When did you first start working on Les Pauls?
“It goes way back to around 1970, with just an interest in the guitars. I had already started having a knowledge and appreciation for older guitars, like so many other people. I moved to Houston, Texas, in 1969, and there happened to be a culture of old-guitar guys there. My first Les Paul was a 1968 Goldtop, and I guess I’d say my first experience there was I stripped all the gold off of it. I’ve told people [since then] I am definitely paying for several sins I committed back in the day!
“I actually never planned to be a guitar technician, luthier or repairman, but it finally caught up with me that that’s what I was supposed to do – helping other people with their guitars and just letting my passion guide me.”
The flamed maple top has become an emblem of the Les Paul, but less than a third of 1958 to 1960 Les Paul Standards are estimated to have had any figuring in at all. Have we misunderstood the model’s past?
“We all have a love of the organic nature of a really beautiful figured top. I have a silly saying that when
