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Trying to find more information about this rare 85' Les Paul custom I own.

DCaola1979

New member
Joined
Sep 16, 2019
Messages
3
I'm trying to find some more information about an 85' custom Les Paul I bought back in the 90's. I bought from a friend that bought it from a shop that specialized in Les Pauls in Pennsylvania when I was in high school. Off and on for years I've looked online for another like it and have never seen one. It's a white 85' custom, but here's where things get different......... It's got a tremolo that looks almost identical to a Kahler, but its not. Where a Kahler has its name inscribed on top, it has Gibson inscribed with a US Pat number. It also has locking nut, speed winder tuning machines, and horribly designed diamond shaped strap pegs that used to cause the guitar strap to come off until I put some large steel washers on them to keep it in place. And of course, every piece of hardware on the guitar is gold plated. Like I said I've been curious for years what exactly this "odd duck" is exactly. And not that I'd every even consider selling it because this thing has always been the pride of my fleet, how much is it even worth? The closest I ever came to finding something was at a guitar shop in Newport News Virginia in 2004. I took it to a shop because I was trying to replace one of the gold plated speed winder tuning machines and the tech that tried to hunt down the part for me offered me $2,000.00 for it. Thankfully, my drug addiction wasn't yet in full swing at that time or I probably would have sold it but that's a whole different story............... Yeah, so anyhow if anyone could give me a little data here I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks,

Dennis
 
Last edited:

kevinkjs

Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2013
Messages
56
Can you post the serial # ? That would reveal a lot of information to start with.
 

PaulD

Active member
Joined
Jun 25, 2007
Messages
673
Nothing particularly rare or unusual about it I'm afraid. Gibson factory fitted Gibson branded Kahler bridges to a number of models in the 1980's and the diamond strap buttons were also used on a number of different models from the same era.
 

DCaola1979

New member
Joined
Sep 16, 2019
Messages
3
Can you post the serial # ? That would reveal a lot of information to start with.
Sure, the serial # is 80175602. I have looked it up and figured out the date of manufacture and that it was probably built in Nashville, but that is all I could find. Now, I have seen some of its "bells and whistles" on other Les Pauls but never all on the same one? Or some of the hardware is similar looking, but clearly different. For example the gold lock nut, I've seen a few with 3 allen screws to lock down all 6 strings in pairs of 2, but mine has 6 individual allen screws tapped into the nut itself for each individual string. I wish this forum would let me post a few pics. It could have just been Gibson using a different part supplier halfway through that years run or something, I really don't know. Maybe my ol' favorite ax isn't rare at all? I just know I've been looking for another for years and I've only met one guitar shop owner (back in the 90's) that said he had worked on one years ago. The shop owner told me they didn't run many of these because the tremolo models didn't sell very well, cause everybody wanted a "hard tail" back then...... He could have been full of crap? I was 6 years old in 85 so what do I know? It's not really a value issue for me, more just wanting to know more about it. The friend that sold it to me in high school passed away years ago so I sort of lost my closest link to any first hand information. Any insight or old school guitar knowledge would be greatly appreciated.
 

darkwave

Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2001
Messages
357
In the old brochures I had, Gibsons with re-branded Kahler's always had that unique locknut with six separate screws. I've never seen them anywhere else, though. Around '85 was probably the only time a LesPaul with a Kahler was desirable, in my experience! I still have an aftermarket Kahler flatmount I've been meaning to put on a project someday. More likely to be a hybrid Tele/Strat mongrel though. I liked them but they are definitely a niche tremolo these days.

-Douglas C.


Sure, the serial # is 80175602. I have looked it up and figured out the date of manufacture and that it was probably built in Nashville, but that is all I could find. Now, I have seen some of its "bells and whistles" on other Les Pauls but never all on the same one? Or some of the hardware is similar looking, but clearly different. For example the gold lock nut, I've seen a few with 3 allen screws to lock down all 6 strings in pairs of 2, but mine has 6 individual allen screws tapped into the nut itself for each individual string. I wish this forum would let me post a few pics. It could have just been Gibson using a different part supplier halfway through that years run or something, I really don't know. Maybe my ol' favorite ax isn't rare at all? I just know I've been looking for another for years and I've only met one guitar shop owner (back in the 90's) that said he had worked on one years ago. The shop owner told me they didn't run many of these because the tremolo models didn't sell very well, cause everybody wanted a "hard tail" back then...... He could have been full of crap? I was 6 years old in 85 so what do I know? It's not really a value issue for me, more just wanting to know more about it. The friend that sold it to me in high school passed away years ago so I sort of lost my closest link to any first hand information. Any insight or old school guitar knowledge would be greatly appreciated.
 
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