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I read/hear this often, but since I've never held one, I don't know.
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07-24-2019 09:22 AM
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I actually had a 1959 Gibson Les Paul at one time. But my notes indicated it was '55 however, it had humbuckers which indicate a possible typo when I put together those notes in the early 1990's...
It was totally beat when I got it in the 70s. I think I traded a Dan Armstrong guitar for it, if memory serves.
It sounded really nice but the guitar had been through living hell, it was dropped, body split, and glued, then stripped of all finish and was heavily urethaned. There was no original binding on it, and the replacement binding was a very poor job.
Guitar lutherie back in the early seventies wasn't anything near what it is today and that's generally speaking... I'm sure they were good luthiers around but where I lived in the DC metropolitan area "The Guy" wasn't all that good by today's standards.
The neck was a fat C.
I was playing a used Gold Top a few years ago and it probably was a 90s and the neck felt similar (in my minds eye).Last edited by geogio; 08-11-2019 at 11:41 PM.
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Many consider it to be the perfect profile. Not too small, not too big, but just right.
Kinda like a "Goldilocks" profile.
Many mid to late '59 Gibsons have this shape, but there's also a brief period in '63-'64 that has a similar size/shape.
In contrast, many '58 necks are hefty and very full feeling, while many '60 necks are like a tapeworm, wide but flat.
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Usually refers to Gibson larger profile C shape .90" 1st fret to 1.0" 12th fret depth,
Less shoulder than 1958 profile.. 1&11/16th" nut width
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Like the perfect Gibson neck, but too small.
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Here's Warmoth's description:
59 Roundback - Similar to: 1959 Gibson® Les Paul®
- Thickness at 1st Fret: .860"
- Thickness at 12th Fret: .960"
The 59 Roundback is based on early Les Paul® neck dimensions. It is also our neck profile most similar to the PRS® neck shape.
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Even Gibson doesn't know what the 1959 neck profile is since it varied from guitar to guitar depending on the mood of the carver that day in 1959. Taken from a sampling of good feeling 59 necks it is commonly agreed that it is somewhat C-shaped with small shoulders and varied between 0.860" and 0.895" under the first fret, and 0.960" and 0.995" under the 12th.
Collings Guitars set it as 0.865" under the 1st and 0.967" under the 9th and called that rather well.
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Three other key differences with more recent necks, but not exclusive to the mythical (in reality they were all over the place) 1959 Gibsons are :
- The absence of any "V" in the profile
- The soft C shape is symetrical with no "offset" on the bass or treble side
- Soft shoulder
Last edited by Ray175; 07-24-2019 at 02:21 PM.
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As stated in above posts it varied quite a bit since they were hand shaped.
But newer Historic and CS Gibson's are fairly consistent with similar profiles.This is due to modern construction methods.
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It's fairly beefy especially in the shoulders and as you get up the neck. I do not like the 59 profile and much prefer a 60's profile. Most modern jazz guitars have a 60's profile IMO.
Collings' standard neck carve is, I understand, very close to the 59 profile. I actually had the neck on my Collings Eastside Jazz re-carved/refinished to be a 60's profile which basically mimics my Andersen Vanguard Laminate. It plays *so much* better now.
I think the 59 carve is more suited for guys who wrap their thumb around the neck, less so for "thumb behind the neck" players throwing down a lot of chords...which IMO describes most jazz players.
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As much as the above post is correct, I absolute love bigger profile necks like the '59 and earlier Gibson guitars. I like the neck to fill my left hand as much as possible.
I also have a couple of wider neck guitarswhich are a bit less in depth.So long as it's still comfortable. But he key in these style necks for me is having enough shoulder.Much more of a D shape.
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I don't find profiles all over the map for certain periods.
In other words, as I posted above, it seems to be what part of the year it was carved.
Early '59 still seem to have the big "Louisville Slugger " '58 dimensions, mid '59 to very early '60 have the "ideal" medium, then mid '60 comes the wide flat profile.
Late '63 early '64 it's similar to a '59.
Mid '64 on are pretty thin front to back for the rest of the 60's and 70's, nut widths narrowed in late '65, returning to 1 11/16 in mid '69 ish.
Just observations from examples I've owned and played through the yrs. Of course there's exceptions, just generalizing.
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Somewhat correct above post.But there are exceptions for the vintage guitars. I had a 1958 Les Paul Gold Top with Humbucking pickups that had a smaller than usual neck.
I'd heard the reason certain Sunburst Les Paul guitars were Dark Burst vs. the traditional Cherry Burst was dependent on who did the finishing that particular day. And the guys who built the archtop guitars hated the Cherry version. Not sure if true but kind of interesting anyway.
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Based on wintermoon description, most likely my '59 125 has a mid to late '59 profile; perfect for me!
It is actually very close to my 1992 Les Paul Standard and 1996 Tal Farlow having both '60s profil, just a bit thicker.
More comfortable than the rounded '50s my former SG Standard had
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Another point about 59 neck profiles...
Back in the day necks were hand rolled. So each was slightly different. Some builders still adhere to this old practice, but attempt to offer different profiles to satisfy the wide range of potential buyers.
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Gibson had steel templates to guide the dimensions. I have seen some of them that were left over when Gibson moved to Nashville. The were labeled with words such as 1947 L-5, 1956 LP and so forth. The entire set was not there anymore. Maybe there never was a full set.
Each metal square had two templates. One was for the first fret and the other may have been for the 10th or 12th. The idea was that when carving and rolling the necks, the neck was set into the cut out to indicate where more wood had to be removed.
My guess is that the carvers didn't use the template on every single neck once they got the hang of it, but I don't know.
Heritage saved these for custom orders. When I saw them Heritage was updating the factory with the new ownership. The templates may have been thrown out. They were in a pile that with some other clutter. I don't know where they are now. But it was awesome (literally) to see them.
I sometimes wonder why they changed dimensions among guitars and years, especially when they used the same designs and woods. If it's customer feedback, you can never please the majority of finicky people. That truth I hold to be self evident.
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Here is the mention of the "59 profile" again that finally kicked me into finding out. Between :10 & :20
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I've had a bunch of 50s Gibsons, including a couple of '59s. I also have a modern Warmoth neck with the '59 carve, and it's pretty close to some of my real 50s ones...maybe a tiny bit fatter.
I'm sure they exist, but I've never encountered a late 50s or 60s Gibson neck with big "shoulders".
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Curiously, my thumb ends up over the neck a lot, despite the big chords. I've tried to unlearn it, but can't seem to... I also prefer a 59 neck, I have that on my Gibson ES and on my James Tyler studio elite. I also have a Sheraton with a "60s" slimmer profile, and I love that as well. Sometimes I am in that mood, but generally speaking, a '59 neck always seems to work well with my hands
Originally Posted by coolvinny
Maybe it's because I came from rock & blues into jazz..?
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