Gold (not goldtop) Les Paul Authenticity Suspicion

[coffeecupman]

Hi Guys,

 

I bought this Les Paul last week on ebay, and was rather excited about this model and finish. Here was the blurb in the listing:

 

"Early 80's Gibson Les Paul Custom in a very rare run of 50 guitars. There have only been a few of these that have come on the market. This guitar is not mint but in normal wear condition for its vintage. In addition to the serial number, there is a small plate indicating this was number 9 of the total run. All gold finish on front, back and neck. Usual greening of the gold finish typical of this era. Frets and action are in great shape. Still lots of life left in the frets, no need for any work. Has the usual few scratches, nicks, etc but is a great playing guitar. I am including two sets of pickups with this guitar. It had a 1979 T Top humbucker in the neck and a 81 T Top in the bridge when I acquired the guitar. I put in my favorite set of Seymour Duncan JB humbuckers in it and both sets are included with the guitar. I get 9lbs 14 oz. on my scale. Pretty typical for this era. Has the original case. See pictures for condition. Works fine and could use some of the edge covering to be glued down but I leave that up to you."

 

I know the pickups aren't orginal on this one - I don't care about that.

 

It was only after I bought it that I noticed that the serial number appears to be painted over on the back of the headstock, which to me pretty much means this is a refinish job. I thought it could have been legit since it looks like the harvest gold or goldburst finish, and it seemed logical that they might have done a few of these during that same period.

 

I couldn't find any information anywhere on a limited run of 50 gold Lesters, but any search for gold and Lesters obviously gives you a mountain of gold top keyword spam.

 

The "Reg No" plate on the back of the headstock - has anyone seen this type of language for limited Gibson runs before?

 

Also, on the back of the headstock pic, you can see where there have been dings that go through the paint. This also shows what appear to be prior paint coats, but I'm unsure if that was a primer layer for the gold finish. Anyone with a beat up goldburst/Harvest Gold LP that can confirm that they've got a similar undercoat?

 

I have more pictures but apparently I've got a 500K global upload quota. Maybe I'll get to add more in another post below this...