Les Paul

I just finished reading "The Early Years Of The Les Paul Legacy" by Robb Lawrence. Very informative with some excellent 'burst pictures. This is the first of two volumes with the second being due in October.

The book details Lester's life from the early days to 1963. There is information on his earliest professional outings right up to his days with Mary Ford. All the great innovations are there from multi-tracking to studio effects. And of course, the guitar itself. It wouldn't be a complete book without that.

The book goes over the timeline of the model giving dates and changes over the period from it's development to the first demise of the model in 1963. The second volume is supposed to pick up in 1968 with the first re-issue.

A really well done book about the man and the guitar and well worth the money.

If you have a 'Burst fetish

Well, I do if you haven't noticed yet. Here is one that has the most extensive photo set I have ever seen.

59 'burst

The detail is amazing. Not to mention it's a great looking guitar.

Sandy Mary

This is live from the BBC recordings. An absolutely kickass version with the boys in top form. I picked this one from the listing at the back of Strange Brew. It is not disappointing. All the recordings were done for broadcast on various shows for the BBC between 1968 and 1970, although 4 of them were done after Peter Green left. As always great tone and playing.

Sandy Mary

Peter wrote this for his girlfriend of the time.

Fleetwood Mac - Homework (live in France, 1968)

I love finding these old clips. Peter Green is in fine form. This is from before the drugs and psychological problems started to take their toll. Danny Kirwan looks like he is on another plane of existance. Everybody looks pretty into it and happy to be there.

Kunio Kishida Live 2007 Alabama Boy

The author of "Tone Man" playing one of his original compositions. Hard to tell but I think that's and original burst.

Tone Man

For those who don't know this is Kunio Kishida, an avid 'burst enthusiast and player. I just received my copy of his book of the same name and spent hours looking through it. Picture after picture of original bursts. It's my understanding it's a mix of his current collection, guitars he has owned previously and other examples. "Nancy", his main guitar is pictured on page 8. This book is a must have for any Les Paul devotee.

Kunio has also recorded a couple of albums, "Swamp Waters" and "Alabama Boy". You can also catch him on Youtube.

Beano

This is the album that started it all in the U.K. John Mayall with Eric Clapton broke blues music with the general public and started the blues boom in England. Clapton has legendary tone on this one. So much wood you could make your own guitar. He's using an early Marshall JTM 45 turned way up. Not only did he set the benchmark for tone but he changed the way the guitar was recorded. He refused to turn down so the engineers had to figure out a way to mic him. And figure it out they did. This album and the debut from Butterfield Blues Band are probably the two most important white blues albums of the 60's.

Steppin' Out

Fleetwood Mac "Oh Well"

I just can't get enough of this tune.

Lots of bursts

All from the collection of Tom Wittrock. He posts regularly on the LP forum and was featured in the book "Beauty Of The Burst".

The second one down on the right hand side has that particular tailpiece to hide bigsby screw holes. Actually if you buy a subscription to the LP forum I think you can choose that poster as your premium.

Allman Brothers

I just received "Eat A Peach" and the first album. Great stuff. Been listening to it all day. And winding pickups of course.

"Eat A Peach" is the album that Hot 'Lanta, Duane's second burst, can be heard one. Stellar tone. That guitar does everything you would expect a burst to do. This one has a nice gull-wing flame to it making it a very distictive guitar.


I believe this one is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

ZZ Top

Found this shot on the web:


Early shot of the Reverend without his beard. Kind of looks like a schoolteacher.

Peter Green Fleetwood Mac

Ahhh, the real stuff. Two great burst players in action.

betts toler burst vintage jtm 45 kt66

Unbelievable tone! Dickey Bett's burst through a 1965 JTM45 with KT66 tubes and pre-rola celestions. I can actually taste that tone.

Montrose - Bad Motor Scooter

This is from the "Old Grey Whistle Test" in 1974. Ronnie Montrose is another original burst player from way back. And check out Sammy Hagar when he had talent.

Instrumental Blues With 1959 Les Paul - Gregor Hilden

Up until I ran across this I had never heard this guy play. Amazing tone. I love the bigsby beard on that 59.

I found this shot of it on the web:

I believe he has since sold it. It's been on E-bay a couple of times that I know of, although that might have been a scam.

Duane and the boys

Here's a good shot of Duane Allman and his two bursts.



The one on the right is "Hot 'Lanta". If I have my info correct you can hear that one on "Eat A Peach". It's a darkburst with with killer flame.

The one on the left is a cherry plaintop. As you can see from my profile picture I am kind of partial to plaintops. There's nothing like a plain looking guitar with smoking tone.

New Burst Book

"The Gibson Burst" by Vic Dapra. Dapra is a really knowledgable guy by all accounts and I expect this book is very informative. It's been on the go for a number of years. I couldn't resist it so I ordered one, along with "Eat A Peach" by The Allman Brothers.

"The Beauty Of The Burst" by Yasuhiko Iwanade is another must have. In addition to the pictures there are great chapters on dimensions, parts specifications etc. Pretty much any information you need to identify a burst. But I'd still call Joe Ganzler just to be absolutely sure.

There are some great player pictures in there, original owner pictures and interviews with Tom Wittrock, Billy Gibbons and other enthusiasts.

BB King / Gary Moore - The Thrill is Gone

This is definitely the Peter Green burst here. Two of the finest in a live performance.

Money shot

This was posted on the LP forum and I thought I would post it here for those who don't frequent the forum ( and it can't be many). It's a '59.



I like the look with both styles of zebra bobbins. You can see some plastic deterioration on the pickguard and the tuners. I believe that is indicative of a specific period of production and only occurs on guitars of that time. There is something with the plastic that causes the shrinkage and dis-colouration.

This was originally posted on burstserial.com and I apologize in advance if I stepped on any copyright toes.

Free - Fire and Water

Great tune and incredible tone. For whatever reason it looks like the top on this burst has been stripped. I strongly recommend the dvd. It's absolutely killer stuff.