I received a call recently from a local man in Alabama wanting help with the value for his vintage Gibson Les Paul guitar. I was thrilled to see it! I directed him to the Vintage Guitar Appraisal Service and asked to see some pictures of his guitar. Here are a few of the pictures he sent me of his vintage 1960 Gibson Les Paul TV Model electric guitar.
You can check out another 1950s Gibson Les Paul TV Model here: 1957 Gibson Les Paul TV Model
The pictures show a solid body Gibson electric guitar with the double cutaway Les Paul body style debuting in 1958 and discontinued in favor of the SG body style in 1961. Gibson described the finish as a Limed Mahogany color but it has become known as TV Yellow by many collectors and players. The single P-90 style pickup is in the bridge position and it features the uncompensated wrap tail style bridge with offset stud pieces used by Gibson until 1962. The single volume and tone knobs appear to be the original black bonnet style knobs which transitioned to reflector knobs in 1961.
The black painted headstock features a silkscreened Gibson logo in gold along with a "Les Paul" signature and a model name of "TV Model". There were 5 Les Paul models in the 1950s and 1960s starting with the Junior model at the bottom of the price range in 1954 (check this one out: 1957 Gibson Les Paul Junior). The TV Model was introduced in 1955 and was essentially a junior in a different finish (check this one out: 1957 Gibson Les Paul TV Model). The Les Paul Special was introduced in late 1954 with a second P-90 pickup and the Limed Mahogany finish (check this one out: 1957 Gibson Les Paul Special).The Les Paul Standard, or Model, introduced in 1952, featured the attractive gold top finish (check this one out: '54 Gibson Les Paul Model goldtop). The top level Les Paul guitar was the black finished Les Paul Custom introduced in 1954 (check this one out: 1969 Gibson Les Paul Custom).
All parts appear to be original to this guitar including the brown faux alligator covered chipboard case with raised metal Gibson tag. I was not able to find any breaks or repairs in these pictures except the common tailpiece wing break on the bass side of the wrap tail bridge. I could tell that this guitar was original sold in Birmingham, Alabama because of the Forbes sticker on the back of the headstock. The now defunct E. E. Forbes Piano Company was a Gibson guitar distributor during this time period
This could be a phenomenal playing guitar with just a little cleaning and set up. I was thrilled to get to check it out.
Comments
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