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QUIRKY VINTAGE: 2006 LES PAUL SUNBURST � Bob Cianci
This month’ s column should perhaps be titled“ Not So Quirky Vintage.” In fact, the guitar in question is not quirky nor vintage at all, but a mere ten years and three months old. And I’ m the current caretaker of this instrument. You see, my original plan was to write about a genuine’ 58 Gibson Les Paul Sunburst and the gentleman who owns it, but at the last minute, fearing he would be giving away too much information about his prized instrument, he decided not to be interviewed. This left me in a bit of a bind as to what to write about, so the next best option was to tell you about my relationship with the Gibson Les Paul Sunburst. Please pardon my indulgence.
I don’ t remember exactly when I became aware of the Les Paul Sunburst, but it must have been around 1967, when I bought Mayall & the Bluesbreakers’ Beano album and saw the photos of Eric Clapton on the back. Then, I noticed photos of Keith Richards and his Bigsby-equipped Burst. And finally, there was Michael Bloomfield with the Butterfield Blues Band, Electric Flag, and the Super Session LPs. I had also viewed Bloomfield’ s Burst close up and personal when I saw the Electric Flag at the Fillmore East in New York City in May of 1968. I was immediately taken with the appearance of the guitars, but it was the sound that really drew me in. Although I was a guitar novice at the time and didn’ t know the first thing about achieving tonal nirvana, I instinctively knew those old Les Paul Sunburst guitars sounded better than anything else around, including those spiffy new Fender guitars, all of which sounded inferior in just about every way. Bloomfield’ s
tone was muscular, loud, and clear, and Clapton’ s legendary tone on Beano remains perhaps the best example of vintage Burstthrough-a-Marshall tone imaginable. It spoke to me. I didn’ t know how Clapton, Richards, and Bloomfield got their tone; I just knew those guitars were special, and I promised myself as a teenager that I would get a real Les Paul Burst someday. Can you imagine what Clapton’ s
Beano Burst would be worth today? It was stolen from him in Greece and its whereabouts are unknown.
Years later, as I became knowledgeable about vintage guitars, I learned that original Les Paul Bursts were steadily appreciating, as collectors and players sang their praises and began to hoard them. I didn’ t have several thousand dollars to spend on a guitar at the time, and could only dream about owning a real Burst. I’ m unfortunately still in that position; most of us are, as prices on original Bursts now top well over six figures, even for the plainest or non-original examples. My dream of finding an original’ 59 Burst under a Pennsylvania farmer’ s bed have long since faded, as it seems that most people with any knowledge of old guitars has at least a basic idea of the value of an original Burst.
Three years ago, after buying and selling a few mediocre Epiphone Les Paul Burst copies, I located a 2006 Gibson Burst at Sam Ash in Brooklyn, NY. The manager and I cut a deal and she became mine. The dark cherry sunburst finish appealed to me immediately, as did the flame top with wood grain also running vertical. It’ s a stunning example, if I do say so myself. I replaced the original humbuckers with a pair of Amalfitano PAFs, and now, the guitar sings, sustains, and plays beautifully.
So, I finally got my own genuine Burst, and it’ s a keeper for life. No, it’ s not vintage, nor is it something from the custom shop, but it does the trick for me, and fulfills that desire I had as a seventeen year old kid way back when. Welcome to my Burst.
46 Jul � Aug 2016 CollectibleGuitar. com