The Holy Grail "1956-'59 Gibson Les Paul Standard"

GREENY

I love this guitar above all others, and its history goes
back to the late 1960s when my oldest childhood friend,
Steve Melby, who taught me to play guitar and guided
my tastes in music, bought this 1956 Gibson Les Paul
Goldtop with the goldtop already stripped off.

Steve used this guitar with his band Krazy Kat throughout
the 1970s, recording two sets of original songs written
by Steve and the other members of the 1970s era
Krazy Kat, Mike Reechio, Bruce Krupnik and Ron Henderson
at Warner Bros. studios when the opportunities presented
themselves via a call from a recording engineer friend who
called at any time imaginable, even the wee hours of sixpence.

Only the first recordings are available, though the masters
are not accounted for so cassette tapes are all that survive.
The second set of recordings are in the possession of
Ron Henderson who acquired them in a real estate deal with
Steve Melby's old girlfiend, Lil. Ron feels that the tape is too
delicate to play, so in fear of self destruction, they sit aging
even further, unheard in 30+ years.

During this time Steve removed the original "soapbar" pickups
that were standard on Les Paul guitars until 1957 when Seth
Lover invented the Humbucking pickup for Gibson, now called
PAFs by collectors who pay up to $5000 per pickup for 1957-1963
PAFs (Patent Applied For). Steve had 1970s era Humbuckers
installed sometime in the early 70s.

Fast forward to 1997 when Steve decided to sell this guitar, and
offered it to me. I told him I would wait two years for him to change
his mind before I repaired a crack in the headstock area of the neck,
and refinished it to resemble, almost detail for detail, Peter Green's,
(Clapton's replacement in John Mayall's Blues Breakers and founding
member of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac) famous 1959 Les Paul
Standard, affectionately called "Greeny."

In late 1998 when Steve showed no interest in getting this guitar back,
I went forward with my renovation/conversion plans and had Dan
Hannum, furniture and guitar refinisher extraordinaire, refinish
the maple cap only, with flaws and all to resemble "Greeny" and
I installed myself, two Gibson '57 Classic Plus reissue PAF Humbuckers
with Zebra coils (black and cream bobbins) with the neck pickup's
position/polarity reversed like Peter Green's "Greeny" to complete
the conversion from a 1957 Goldtop to a 1959 Standard.

I left the pickup cavaties, as did Steve, with the original gold paint in
them so that no one could ever think this was an attempt to forge
this guitar into being something it was not.

This week I detailed "Greeny" and oiled her fretboard, neck and body
with Lem-oil, and put new .10-.46 guage strings on her, readying
this beautiful guitar for some serious playing in the near future as
I hone my chops and get back into living, climbing back into the light
after this past year of health problems, tragedy, darkness & shadow.