Alberto Radius and his Les Paul Standard 1960: the rebirth of the Arabian Phoenix – a story of music and restoration

The beauty of the Soave Guitar Festival is also that every now and then it puts you in front of facts, things, events you can't help but stop and reflect on and – why not? – also to discuss. Today, for example, thanks to my friend Francesco Balossino (Cesco's Corner), I can tell you that in Soave you will be able to admire a guitar of great caliber, first of all because it belongs to that category of instruments that have always been objects of desire; secondly because it was part of the arsenal of one of the guitarists who made the history of Italian popular music; finally because this instrument has been tortured for decades by its owner, with the aim of ensuring that it incorporated the best technology gradually offered, thus coming to profoundly damage one of his best “work tools”. I'm talking about the historic Gibson Les Paul Standard 1960 of my great friend Alberto Radius, unfortunately he recently passed away, used by him for almost a decade as it left the factory and subsequently modified and tortured until it became a composition that had very little in common with the product that left the Kalamazoo factory.

Alberto Radius among his main guitars. In the foreground on the left the Les Paul Standard with the p.u. Magnetics

Here is a brief summary of the road to the abyss.

At the beginning of the company's activity “Formula 3” – we are in 1969 – Alberto used the guitar in its original condition, but already in 1970 he applied a Synth system to it, based on the pickup “Condor” of Hammond, to obtain a sound close to the Hendrixian one that fascinated him so much. A little bad, because this did not involve structural changes or interventions on the wood.

Alberto Radius in the 1960s with the Les Paul still intact

The disaster began with the replacement of the PAF on the bridge with a 1950s De Armond, to insert it it was necessary to widen it a little’ the original break on the top of the guitar. This was the configuration maintained throughout the period in which Alberto collaborated with Lucio Battisti.

Here are the first changes clearly visible, with the application of the synth and the replacement of the PAF on the bridge with a De Armond

At the end of the 70s, the instrument underwent another intervention, and this time truly devastating, with the repositioning of the PAF at the bridge and the addition of a third Pat humbucker between this and the one at the neck. No., in order to reproduce the layout of the Les Paul Customs of the late 1950s. This forced the central part of the top to be dug out and ruined it permanently.

To complete the disaster, Alberto finally decided to remove all three Gibson pickups and replace them with three horrible ones “Magnetics” black framed by a mask of the same color.

Here is the body equipped with the pus. Magnetics

Once the crime is completed, Alberto – and we are at the beginning of the 90s – our friend entrusted me with the guitar so that I could exhibit it at one of the first editions of the Soave Guitar Festival. I remember that perfectly, when I wrote for Guitar Club my usual “Logbook”, I sent the magazine a photo of the guitar with a caption that said “This is how a guitar should never be treated!”.

It was after I returned the guitar to him that Alberto decided to entrust it to a well-known luthier from Bologna, for him to restore his instrument to its original state. The decision was to operate by removing what was left of the original top and replacing it with a new one. The operation was begun and completed, but Alberto, back in possession of his Les Paul, after keeping it on standby for several years, he came to the decision that the path followed for his recovery was not the correct one. At this point he turned to Francesco Balossino, That, thanks to a very careful conservative restoration intervention in collaboration with the luthiers (in order of intervention) Romano Burini, Joel Wilkens, Ken McKay, Joe Riggio, Matteo Rufini conducted and concluded a second and definitive recovery operation, which allowed us to give new life and dignity to this piece of history.

Here is the guitar after recovery, ready to finally be admired and loved

The Les Paul Standard 1960 with a few tears of emotion!

Come and admire this true piece of Italian music history, to also know the details of this important recovery operation, which you will find promptly described!

See you soon!!