Information on a specific '59 Les Paul...

[anthe's luthiery]

Is there any benefit to the Tom Bartlett Exact Replica '59 plans? Is there any public information on the guitar Tom used to make these plans? Is there any benefit to replicating this exact guitar's dimensions as opposed to the '59 Standard plans? Which would I buy for what purpose?

 

[Darkscience]

Eh? Do you play guitar?

 

[strayedstrater]

This is the general Les Paul section of the forum. Most of the people who hang out here have never heard of Tom Bartlett.

The builders and luthiers do visit here. But with the vague title they may never look at this thread.

It's far better to put questions about building in the Luthier's Corner section of the forum. Even with a vague thread title, they're likely to read it.

(This thread may get moved to the Luthier's Corner and my post may make no sense after that, so for the record this thread was originally posted in the "Gibson Les Pauls" section.)

 

[strayedstrater]

Oh, the "similar threads" feature is useful for once.

A little to get you started:

Bartlett plans - new "exact" or "standard"

Hey all, I'm just getting prepared to start my first venture into the world of spending all my free time and money on trying to make some sort of moderately accurate tribute to a burst...I'm at the "ordering some Bartlett plans" stage, but was wondering about the differences between the "1959...

www.mylespaul.com

 

[ARandall]

The point of the general plans was to eliminate (as much as possible within the limited sample size) the oversanded areas from individual instruments.
This would hopefully bring you closer to the shape of the original body template.

But some people 'complained ' that this was not really acceptable for a replica build as it wasn't a known real world shape of any instrument (although the was no proof that it wasn't- each guitar being a bit different after all)
So the exact plan was released.

Gotta echo some of the confusion here. Your threads on this forum have sequentially gone from someone looking to commercialise a current hobby to someone who seems completely new to either guitar or building.

 

[anthe's luthiery]

The point of the general plans was to eliminate (as much as possible within the limited sample size) the oversanded areas from individual instruments.
This would hopefully bring you closer to the shape of the original body template.

But some people 'complained ' that this was not really acceptable for a replica build as it wasn't a known real world shape of any instrument (although the was no proof that it wasn't- each guitar being a bit different after all)
So the exact plan was released.

Gotta echo some of the confusion here. Your threads on this forum have sequentially gone from someone looking to commercialise a current hobby to someone who seems completely new to either guitar or building.

Sorry if I've been a little confusing, I am new to this site. Misplacing this thread was also a fault of me being a new member. I think I might've misread something, I'm not entirely sure but rest assured I will put them in the right thread next time.

I haven't been building for very long, in fact I'm an apprentice under a local art guitar luthier, though admittedly myself I prefer a more simple guitar, while I can also appreciate the lovely lovely work he does. I however, am not new to guitars, guitars certainly take the title for my biggest hobby, I've never had a hobby even remotely of it's size, a size that realistically could eliminate "hobby" from all of my past hobbies anyway. I'm fresh to guitar in the sense that I'm not necessarily a veteran- I've only been playing for... 2... 3... years? I think? Though in that time guitar has become my favorite thing and I decided to pursue building to test the waters. I have lots of free time and tons of wood, so I've lately been working on prototypes out of the heaps of cherry in my garage/workshop area. I've actually spent a considerable amount of that 3 years(?) in fascination learning everything I want to know about guitars, though I still couldn't answer every question like some of you. The intention in building was never solely to get familiar with a hobby, this is something I intend to grow with the possibility (big emphasis) of selling eventually. I'm not going to tell you I'm entirely certain because I'm not, but I still have a ton of ideas and have picked my best few to work from.
Though this is a topic that generally I specifically choose not to talk about regularly, I suppose it is only fair for me to say something, productively speaking it would make sense to and to not, anyway.

The TL;DR is that I'm not fresh to guitars, but I'm fresh to building them.
Though, I admittedly am not entirely sure WHAT I asked that prompted you to comment that, I'm happy to answer regardless, the question as to what part of the question prompted still lingers.

 

[VictorB]

Thread moved to proper section

 

[anthe's luthiery]

Thread moved to proper section

Thank you!

 

[pshupe]

Is there any benefit to the Tom Bartlett Exact Replica '59 plans? Is there any public information on the guitar Tom used to make these plans? Is there any benefit to replicating this exact guitar's dimensions as opposed to the '59 Standard plans? Which would I buy for what purpose?

The exact replica plans were developed to provide a more exact copy of one particular burst. The generic plans are just that and IMO are the best way to build a guitar that best represented the design intent of Gibson in those years. TBH, I could not wrap my head around the reasoning for the replica plans and some had problems understanding my point, so there are two sets.

Regards Peter.

 

[strayedstrater]

I sometimes come off as harsh when I'm trying to be helpful. I wasn't trying to be a jerk about where this thread was posted and hope you didn't take it that way. Just figured you'd get better info and fewer smart-ass comments in the right section.

Everybody posts in the wrong section sometimes.

 

[anthe's luthiery]

I sometimes come off as harsh when I'm trying to be helpful. I wasn't trying to be a jerk about where this thread was posted and hope you didn't take it that way. Just figured you'd get better info and fewer smart-ass comments in the right section.

Everybody posts in the wrong section sometimes.

Oh, no problem. I'm not really concerned about that, being a new member and all you're really just trying to help me out since I posted in the wrong place obliviously.

 

[ARandall]

Generally other (amateur) luthiers in the forum like myself frequent most subsections too, so you will get at leasy some answers from the right crowd unless you are posting in a dead/backwater subforum area.

My misunderstanding was mainly that most builders (especially here) are right into clone builds. So it's a little unusual for us to come across a 'regular ' builder who just makes guitars and doesn't know about the (almost alarming) vintage nitpicking details we all make sure we include.

Thanks also for your bio - it helps to know where you are coming from so we can target advice and info.

 

[anthe's luthiery]

Generally other (amateur) luthiers in the forum like myself frequent most subsections too, so you will get at leasy some answers from the right crowd unless you are posting in a dead/backwater subforum area.

My misunderstanding was mainly that most builders (especially here) are right into clone builds. So it's a little unusual for us to come across a 'regular ' builder who just makes guitars and doesn't know about the (almost alarming) vintage nitpicking details we all make sure we include.

Thanks also for your bio - it helps to know where you are coming from so we can target advice and info.

Oh, okay yeah I see where you're coming from! So yeah, generally I have my own ideas in the works, as you can tell by my prior posts. However, I'm still glad that you guys are able to help me learn what goes into building replicas, because I would LOVE to be able to build replicas.

 

[trovador]

I built this one two years ago using Bartlett's exact replica plans