#paf pickups

[deebeeus]

1957 #LesPaul Standard. Photographed at #UnionSound23, Don Lee and Chris Stringer's annual guitar nerd-fest in Toronto.

[garys-classic-guitars]

When Two PAF’s are not enough!

[deebeeus]

1957 #Gibson#LesPaul Standard. Photographed at the @dlott65 / @chriswstringer8#UnionSound23 Summer Shindig last weekend.

In his book "Gibson Electrics The Classic Years" (pp 218), Andre Duchossoir says that 598 #LesPaulStandard models were shipped in 1957, which makes a #GoldTop with twin PAFs pretty darn rare, as Gibson switched to the "sunburst" finish the next year. In total ~1700 'Bursts were shipped between 1958 and 1960, so there's a plethora of them out there (compared to '57 Gold Tops, I mean!).

Looking at individual years, there were 434 LPs shipped in 1958, the lowest number of Les Pauls shipped in any year between 1952 and 1960, so technically that makes the '58 'Burst the rarest of all the LP Standards, but the Gold Top is the rarest of all the finishes on a PAF-equipped LP, when you take the total number of 'Bursts shipped as a whole. I guess I am trying to say you have a much better chance of seeing a real 'Burst in your lifetime than you do of seeing '57 Gold Top! 😉

I am lucky enough to have two friends that own a '57 Gold Top, and it's always a privilege to be in the same room with either one of those guitars!