Custom LP's 70-74 w/ stacked 2-piece bodies???

[sok66]

In that era Gibson made two "volume" guitars, the LP and SG. The Les Paul's post '69 "pancake" body was a production rationalization of the two products, justified on the Les Paul by the lamination process required to install the maple top. Two SG body blanks glued together became the foundation for one LP body. In the basic blanking process they sourced mahogany stocks for just one width target, the SG. They then finish cut raw mahogany blanks in the planing process for just one width, the SG, and created one basic slab. For the LP they glued two of them together with a stabilizing sandwich layer (which has actually poven to be unstable long term), and added a multi-piece maple layer on top. They had body blanks for both products based upon one, low-cost wood source. Again, you have to consider Norlin's total production demands and their mindset.

 

Henry J., to his credit, threw all this out and went back to the original designs and in some cases the earlier production processes. Costs were higher, prices rose proportionally, but customers reacted favorably.

[The Mick]

You betcha.

 

My sandwich body Norlin LP

 

Thats sweet those Dimarzio's are awesome no routing.

[80LPC]

quote=ksdaddy]

 

 

 

 

So, due to inflation, recession, labor disputes and the 'very high' price of larger pieces of mahogany, it was no longer available ?

 

Not only was it available, it seems it was being sawn up for the laminated construction !

 

By the way, Henry had nothing to do with one piece bodies - they were re-introduced in 1976 / '77.

[sok66]

I didn't say it was unavailable. It probably was available but Norlin-Gibson wouldn't buy it. They bought less expensive planks for the SG and put two together to make the LPs. The so called "match" you're suggesting is simply the same plank cut into two lengths and one piece laid on top of the other over the sandwich layer. The only non-pancake LPs in the late '69 through '76-ish era were made up of leftover bodies, usually late '60s rejects. Our friends at Norlin did not waste anything. They also refused to accept our custom orders for Les Pauls with bookmatched flame maple tops & single piece bodies & necks, claiming the wood necessary to make them was "no longer available". This is how our conversations & discussions on this subject with Norlin-Gibson management came about.

[dem00n]

Nice Custom!

 

Back when all this started Gibson really got hammered about it' date=' but, as I noted above, they could have cared less. They had very little competition other than Fender, and could pretty much do whatever they wanted. As with any business, by short-changing themselves and the public they created the environment in which Ibanez, Hamer, PRS, etc. could offer a better instrument for less money. They tried various PR tactics to justify what they were doing, including getting Les to say that the guitars were still being built the same way they'd been done in the 50s. (Real bad move for Les, btw.) Another they tried was a bulletin which claimed that the only part of the body that affected the acoustics of a solid body guitar was the area directly around the bridge. Well, wrong. Worse for them, there were plenty of the original guitars around to be A/B'd with the new ones and, of course, it was no contest.

 

This was obviously just a cost saving measure where they could use any old narrow planks, glue them together and ship them off to the bandsaw. It was actually much cheaper to layer what were essentially scraps together than having to select wider planks with the proper weight, matching grain, etc., and it was the same thing with the multi-piece mahogany necks. Yet, despite all of this many of them were good guitars and some have responded well to time & a good player's care.

 

Edit to add that in case you think I'm being a little too had on the Norlin era, I had a '71 Custom just like Clayton's that I gigged the crap out of, and in its memory recently scored a well-worn '72 that is a tremendous load of fun to have around.

 

[img']http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t186/sok66/72%20Les%20Paul%20Custom/1972LPCustomWeb.jpg[/img]

Ive seen that guitar in the LPF forum!

Nice les paul..it shows its use.