for pictures of it. I think there is only one Burst in BOTB with a stinger? I havnt flipped through that book for a while.
 

Humbuck

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Jul 17, 2001
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We all know they put stingers on a number of guitars.
The point of this thread is how rare it is on vintage Les Pauls. Not Gibsons in general. :ganz

Yeah, you pretty much summed that up in post number 2.
 

troyvod

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Jan 5, 2006
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My memory is hazy but i'm sure i played a 57 Gold Top that had one about 15 years ago.
 

Zoomer

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Feb 1, 2005
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Decoration? Why would a Sunburst Les Paul have a stinger?

Stingers were USUALLY done to cover up some slight imperfection in the wood not for decoration from what I understand on Les Pauls anyway.

:2zone,

Zoomer
 

Hetfieldinn

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Dec 17, 2004
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Didn't Ted's black Byrdland have a white stinger??

It very well could have. A black stinger on a black neck/headstock doesn't make much sense, does it. I actually don't know why I described it as a 'black stinger'. The show was so phucking loud, it could have been pink, for all I know. I just remember seeing it had the stinger, and that I was surprised, because I never knew it had a stinger.
 

humbucking

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Stingers were USUALLY done to cover up some slight imperfection in the wood not for decoration from what I understand on Les Pauls anyway.

:2zone,

Zoomer

I dont know if anyone has truely figured out why Gibson put stingers on some guitars. Its clearly decoration on some of the higher end instruments. I dont know if it was to cover up imperfections?

I'd like to know the process of applying a stinger? Did they have a stencil? was it taped off? Depending on how difficult it was to apply, they could have been put on for any number of reasons.

I think they could have applied them to cover up a mistake in the serial number stamping. If the number was not clear or smudged or if they mis-stamped it, or if one of the digits did not turn completely into place on the stamp. Seems to me the easiest thing to do at that point is to paint the headstock over in black & stamp on a new number. Especially if it was just stencil to make the stinger.
 

rockinlespaul

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Oct 21, 2002
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Mark's Guitar Loft currently has a '56 Junior that is rare for two reasons; one that it has a stinger, and two, its got to be one of the heaviest Juniors ever at 9 lbs 2 oz. :ganz

Gibson 1956 Les Paul Junior w/ factory Stingerg

There's a nice '56 Jr. w/stinger on the bay too. It's been there a while. I almost bought it about a month ago. Had him at a very reasonable price too. I'd take it over the one at Mark's for the reason you stated above with the weight.
 

Joe Desperado

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I will say Fred, my 57 is heavy (probably 9lbs) and it is resonant and loud unplugged, sustains for days and is a screamer! I wouldn't judge them just by weight alone.
 

Fred Hullerum

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Nov 3, 2008
Messages
120
I will add some more pics.

Here is 9 0583:

9_0583-03.jpg



9_0583-04.jpg



Here is 9 1785:

9_1785-04.jpg



Here is a DC Junior in cherry red:

7078-01.jpg


7078-02.jpg



Finally the lefthanded DC TV you see in my avatar
0 6423

0_6423.jpg



When I got the LP DC TV in 1982 I didn't know what a stinger is. I thought this decoration to be a normal feature. And it made sense to me. I had seen beautiful Gibson archtop guitars with the same feature on the back of their headstock and I interpreted this to be a "quote", a "hint" that this guitar was made in the tradition of the best industrial luthiers in the world - referring to their heritage.

I thought then and still think there MUST be this stinger. The yellow color on the back of the neck reminds me of violin necks made of maple and archtop necks made of the same wood. The shellac gives maple a "yellow touch". At both ends of the violin neck the colour gets darker. So I see this neck with the stinger as a legacy. I have already seen pictures of guitars showing a "stinger" at the neck-body joint. This makes only sense to me when you see this as a "quote" to the violin/archtop neck colour-design.

And: Now I hear of a possible "white stinger" on a black neck. There is no need for such a work if the luthier is just covering wood imperfections.

Fred
 

57gold

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Jan 14, 2005
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692
Only guitar I ever handled in with a stinger was an 1958-9 Flying V in @1974. Cool to see one on A King's guitar. Was having a local CT guy, one of the first vintage "dealers", put a pair of 1956 P90s from a Goldtop he routed for PAFs in my 1972 Deluxe (still have it and the P90s scream).

Guys name was Kubeki (close?) played in a Johnny Winter influenced band, twin Plexi stacks (loud a hell) with all vintage guitars including Firebirds. He just let me borrow anything he had lying aorund so I coud rehearse and play a gig at the local high school while he got around to swapping the PUs. Picked the V.

The V was amazing, the neck PU had a fat, pure, vocal voice that was intoxicating. Wanted to buy it but he wanted like $3 or 4K...scooping ice cream, caddying and high school band gigs just didn't provide the cash flow.

Same very cool guy lent me a 1956 Strat, all bakelite, pronounced V neck, in clean shape except for very deep checking on the body (wide and deep grooves). The finish was faded to a light brown to yellow two tone...wanted @$2,200, asked ny Dad for a loan...he laughed, and then when I told him I was serious, he said so was he...I was first of 6 going to college and if I had that kind of money, it was paying for tuition.
 

wsaraceni

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Jan 6, 2004
Messages
453
Mark's Guitar Loft currently has a '56 Junior that is rare for two reasons; one that it has a stinger, and two, its got to be one of the heaviest Juniors ever at 9 lbs 2 oz. :ganz

Gibson 1956 Les Paul Junior w/ factory Stingerg

thanks. that's the guitar that got me thinking to post this thread. i do loves me a stinger.


thanks for sharing guys. i knew they were rare. but i didnt see any posts on them here so i thought i'd ask.
 

wsaraceni

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Jan 6, 2004
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bumping an old thread, but since I started it, why not.

I notice rumble seat has a 59 with a stinger. says it's well documented guitar but I can't see the serial so I have no way to find the documentation. since im not buying a $450k guitar im not going to bother them. so who can point me in the right direction to find out about this guitar and the story behind it's stinger?
 

VamboRool

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Nov 25, 2015
Messages
424
On a serious note, just saw a Kalamazoo made Epiphone classical, I think the model number was EC-90, it's the Epi equivalent of the Gibson C-1 3/4 model. It had a stinger on the neck heel. I took a photo of it, if I can figure out how to post it I will.
 
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