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70's Gibsons. Show off your Norlins.

Big Al

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 24, 2002
Messages
14,537
That bluebook description clearly states MAPLE top Mahogany body. It is also the Bluebook, which has lot's of inaccuracies, and not a reliable source on its own. The Walnut is a finish option of which I have never seen and have never seen documented in any reliable source. Lots of the info I find in many of these books is wrong. Especially the Bacon books. Full of misinformation and mislabeled photo's.

There may have been a Walnut finished Maple top Deluxe. As far as I know they do not exist and every one that is supposed to be, has proven to be non existent. If anyone knows for sure of a stock Walnut Finished Les Paul I would certainly like to see one. Much, much rarer guitars from that time are well documented and accounted for, a triple batch of Walnut Finished Deluxes would have been by now. Sometimes shipping records or advanced sales memos get discovered and used as a reference. Often it is not in reality representative of anything that was put into production, or mislabeled in the sales literature to cause confusion later. As I have said, none have turned up. I have never seen one, I have never seen a reliable photo. In any case if any do turn up, it would be as a dark brown stained maple or a transparent dark brown lacquer finish and not Walnut wood. I would guess that the back and neck would either be walnut stained or transparent brown or natural in any case and certainly NOT Cherry Red.

I have many old catalogs and good source books and will try to find out anything I can over the next few days. If anyone has some documented info on these please post. My best guess is they do not exist. I've had two Rocket Red sparkle tops and own Bad Betty, a Strings and things Reissue from early/mid 70's. Both are rare as it gets and yet both are well documented. I suspect that the Walnut Finish may have been discussed and dropped in favor of Cherry Red. I believe faded cherry finished have only confused the issue.
 
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marantz1300

Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2008
Messages
309
Cheers Al.I'm very curious myself.In a wek I'll take pics of the cavities and scrape a little paint.This is the back.
SDC10644.jpg

SDC10959.jpg

SDC10964.jpg
 

kharrison

Active member
Joined
May 18, 2006
Messages
4,225
Looks exactly like my wine red '80 Standard from the back. It too has faded but not to this extreme.
 

Big Al

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 24, 2002
Messages
14,537
No need, that is most definitely a Maple top. It was a cherry red one, which I've only seen a very few. Very, very cool and sounds like it is exactly what you wanted. I especially like cherry red mahogany and find it to be most beautiful. Most all the sunburst models had a sunburst back, and I just like the look of red mahogany better. If you just gotta check the top, you should be able to see it from the back control panel. Most likely it won't be finished.
 

marantz1300

Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2008
Messages
309
Pics of the cavity.Thanks to all for the I.D. help,especially Big Al.
BTW Prodrocker your Customs awesome.
SDC10967.jpg

SDC10972.jpg

SDC10969.jpg
 

frank4001

Member
Joined
May 20, 2003
Messages
92
Here is my early 70's routed Deluxe. I've owned it over 30 years...
GoldTopDeluxe001.jpg


Tried again Chucklesbarry, thanks..
 
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frank4001

Member
Joined
May 20, 2003
Messages
92
Nice, really has aged well and I bet it sounds killer.
btw, if you go the photobucket, click on the image and then click on img code ( on the rt side of the page ) you can paste the image on here.

It sounds great and plays great. I have some Dimarzio VPaf's in it and just added the historic rings and pickguard....thanks
 

Big Al

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 24, 2002
Messages
14,537
I gotta say, as a certified old fart, I love all you guy's that appreciate these great guitars.
I still get that wonderful feeling when I see them now, as I did when they were brand new.

Grab a sweet Custom and get a jumbo refret... yeow!! ticket to tone heaven. Love the option of sweet multifaceted and smooth Mini Humbucker Deluxes, THE MOST UNDERRATED AND UNDER APPRECIATED LES PAUL next to the equally wonderful Recording models. And where are the RECORDING Les Pauls???

When I see a classic sunburst Standard from this time I remember all those hundreds and hundreds of gigs in clubs and bars, traveling in the van and loving every single minute of it.

And I loved my Norlin Les Pauls. I loved 'em and if they ain't 50's...well... I FREAKIN KNOW THAT!!!! I knew what year it was when I bought them new. Unlike the delusional buyers I encounter way to often nowadays..
.
"Hey AL! Come check out my sweet '59!"

Be right there, hang on!.... WTF!! That is a R9, what a 2012??? IT ISN'T A 59, SO QUIT CALLING IT THAT!!!!

WTF why do all these nimrods call their new guitars 59's??

"Check out this road warrior, Al. This 59's got some serious MOJO"!!

Really? REALLY!!!??
WTF! That is what? A 2011 R9?? It is beat to shit. Half the finish is missing, it's all worn and scratched up, I can see the cracks in the finish from across the room.!! WTF! You must have played the snot outta that guitar up and down the coast and left and right!! Man I thought I put some miles and hours on my guitars...

What?... WHAT???? .... YOU'VE NEVER PLAYED IT OUT SIDE OF YOUR BEDROOM????
WHAT THE HELL DOES MOJO MEAN TO YOU ANYWAY???

These guitars on this thread are real guitars. They are what they are, and many, many , many of them delivered it up, night after night. They should be showcased, they should be played and loved and kept in good working order, because in the end they never tried to be anything other than a MUSICAL INSTRUMENT and not a FASHION ACCESSORY!

OK, sorry for the mini rant, but I really do love these guitars and I am glad you do to. Told you I was an old fart, old and crotchety!!!
 

jrnic

Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2003
Messages
228
I've shown it before but here it is again. My 1978 LP Special Double Cut. It originally had P90's but back in my "Metal Head" days I put in Dimarzios. It currently has a 496R/500T set in it. It sounds awesome.

P10000042.jpg


P10000062.jpg


P10000102.jpg


***************UPDATE********************

I have modified my Les Paul Special back to P90 pickups. Biggest part of the project was designing a new pickguard to cover over the gaps made from routing the humbucker openings that was done years ago.

I got the idea for this modification after seeing a few early 60's LP Specials and noticing how the pickguard looked. Thanks to "the Pickguardian" I had the pickguard made up to complete the project. It's nice to have the P90's back!

Here it is:

P9290297.jpg
 

DRYBONE

New member
Joined
Apr 28, 2006
Messages
145
I gotta say, as a certified old fart, I love all you guy's that appreciate these great guitars.
I still get that wonderful feeling when I see them now, as I did when they were brand new.

Grab a sweet Custom and get a jumbo refret... yeow!! ticket to tone heaven. Love the option of sweet multifaceted and smooth Mini Humbucker Deluxes, THE MOST UNDERRATED AND UNDER APPRECIATED LES PAUL next to the equally wonderful Recording models. And where are the RECORDING Les Pauls???

When I see a classic sunburst Standard from this time I remember all those hundreds and hundreds of gigs in clubs and bars, traveling in the van and loving every single minute of it.

And I loved my Norlin Les Pauls. I loved 'em and if they ain't 50's...well... I FREAKIN KNOW THAT!!!! I knew what year it was when I bought them new. Unlike the delusional buyers I encounter way to often nowadays..
.
"Hey AL! Come check out my sweet '59!"

Be right there, hang on!.... WTF!! That is a R9, what a 2012??? IT ISN'T A 59, SO QUIT CALLING IT THAT!!!!

WTF why do all these nimrods call their new guitars 59's??

"Check out this road warrior, Al. This 59's got some serious MOJO"!!

Really? REALLY!!!??
WTF! That is what? A 2011 R9?? It is beat to shit. Half the finish is missing, it's all worn and scratched up, I can see the cracks in the finish from across the room.!! WTF! You must have played the snot outta that guitar up and down the coast and left and right!! Man I thought I put some miles and hours on my guitars...

What?... WHAT???? .... YOU'VE NEVER PLAYED IT OUT SIDE OF YOUR BEDROOM????
WHAT THE HELL DOES MOJO MEAN TO YOU ANYWAY???

These guitars on this thread are real guitars. They are what they are, and many, many , many of them delivered it up, night after night. They should be showcased, they should be played and loved and kept in good working order, because in the end they never tried to be anything other than a MUSICAL INSTRUMENT and not a FASHION ACCESSORY!

OK, sorry for the mini rant, but I really do love these guitars and I am glad you do to. Told you I was an old fart, old and crotchety!!!

Amen.
 

shred

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 13, 2003
Messages
4,667
Most are long gone... But early 70's Norlins are the best value in the LP world. Period. BTW Happy New Year Y'all :salude

IMG_3053-1.jpg
 
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bird72

New member
Joined
Dec 13, 2006
Messages
252
I like this thread :)

I remember being in junior year of high school in 72, playing my buddies brand new black LP Custom. He sold me his 69 SG to finance the Custom purchase. I remember thinking that black LP was the most beautiful guitar I ever saw...... I think those early 70's Norlins are great guitars!
 

Big Al

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 24, 2002
Messages
14,537
I like this thread :)

I remember being in junior year of high school in 72, playing my buddies brand new black LP Custom. He sold me his 69 SG to finance the Custom purchase. I remember thinking that black LP was the most beautiful guitar I ever saw...... I think those early 70's Norlins are great guitars!

Bird72, we must be the same age, class of 73?
 

Progrocker111

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 10, 2003
Messages
4,013
I think those early 70's Norlins are great guitars!


Yes, they are :). And contrary to the general Norlin era reputation, they are very consistent. I have had many of them and nearly all were really great sounding guitars, not too heavy and fairly resonant too. Yes, they have very different tone than new Custom Shop reissues, but they are so killer 70s hardrock sounding, what no new guitar can equal.
 
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