Grog

I've always liked the frets on the older Gibson's better than the current models. The old guitars seemed like they were dressed smooth & set up better, the newer guitars look as if the frets are just pressed in place & shipped. That being said, the Les Paul Recording II (Iridium) does play real nice, it was ready to play right out of the box...........

Hi James, You might want to check these folks out. I've never contacted them myself, but I've run into their web page several times. Not many people offer these. http://littlebrookengraving.com/testmonials.html George

This L-5S at Chicago Music Exchange has had the transformer removed by it's previous owner.............. http://www.chicagomusicexchange.com/products/gibson-l5-s-sunburst-1972-s737

The control cavity might be too tight to squeeze a push pull pot in place of the original. They might be hard to come by in those values. The thin body & thick control cavity cover doesn't leave a lot of room. The previous owner replaced the original Switchcraft jack, (cheaper plastic type), with the one shown in the photo. The back side of the cover was relieved quite a bit to keep it from binding, I had to relieve it more. Dave's idea would make more sense in this situation.

I try to keep my vintage guitars as original as possible. I have been tossing around the possibility of adding a push, pull pot to bypass the transformer.........

Gibson does have the low impedance schematic listed for the L-5S. It's dated 1976??? http://www.gibson.com/Files/schematics/L5Slow.PDF

A few photos from home. It arrived in one piece............ The curly maple is nice. The guitar was well used. It's growing on me. Output is a bit weaker than a guitar with normal humbuckers, just crank the amp up a bit.......... It still seems odd to me to design a guitar with low impedance pickups & no way to play it in low impedance. Using a shorter chord would give it the same effect as using the transformer cord Gibson supplied with the early low impedance models. Time will tell.............. The pot reads 1377315. 197 of these were shipped in 1973, all low impedance. Some were shipped in 1974 with low impedance pickups before they changed over to high impedance pickups, don't know how many..............

Here is the one photo I took with my iPhone before I left Gruhn's a week ago........... Also, we stopped at the Nashville location of Antique Archeology, (American Pickers), and he had a Les Paul Professional hanging on the wall. I don't think he really wants to sell it too quick.......... The L-5S should be delivered tomorrow...............

Hi Bence & Dave, I'll be looking forward to giving it a better try when I get it home. I posted a gut shot of another guitar that was for sale on eBay. It was in this forum back around last January. It really doesn't have much in it, but the transformer & wiring is visible. Being solid maple,(I believe), it likely would sound much different than the LPR. Other than Bence's model & the LPR II, none of the Les Paul's even have a maple cap. It sure is thin compared to a Les Paul.

My wife & I are visiting Nashville. We stopped in at Gruhn's Guitars....... I am now the proud owner of a '73 Gibson L-5S. That rounds out the low impedance collection! I don't know how to post a photo from my iPhone, so it will have to wait until next week when it arrives by UPS. It's the only low impedance guitar, that only plays in high impedance as far as I can tell. What's the point???? It's a cool guitar, a lot of gold wear which seems to be the issue with most of them. Photo in about a week......

That guitar is sweet!! It has to be one of the nicest LP Personals out there...............

Hi Dave, Many of the parts are the same as a L-5S, & likely the same time frame. Possibly using up leftover pickups from the L-5S after it switched to normal humbuckers? One would have thought that they would have used the same pickups used in the Les Paul Personal under normal conditions. The "CUSTOM" truss rod cover was still being used at this time for "Special Orders". Interesting guitar!

Ever seen a LPR with gold hardware?? I haven't until now............... http://www.ebay.com/itm/1973-Gibson-Les-Paul-RECORDING-CUSTOM-Vintage-Electric-Guitar-RARE-GOLD-HARDWARE-/201300165310?pt=Guitar&hash=item2ede6cc2be

The results of the auction of the '54 Les Paul Custom............... http://www.guitarplayer.com/gear/1012/les-pauls-1954-black-beauty-goes-for-six-figures-at-auction/50927

A few couple better photos...........

The Les Paul Recording II (Iridium) came today, I gave it a pretty good test drive, but have much more to do. The two guitars sounded more alike than I thought they would, since they really are nothing alike at all. The new guitar had a very clean sound in Low Impedance, with sustain that went well past the 20 second mark, due to the maple top?? I still like the feel of the neck of the 1973 better. The fret board seems overly light in color, it is suppose to be rosewood, I hope it is. My guitar only weighs 8lbs, 6ozs. I think it was one of the lighter ones available. Many are over 10lbs. It played well right out of the box. A three wire, Low Impedance chord was included with the guitar, the same chord I've been using with my Les Paul Signature. Being able to switch the pickups into single coil mode was different for this beast, I wasn't too noticeable in Low Impedance. Kind of odd without the Decade feature. I ran it into two amps at the same time & did need the Ground Lift feature & it did work.

I ordered a copy off of eBay, should arrive this week. Also................. I just pulled the lever on a new Les Paul Recording II, should also get here this week. I realize it won't be anything like the original, but we'll see what it can do. I bought a light one. It claimed to be only 8lbs, 6ozs.

I would think having the transformer close to the Pedal Board would give you the best possible outcome for this scenario. Nothing I know of is designed specifically for Low Impedance Les Paul's other than the LP-12 amp. It's effects, (Tremolo, Vibrato & Reverb), are likely after the transformer in the amp circuit. Terry Kath used a Les Paul Professional for many of the early Chicago tunes. He used distortion. It would be interesting to know what his setup was like.............

Hi, The blue wire is the ground to the tailpiece. The L5-S is identical to the one at Gruhn's. The gold guitars, (335 like) are Les Paul Signatures, (guitar & bass). Both guitars have a stereo, balanced low impedance line out on the bout. High impedance on the front by the knobs. The Les Paul Personal has the mic jack. Both mic and guitar run through a stereo jack that requires a "Y" adapter to split the two to separate amps.

I've never really took a hard look at a L-5S seriously. Looking at a gut shot from a guitar on eBay, it looks like it is not switchable from high to low impedance like a Les Paul Recording. It has the same transformer, but it's only option is to run through it with high impedance output. One would think that this would defeat the object of having a low impedance guitar, if you cant run it low impedance. Am I missing something??

Mine is a 1971, The Logo has a dotted "i", I guess that's unusual for one of these but haven't really researched it. I have two shipping total books that were supposing taken from Gibson records. One was published by J.T.G. in 1992. The other was published by Larry Meiners in 2001. Both have the same totals for the LP Professional. My 1969 LP Deluxe has the one piece body, no volute or "Made in USA" stamp. The rest of them are all pancake bodies...........

That was an unbelievable price! it is worth more than double that.......... This one has been on eBay for quite a while, http://www.ebay.com/itm/GIBSON-LES-PAUL-PERSONAL-1969-VINTAGE-COLLECTORS-CONDITION-PIECE-OF-HISTORY-/291238757989?pt=Guitar&hash=item43cf2ec665 I found one other one that the store was selling for $5,000.00 when I bought mine. Mine isn't quite as nice as yours from what I can tell & I bought it for $3,300. It was listed for $3,999.00. That was the cheapest one in good condition that I had run into in years of looking. Willies had a Les Paul Professional with a headstock repair for sale a year ago for $2,500, it likely went for a bit less. My shipping total book shows.. 1969-(2) 1970-(781) 1971-(116 1972-(0) 1973-(2) For Les Paul Professional shipping totals. I picked up a Les Paul Jumbo last spring. That one is the rarest of the lot. Does your have a neck volute or a "Made In USA" stamp on the back of the headstock?

That was one hell of a find for a Pawn America!! It looks to be in near mint condition from what I can tell from your pictures Congrats!!! I really gave up looking for cool vintage guitars at pawn shops years ago, not much has shown up for years. Now I'm going to have to start watching again. Do you mind me asking what they were asking for the guitar?? I ran into this episode of Pawn Stars when a Les Paul Professional walked in, even the expert seems a bit baffled to me........... http://www.history.com/shows/pawn-stars/videos/1969-les-paul-guitar

I've only had my Les Paul Personal for a little over a year, but it's quickly become one of my favorites also. My wife & I spent about three days in Arkansas last April. It would have been fun to see your museum had I known about it!

Nice LP Personal!! They used "Goof Rings" on many of the Les Paul Deluxe's of the same era to cover up oversized pickup routes. I've never seen them on anything else. Your guitar is one of only 370 Les Paul Personals ever produced!!