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Les Paul Custom - advice needed


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Hi - I am considering purchasing a Black w/Gold hardware '78 Les Paul Custom from a local shop in New York. It's in pretty decent shape cosmetically, though there is a large buckle rash through the finish on the back and some nicks through the finish on the back of the neck. The gold plating on the pickups is pretty much gone, and the stop-piece has a moderate amount of pitting. The tuners have been replaced with Grovers and the strap pegs have been replaced with strap locks. Otherwise, I'm told it's all original. That said, it plays and sounds really fantastic. The asking price is $2,300.

 

I have been looking for a late 70's black and gold custom, and as this will be a player and not a collector piece, I'm willing to live with the buckle rash and dings so long as it won't have any long term affects on the instrument. Should I be worried about the buckle rash or other thru-finish dings affecting the guitar over the long term in any way? And is it possible to clean up the stop-piece, maybe have it re-plated given all the pitting?

 

many thanks in advance.

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The buckle rash has no effect on the LP. Guitarist before tend to have huge rodeo type buckles during the 70's and 80's. If the nicks on the back of the neck feels bad and interfere with playing, you could have it sanded lightly to smooth out the rough edges. I am against refin jobs. The hardware pitting is part of age when played with sweaty arms. Sometimes but rarely a Norlin would have a light weight aluminum stop bar but mostly steel. If it does not bother you or break the strings should you do a wrap around set up, just leave them. If you want to improve the looks, just buy a replacement. There are not expensive and a swap will have very little effect on the sound but lots for the look. Replating usually does not work out. Some people change their gold HW to Chrome or Nickel, so you'll find a lot of cheap nice ones on ebay.

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