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1975 Les Paul Deluxe?

B

bongo122819

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Oct 6, 2003
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I love the opinions generated about Norlin-era anything ! Such Passion.

I have owned 2 Norlin-era Gibsons; '71 Deluxe (pancake body, mahogany neck, minis) ; a '77 Deluxe (one piece body, maple neck, minis).

The differences between the two Deluxes (and a 2004 Deluxe I owned for a short time) were minor (yes, that's just an opinion) and I couldn't tell you that the pancake body was any better or worse than the one piece body, nor could I say the 3 piece mahogany neck was any better than the 3 piece maple neck.

I do think the minis have a sound of their own - less gain - and you either love or hate them........or use them for their strengths only.
just my 2 1/2 cents worth.
 
Henk

Henk

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When i play a great strat, im not thinking about how cheap it is to make or that a mahogany neck would probably sound MUCH better. It is about the instrument as a whole and not about the sum of its components.

My '76 custom 3pu does sounds different then other LPs i have, but thats just how i want it to be. I use that '76 more for Jazz and clean rythm guitar parts, it has an airyness and subtle depth to its tone i just miss when playing any of my other guitars with that kind of music.

The biggest advantage of that '76 custom to me is that it has the most stable neck one can imagine, intonation is allways exactly right, no need to tune in between songs, its even perfectly in tune after a few weeks in the case. I do think this probably sums up what Les was saying about that '75 Deluxe. Maybe not everyone needs a 'huge tonemonster' to play their stuff.........:peace2
 
Doctor Butcher

Doctor Butcher

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Wilko said:
You guys are right.

There are no differences in sound or quality from any Les Paul era. They are all the same.
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Sheep_eating.gif
 
Cody

Cody

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Original Burst. Good enough for Clapton, good enough for me!

robbieqx2.jpg
 
Wilko

Wilko

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The prop from Tommy?!

Did Clapton ever even plug that thing in?
 
GlassSnuff

GlassSnuff

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Henk said:
When i play a great strat, im not thinking about how cheap it is to make or that a mahogany neck would probably sound MUCH better. It is about the instrument as a whole and not about the sum of its components.

My '76 custom 3pu does sounds different then other LPs i have, but thats just how i want it to be. I use that '76 more for Jazz and clean rythm guitar parts, it has an airyness and subtle depth to its tone i just miss when playing any of my other guitars with that kind of music.

The biggest advantage of that '76 custom to me is that it has the most stable neck one can imagine, intonation is allways exactly right, no need to tune in between songs, its even perfectly in tune after a few weeks in the case. I do think this probably sums up what Les was saying about that '75 Deluxe. Maybe not everyone needs a 'huge tonemonster' to play their stuff.........:peace2
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+1 Totally agree on all points.

Hate on me if you want, but I bought my Custom instead of an L5s, not instead of a 'Burst. (Well, actually, I did buy it instead of a 'Burst, there was a '57 hanging there in the shop for only $700!)
 
telemesa

telemesa

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Bob Womack said:
The best way I can do it is to point at a good ES-335 and talk about how "sweet" the neck pickup sounds. There's a sort of plantive sound the guitar makes when a string is bent. On the pancake bodies it can be harder to get that - the neck pickup sounds, uh, harder and fatter than on the ES or on a guitar with a solid mahogany back. My '74 Standard can get that plaintive plea on the bridge pickup, but even then there is a less sweet, more rocky sound than on an ES or guitar with a solid mahogany back. Perhaps "aggressive" is a good word here. The chambered bodies are more like the ES or solid ones in this regard.

Ah, perceptions. English has a paucity of words to describe sounds and we of this generation seem to be developing our own vocabulary in trying to describe our instruments. I hope that helped at least a little. :)

Bob
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Hi Bob, I have a 75 Les, serial number decal starts with 99, pancake body, three peice maple neck, short tenon, pots oddly are dated 1977, tobacco sunburst, it appears everything is original but the pots do raise my curiosity. It has the "dot" over the "i" in Gibson and does have a first fret marker dot on the neck binding. Since I haven't seen the large and small dots side by side I don't know which they are. Sound wise I'd say: bridge pickup has a lot of cut, I normally keep the tone control set to 4, the neck pickup is very warm, tone setting kept at 10. Acoustically, my SG is louder but once amplified it has good sustain. ...and did I say it's very heavy, ...pushing twelve pounds, not quite but almost. The neck is well worn, I have no plans of ever getting rid of it. I still don't know where it was made, thanks.
 
rgrace

rgrace

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shred said:
All the norlin doom sayers crack me up... I mean can you play or can't you ;)

The truth is in the 70's, there was no such thing as an historic... You wanted an LP so you bought an LP. The pancake is not a big deal....

Rhoads, Sykes, Lizzy, Kiss, Slash etc are all pancake bodies.... My best sounding axe in any situation retro/shred/modern metal/rock etc etc is a 1970 DLX w/dimarzios and a huge neck and crazy big volute that i really believes makes the dif...

The one reason I believe in the 50's mythology is the big neck... Sure slim necks are easier to play, but the fat necks vibrate something fierce... And sound killer:)

Look this is not like buying an acoustic where you're stuck with what you get ( buy a good forward braced Martin). There are so many components in the signal chain with an electric like your amp, P/U's, effects etc that things like volutes and pancakes don't matter in any modern context...
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SO well said.

Look, I totally understand why people look down on the Norlins. However, what I think some people don't get is that not a whole lot of those early Gibsons were ever made. I see a ton of 1950's snobbery in the Les Paul space, but very few of those were made and very few of us can actually afford them. I seriously don't care if someone else's vintage Les Paul sounds better than mine, or has a bigger neck, or the right wood construction, or whatever. I swear, some of these folks sound like they want their precious axes to be buried in their casket with them. (You know what the obvious rejoinder is to that!) A lot of us have Norlins and are very happy with them, myself included. Owning one (or more) and being happy with it isn't a character defect, and having my wallet not stretch to owning the Holy Grail isn't one either. Geesh. It's about the music, not your cherished material possessions.
 
Big Al

Big Al

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Apr 24, 2002
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Ted McCarty was in charge but was not a guitar player nor designer. He wanted a solidbody to compete with Leo Fender's Telecaster. To his credit he wisely left that job to Larry Allers, THE true designer and unsung creator of the Gibson Les Paul guitar. Larry wisely built a guitar to deliver Les' idea of proper electric solid body guitar tone, not the muted soft jazz and pop standard tone that Ted preferred.


It is also worth noting that Les Paul had direct contact with Leo Fender, Merle Travis and Paul Bigsby, the true father of the modern solidbody guitar, in the late 1940's in SoCal. Oh to have been present as those four titans discused the ways to achieve Les Pauls original vision and inspiration!

It cannot be over stated the influence that Les' idea and ideal, of a bold, strong electric tone with a predominant fundamental note with enhanced sustain had on Bigsby, Fender and Gibson. Still, it was Larry Allers who built the original Gibson Solidbody to lure Les Paul, who had Bigsby and Fender guitars and get him to use Gibson guitars exclusively.

So much for history.

I like Norlin Era guitars and Les Paul Deluxes especially. And many more have found out what exceptional guitars they are. I still use my early 70's Goldtop Deluxe and for good reason, it is a 70's Deluxe and holds its own and surpasses many so called "better" guitars.

The proof is in the pudding.
 
alnico59

alnico59

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Nov 4, 2014
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Other than the weight, the only obvious thing I feel with a current model vs. a Norlin era is a roundness when I fret the notes. It's a feel thing for me so it doesn't matter if it's plugged in or not. The Norlin's I have owned/played have a tighter feel. The newer models, say 2000 and earlier have that "roundness".

Sound wise: I've heard good ones and not so good ones with the Norlin LP's. I'd have to say sound wise the newer ones are more consistent and smoother in tone.

Norlin = more bite.
 
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