metropolis
Active member
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2018
- Messages
- 410
I've got a few Les Pauls but really fancied two more; an ebony Custom and something borderline vintage. I managed to scratch both itches in one go when I happened to be driving past where this was for sale. Once I played it I couldn't put it down.
The neck starts super thin but thickens up, the action and setup is lovely and the tone is great, especially acoustically.
Bad points: There's been a neck break and a refin the body and back of neck - and not a great job of scraping around the binding plus they left the switch in and painted it black! You can only tell the neck break from the glue inside the truss rod cavity - the refinish covers it well. Two pots have been replaced, along with the output jack and the bridge pickup is a Maricela Juarez wound Duncan Distortion (early to mid 80s) with a badly aged cover. Finally there's been three types of tuner on it; my guess is Kluson originals, Schallers and then the Grovers today.
The refin is thick enough to have covered the serial number, which is written on (twice, a second with a UV pen). Online dating tools tell me 70-72 but Gibson told me 1968 despite the obvious volute. The two remaining original pots date to 1972. I can't see whether its a three piece neck or pancake body through the refin but I'm assuming it is. The plastics and hardware all seems original. There's been a very recent refret done too, with larger frets than the original ones thankfully!
I've got a Brandenwound T-Top replica on the way for the bridge (the Duncan Distortion isn't for me) but otherwise I'll leave her as is. A small part of me wants to expose the serial number but I suspect it's not worth it.
I love it and can't stop playing it. I'm channeling my early Steve Hackett (even though his were 1969s!)
The neck starts super thin but thickens up, the action and setup is lovely and the tone is great, especially acoustically.
Bad points: There's been a neck break and a refin the body and back of neck - and not a great job of scraping around the binding plus they left the switch in and painted it black! You can only tell the neck break from the glue inside the truss rod cavity - the refinish covers it well. Two pots have been replaced, along with the output jack and the bridge pickup is a Maricela Juarez wound Duncan Distortion (early to mid 80s) with a badly aged cover. Finally there's been three types of tuner on it; my guess is Kluson originals, Schallers and then the Grovers today.
The refin is thick enough to have covered the serial number, which is written on (twice, a second with a UV pen). Online dating tools tell me 70-72 but Gibson told me 1968 despite the obvious volute. The two remaining original pots date to 1972. I can't see whether its a three piece neck or pancake body through the refin but I'm assuming it is. The plastics and hardware all seems original. There's been a very recent refret done too, with larger frets than the original ones thankfully!
I've got a Brandenwound T-Top replica on the way for the bridge (the Duncan Distortion isn't for me) but otherwise I'll leave her as is. A small part of me wants to expose the serial number but I suspect it's not worth it.
I love it and can't stop playing it. I'm channeling my early Steve Hackett (even though his were 1969s!)