California LP Custom Owner

[fresnogeek]

Hello all. I have had a custom Les Paul mothballed moving me from home to home as I hung up the guitar about 30 years ago. As time passed, my teenage son has started guitar lessons. I pulled it out, restrung it and went to his first lesson.

 

The instructor says it's quite a specimen. I've taken the serial # and done research. Little did I know what a popular subject that is: how old is my Les Paul.

 

I plan to go into another board to provide more detail and get feedback. The serial # is 773487 on a 3-pickup ebony custom. It seems to be from the 1974 era.

 

Anyway, I look forward to learning more about my guitar, perhaps a little history and maybe even value.

[pippy]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

 

...The serial # is 773487 on a 3-pickup ebony custom. It seems to be from the 1974 era...

As you will already have gathered by now serial numbers from the early '70s are notoriously difficult to pin down. One sourcebook dates serial #s circa 765001-897000 to 1972 but that means nothing and it's been wrong plenty of times in the past. Assuming the Vol / Tone potentiometers are the originals a better way to date your guitar would be to check on the codes stamped into the rear of the pots (all pots used on Gibsons are date coded). This will give a rough indication of build date - say a month or so after the date(s) on the pots to allow for shipping and stockpiling.

 

Here's where to put the numbers;

 

http://www.guitardat...codereader.aspx

 

One interesting thing about your guitar is that post-1960 the 3-p'up Custom wasn't a part of the general Gibson range until 1977 so yours might be a special-order item.

Pics would be nice!

 

Pip.

[fresnogeek]

I attached one pic of the body to give a general idea. I will be taking some higher quality pictures for the other forum as soon as I can.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Hi and welcome to the forum.

 

 

As you will already have gathered by now serial numbers from the early '70s are notoriously difficult to pin down. One sourcebook dates serial #s circa 765001-897000 to 1972 but that means nothing and it's been wrong plenty of times in the past. Assuming the Vol / Tone potentiometers are the originals a better way to date your guitar would be to check on the codes stamped into the rear of the pots (all pots used on Gibsons are date coded). This will give a rough indication of build date - say a month or so after the date(s) on the pots to allow for shipping and stockpiling.

 

Here's where to put the numbers;

 

http://www.guitardat...codereader.aspx

 

One interesting thing about your guitar is that post-1960 the 3-p'up Custom wasn't a part of the general Gibson range until 1977 so yours might be a special-order item.

Pics would be nice!

 

Pip.

[pippy]

Thanks for posting the snap.

 

I'm going to hazard a guess that's a DiMarzio 'Dual Sound' in the bridge position. Two sets of hex-head polepieces and a coil-tap mini-toggle were standard fare with those. Don't know about the other two. Was the guitar originally routed as a 3-p'up version or has it been modified, do you know? It would be interesting to see the body cavities clearly.

 

Pip.

[fresnogeek]

I have never turned a screw on this guitar so not sure what's going on inside. It was bought as-is in the late 80's from a guitar shop in Fresno. Look for some more detailed hi-res pictures hopefully this weekend. Thanks for the the feedback.

 

Thanks for posting the snap.

 

I'm going to hazard a guess that's a DiMarzio 'Dual Sound' in the bridge position. Two sets of hex-head polepieces and a coil-tap mini-toggle were standard fare with those. Don't know about the other two. Was the guitar originally routed as a 3-p'up version or has it been modified, do you know? It would be interesting to see the body cavities clearly.

 

Pip.