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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