This Goldtop comes to us from the widow of the original owner, whose father bought the guitar for him new in 1953. The guitar is from late enough in the year that the trapeze tailpiece had been discontinued, and the neck angle is right where you want it. As you can see from the playwear, this was a well-loved instrument, but it was also well cared for. It is in great overall condition, free from any breaks or cracks. The tuners, tailpiece & studs, knobs, all plastics, tone pots & caps, and pickups are all original to the instrument. The only parts that appear to have been swapped on this guitar are the pickup mounting screws, the strap button screws, and two volume pots that were replaced with 500k Centralab pots dating to 1962. The original case is no longer with the guitar, but comes housed in an early 1980’s era Gibson Les Paul case. We can ship the guitar in a reissue Lifton at no extra charge, if that is the buyer's preference. There is some minor divoting in the original Brazilian rosewood fingerboard, and a bit of post lean from the wrap tailpiece (which is to be expected). There is also quite a bit of wear to the original frets, but still play shockingly well considering. Pickups read 6.98k and 7.55k, and weighs in a 8.2 lb. on our shipping scale. It doesn't get better than this!