SOLD! - 1959 Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty factory Bigsby 3PU

“Here's another one from The Holy Year: nineteenfiddynine Baby!!!”
 
The so called Black Beauty is a real piece of history. Sporting the traditional Les Paul Custom "tuxedo" look that would become iconic in it's own right, these guitars were Gibson’s most expensive top-of-the-line models featuring a double-bound solid Mahogany body in a black finish, Ebony fretboard with block inlays, bound headstock, gold hardware and a trio of PAF humbuckers to finish it off. Luxury to the max...
 
This particular example has been around the block but nonetheless it is in very good condition with no cracks or breaks and it screams like a hunting barn owl!

It has the original 3 Patent Applied For PAF pickups that sound absolutely crazy! The pickups and covers are original with the neck pickup having the braided ground wire soldered to the bottom of the PAF as it probably was a bit fragile. The middle PAF had the magnet flipped so now it's in phase and sounds soaring! Normally the middle pickup magnet is factory out of phase. The bridge PAF is all intact and powerfull. The decals have enough remains left to see these are real PAF's.
 
The wiring loom, wiring, switch, capacitors and pots are all original and date to 1959 week 33, an additional ground wire was added to the stoptail bushings where at some point this original factory Bigsby guitar was converted to a Stoptail guitar. This was reversed again a few years back and the original Bigsby and ABR bridge are back on, altough the ABR had saddles replaced and the post holes in there drilled and plugged for stability. The stoptail bushings were covered with small pearl discs, later painted black.
 
The neck is a lovely '59 with a bit more meat then the usual 59 neck, the back has a few spots filled and painted over. To cover the small repairs sometime ago the back of the neck and headstock as well as some parts of the side of the body were refinished in black but luckily they sprayed over the original finish and it was removed and restored back to the original paint a few years ago. All shows perfectly and original in UV light. The original serial number was masked and is clearly visible. There seem to be no cracks or breaks, it was just a cosmetical repair. The tuners are replaced for period correct Pat Pend Grovers. In the pots cavity there is a repair/patch, most likely to cover a small crack in between the volume and tone knob. Might have had a "face-drop" repair. Hard to see from the top, only in UV it is visible.
 
As for the originality all plastics, knobs, switch tip, R/T ring, pickup rings, toggle switch backplate, pickguard, trussrod cover etc are original to this guitar, the pots cavity backplate is a repro. The case is a black Gibson Les Paul Custom Hardshell case with yellow plus lining from the late 60's.