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Norlin era Black Beauty


saturn

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A friend of mine recently came into possession of a Les Paul Custom. I didn't check the serial number, but he did and claims it's a 1980. I picked it up, and I believe him because it seems to weigh about 11 pounds. Plays great and the action and intonation are about perfect. I only briefly checked it out and didn't plug in to an amp.

 

He only plays guitar a little and doesn't know much about Gibson. More of an acoustic guy. I told him I'm no expert but it appears to me to be genuine and I'll take his word that he researched the serial number. The one thing I wasn't sure of are the pickups. I usually see Customs with covered pickups, but I know someone could have uncovered them. They seem to look like the Tim Shaw's that I've seen, but I'm not sure. What do you guys think?

 

The photos are not glamorous. They were taken in a dirty corner of our machine shop.

 

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I had a wine red one of these. Never went out of tune. I had a middle pickup fitted to make it a 3 pickup. I've regretted selling it since the day it went. I've been trying to track it down and buy it back. The worst thing is, I can't find any pics of it.

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I'm no expert but it looks like the pickup covers were taken off. The covers would have been gold and the pole screws are gold. Looks like a great guitar. A friend of mine had a 1980 Black Custom and it looked just like that, with the pickup covers removed. Your friend didn't get it from a guy named Joe in Iowa, did he?

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I'm no expert but it looks like the pickup covers were taken off. The covers would have been gold and the pole screws are gold. Looks like a great guitar. A friend of mine had a 1980 Black Custom and it looked just like that, with the pickup covers removed. Your friend didn't get it from a guy named Joe in Iowa, did he?

 

No. He got it from someone here in Maryland. He had his choice between that one, or what I believe was an R9, from the picture on his phone he showed me.

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<------ This '86 over here was heavy too. I miss that one. Nice score for your friend. Mine had gold pickup covers, but I removed them, so that is a likely scenario. Reportedly you can check the patent numbers on the pickups... Most of the Shaw pickups had Pat. No. 2,737,842 stamped in the bottom and resistance ratings of about 7.5k K-ohms

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