50th Anniversary Les Paul Black Beauty

[ido1957]

MRSP - $7500 - Nice!

 

[ggunn]

MRSP - $7500 - Nice!

I associate that guitar with Neil Young. I'd love to have one, though I'm not sure what the third humbucker does. Do you know how the pickup selector switching works?

 

[Lt. Bob]

I associate that guitar with Neil Young. I'd love to have one, though I'm not sure what the third humbucker does. Do you know how the pickup selector switching works?

IF it's like a 3 p'up Firebird, top position would be neck+middle p'up .....
middle position is all 3 p'ups
and down would be bridge+middle p'up.
One of the knobs would be a volume control for the middle p'up and you put the middle one in and out of things with its' volume control.
So if you turned the middle p'up off via it's volume control ..... then the selector would do exactly like a regular 2 p'up selector.

I had a 1954 pre-production prototype 'Fretless Wonder' which was what eventually became the Black Beauty line.

Sure wish I had that back so I could sell it.
I hated it 'cause of the tiny frets so I traded it for a Hagstrom Swede and a bag of white cross.

 

[ggunn]

IF it's like a 3 p'up Firebird, top position would be neck+middle p'up .....
middle position is all 3 p'ups
and down would be bridge+middle p'up.
One of the knobs would be a volume control for the middle p'up and you put the middle one in and out of things with its' volume control.
So if you turned the middle p'up off via it's volume control ..... then the selector would do exactly like a regular 2 p'up selector.

I had a 1954 pre-production prototype 'Fretless Wonder' which was what eventually became the Black Beauty line.

Sure wish I had that back so I could sell it.
I hated it 'cause of the tiny frets so I traded it for a Hagstrom Swede and a bag of white cross.

When I bought my early/mid 70's black custom Les Paul (used, in 1978 or so), it was a fretless wonder. I hated those tiny frets, too; I had it refretted with jumbos after about 2 weeks. That probably destroyed any value it had as a collectible (if it ever had any), but I can play it where I couldn't before. I still have it, though I don't play it as much as I do my Strat. I'm glad I bought it back then; I couldn't afford to buy one like it today.

 

[Milnoque]

When I bought my early/mid 70's black custom Les Paul (used, in 1978 or so), it was a fretless wonder. I hated those tiny frets, too; I had it refretted with jumbos after about 2 weeks. That probably destroyed any value it had as a collectible (if it ever had any), but I can play it where I couldn't before. I still have it, though I don't play it as much as I do my Strat. I'm glad I bought it back then; I couldn't afford to buy one like it today.

That guitar does in fact have some collector's value and the refret did very little to reduce it. I haven't seen one for sale in a while so I can't tell you what it's worth.

 

[Milnoque]

When I bought my early/mid 70's black custom Les Paul (used, in 1978 or so), it was a fretless wonder. I hated those tiny frets, too; I had it refretted with jumbos after about 2 weeks. That probably destroyed any value it had as a collectible (if it ever had any), but I can play it where I couldn't before. I still have it, though I don't play it as much as I do my Strat. I'm glad I bought it back then; I couldn't afford to buy one like it today.

That guitar does in fact have some collector's value and the refret did very little to reduce it. I haven't seen one for sale in a while so I can't tell you what it's worth.

 

[ggunn]

That guitar does in fact have some collector's value and the refret did very little to reduce it. I haven't seen one for sale in a while so I can't tell you what it's worth.

It is (was) a fretless wonder but not a Black Beauty; it's only got the two humbuckers and no Bixby. But its value as a collectible (if there is any) is not really an issue; it's not for sale.