I need a little Gear Page help here, I located a 71, 72 or 73 Les Paul Custom with a cherry sunburst finish that has seven pieces of wood that make up the top! They are arranged in a symetrical fashion and it looks decent. The center piece is plain, then on either side the next pieces are flamed, then the next two are swirly, and the next two are lightly flamed. The tuners have been changed to later 70s Grovers with one screw each, (the originals had two screws each). The original pickups are gone and a pair of very old, two lead, double white DiMarzio Super Distortions are in their place. Someone put a mini toggle switch in between the volume and tone knobs. And finally the frets were replaced and the plastic nibs are gone. The fret job is decent but not anything to brag about. But I like the guitar. It feels pretty light for a Custom and it plays great. Those old Super Distortions sound pretty decent too. The store is asking $1700. I've looked at it twice and played it twice but I can't get myself to pull the trigger. I keep thinking that there's too many things wrong with this guitar. So what about that 7 piece top? Anyone ever heard of that before? It doesn't look like a refin. Thanks
That's a tough one. If you really love it as an instrument for you, I would consider it. If you want to pay fair market value, I would run away. My 2 pennies.
Well, not a 7-piece top, but I recently re-finned and re-necked a '76 LP Deluxe that had the pancake body (no news here.) What was interesting was that the back was 1 piece, followed by a piece of mahogany veneer, a 4-piece mahogany sandwich, maple veneer, and a 3-piece maple cap! This was originally fitted with a 3-piece maple neck that felt awful to me, and I talked the owner into letting me carve a new neck of 1-piece mahogany. Gibson (Norlin) were definitely cost-conscious in those days, so it seems they were using every bit if wood scraps they could.
What Jack said about Norlin/Gibson back in the 70's...all kinds of wood were matched up and used back then...I'd take a pass on a 7 piece top. Hell, even my Epi Birdseye LP only has a 5 piece back! 7 piece top? It would really have to speak to me tonally before I pulled the trigger on it. Go with the sound and feel, as it will likely never be a collectable piece. Good luck!
What you need to do here is email Gibson's Customer Service department ( Service@Gibson.com ) with the SERIAL NUMBER and the details of what you want to know. They can give you a good idea what it is , or more importantly, what it is not.
Yes, those are the Norlin era garbage guitars that brought Gibson to its knees. They were so bad that they created the whole "vintage" phenomenon by forcing musicians to look for the older instruments. The idea that they can attract more than $100 proves that a sucker is born every minute. Even the cheap Korean and Chinese stuff today is equal or better to a lot of these guitars. Personally, I think that price is a joke. Just because it says Gibson on it... don't be hypnotized. Buy it for its performance if it has any, or step up and get a current production Gibson which is a much finer guitar for not too much more $$$. Karma
Along with Fender, which were terrible during that era, but they're through the roof price-wise, also... Loudboy
I just passed on a 74 strat , I could have doubled my money but the fit and finish were so bad I couldnt be certain it was original ( flat places in the cutaway, just a sanding nightmare ) the guy who bought it swears it's straight, well, if that was straight I guess I'm not a guitar collector/dealer , not worth 50 buck much less 3500 ( it was an alleged custom color ) IMO the 70's guitars are not vintage just old
I owned a first-year LP Deluxe (got it for $500!), but I still sold it. Part of it was me not really digging the mini-humbuckers (it sounded a lot like a very fat Tele, which is not what I ultimately was going for). As was noted above, the 70's was not the most glorious period for Gibson or Fender. However, as others have said as well, if you like the instrument, get it.
I've played a few maple necked Norlin era LPs that were killer. I wouldn't pay $1700 for one, but that doesn't mean that they're all dogs either.
Just write Gibson a letter and they will pay for you to come to the factory and give you a free Les Paul. http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=121725
