Author Topic: New Les Paul Day! (Read 5982 times)

Henk · « **on:** November 11, 2007, 08:09:10 PM »

Hey guys,

I have been looking for a LP for a couple of weeks now. After having handled some different brands i just could not get over that those just didnt match up to two LP's i have. I know i have been infected with the touchy-feely-old gibson-virus and im trying hard not to keep on raving about them but when i was thinking about the seventies LP Custom i have with the maple neck even i could no longer control the GAS.

So pretty soon i was talking to a shop i know who had two of those and figured out that if i put in the money i would spend on a LP copy and two pieces of equipment i dont really need and dont use often i would just make it financially. After some back and forth offers i got in my car yesterday morning and drove to the shop, that being a enervating 3.5 hour drive.

Once i got there it was instantly clear it had to come home with me. So after allmost an entire day driving i got home last night, played till i allmost dropped from my chair and this morning started cleaning the guitar and setting it up, also did a fingerboard/fret polish which it needed badly.

Its a Gibson 1976 Les Paul Custom, 3 pickup version with maple neck and natural finish/gold hardware. It has had its hardware replaced some time back (pu covers, bridge and stoptail) so it looks pretty new. Still it has been played alot, there is alot of bucklewear on the back and several dings on the bottom side of the guitar.

I made some pics along the way today.

Its kind of funny to take everything off and be surprised with things you see like the scribble in the thruss rod cavity and the body finish being stamped in the neck pickup cavity.

Next to the replacement of some hardware this guitar was completely overhauled and resoldered (not all doen very good). The bridge pickup has been replaced with a 498T, not a great match with the other pickups but playable. The middle pickup has become slightly microphonic, it might also be that its not in the right phase or something like that with the bridge replacement, will try some different things to that. Pots have been replaced with 'official' gibson replacement pots, caps are still original.

So all in all a very nice player and definately a looker!

Thats enough for today, ill probably start raving about all the insignificant touchy feely things about it and i will spare you that. :lol:

Kind regards and thank you for reading.

Henk

Twinfan · « **Reply #1 on:** November 11, 2007, 08:28:04 PM »

Nice guitar!

badgermark · « **Reply #2 on:** November 11, 2007, 08:45:44 PM »

Looks unusual, can you post some full body shots of that sexy hunk of wood?

ilÿti · « **Reply #3 on:** November 11, 2007, 08:52:10 PM »

Beautiful. I love natural finished guitars, and I love Les Pauls. :D

dave_mc · « **Reply #4 on:** November 11, 2007, 08:54:05 PM »

very nice!

Dakine · « **Reply #5 on:** November 11, 2007, 08:59:36 PM »

very nice, from an era when Gibson seemed to actually CARE.

Henk · « **Reply #6 on:** November 11, 2007, 09:35:06 PM »

Quote from: badgermark

Looks unusual, can you post some full body shots of that sexy hunk of wood?

Excuse the cr@ppy flash shot, ill post a better one tomorrow without flash.

maverickf1jockey · « **Reply #7 on:** November 11, 2007, 09:42:36 PM »

Quote from: Henk

Quote from: badgermark
Looks unusual, can you post some full body shots of that sexy hunk of wood?

Excuse the cr@ppy flash shot, ill post a better one tomorrow without flash.

Ideally that would NEED a MQ in the middle position for aesthetic reasons IMO. Apart from that it looks pretty sweet really.

Will · « **Reply #8 on:** November 11, 2007, 10:03:19 PM »

That is very nice! I had heard that late 70s were meant to be bad :?

too much confusion about specific years lol

are they the super low frets?

WezV · « **Reply #9 on:** November 11, 2007, 10:19:24 PM »

3 piece neck - gibson should really start doing that again!!!

Henk · « **Reply #10 on:** November 11, 2007, 10:29:46 PM »

Quote from: Will

That is very nice! I had heard that late 70s were meant to be bad :?

Yeah well, i also notice quite a difference when nashville production started in the second half of the seventies. Still this one is fine IMO, Kalamazoo kept making guitars untill 1984, Kalamazoo made gibsons are considered the best among all gibbies, still i have played some exeptionally good samples from the early 90's.

Thats pretty much what the buzz is about. The other old gibson custom they had there was very bad, it was alot lighter also.

Ow this was funny, today i found out my 4 gibson LP's(76, 78, 85 customs and 91 standard) all weigh 4,6 kilos! Pretty weird isnt it?

4,6 kilo is considered a heavy LP by the way..... :twisted:

Henk · « **Reply #11 on:** November 11, 2007, 10:35:36 PM »

Quote from: WezV

3 piece neck - gibson should really start doing that again!!!

Dude, you should see how they cut the middle section exactly on the hard part of the rings and straight trough to the tip of the headstock, UNBIELIEVABLE!

Ooops i think im having a relapse :lol:

Anyway, i think Gibson was honest enough to admit their wood wasnt the best imaginable and it served them right.

I know alot of builders have their own private stock of wood ageing and drying for decades, an entirely different ballgame.

WezV · « **Reply #12 on:** November 11, 2007, 10:37:15 PM »

yeah, Kalamazoo did the good stuff and the higher end models like this.

WezV · « **Reply #13 on:** November 11, 2007, 10:39:30 PM »

i use much better wood than gibson do and i still prefer to laminate from 3 pieces - it just makes a lot more sense

opprobrium_9 · « **Reply #14 on:** November 12, 2007, 02:26:51 AM »

ok, so attempting to tame my ignorance here, does a 3 piece neck imply laminations? Or just they actual construction in terms of separate block for the heel, separate block for the headstock and separate block for the main part of the neck? If it is the latter, then i know what that is like since that is how i built mine, but if it isn't, then... well what would be the point of laminating the same types of wood if you are not looking for a visual effect like "maple/ebony/purpleheart/ebony/maple"?