[ClapsburyCunningham]

Did you ever notice that the Les Paul bass was made with two different headstocks?

Specifically, one version appears to have silver-colored inlays for the diamond and Gibson logo, and one appears to have gold-colored inlays.

The Gibson logos also differ slightly. The silver inlayed headstock does not have a dotted 'i' while the gold does.

As well, the 'O" in the Gibson logo is fully closed when inlayed in the gold but is not fully closed in the silver.

I'm assuming one was made before the other..does anyone know which came first?

[ClapsburyCunningham]

Did a little digging...

From the book, 50 years of the Gibson Les Paul:

From c1952 to c1968 the dot of the "i" in Gibson was not joined to the "G", and the "b" and "o" were not continuously solid.

From c1968 the "i" lost its dot, and the "b" and "o" became continuously solid.

In 1972 the dotted "i" appeared again, but then came and went with confusing irregularity until c1981.

From 1981 the "o" and "n" were linked at the top, and not at the bottom as usual. However, the usual style was soon reintroduced, and the two versions have been used ever since.

[jules]

Originally Posted by ClapsburyCunningham

one version appears to have silver-colored inlays for the diamond and Gibson logo, and one appears to have gold-colored inlays.

The Gibson logos also differ slightly. The silver inlayed headstock does not have a dotted 'i' while the gold does.

You are absolutely right, the Gibson logo did change somewhat around this time (well in general over the years), but they are all made of mother of pearl.

The colour difference comes from the ageing (and yellowing) of the clearcoat. In the pics you posted, notice how green the black headstock looks - a very yellowed clearcoat on that one.

Smoking and sunlight tend to turn it yellow - hence all the green pelham blues out there.

Heres an example of an old bass (a '62 EB0) which has had some clearcoat chipped off. As you can see you have 'gold' and 'silver' at the same time. In fact the flash lessened the difference in this image

[hieronymous]

Here's mine:



Mine is an early-'70s ('70-'72?) Triumph. I never noticed the "i" isn't dotted!

[doom]

I never noticed this on my '72 Triumph either even though I'm aware of that there have been different logos through the years.

[Redbird]

Not that it matters but here is my Les Paul standard. I like the old ones more.

Back to the dotted I again