'78 Les Paul Deluxe: To sell or not to sell?

[lazerdriver2]

I have a 1978 Les Paul Deluxe, Cherry Sunburst. I am the original owner. Regrettably, about 2 years after I purchased it I had it modified, removing the mini-humbuckers and replacing them with full-sized humbuckers (Dimarzios) and replacing the original tuners and control knobs.

This was not my first REAL guitar. My first was a new 1974 Les Paul Custom, also Cherry Sunburst, which I purchased after saving a couple years of paper route money. It's hard to put into words the thrill and excitement I felt as a 14 year old kid unboxing and opening the case of that guitar. Sometimes I think I can still smell the nitrocellulose lacquer from when I first opened the case. Sadly the guitar was stolen from my home in 1978. My mom's home insurance would not cover the cost of the replacement Custom, so I had to settle for the Deluxe. This was also part of the reason for modifying the '78 Deluxe...I just could not get past sound difference between the full and mini-humbuckers and after two years I had savde the money for the parts and labor for the mods, so I did it.

I still have an old photo of the Custom. Every time I look at that photo I feel a little nostalgic and wish I still had it. Lately I have been considering selling the Deluxe and either getting a new Custom or finding a used one but if used it would have to be either excellent or mint condition.

Ultimately I know this is something only I can decide for myself: either keep the Deluxe and 'f' the nostalgia, sell it and get a Custom, or keep the Deluxe and also get a Custom (don't really want to do that, got too many already).

So a couple questions:

How much did I devalue the Deluxe by the modifications? I saw one on Reverb that had been modified like mine, but the price seemed kind of high compared to others in non-modified condition. The condition of mine is pretty good. The frets are immaculate, had them dressed a few years back. The back has some of the standard wear for a guitar of its age (about a 2-inch diameter area of belt buckle rash down to bare wood). The finish is worn near the bottom side where it sat on a cheap stand and stuck to it. The top is pretty good aside from some finish checking by one of the tone controls and a few light nicks here and there.

Will Gibson ever make the plain old Les Paul Custom in Cherry Sunburst again? From looking at their website it looks like 2017 was the last time. I could settle for black, but I feel I would regret that due to nostalgia syndrome. And I have heard they do made-to-measure, but not sure I want to go there. I'm sure they don't give you a special finish for free.

Is Gibson build quality any good these days or is it hit or miss? I bought a double-cut LP about 20 years ago. Liked it but it had numerous finish issues, and some other problems I don't remember. All I remember is I sent it back and was disappointed at Gibson's lack of QC. I know some folks don't obsess over QC issues, but I'm not one of them.

Am I an idiot for even considering parting with a vintage Deluxe? I have nephew who would probably kick me just for suggesting this (especially since he will probably inherit it when I kick the bucket, lol).

[ksdaddy]

I briefly owned a 1970 Deluxe in cherry sb that someone had routed for THREE humbuckers. I owned it in 1986-87 and it was a $300 guitar in my opinion. That's what I sold it for anyway. 

However, it was one of the best LPs I had ever owned, regardless of the chop. If I hadn't been broke, I might have kept it.

Some of my favorite LPs were from the 79-80 era. 

I can't tell you whether you should keep your 78.... but I don't think it would be very smart to ditch it before trying a new one.

[jdgm]

I say keep the Deluxe; modded or not it is still appreciating - what are the frets like?

And buy a Custom too.   YOLO

 

[lazerdriver2]

I had the frets dressed a few years ago. You are right on the appreciation, it will only go up. Wish they had a few more color choices for the new ones, although a black beauty wouldn’t be so bad. The biggest problem with keeping the deluxe and getting a custom too is finding a way to sneak the custom into the house without the wife seeing it, lol.

[Twang Gang]

The main thing that set the Deluxe model apart was the mini-humbuckers.  Since you got rid of those and you describe the guitar with buckle rash and other cosmetic issues it wouldn't seem to have much going for it other than it's almost 25 years old.  Point being I don't think you will get a premium price for it, but you won't know until you test the waters.  I'd probably just keep it if it were me.

New Custom LPs are real nice, but expensive and it's not going to sound that much different from what you have.

[lazerdriver2]

Right, still regret modding it, and not just for selling purposes. Seen a lot of deluxes on Reverb, mostly in the $3k to $4k range depending on condition. I saw a 78 like mine with one full size humbucker and one original at over $5k, been listed for over a year. Seemed kind of unrealistic on the price.

[Dub-T-123]

Got any pics of the Deluxe? Sounds like a cool LP

 

Regarding the Custom, I’d hold out till the right cherry burst Custom comes around. That’s a pretty unique finish for that model but they’re out there. Trickiest thing would be finding one you can actually play before buying 

[lazerdriver2]

15 hours ago, Dub-T-123 said:

Got any pics of the Deluxe? Sounds like a cool LP

Sure, here are a few:

[kidblast]

well in the technical sense of the matter,  it's no longer a deluxe with humbuckers.  But, it has a history and with that and the condition, yep. I'd keep it

FWIW  I had a 74 deluxe gold top. 

I almost put full size humbuckers in there back in the day,  but the extensive work required, and not having someone I could trust to do it right at the time, kind of put me off the mod trail. 

Eventually I traded it away in 79, and that is one of the two "deals" I still regret.  The other was my first telecaster, which I got in 1970

Don't do what I did,  keep it. you've made it this far.

 

Edited December 27, 2022 by kidblast

[lazerdriver2]

Thanks all for the good advice everyone. I will be keeping it. Although I have been thinking about de-modding it a bit, at least the pickups, and going back to minis. I recently got a 2017 Firebird T and was surprised how much I liked the sound of the minis on it. Also it might serve as further motivation for a future LP Custom purchase 😀

I know it’s a subjective question, but does anyone have recommendations on a good set of minis to get for this? Gibson, Seymour Duncan’s, dimarzios?

Also, I don’t know the best solution for fitting them in the modded full size routes:

Here is one, though spendy (and the contact email is either wrong/changed, email I sent to them bounced back):

https://www.deemic.com/mini-humbucker-adapter.html

Another option, although the dimensions don’t match my mounting screw holes, and I don’t really like the idea of attaching it to the top of the existing rings:

https://www.amazon.com/Humbucker-Mini-Humbucker-Adapter-Pickup-cream/dp/B00XRNIJ00

I like the solution here best. It seems like it would retain more of the Deluxe look. I would need to cut the outer rings myself and find a place to get the metal mounting brackets:

https://forum.gibson.com/topic/171992-humbucker-to-mini-humbucker-conversion-mounting-ring/#comment-2169974

[Dub-T-123]

I’d keep it as is and use the Firebird when you want minis