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1954 Gibson Les Paul Jr.and original Les Paul Junior amplifer, guitar serial number is 4 3783 and the amplifer
serial number is 5385. Here is the cleanest and earliest Junior your 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 orignal 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 recieved 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 orignal 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 it’s case it’s entire life, the case does need minor repair to the stiching 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. Contact us for details.
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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 blace to cut finish aound 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 orignal stud holes were longer then 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 wer 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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