igoren Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 Hi I have a Gibson Les Paul Pro Deluxe with serial number: 00124249. (Please see the attached picture). The serial number shows it was made in 1976, but the documentation (Wikipedia) shows that Gibson had started producing this model only in 1978. When I googled it, i saw few posts around the web, of people that tries to understand the correct Les Paul Pro Deluxe year of producing. Does any one know what is the correct year on the first Pro Deluxe model? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btoth76 Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 Hello Igoren and welcome! The Pro Deluxe was introduced in 1978. It's basically the same as the "regular" Deluxe, but these guitars came with P-90 single coils instead of the Deluxe's Epiphone "New York" mini-humbucker pickups. Are You sure it's a Pro Deluxe? Cheers... Bence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 I don't like to contradict Bence but according to Ian C. Bishop's 1979 book "The Gibson Guitar from 1950, vol 2" (and I quote); "Another new Les Paul for 1977 is...designated the Les Paul Pro Deluxe. It is basically a stock DeLuxe but fitted with a pair of 1952 style Standard pickups with cream covers. This first became available in April 1977 in Europe and slightly later that year in the USA." If we accept that stocks of instruments have to be assembled prior to the release date I could quite easily believe the instrument in question might have been made in late '76. As these were also going to be shipped to Europe for an April release it makes it even easier to believe they had to be made in plenty of time. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
igoren Posted September 25, 2012 Author Share Posted September 25, 2012 btoth76, Thanks for the nice welcome. pippy, thanks to you too. נtoth76, you can see the attached picture i've added to this reply, it says "pro". if you look at the prev picture i uploaded - where the serial can be seen - you can see a 1976 serial. maybe it's just as pippy said: the guitar was assembled in 1976, but went out to the market in 1978. what do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btoth76 Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 Hello again! First of all, I have to say I would never doubt what Pippy says. He has much more experience than me. Sometimes dating a vintage, or - let`s say - a pre-1977 can be really tricky. What Pippy has quoted makes sense. Maybe they got officially released in 1977, but many of them were ready prior that. Cheers... Bence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
igoren Posted September 25, 2012 Author Share Posted September 25, 2012 Hello again! First of all, I have to say I would never doubt what Pippy says. He has much more experience than me. Sometimes dating a vintage, or - let`s say - a pre-1977 can be really tricky. What Pippy has quoted makes sense. Maybe they got officially released in 1977, but many of them were ready prior that. Cheers... Bence Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mshehan Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 I thought I'd chime in as I have asked the same question about the same model. I have a Les Paul Deluxe Pro with a 1976 serial number, and the pots all date to late 1975. When I emailed Gibson I was told that mine was a 1976 - but I've seen the same literature that shows the model began it's run in 1978. The mystery continues I guess - haha. It seems that a few may have been released prior to being "official?" Mine has the P90s and the "Pro" script on the truss rod cover, but all signs point to 1976. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Who says it was released in '78? As was mentioned earlier it was officially offered for sale to the (European) public in April '77 - I remember it well ; at the time I was an 18 y-o keen on LPs - and the author of the definitive 'The Les Paul Guitar Book' history, Tony Bacon, cites '76 as the start of production year which would tie-in perfectly with an early '77 (European) release date. I even remember the ads in the music press at the time (Guitar Player etc...) made a big thing of the Pro De-Luxe being made available first in the UK/Europe market before the home US market - the first time ever for a Gibson Les Paul. '75 pot codes, whilst a bit earlier than I would expect to see, are still more in keeping with reality than all this talk of 1978 as being the first year of production. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibson Mad Mike Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Hi all Some of you are mistaken, a pro deluxe and a deluxe have more differences than just the pickups, I have owned both over the years (& standards), I still have the pro. It's closer to the truth to say a deluxe is like a standard but with different pick ups, a pro has the P90 pick ups as we all know but other differences include, a maple neck rather than a mahogany one and an ebony fret board rather than rosewood, these details seem to be over looked here. As for dating you seem to have got that covered. Cheers ears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Hi there Gibson Mad Mike. Welcome to the forum. Yes, as you say the Pro has an ebony 'board but we weren't really detailing the differences between the DeLuxe and the Pro here; just trying to verify a possible date of manufacture. Also, I suspect, like the rest of the normal Les Paul range (since mahogany was dropped as a neck material in late '74) the regular LP DeLuxe would also have had a 3-piece maple neck in '77? We'd love to see a snap or two of your Pro DeLuxe. Any others that you own / have owned would be enjoyed too. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibson Mad Mike Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Thanks buddy, Hi there Gibson Mad Mike. Welcome to the forum. Yes, as you say the Pro has an ebony 'board but we weren't really detailing the differences between the DeLuxe and the Pro here; just trying to verify a possible date of manufacture. Also, I suspect, like the rest of the normal Les Paul range (since mahogany was dropped as a neck material in late '74) the regular LP DeLuxe would also have had a 3-piece maple neck in '77? We'd love to see a snap or two of your Pro DeLuxe. Any others that you own / have owned would be enjoyed too. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manse Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 I have a lovely '78 Pro - I will post a pic when I am next on my laptop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manse Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manse Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manse Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manse Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 That truly is a beautiful LP, Manse! I love how the cream fixtures contrast with the Ebony finish and the simplicity of the single-ply binding gives it a very classy look. Great condition, too! P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manse Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 That truly is a beautiful LP, Manse! I love how the cream fixtures contrast with the Ebony finish and the simplicity of the single-ply binding gives it a very classy look. Great condition, too! P. Thanks Pippy - it is in very good nick indeed. It actually looks great with the pickguard off. Plays great as well. It needs a wide strap - it is fairly heavy. Sounds great overdriven, but I can't quite get my head around the clean sound of these P90's. I have run it through my Marsall 6100 head with a variety of cabs and my 59' Bassman re-issue, as well as a mate's Blackstar 50w 2x12 combo.... it never sounds like I think it should in my head. I have P90's in an ES-295 that really do the business clean - but on this Les Paul, the clean sound is disappointing. Every now and then I think about getting the body routed to take humbuckers and putting in something different - probably with exposed cream or zebra coils.... But then I get cold feet about modding a perfectly preserved 35 year old guitar....that is not particularly common. Dilemmas..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Interesting to hear you say that about the clean sound. I note that you've tried various cabs/speakers. Have you tried different heads or even other combo's? I suspect you will have but it's just a thought... .. The Bassman should have sounded great (IMX).......was it still too thin-sounding? I don't really know the Blackstar range so couldn't comment on that. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manse Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Interesting to hear you say that about the clean sound. I note that you've tried various cabs/speakers. Have you tried different heads or even other combo's? I suspect you will have but it's just a thought... .. The Bassman should have sounded great (IMX).......was it still too thin-sounding? I don't really know the Blackstar range so couldn't comment on that. P. Yeah - I have tried a few different heads and combos..... I can always get an overdrive I like and if I bump it up a bit more with a pedal (I mostly use my Keeley RAT and a re-issue MXR dynacomp in combination) I can get a great lead tone that rivals anything I have with humbuckers. For cleans, I thought the Bassman would be tone heaven.... but not to my ears. It's not a thin sound... if anything, there is too much bulge in the mids - it actually sounds like it i lacking some of the sparkle or chime that you might expect..... Of course, it may be that my ears are just knackered after too many years playing loud! I can't moan too much - I have some guitars with really great clean sounds..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j-p65 Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Hi, I'm new to this forum. I have owned Gibsons for over 30 years and have recently traded my Rickenbacker 330/12 for a mint condition 1979 Les Paul Pro Deluxe with factory installed Tim Shaw pups. Not the p-90's. I believe the Tim Shaws would have been in the Standards. I'm getting it set up by my Luthier, so if you'd like some pictures let me know and post some when I get it back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Hi and welcome to the forum. Sure, we'd love to see snaps. There's a saying here 'Pics; or it didn't happen!'. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom n Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Hello I am new to the forum as well.Here is a curve ball for ya. I have a 77 Pro, all original and all the right parts, except, it has a rosewood fret board. So either it is just a deluxe with P90, that looks just like the black one in the pictures on page one, or they started a new employee on my guitar and he didn't get the ebony memo. Has anyone ever seen a Pro with rosewood? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Yeah - I have tried a few different heads and combos..... I can always get an overdrive I like and if I bump it up a bit more with a pedal (I mostly use my Keeley RAT and a re-issue MXR dynacomp in combination) I can get a great lead tone that rivals anything I have with humbuckers. For cleans, I thought the Bassman would be tone heaven.... but not to my ears. It's not a thin sound... if anything, there is too much bulge in the mids - it actually sounds like it i lacking some of the sparkle or chime that you might expect..... Of course, it may be that my ears are just knackered after too many years playing loud! I can't moan too much - I have some guitars with really great clean sounds..... oh man,, That White Falcon --- be still my heart.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 I can't say I have but it might be worth bearing in mind ebony isn't always jet-black. Might it be a lighter-toned slab which resembles rosewood? Just a thought! P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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