Wrona's House Of Violins - Lewiston, NY - 1954 Gibson Les Paul Jr.

1954 Gibson Les Paul Jr.

1954 Gibson Les Paul Jr. and original Les Paul Junior amplifier, guitar serial number is 4 3783 and the amplifier serial number is 5385. Here is the cleanest and earliest Junior you are going to find. The guitar has spent the last 55 years in the closet. The original owner bought this new in ‘54 because he thought he needed a louder guitar to play in church, turned out it was too loud so he played his 1936 Gibson L 00 and put the Junior and amp in the closet. The strings had been loosened and the guitar remained unused. The original owner moved in with his son in the mid 90’s and the guitar went from one closet to another. The original owner passed away in 2004 and the guitar remained in the son’s closet until he brought it in to us. The guitar is in excellent condition with absolutely no lacquer checking and just a very few tiny dings which it received when the owners son used to sneak it out of the closet and attempt to play it. The guitar is easily an 9.9 out of 10 as is the original amp that has no nicks or marks on the tolex cover and works perfectly with no hum, the original amp cord was rotted so it was replaced. Check the picture with the pickguard removed, no fading of the finish, the guitar has been in its case entire life, the case does need minor repair to the stitching around the handle area but is otherwise perfect as is the original unused Bobby Lee strap. The original brown rear cover plate even has hand scribed lines to indicate where to drill the holes. The tuner buttons were rotted so they have been replaced. See below for details on the bridge studs.

1954 Gibson Les Paul Jr.

BRIDGE STUDS AND THEIR REPLACEMENT

As we all know, the bridge studs on 1954 Les Pauls were only 5/8 long which cause all of them to lean forward and break the wood between the stud hole and pickup route. Because the guitar had only had string tension on it for less the 5 months in 1954, there was no damage to the wood, the original studs were loose enough that after I carefully used an exacto blade to cut finish around the edge of the studs, I was able to pull the original studs out with only finger pressure. I had a vintage pair of stud bushings from a wrecked 1956 Special which are 1 1/8 long. The original stud holes were longer than the 5/8 studs (which contributed to the lean in all the old Les Pauls) so I could either shorten the vintage stud or drill the stud holes 1/8 deeper, I elected to drill the extra 1/8 so I could safely install the vintage /56 studs. I carefully used a press to install the longer bushings. The pictures below show the holes before the removal, one of the original studs shown next to the taped off hole, the original studs next to the longer /56 studs and finally the stud holes after the longer bushings were installed. Some may scoff but the guitar could not be played if the bushings were not replaced so I elected to properly replace them before someone else either butchered the job or else tried to string it up without doing anything and damaging the guitar.

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907 Escarpment Dr., Lewiston, NY 14092

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