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I have been told that I have a 1952 Gibson Les Paul model. It all looks original except I am concerned about the headstock. It does not have a serial number but has AMS 6262 steel stamped on the backside. Is it possible that a previous owner could have replaced the headstock if it was damaged or is this even physically possible? Comments will be appreciated.
I'm not sure I can be of much help, but 1952 was the first year Gibson sold the Les Paul model. According to this Wikipedia article, "Early 1952 Les Pauls were not issued serial numbers, did not have bound fingerboards, and are considered by some as "LP Model prototypes". However, later 1952 Les Pauls were issued serial numbers and also came with bound fingerboards."
It may be helpful if you could post some photos. There are some very knowledgeable people on this forum. Welcome!
Do you still have the 1952 les Paul GT you've posted? Are there any photos of the guitar you can share??
Believe it or not, '52's are not really considered as desirable as the later 50's les Pauls. The neck angle was incorrect so the trapeze tailpiece needs to be under wrapped to make the guitar playable. This makes palm muting impossible. They are still nice collectors' pieces but won't bring the prices like a late 50's burst.
That said, if someone gifted me one I sure as heck wouldn't turn it down!
Chuck
The unbound fret board was not a prototype, just the beginning of 1952 production models even though there were many different features as they transformed to the bound neck models. The "prototype" models had the neck heal covered by the body (cantilevered) and the 3 way switch didn't have a rear cover plate. They also had dot fret markers. I've only seen one. but it was modified. Les Paul was issued one while staying at the "hunting lodge" by Ted for inspection/approval before production began and he carved the bridge mount deeper into the top to overwrap the strings. The 3 prototypes were produced in a non goldtop color called "cremona" which was a cream sunburst used on other Gibson ES models in pre 1952.