Ca. 1956 Gibson Les Paul Custom, James Rizzi Burst. Made in USA. This guitar was purchased in 1969 by the current owner and he had it immediately refretted, before being commissioned in ca. May 1970 to the then unknown, but future Pop Artist James Rizzi for a custom design. He suggested the pattern and sketched it on to the instrument, after which aniline dyes were used to interpret the design and bring out the full assemblage of hues in the grain of the top and back. With a strong nod to our vintage guitar world, we might call this one of a kind color 'Rizzi Burst'. The finish on the binding is still original with some traces of the original black color left.
Fast forward to 1994, James was shown the guitar again and this is when he initialed it (see last pic with his 'J.R.' initials), commenting that the guitar had turned out nicely.
After a careful recent examination, we can report that the guitar retains its original neck pickup (cover missing), pickguard, input jack plate, switch, switch tip (in the case), switch back plate, ABR-1 base (in the case), bridge studs and thumb wheels, Grey Tiger tone caps, truss rod cover and three pots.
The bridge pickup is not original to this guitar, but it is a real vintage 1950s Gibson alnico staple pickup. The guitar also features two different sets of real vintage 1950s knobs and vintage Grover tuners.
The three original pots date to the 23rd week of 1953 and the wiring with the red ink Grey Tiger tone caps make a strong case that the guitar was built before 1956. The current owner recalls it having no serial number (when it still had its original finish) and it mounting original black barrel knobs, which would support our assumption that it’s a bit older than 1956.
The pickguard bracket, truss rod cover and some smaller screws were replated /painted on when the case was worked on by Harptone in '95.
We believe that the value of this guitar lies in the connection to Rizzi as the value of his paintings exceed the value of a 1953-1956 Les Paul Custom in any condition by far.
Comes with the original, but professionally recovered hardshell case. Weighs 4.5kg.
NOW ON SALE, 14'999.- (INSTEAD OF 24'999.-), ON CONSIGNMENT, SOLD AS-IS.
SOLD!
