“There are really good ’Bursts, average ’Bursts and some that are not that good at all”: What this pristine 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard tells us about the myth of the ’Bursts

When is a ’59 ’Burst not a ’59 ’Burst? The answer is when it’s a ‘Double O’. Most people associate 1960 Les Pauls with vibrant cherry sunbursts that never fade, reflector control knobs and skinnier neck profiles, but those features were not introduced right at the start of the year.

Well into 1960, Gibson continued building Les Pauls using necks, bodies and even pickups that had been made in 1959. These ’59-spec early 1960 ’Bursts have become known as ‘Double O’s because the first two serial number digits were zeros. That’s why they look, feel and sound indistinguishable from 1959 Les Pauls.

Gibson must have become aware of the fading finish issues. The aniline red pigment that most manufacturers used was not light-fast and would rapidly bleach out when exposed to sunlight. As hard as it is to believe nowadays, sunburst Les Pauls were not that popular because they were expensive and regarded as too heavy.

Most players probably didn’t understand what sounds you could get out of them until Keith Richards appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and then guys like Mike Bloomfield and Eric Clapton made them public. Many Les Pauls would have spent considerable amounts of time sunbathing in shop windows.

When light-fast red pigment became available, Gibson stopped spraying aniline red and the unfaded late-1960s style of sunburst became known as ‘tomato soup’.

I’ve had this early 1960 for about seven years and the colour is very 1959. It retains a lot of very strong unfaded aniline dye, but it weighs 9lb 9oz. Despite being heavy, the guitar is pretty balanced so it doesn’t feel like it’s pulling on your shoulders too much. The back does show a little bit of playwear – I call them spaghetti marks – and there’s some more wear on the rear upper bout to one side of the switch plate.

The neck pickup reads 8.23k and the bridge is 8.32k, so they’re very well matched. Both pickups have double black bobbins and the covers have never been off. They sound pretty aggressive, but all you need to do is roll the volumes back to 9 or 8 and they clean up sweetly.

The tuner buttons have been replaced with Uncle Lou’s as they shrank and disintegrated, but everything on the guitar is original and there’s no real wear on the fingerboard. At first glance I assumed it had been refretted, but these frets are actually original and in fantastic condition.

I think Double Os are really cool, although lots of people hear ‘1960’ and assume the worst. But when you have seen as many as me – and I currently have 12 1960s in stock – I can tell you they all vary.

The earliest ones have fairly large necks that feel comfortable, but the neck of one very late 1960 that I have is absolutely tiny. It’s like a blade in comparison, but Gibson didn’t make all these changes overnight. It was a progressive thing.

Some suggest that thinner necks make Les Pauls sound different, but you have to acknowledge that every piece of wood sounds different. I can’t really comment on how neck thickness affects tone because I’ve had some skinny-neck 1960s that sound richer and fuller than some 1959s. I think it’s more about the tonal characteristics and quality of the lumber.

When the collector market was obsessed with 1959 Les Pauls, and it still is to some extent, nobody was paying much attention to 1960s for a while. I started buying them up and went on a run where I acquired seven or eight Double Os.

I would hunt for them at guitar shows because back then people would simply classify them as ’59s or ’60s. I was particularly interested in the early ones, and the desirable 1959 specs were retained up to the point where serial numbers beginning with 02 started to appear.

What I can tell you is that there are really good ’Bursts, average ’Bursts and some that are not that good at all. I would definitely place this guitar well above average, although I can’t say it’s the best one I’ve ever had. I do wish it was lighter and, although it’s fine to use in the studio or play sitting down, I wouldn’t want to do a whole gig with it standing up.

There is such a wide variation in ’Burst weights – it just goes to show that Gibson made these in a factory with whatever materials were available at the time.

• Vintage guitar veteran David Davidson owns Well Strung Guitars in Farmingdale, New York / info@wellstrungguitars.com / 001 (516) 221-0563
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.