Aoresteen Posted February 14, 2016 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.
jdgm Posted February 14, 2016 Posted February 14, 2016 Great shots! Do you have a favourite or one you'd pick up 1st?
Aoresteen Posted February 15, 2016 Author 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.
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