1959 Gibson Les Paul Neck Joint Design Flaw, and One Way to go About Fixing it Permanently
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- Опубліковано 15 лип 2024
- Gibson’s first double-cut Les Paul Specials suffer from a design flaw that makes them badly susceptible to cracking through the body at the end of the fingerboard.
Mark Stutman describes how Gibson’s original double-cut design created this problem, and discusses a successful method he used to repair an otherwise perfect and near-mint 1959 Les Paul Special.
Man I’ve always wanted a TV yellow double cut special or junior. That 59 design looks much cooler than the more practical 60 version. Cool video
Why can't you live closer to Montreal? 😀 You are a true master. Much respect.
Great repair by a master....
Great video. I am from MS and I love Folkway. Every guitar I have bought from them and been exactly as described and set up right from the time I unboxed it. They take care of their customers and know their stuff. Great staff and service.
That's great to hear! Thanks for the great feedback.
Very innovative and brilliant…as usual
Double cut TV specials are probably the coolest guitar in creation.
Love hearing about the reasons behind why you chose epoxy. Very informative Mark!
Thanks Mark! Great fix!
Nice fix.
ANOTHER quite personal YT Canadian luthier. You're in excellent company. It's becoming your national trade. Subbed.
Cool about the double-cut issue. It's why I watch you guys.
Thanks for the class.
Very cool I wondered why the pick up configuration changed on the 60. Thanks for the info.
What an intelligent fix! A few years ago I stopped in a music store in Hudson, Ohio and picked up a few of your XXH Ivoroid picks.
This is great. I have that exact same guitar in almost the same condition and 1 owner as well.
One of my very fave guitars!
I had 2 of them back in the day.
One original I was told was a 58 & a reissue...I think a 76?
Both of them broke out at the body!
(Over time, gigging them night after nite & doing "trix" with them)
One nite at sound check it kept going flat & as I retuned, eventually I saw the neck pulling out of the body...I could have cried.
Having gone through it once already, the reissue was less dramatic for me...lol
Really wish I would have kept the original & repaired it, but who knew back then what these old guitars would be worth now?
Anyways, I have 2 more of them now, because I just LOVE that double cut!
Nice work...
Given how little material is there I am surprised even with the addition of epoxy into the crack that the neck won’t still try to fold into the body over time….
It will try, but it won’t crack again. There is still some neck tenon remaining there to do the work.
Nice
Superb repair work ! What would be the "discount" of a repaired heel compared to a perfect example ? about 30 % ?
It really depends on the repair quality, and the severety of the break. In this case, the devaluation wasn't much. Almost every '59 Les Paul Special has a compromised neck joint, so a good repair should only add value.
The 2015 LPS DC Tribute and early 90s Hamer Specials had the neck P-90 right next to the neck. What did they do differently? Also, are LPS DCs neck heavy?
I don't know anything about those 1990's Hamer's, sorry. Good question, though. Some LPS DCs are neck heavy, particularly so if the tuners have been replaced with Grovers. It's all about the body and neck wood used, and where the center of the weight distribution happens.
What were they thinking?
Hope some stupid collector does not see this and think its worthless because you fixed it correctly (trogly would say its not Gibson Official way) Good job!
Agreed! Thanks for mentioning it.
Nice job repairing the crack. I don't think it is stronger than original as the fact that the epoxy stronger/less flexible than the wood around it creates a stress point where they meet. Hide glue, with its similar flex to wood, creates a joint that is less likely to crack. I.e. higher strength of epoxy does not mean more resilient joints. I know it is likely sacrilegious, but I would plug that pickup cavity and route a new one like the later models.
Not sure about hide glue on this one. The strength of the epoxy is part of the long term success here. Interesting perspective though.
While plugging and rerouting makes sense, doing so would remove 10k to 15k of value from this guitar.
@@TheFolkwayMusic Strength has many dimensions. Epoxy is very rigid, it will not flex. Wood flexes. Under strain the epoxy "strength" can make the joint fail sooner than materials which flex with the wood like PVA or hide glue. Neither epoxy, PVA, nor hide glue joints will fail before the wood around it, so with epoxy you are adding more bonding strength where it doesn't help (beyond the fail point of wood) yet the behavior of the material will cause increased stress at pressure points causing earlier failure.
yeah, re-routing the pickup location would be sacrilegious; if somebody wants to do that they should look for a different guitar, not a near-mint example like this one
that said, it strikes me that maybe those _deeper_ routs in the pickup cavity could be plugged, possibly the polepiece screws on the bottom of the P90 shortened to fit, so as to regain at least some strength in the joint under the pickup
the originality/resale question still pertains but at least it wouldn't be visible from the outside
@@pnwgentleman Great creative thinking, I have to say both sides make a lot of sense but only time can tell who's right I guess. I would too lean towards more stiffness of the epoxy ntuitively though.
That’s precisely how “Alien Takeover” begins! First that; then this!
In 50 years, nobody will know what hapened
If I owned that guitar I'd sell it. that neck joint is horrible. it looks like if you pushed on the body to bend the note flat you'd break the neck. if you really played that guitar it would only be a matter of time until it broke.
Sadly, this design flaw effects every first-year double-cut LP Special, so if you want a '59 neck carve and a double-cut you'd need to take the bad with the good. The 1960 models don't suffer from this issues, but have a 1960 neck, and slightly different neck pickup tone.