Aoresteen Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Well, I finally found time today to do a portrait for the four sisters aka Epiphone Les Paul Deluxe (LPD). They were made in four colors - Black, Red Sparkle, Gold Sparkle, and Blue Sparkle. The Blue Sparkle was a Mars Music only color. The Epiphone Les Paul Deluxe was made from 1998 to 2001 (maybe 2002 - sources differ on the end date - I think any sold in 2002 were 2001 left-overs). They are shown in the order that I acquired them; Red, Blue, Gold, & Black. I've been following the Epiphone LPD on eBay since around 2006 and in that time I have seen only two gold ones. Blues seems to be the most common, Red next, then Black and the scarcest is Gold. I bought my Gold Epi LPD in 2009 and paid $575 for it and at the time I thought it was high. Given the scarcity of them I put the value of the Gold Sparkle at $800 plus. Doesn't matter, I'm not selling anyway :). The others seem to sell in the $400-$500 range. The Red Sparkle has Schaller tuners, Schaller Strap locks and a set of Seymour Duncan SM-3 mini-buckers. The Blue Sparkle is my most modded Epi LPD; It has Seymour Duncan SM-2 mini-buckers and a DiMArzio Super Distortion. Full story here: http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/81694-epiphone-les-paul-deluxe-mods-a-la-pete-townsend/ The Gold Sparkle is stock except I added a set of Schaller Strap locks so that I won't drop it :D. The Black LPD has the Perter Green mod. Full story here: http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/128353-epiphone-les-paul-deluxe-peter-green-mod/ While we were doing the portrait , Grand Dad showed up and wanted to be in on the photo. Grand Dad is a 1973 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe Sunburst, the color that Epiphone should have done but didn't. Last year for a retirement gift to myself I bought a 1973 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe in cherry sunburst just like one I played in college 1975-1977. Grand Dad had been a bit abused but my tech brought him back into shape - new nut, fixed a wiring issue and properly mounted the bridge pickup. Note the Gibson logo on the mini-bucker. This was done only for a few months on the 1973 LPD so you can date it at a glance. Not to be left out is Cousin Hamer, a 2012 Gold Hamer XT Double Cutaway set-neck Les Paul type guitar. Cousin Hamer originally had a set of P90's in her but I sourced a set of Gibson 2015 mini-buckers and made her one of the family. Cousin Hamer is tuned to Eb and sounds nice. Terrapin Guitars made a new truss rod cover for her that says "Deluxe". What a nice mini-bucker family! Over the years I have recycled the 4 Epi mini-buckers that were replaced by using them in a number of Epiphone S and Squier Stagemasters. All were paired with other pickups to have a balanced sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Great shots! Do you have a favourite or one you'd pick up 1st? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Very nice Deluxe family! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aoresteen Posted February 15, 2016 Author Share Posted February 15, 2016 Great shots! Do you have a favourite or one you'd pick up 1st? Yup! I like my Pete T modded blue LPD. It's a lot of fun. And of course my '73 has been fun to have one again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon S. Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 VERY nice collection!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.