has anyone ever found a Les Paul Standard..

stock_hippie · Jan 14, 2014

in a pawn shop...?...like you hear about...or seen one, maybe...?

BuzzHaze · Jan 14, 2014

My 80 Standard kind of fits the bill. I was checking out amps at a private collectors place, he sells now and then to purchase other gear he wants, so I was checking out an older Fender amp when I saw this little peanut case with "Gibson" on the side. I asked about it and he opened up the case to reveal a pristine 1980 LP Standard in natural. Well, it was love at first site. I asked to play it and that just cemented the deal. I had to have it.

After some heavy wrangling and haggling. I left with the guitar, having paid more than I probably should have (2500) but I knew it was worth every penny to me. I am happy to say that I have long gotten over the price and have been enjoying the guitar for a number of years now. It's my favorite in the studio and it looks great on me

I can imagine there have been many pawnshop finds but even the pawnshops know what they are nowadays...no steals left out there, well at least not in my neck of the woods.

jimmi · Jan 14, 2014

stock_hippie said:
in a pawn shop...?...like you hear about...or seen one, maybe...?

When I was in high school (1987 or so) I stopped of in Jackson, TN at a pawn shop on my way to Memphis for a college interview and saw a 1960 burst for $1000. They did not know what it was. It tried to act casually interested. I told them I would be back to buy it if they would hold it for me (no cash with me, too young for a credit card etc) which they agreed. Sold an amp and guitar and returned the next weekend and it had been sold by another person at the store they said did not know it was on hold.

Haunts me still....

goldtop0 · Jan 14, 2014

jimmi said:
When I was in high school (1987 or so) I stopped of in Jackson, TN at a pawn shop on my way to Memphis for a college interview and saw a 1960 burst for $1000. They did not know what it was. It tried to act casually interested. I told them I would be back to buy it if they would hold it for me (no cash with me, too young for a credit card etc) which they agreed. Sold an amp and guitar and returned the next weekend and it had been sold by another person at the store they said did not know it was on hold.

Haunts me still....

MY heart sank when I read this........the one that got away.

jimmi · Jan 14, 2014

goldtop0 said:
MY heart sank when I read this........the one that got away.

Les pauls were not that popular except for among collectors back then. You could have them for cheap. Many of the Princeton and marshal amps without master volumes were the same way. Going price back then was about 4500-5k so this still would have been a killer deal but not what it would be today.

I also passed on a green 65 LP/SG at the Nashville flee market around the same time for about $300. Didn't know what it was until later.

Bought a 1964 SG with a bigsby from a pawn shop in Murfreesboro Tn for under $200 that I later sold for much more.

frenchphil · Jan 14, 2014

damm jimmi!! didn't you want to kill them all in that shop???

or did you act casualy again when you saw it was gone?

sorry to bring back sad memories

jimmi · Jan 15, 2014

frenchphil said:
damm jimmi!! didn't you want to kill them all in that shop???

or did you act casualy again when you saw it was gone?

sorry to bring back sad memories

I gave them a hard time but I didn't put any money down and I was trying to buy a guitar for a quarter of its real value (why you went to pawn shops in those days

). So hard to be too much of an ass about it. I also thought I would be able to find another. I hadn't been too long since I bought the '54 conversion with the bigsby in my avatar for $200...guess I was wrong.

garywright · Jan 15, 2014

jimmi said:
Les pauls were not that popular except for among collectors back then.

:hmm ...you did say 1987 ?

jimmi · Jan 15, 2014

garywright said:
:hmm ...you did say 1987 ?

Well, in Nashville, Tn, we had a hard time giving them away. Maybe somewhere else they would sell. Bursts at Gruhn were going for $4500-5000. Everyone wanted Modern trem systems, 24 frets or more etc.

We also had about 40 60s-early 70s fender, Marshall, Hiwatt and similar amps we could not sell for $200-400. "Burst" tone was only popular to among a few. Great for me as I got to buy and sell a bunch of gear. I had a '68 plexi and a slant back cab for under $400. Had I been a little quicker, I would have ended up with both my 54 conversion and a burst for around $1200 in the span of less than a year.

garywright · Jan 15, 2014

I'm sure the tele was the rage in Nashville

jimmi · Jan 15, 2014

garywright said:
I'm sure the tele was the rage in Nashville

For session work yes. I had 2 for the same reason (one is a great early 70s custom with a very early Demarzio in the neck and Gibson style frets that I still have .....but I digress).

All shred guitars. We sold a Vandenburg for $400 more than list and couldn't sell one of about 10 near mint mid 60s Fender jaguars and mustangs or the white 62 three pickup custom that sat on the stand for over a year, or the 69 LP custom with 68 features that sat for almost a year that we finally sold for a loss. Meanwhile, Charvels, Jackson's, Kramers and later Ibanez guitars sold before we could unbox them and set them up.

No Floyd Rose or Kahler and it just sat.

Fenders sold ok, Gibsons just did not move unless me of some of my small circle of buddies bought them. Warren Haynes didn't even play Gibson back then, he played a natural wood through the neck Ibanez I think and one of Dickey Betts' guitars when he played with Great Southern.

yeti · Jan 15, 2014

stock_hippie said:
in a pawn shop...?...like you hear about...or seen one, maybe...?

No, but I think I once found myself next to Les Paul in a porn shop.:couch

Sorry, Les. I'm only making this lame joke because after moving to the US I thought for the longest time that folks were talking about porn shops, not pawn shops.

unk

Greco · Jan 15, 2014

No but I once saw Les Pollock at the prawn shop :couch

frenchphil · Jan 15, 2014

great story!

nice to know what the guitar market was like in those years

the 80's were really about shredders, it was huge back then in the usa

i was 18 in 1987 and even in france we were listening to vai satriani van halen

billy gibbons had stopped playing pearly gates ace frehley was gone

you could not see a les paul in the hands of a guitar god

my first electric was a larrivee then ibanez rg

and then slash came

stock_hippie · Jan 15, 2014

I sort of remember in the 1960's late...that guitars were hard to sell once you bought them like new?...and i think i read guys/girls found LP's in pawn shops...like in Chicago...I probably read that in Tiger Beat..

Ryan Givhan · Jan 16, 2014

i see them all the time but anything with gibson on the headstock is way over priced in pawn shops around here

jimmi · Jan 16, 2014

frenchphil said:
great story!

nice to know what the guitar market was like in those years

the 80's were really about shredders, it was huge back then in the usa

i was 18 in 1987 and even in france we were listening to vai satriani van halen

billy gibbons had stopped playing pearly gates ace frehley was gone

you could not see a les paul in the hands of a guitar god

my first electric was a larrivee then ibanez rg

and then slash came

We actually are pretty close in age. I was 16-17 in 1987. I started working at the music store just before I turned 17 (indirectly because of Warren Haynes). I was actually one of the few into Allman Bros, Zeppelin etc. I also liked some of the music that was popular at the time. I played in 2 bands at the time. One was a southern rock blues band and the other a more modern rock band. I actually have two sides to my collection....modern pointy guitars and classic/vintage guitars. I still have my Ibanez RG from that era. Still a very good guitar. Ibanez used some good wood back then.

frenchphil · Jan 16, 2014

hey jimmi you were a true rocker i was a wannabee

i could not play, so i don't remember the tone of the ibanez , but it had a blue flamed top, gold hardware and floyd rose and ibanez pups infs

it looked great

i messed up with the floyd rose and broke it, that was it for me i went the les paul way a black and gold studio

but what rock god playing les pauls in the 80's? i can't remember apart from mark knopfler

stock_hippie · Jan 16, 2014

..here's my Ibanez 59er..i just finished my CD album with it.....it is really loud when its unplugged..

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loufed52 · Jan 16, 2014

The studio has a bed in it?
That's very convenient for those long recording sessions.

has anyone ever found a Les Paul Standard..

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