Picked this ol’ “54/55” conversion up yesterday in a trade. It was purchased by a Norwegian artist at “Orange Music / Denmark Street” (a quick google search suggest this means the Orange Shop) in 1975. It was already stripped of the goldtop finish (the 3-piece flamey top evident in early photos) and was fitted with double black original PAFs. Interestingly, the guitar was sporting a sign that read “owned by Jeff Beck”. No evidence of this remains, unfortunately. Move along to the 90’s and the guitar had a Bigsby, and at some point it was decided to fit a new maple top and pup covers. It sure does look perdy, but the body binding is slightly taller than my original 54’ – suggesting that a thin veneer was simply glued onto the existing top. The center seam is not quite 100%. Lastly, new neck binding has been fitted. This is the only job on the guitar that is badly executed, and will need remedy.
The laquer on the backside has been worn or removed at some point, and the serial is gone. Old non-correct Klusons (double line single ring, very strange) were already on the guitar in ’75. One original pot (soldering covers codes, but look exactly like my 54), older bumblebee lookalikes. Cavities are identical to the 54’, except the hole for the wiring to the pickups is slightly larger on this one and a pile of black paint has been applied (same in the pickup cavities, they are quite nasty). Early 60s ABR.
The PAFs sound otherworldly. This sucker screeeeams. I have had other guitars with PAFs, but this is the first time I play a LP with PAFS plugged in. And boy o boy.
The guitar plays very well as is. My other old LPs are hard to beat though, and to me it feels like the poor neck binding on this one is letting it slightly down, and that there is a really cracker of a Lester here somewhere.
For now I’ll enjoy her as is, and spend some time figuring what exactly to do with it. My initial gut feeling is bringing back the original top (in its’ flamey, converted state) and fixing the binding issues. Watch this space.
The laquer on the backside has been worn or removed at some point, and the serial is gone. Old non-correct Klusons (double line single ring, very strange) were already on the guitar in ’75. One original pot (soldering covers codes, but look exactly like my 54), older bumblebee lookalikes. Cavities are identical to the 54’, except the hole for the wiring to the pickups is slightly larger on this one and a pile of black paint has been applied (same in the pickup cavities, they are quite nasty). Early 60s ABR.
The PAFs sound otherworldly. This sucker screeeeams. I have had other guitars with PAFs, but this is the first time I play a LP with PAFS plugged in. And boy o boy.
The guitar plays very well as is. My other old LPs are hard to beat though, and to me it feels like the poor neck binding on this one is letting it slightly down, and that there is a really cracker of a Lester here somewhere.
For now I’ll enjoy her as is, and spend some time figuring what exactly to do with it. My initial gut feeling is bringing back the original top (in its’ flamey, converted state) and fixing the binding issues. Watch this space.