70's Norlin era Gibsons vs 70's CBS era Fenders

[Timmo]

I was just wondering what you guys think about Norlin Gibsons vs CBS Fenders from the 70's ?
Who made a better overall product and why you think so?

I'm not really interested in how they compare to today's products because both are pretty dang good nowadays.............:BEER

[Thwap]

Well, I had a Norlin Les Paul custom that was a really good guitar. It was close to 12 lbs, but other than that I really loved everything about it. Sold it because I was young and stupid.

On the other hand, I also had a mid seventies strat. One of the 3 bolt models, with the tilt-o-matic neck or whatever the hell feature. That guitar, after 30 years of playing, stands out in my mind, undoubtedly as the biggest POS I've EVER laid my hands on. The neck pocket was too big, and every time you tuned it the neck would shift. It was heavy for a strat, and just sounded dead no matter what amp I played it through. I did play a few others in that era, and I've got to say the quality that I experienced was overall quite bad. I'm sure you could find good ones, I just couldn't. It turned me off to strats for close to 20 years.

[kingsleyd]

Originally Posted by Timmo

I was just wondering what you guys think about Norlin Gibsons vs CBS Fenders from the 70's ?
Who made a better overall product and why you think so?

No offense, Timmo, but I'm wondering what on earth the point of such a discussion might be.

[Old Tele man]

[ToneRanger]

I actually think it's an interesting topic! Which was worse, would be nice to know..

[Timmo]

Originally Posted by kingsleyd

No offense, Timmo, but I'm wondering what on earth the point of such a discussion might be.

Hmm..........I didn't really think I had to write a disertation on "why" one would post a certain topic.
No ulterior motive here .
I just had a slow down at work, I have been enjoying my "Norlin Les Paul" as of late and was thinking back to some 70's Fenders I once owned and how AWFUL I thought there were compared to my LP and was wondering if anyone else felt the same way.
Now, any other questions I can answer for you? :AOK
By the way Kingsley
"NO Offense" but.......what on earth possessed you to ask me such a question?

[jonny guitar]

For me this is 73 Sg versus 78 tele. The 73 Sg is still my main guitar after 25 years of playing it...it is a limited one with ebony board and no huge neck tenon. It is a wonderful guitar and imo much nicer than todays SG's. The 78 Tele was a nice sounding guitar and had a really nice nice neck when plugged in but it was dead acoustically and was just way too heavy to enjoy playing. For me I have to go Gibson.

[kingsleyd]

Originally Posted by Timmo

I just had a slow down at work, I have been enjoying my "Norlin Les Paul" as of late and was thinking back to some 70's Fenders I once owned and how AWFUL I thought there were compared to my LP and was wondering if anyone else felt the same way.
Now, any other questions I can answer for you? :AOK
By the way Kingsley
"NO Offense" but.......what on earth possessed you to ask me such a question?

The background info would have helped a lot! The original post just read like a "let's all spew some worthless opinions about F and G" to me.

The thing about the 70s... I was there. Them's the guitars I grew up with. With a few notable exceptions, in my particular case more on the F side, ALL of 'em basically sucked IMO. I'm much happier with, say, my R9 and relic Strat, to say nothing of the Johnny A I just snagged.

But that's only MO. Both companies made a bazillion guitars over the course of the decade. Not sure any of us has played enough of 'em for our opinions to be worth sharing. Odds are that at least some from each corporation were fine or even superfine instruments to be treasured and played hard.

Personally, I'd just as soon forget that decade ever happened, at least when it comes to guitars. But whatever, carry on, don't mind me. Sorry for the curmudgeon routine.

[teddy boy]

A very interesting topic IMO. Both are known for being bad quality in the 70's but would one favour one over the other if it came to a choice between the two?

[Timmo]

It's cool Kingsleyd.........no big deal one way or the other.
I'm just thinking my '74 LP Custom 20th Anniversary might change some people's opinions on what 70's guitars are all about now. I mean, after 30 years have been put on them.
Unfortunately I don't think anything can save Fenders from the 70's though.......:BEER
You also say you'd "just soon forget the whole decade ever happened".
Most of us that grew up during the 70's can't remember most of what happened anyway........

[Old Tele man]

...the PAST is PROLOG.

[Timmo]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

...the PAST is PROLOG.

Yet, we ALL reminisce.........

[John Phillips]

Interesting question. I prefer the Norlin Gibsons generally. I started playing in the early 80s, so the majority of used 'big two' instruments around were from exactly this period, and for several years I really thought Fenders were junk. I still feel basically the same about them, especially if you're comparing Strats and Teles to Les Pauls and 335s. The Gibsons were made wrong in many ways, like the Fenders were - over heavy, with sandwich bodies on the Les Pauls, wrong body shapes and huge headstocks - but at least the actual woodwork quality was higher, and they played much better and sounded better, to me. Some of the changes which are now looked down on (like the 3-piece necks) were actually for valid structural reasons too. Fenders had more obvious quality problems - particularly the loose neck joints, poor smoothing of the wood and expecting that the half-inch of plastic finish would hide it (it often didn't), horrible neck profiles and finishing, and significantly worse machineheads... not to mention the awful soft-alloy bridges they put on the Strats. And wrong body shapes too, especially on the Teles.

The odd thing though is that further down the range it was the other way round - Mustangs and Musicmasters suffered far less from CBS-isms in many ways... they kept the four-bolt necks and steel bridges, and seemed to me to generally be made more carefully than the more expensive models (which surprised me then, but I still find it to be true even looking at them today). But the cheap Gibsons like the S-1 and Marauder often had neck-joint problems worthy of a CBS Strat, very cheap-looking finishes, and were obviously cheapened rather than just more basic like the student Fenders were. And then there was the Sonex...

So on balance I'd say a draw, without much honor either way.

[Timmo]

Originally Posted by John Phillips

Interesting question. I prefer the Norlin Gibsons generally. I started playing in the early 80s, so the majority of used 'big two' instruments around were from exactly this period, and for several years I really thought Fenders were junk. I still feel basically the same about them, especially if you're comparing Strats and Teles to Les Pauls and 335s. The Gibsons were made wrong in many ways, like the Fenders were - over heavy, with sandwich bodies on the Les Pauls, wrong body shapes and huge headstocks - but at least the actual woodwork quality was higher, and they played much better and sounded better, to me. Some of the changes which are now looked down on (like the 3-piece necks) were actually for valid structural reasons too. Fenders had more obvious quality problems - particularly the loose neck joints, poor smoothing of the wood and expecting that the half-inch of plastic finish would hide it (it often didn't), horrible neck profiles and finishing, and significantly worse machineheads... not to mention the awful soft-alloy bridges they put on the Strats. And wrong body shapes too, especially on the Teles.

The odd thing though is that further down the range it was the other way round - Mustangs and Musicmasters suffered far less from CBS-isms in many ways... they kept the four-bolt necks and steel bridges, and seemed to me to generally be made more carefully than the more expensive models (which surprised me then, but I still find it to be true even looking at them today). But the cheap Gibsons like the S-1 and Marauder often had neck-joint problems worthy of a CBS Strat, very cheap-looking finishes, and were obviously cheapened rather than just more basic like the student Fenders were. And then there was the Sonex...

So on balance I'd say a draw, without much honor either way.

"Without much honor either way" sums it up rather nicely John as usual from you.
I find it interesting that Norlin guitars seem to get ragged on way more than CBS guitars and I have found the exact opposite to be true.
While many Norlins are pretty awful, every once in awhile you'll find a decent Norlin Les Paul. I can't say that I have personally found a Strat that I would give a plug nickel for after 1973. Same with Teles.
Talk about a strange sensation .........I can deal with a "heavy Les Paul"...nature of the beast for the most part BUT a 'boat anchor' Strat and/or Tele just never worked for me.
To this day a heavy Fender gets put back on the stand without me touching the fretboard.
A brick of a Gibson will still get my time and a thorough going over.
Funny thing is.........I'm a Fender guy for the most part!

[Old Tele man]

re: Fender guy always checking out Gibson guitars...

...sound familiar: "...the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence?"