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The Beauty of the 'Burst By Yasuhiko Iwanade ( Hal Leonard )
Release Date: 1999-01-31
Average Customer Rating:
List Price: $34.95
Price: $23.07
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Product Description
Finally, the long-awaited English edition of this historic Japanese book is here! The Beauty of the 'Burst pays tribute to Gibson's magnificent Sunburst Les Pauls made between 1958 and 1960, the most highly prized solidbody electric guitars ever. The magnitude of their value is directly related to their look (outrageous wood patterns, or "figured" timber), since non-players are paying top dollar for them. The book features lavish full-color photos of these beautiful instruments throughout; the guitars of famous players; a foreword by Ted McCarty; a bio of the author, world renowned collector Yasuhiko Iwanade; and the "Science of the Burst" section with over 30 pages of detailed reference facts on every facet of the guitar, including colors, wood figure, pick-ups, hardware and qualities of "voice." This may be the closest guitarists will ever be able to get to these incredibly collectible beauties! 216 pages, 8-1/2 inch. x 11 inch. Softcover
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What can I say, good book.
I am a guitar player. I wanted to get a Les Paul Historic model. They make them now identical to the originals made in 57-60. I bought the book so I could pick out a guitar as close to an original as I could find. The book gave me the knowledge of what the originals looked like and I picked out a guitar that I wouldn't have picked out unless I had the book to work with.
Greg Hough
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 Good book, small flaws
Beauty of the 'Burst is an overall good book. The photography is excellent, the layout is clear and the printing (critical, since color plays an important part in the discussion of these guitars) is really well done.
The book is definitely for aficionados of the sunburst Les Paul only. What you have are several hundred pages dedicated to one model of guitar, all with the same paint job and hardware. Obviously it's a very special guitar, and those people hooked on LP 'bursts will love seeing all the subtleties between instruments.
There are a couple of areas where I feel the book falls slightly short, but they're minor. In the section following the photographs ("Science Of The 'Burst", where they analyze every aspect of the guitar from the finish to the wood) there are some small factual errors such as the thickness of the maple top-plate. Not a huge deal, but in a book that gets into such minutia and makes such a big deal about the smallest of features, I feel they were obligated to get things like this correct. A person using some of these specifications to evaluate an instrument might be thrown off the mark.
The other thing that slightly annoyed me was the hyperbole used to describe every single instrument. One of the features people love about these guitars is the figured maple top. Some are nicer than others (just a fact of production, not to mention that this was a non-priority for Gibson at that time), yet every guitar is given the "this is the most unbelievable example" treatment. The plainest maple top will be gushed over, sighting something like the "wonderful fading of the color" or the "amazingly straight grain-lines that run the length of the top." Hey, it's some faded paint and wood with grain lines! I was waiting for them to rave about "the incredible way Les Paul's have mass, are affected by gravity and take up THREE dimensions (height, width AND depth)."
Nit-picking aside, it's a very well done book which I enjoy looking at. It also is a terrific collectors tool as well as a nice paean to one of the great, iconic instruments of the 20th century. Recommended.
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A must have for Gibson lovers ( griswold444 )
I couldn't put it down until I read it all.
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big surprise
The delivery was beforehand. The condition is reasonably good. I was so happy that I could surprise my boyfriend on his birthday.
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You must have this book.
Amazing book! Lots of the vintage burst Les Paul, with photos and specifications. A must have for any Les Paul fan.
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