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Early 80´s Les Pauls

Mats A

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From what i know Gibson in the early 80¨s went back to first three piece Mahogany necks and then one piece. When did they start with the one piece necks? Since they started the weight relief in the early 80´s also did they make any Les Pauls with a one piece Mahogany neck and no weight relief or did the weight relief come before the one piece? I believe they did Les Pauls with the tree piece Mahogany neck and no weight relief. I guess no one knows for sure exactly when the weight relief started. Wonder what the oldest guitar that the owner knows is weight relieved is.
 

nickza

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Nov 2, 2010
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I have a friend who had an '81 Les Paul Deluxe with the finish played off the back of the neck and it was 3 piece. My '83 custom has some of the finish coming off but not enough to actually see if its 1 or 3.

Hard to determine if something is weight relieved without access to an x-ray machine. Going by weight is meaningless as the weights were all over the place in the 80's. Case in point a different '84 Les Paul Deluxe I played yesterday weighed quite a bit more than my '83 Custom. And I would assume by '84 they were well in to the weight relief era.
 

marshall1987

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I believe the Les Paul Heritage 80 Elite had a one piece mahogany neck. The first LP Standards/Deluxe that I'm aware of with a one piece mahogany neck were the 1983 models. Not sure about the LP Customs, but probably followed the same model year specs regarding neck construction.
 

Big Al

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I believe the Les Paul Heritage 80 Elite had a one piece mahogany neck. The first LP Standards/Deluxe that I'm aware of with a one piece mahogany neck were the 1983 models. Not sure about the LP Customs, but probably followed the same model year specs regarding neck construction.

That is how I remember it. The last 3pc maple necks were with the smaller headstock and no volute, followed by the similar one piece mahogany neck with rounded c profile.
 

Progrocker111

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That is how I remember it. The last 3pc maple necks were with the smaller headstock and no volute, followed by the similar one piece mahogany neck with rounded c profile.

This, there were no 3 piece mahogany necks in this transition period.

Volutes disappeared in 82 and swiss cheese weight relief holes came into action in 83.
 

paul kossoff

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Sep 1, 2003
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My 1980 Heritage Standard Elite ..has a one piece neck , a real nice Tone on this Guitar too..its why i have kept it for so long.
 

nickza

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lespaulcustom7.jpg


No idea where the joins would be, otherwise give me a year or so :peace2
 

clearmudd

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I have owned at one time a 1983 tobacco burst standard with a three piece maple neck no volute, the neck was a bit thin for me. The Shaw pickups were outstanding. I paid $700 out the door with the chainsaw case in 1983. That same year I bought a 1970 Z28 camaro (one owner)
for $1200 , it had 45K miles on it. Later I made money on the car, lost money on the guitar.
 

Mats A

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So there were no 3 piece Mahogany necks they went straight from the 3 piece Maple neck to 1 piece Mahogany necks right? If there is Les Pauls from 83 with Maple necks and the weight relief started in 83 there must be Les Pauls with Maple necks that are weight relieved. And when they reverted back to Mahogany necks they were probably already weight relieving them.
 

clearmudd

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So there were no 3 piece Mahogany necks they went straight from the 3 piece Maple neck to 1 piece Mahogany necks right? If there is Les Pauls from 83 with Maple necks and the weight relief started in 83 there must be Les Pauls with Maple necks that are weight relieved. And when they reverted back to Mahogany necks they were probably already weight relieving them.

That would be correct, but there is no telling what got relieved bodies and what didn't. It started AROUND that time so it should be considered that not all '83 LPs got relief. The only way to tell is to have it X-rayed.
 

Big Al

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The Heritage Series Standard 80's from 80-82 had three piece mahogany necks, no volute and smaller headstock w/ Grovers and a second number, also impressed, below the serial #, representing its production number.
 

Strings Jr.

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I get a lot of questions asking about weight relief.

The way I remember it, was that it started with LP Studios in early '83.
The thinking was "if this doesn't work, then we haven't ruined a bunch of expensive guitars."

But, as we know, it did work, and eventually spread to other models.
 

Ed Driscoll

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I get a lot of questions asking about weight relief.

The way I remember it, was that it started with LP Studios in early '83.
The thinking was "if this doesn't work, then we haven't ruined a bunch of expensive guitars."

But, as we know, it did work, and eventually spread to other models.

Yeah, based on the boat-anchor weight, I don't think my '83 Custom is weight-relieved! :laugh2:
 

marshall1987

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By the early to mid-80s, QC/QA at the Nashville plant began to falter a little. I had what was otherwise a very nice '83 LP Standard, with a one-piece mahogany neck, skinny peg head, deep dish top carve, medium fat neck. The problem was with the poor attention to fret dressing and scraping of the, nibs, and binding. Whoever did this work mangled the fingerboard area on my guitar and left file marks, cuts and scrapes on the binding, nibs, and mahogany fingerboard. It also had the all-too common fret sprout which cracked the binding at the nibs. Very sloppy amateurish work IMO. Incredibly, by today's standards, this level of workmanship shipped out of the factory every day back then.
 
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clearmudd

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By the early to mid-80s, QC/QA at the Nashville plant began to falter a little. I had what was otherwise a very nice '83 LP Standard, with a one-piece mahogany neck, skinny peg head, deep dish top carve, medium fat neck. The problem was with the poor attention to fret dressing and scraping of the, nibs, and binding. Whoever did this work mangled the fingerboard area on my guitar and left file marks, cuts and scrapes on the binding, nibs, and mahogany fingerboard. It also had the all-too common fret sprout which cracked the binding at the nibs. Very sloppy amateurish work IMO. Incredibly, by today's standards, this level of workmanship shipped out of the factory every day back then.


I don't remember a "mahogany fingerboard", but there were no QC/QA issues with mine. Just a really skinny neck. I bought because it had a skinny neck, it took a while for me to realize it wasn't going to work for me, being young and dumb at the time. I'm sure you meant rosewood fingerboard.:salude
 

marshall1987

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I don't remember a "mahogany fingerboard", but there were no QC/QA issues with mine. Just a really skinny neck. I bought because it had a skinny neck, it took a while for me to realize it wasn't going to work for me, being young and dumb at the time. I'm sure you meant rosewood fingerboard.:salude

Yep a wood species gaff for sure......:##

Happy for you getting a good one. :salude

My 1983 LP Std. could have been repaired satisfactorily by installing new fingerboard binding, and resurfacing the rosewood fingerboard to remove the file marks. This would have entailed replacing the frets as well. Probably cost about $500.00 today. The guitar was bought new for about $700.00 as I recall. I really liked it, but geez....Gibson must have hired "Edward Scissor Hands" to scrape the fingerboard binding and do the fret work that day.
 

Blackvault

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Dec 22, 2004
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My 1980 Deluxe has no finish left on the neck and it is a three piece neck. In regards to weight I believe that she weights in at around 11lbs. It isn't nicknamed "The Boat Anchor" for nothing.
 

Mats A

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The Heritage Series Standard 80's from 80-82 had three piece mahogany necks, no volute and smaller headstock w/ Grovers and a second number, also impressed, below the serial #, representing its production number.

This means there were some LP's with a 3 piece Mahogany neck. Yes i don't belive the 9 holes affect the tone or weight much. There are some really heavy Lesters with weight relief holes. But many i've played sound very good.
 

guitplayer

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Thats right. most weight relieved are still quite heavy.
A 1980 deluxe would have a 3 piece maple neck.:hmm
 
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