Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I remember there was some debate on whether or not Mike's Les Paul Goldtop was a '50's P-90 model or a '70's Les Paul Deluxe

He does play a Deluxe in the "Anything That's Rock and Roll" Top of the Pops performance in the "Runnin' Down a Dream" film. But it was borrowed from (more than likely) a local music store.

A pic of the two Les Pauls reveal that his main Les Paul was a P-90 model with a wraparound bridge and uncovered P-90s.

If it only has a wraparound bar and no bridge, it would be a '54-'55.

I've seen a full shot of the guitar, wish I could remember where.

There are a couple of Gold Tops that are shown on RDAD....

Top of the Pops is a 70s model with mini humbuckers (stop tp and bridge clearly visible)

Taping of 1st demo is the '54-'55 model with what appears to be p 90s....Hard to tell as the footage is quite blurred when zoomed in on......But it defititely is equipped with a wrap tail and no bridge.....

He probably owned both of them....He was smart enough to take something "new" at the time to tour Europe with instead of his vintage gold top.....

frickengruvin wrote:He probably owned both of them....He was smart enough to take something "new" at the time to tour Europe with instead of his vintage gold top.....

His vintage Gold Top is seen on "The Old Grey Whistle Test" (the Gold Top on the right in the comparison photo)

In regards to the wrap tail or stop bar , the first wrap tail Les Paul models appeared toward the end of 1953 and were actually being developed in 1952 in the Gibson R&D department. The stop bar was featured on the Les Paul model from late '53 until sometime in late 1955 when the Tune-A-Matic bridge was added; oddly enough, the Tune-A-Matic was a standard feature on the Les Paul Custom upon it's introduction in 1954 and had been used on the higher end Gibson electrics as early as 1952. Les Pauls with the combination of the stop bar and Tune-A-Matic with P90s appeared from late '55 through 1957 and there is an overlapping of Les Paul models produced in '57 with some equipped with P90s and some with the 490 humbuckers.

As to Mike 's missing covers on his P90s, well, they're very thin and prone to cracking (as are the pickup bobbins), especially if one over tightens the mounting screws. That could be the reason that he's removed them. The covers on my #1 are in very good condition but do show signs of hairline cracks around the cut outs for the pole pieces.