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1989 Gibson Les Paul Custom Plus signed by Les Paul


Revelation

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  • 2 months later...

Authenticating the signature would be a good idea first. If there is no provenance, maybe you could find other similar photos with signed guitars with Les in the picture? Also his phrasing might be consistent among other signatures.

What then? I suppose research the going price for your guitar and add some extra for the signature. ie: try it and see if you get a bite?

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It was no secret that Les Paul would sign every Les Paul put in front of him at his Iridium gigs which were weekly.  Because of that there are a ton of Les Pauls with Les' signature on it along with "To (fill in name), Keep Rockin!"    Because there are so many out there, along with that guitar having your name on it (and not the ultimate buyer's name), the re-sale is not as much as one may think.  I would say add at most $500 to the value of the guitar, no more.  

But ... why not just keep it??  (unless you REALLY need the money, of course).  It is clearly an AMAZING guitar, it has your name on it signed by Les Paul himself, and you have the memory of Les inscribing it right in front of you.  

Edited by 01GT eibach
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11 hours ago, Revelation said:

If it does not raise the value of the guitar that much I would keep it.

Okay, fair enough.  What you can do is remove the "To Gleason" part.  Removing Sharpie is not that hard.  Just research it.  Not to state the obvious, but take your time and keep the "Keep Rockin'" part (no pun intended), and don't let the name-removal efforts bleed into anything else by mistake.  Removing your name will definitely increase the value  to buyers.  People not named Gleason don't want to hear "who is Gleason?" by  everyone the they show the guitar too.  Also, if there is a picture of Les signing that exact guitar, that would also go a LONG way too, especially if it is recognizable to the guitar and/or signature in the picture.  Even if your guitar is not recognizable in the pic, just having ANY picture of the "signing event" will help you here.  Additionally, do you have the ticket stub from that night?  Did you get a Les Paul guitar pick that night?  As mentioned previously, getting a COA that the signature is legit would also raise value.  Preferably this would be performed by someone super reputable, but the more reputable likely means the more cost to you for their COA -- and the subsequent increase in value with this new COA may not be offset by that added cost to get that COA.  So, another consideration is to do your own COA.  Your were there, you can provide all the written details of the event (and maybe even a picture too), and you can certify likely better than anyone that Les Paul signed it.  If you do go down the "self COA" route, just make sure that you do a quality job with it, make it look official, have the COA in some protective folder or frame, etc.  Also, definitely include anything from that night that you have (e.g., ticket stub, guitar pick, etc.) The more professional and "real" the COA looks, the better for you.  So, all put together with the name removal, having a picture of the event, and even a modest COA, you could "reasonably" ask for $2K over the guitar's otherwise fair-market value.  That would be top dollar, though, trying to get out every cent.  Without any of that, you are looking at likely a $500 adder, as is.  The thing that you DO have going for you is that you are selling a unique Custom.  In this market, that alone may be enough to get a buyer to overpay for the Les Paul autograph just because the guitar is so amazing.  How many LPC's are for sale with that beautiful finish?  I would say "not many ", and certainly not new ones as they are only making black and white currently.  We would be very interested in the final result, so can you please post whatever transpires in this forum, with pictures if applicable?  Again, though ... wow, awesome guitar, bro, and good luck!

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1 hour ago, rct said:

The sole driver in autograph value is rarity.  Les Paul signed every bar napkin in that joint, his signature is about as valuable as mine.

rct

It's settled then.

I'd rather have yours than Les's anyway.

😗

 

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