How come that some of the early 1970’s Tobacco Burst’s Les Paul’s looks more like a darker red sunburst than the more common almost black sunburst? Or are they really wrongly named as Tobacco Burst?
This a '74 Kalamazoo Small Script Standard, one of those oddities from the early '70s that was only available by special order. I was told by a man who worked at the Kalamazoo plant that this finish was called "Dark Wineburst." Internet mavens correct both of us and say that "tobacco burst" was the only burst available at the time; it is clear because it is the only burst in the catalog. Of course, this entire model wasn't in the catalog.
Thank you! I've discussed these Standards for years on the Internet and the description evolved from misunderstandings. Some believe that there were only Deluxes before 1976. If you talk about an early-70s Standard they'll reply, "Oh you mean a routed Deluxe." Nope. Some believe no LPs came from Kalamazoo in the '70s, that they only arrived from Nashville. The description evolved around the fact that the Standard model only became official in 1976 with the opening of the Nashville plant BUT the model existed before then.Nice guitar Bob! And a very nice looking maple top w/ desirable sunburst finish.
So the description....." '74 Kalamazoo Small Script Standard...." I have never come across this designation before. Was there another Gibson factory making Les Pauls other than Kalamazoo in 1974?
Thanks. :2cool
I agree with you. When I had the guitar appraised by a vintage dealer in the '90s he described the guitar's finish on the document as "Iced Tea Burst." In the pic above of myself and my band mate in '77, his guitar , also a '74 Standard, is finished exactly as you described, almost black at the edges. Interestingly, his had metal saddles and mine has nylon. It's like Gibson threw whatever was lying around in the bins onto the guitar.Those colors look very much like the Iced Tea color Gibson had available for a few years, I don't know if that color is still available. The finish I associated with Tobacco Burst is actually a Vintage Burst, you know, the very dark, almost black edges.
Gibson seems to have had a penchant for some oddities during the early Norlin ownership.
Understood. However, if you notice in my description above, the early '70s Standards shared everything with the Deluxes except the pickups, routes, and truss rod legend.none of those guitars are Deluxes.