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btoth76

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The Inlaid Marquetry on the back tends to suggest that the Mottola Guitar was a modified "Crest" and not an ES355.

 

The Crest had no pickup routing because its pickups were the Johnny Smith variety. The plain top would then have been easily routed for the Low Impedance pair. Added to this the Crest was a fully hollow body design with no centre block making the routing easier.

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There is another anomaly with the Mottola Guitar.

 

The bridge is a "fixed" Tunomatic variant whereas Crests usually have an archtop type bridge.

 

The position of the three way toggle doesn't suit either the ES355 or the Crest.

 

There is a "mistake" in the description in the Rudy's ad. Presumably, the whole wiring harness of a Recording has been fitted into the guitar with the necessary extension for the 3 way toggle. Therefore the Controls would be Volume, Bass, Treble and Decade. There cannot be Decade, 2 Volume and 2 Tone as they say - that's five and the pic only shows four.

 

I notice also that it states that there are two outputs - that is a Recording Mark II arrangement. Maybe this guitar came before the Mark II?

 

DG

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There is another anomaly with the Mottola Guitar.

 

The bridge is a "fixed" Tunomatic variant whereas Crests usually have an archtop type bridge.

 

The position of the three way toggle doesn't suit either the ES355 or the Crest.

 

There is a "mistake" in the description in the Rudy's ad. Presumably, the whole wiring harness of a Recording has been fitted into the guitar with the necessary extension for the 3 way toggle. Therefore the Controls would be Volume, Bass, Treble and Decade. There cannot be Decade, 2 Volume and 2 Tone as they say - that's five and the pic only shows four.

 

I notice also that it states that there are two outputs - that is a Recording Mark II arrangement. Maybe this guitar came before the Mark II?

 

DG

 

Due to the way that the neck is mounted & the normal "Tune-O-Matic" bridge, I would be surprised if this guitar wasn't a semi hollow body. As Dave said, the Crest top could be easily modified to anything. The Les Paul Signature has a big chunk of the center block hollowed out on the control side to aid in installing all of the controls, still not easy! If Lester had any say in this guitar, he would insist on the center block.....

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  • 2 months later...

Hi all,

 

I haven't been out here in awhile but I wanted to let everyone know I got my 1974 Less Paul Signature back from Ron Pace Guitar shop. It took Ron 10 months and me buying a vintage inductor but the guitar now appears to be functioning correctly. Time will tell if any problems show up but so far I have played it and no issues.

 

First, I would like to thank member grog for all his help. He went out of his way to take internal pictures of his guitar so Ron Pace could figure out the wiring. Even then it took a couple of extra months to sort it out. Ron told me if there was any guitar he wanted to leave his shop, mine was it. [wink]

 

Second, the sound of this guitar is surprising. It's mellow, yet some settings gets a real bite. I really like the flexibility in tone.

 

Third, attached is a picture of the guitar.

 

Walter

 

post-72841-027994500 1464294622_thumb.jpg

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Hi Walter,

 

Beautiful guitar!! I didn't know it was one of the few sunburst models! The shipping total book only lists (85) shipped in Tobacco Sunburst. Whether Ron Pace ever want's to see another one or not, he is now the expert on repairing a rare vintage guitar.......... Congratulations!!

 

George

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Hi George,

 

Yeah it's a beautiful guitar. The first Vintage Guitar magazine I picked up had a sunburst one. I had always wanted one after that. Years ago someone had one for sale and I bought it. It was rewired incorrectly at one point (and the inductor ended up missing).

 

Thanks again for all your help. You really went out of your way and I (and Ron) do appreciate that effort. And the nice thing is with your help we have repaired a beautiful rare guitar back to it's glory.

 

Walter

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  • 2 months later...

Hello George, and Dave.

 

As it seems, the Treble pot died on my '78 Recording.

 

Do You happen to know the make, specs of it? What would be the correct new replacement part for it?

 

Thank You in advance!

 

Best wishes... Bence

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Hello George, and Dave.

 

As it seems, the Treble pot died on my '78 Recording.

 

Do You happen to know the make, specs of it? What would be the correct new replacement part for it?

 

Thank You in advance!

 

Best wishes... Bence

 

It is a 1K (Linear - I think) - good luck!!

 

Wiring

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I am stuck.

 

First, I wrongly said it's the Treble, - never mind - it's the Bass pot.

 

Anyways, CTS could not provide me a replacement part number. It's a 2.5K "L" pot.

 

Does any of You have a good parts source?

 

Thank You again!

 

Best wishes... Bence

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  • 4 months later...
  • 5 weeks later...

Story of a Les Paul Personal

 

Around about 1969/70 Jan Akkerman (Focus) bought a Les Paul Personal. While he loved the guitar the electronics didn't suit him so he changed the guitar (many times). This video shows him not long after he got it and how he changed it within the first couple of years.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdb9kX_Ljcs

 

 

DG

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Great videos Dave! I vaguely remember seeing a modified Les Paul Professional or Personal about 15 years ago at a Wisconsin guitar show. It was refinished in tobacco sunburst similar to this one, but you could see the plugs from the original controls if you looked closely. After 47 years, it makes you wonder how many are really still around after modifications, fires, natural disasters etc.......

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  • 1 year later...

Last week my wife & I hit both Les Paul exhibits, one that just recently re-opened in Lester's hometown of Waukesha Wisconsin, the other about a half hour away at the Discovery Zone in Milwaukee. I had visited the one in Milwaukee over ten years ago, this location was one of the two locations that was set up for a public reviewal before Les Paul's funeral. The exhibit in the Waukesha County Museum has been under construction for about three years, when I found out that it re-opened, we decided to check it out. Unfortunately, no photos were aloud. They had two Low Impedance Gibsons in the museum & the story of his life. He is buried with his mother just a few blocks away.

 

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Afterwards, we headed off to Milwaukee to re-visit The Les Paul display at the Discovery Zone. As far as guitars go, they had a much better display & they allowed photos.

 

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I'd like to know more about that Les Paul Recording with the trapezoidal pickups!

Edited by Grog
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  • 3 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Hello! I’m new to this forum, my name is Kim. I own a 1972 Les Paul Recording, and I love the sound I get from it! I was wondering if anyone knows of any similar pickups to these? I know sometimes used ones pop up, but are there any other pickups like these around? I have been looking at Lace Alumitone, but I have never heard one outside of youtube clips. Also looked at the Cycfi Nu pickups. They seem to have based their Low Impedance pickup around the recording, but then taking it to the next level. Seems a little advanced tho. Also found Langcaster, but I think they might not do anything anymore. Going to contact Sine Guitars as well, but seems last update I can see from them was 2012. So figured you guys might know something :-)

 

Thank you for any help!

 

Kim

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  • 1 month later...

Not much action here lately. I just traded my first 1973 L-5S for one in better shape. The biggest improvement is the condition of the gold plated parts. Most of these have seen the gold badly wore off in 45 plus years of use.

 

RD8vSL1l.jpggaDuh0pl.jpg

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