Mustache Guitar Repairs Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 A customer brought in a newer Les Paul for a few tweaks and brought this in with him to show. He told me a great story about acquiring it: while in 8th grade his father agreed to match whatever he could save to buy himself a guitar, he cut lawns and did odd jobs for 6 months and saved up $200, went to the local Sam Ash intent on buying a brand new Les Paul custom for the sum of $400, and instead bought this guitar for $100 on his fathers suggestion since "they didn't make alot of them" and because he would be able to plug directly into a mixing board. Fast forward to now and he still has this guitar after selling or trading pretty much every other guitar he's owned since. He plays it every so often (only sitting down), and is quite glad he listened to his old man and held on to this guitar knowing that they only made around 200 in total (3 belonging to Les Paul himself including the prototype). This guitar was in amazing shape and was the first one I've ever seen in person. The finish was immaculate, the binding hadn't shrunk a bit, all of the electronics worked perfectly, and it actually played pretty well despite weighing a ton. I couldn't help but ask the owner if I could snap some pictures of it. Hope you guys enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveg Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 This is the nicest looking (shaped) Les Paul that Gibson ever made. HEAVY!! I played my Les Paul Recording for over thirty years and for a long time lusted after one of these. I played one eventually and it lived up to my expectations. I always played my LPR in Low Impedance mode with a Transformer at the end of the lead because it sounded infinitely better than the High Impedance Mode where the controls did very little. In Low Impedance mode the controls came alive!! With this one - no choice - the transformer / lead came with the guitar and that's how it was intended to be played. Super, SUPER Guitar!! DG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 I owned two of them. One had a cracked headstock that was repaired by Wurlitzer. The repair was solid but visible. It held up fine because an idiot friend did a Malmsteen flip up in the air. The strap came off, the guitar came down headstock first, and broke two of his toes. Not a mark on the guitar. I refinished the back of the neck and sold it to a friend. He put a generic Bigsby on it and then swapped it for a PA system. It ended up as a church guitar for several years, then got sold to a punk kid. Last I heard he routed it for a third pickup. The other I bought in the early days of ebay from Daddy's Junky Music for $800. It was a pig compared to the first one. Flipped it for a $200 profit. I'd love to have another just to say I have one. But I say that about a lot of guitars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grog Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 I've made a few attempts to buy one in the last year or so. It would round out my low impedance collection. The price has been climbing just nuts lately. Up until the last year or so, it wasn't much more expensive than the Les Paul Professional. I think I waited too long! Thanks for posting the photos! I never get tired of looking at these sweet guitars............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveg Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Grog, That is a GREAT collection. I see that you have rounded it off with the correct Amplifier to do the job. Low Impedance all the way!! Thanks for posting. DG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mustache Guitar Repairs Posted February 6, 2013 Author Share Posted February 6, 2013 Great collection, what are the two gold tops on the left? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveg Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Les Paul Signature and LP Signature Bass. Both Low Impedance - same as the rest, but with slightly less sophisticated controls? DG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grog Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Great collection, what are the two gold tops on the left? The Les Paul Signatures have Super Humbucker Low Impedance pickups. The earliest versions had the same pickups as the others but in cream. Add a Les Paul Personal, a Les Paul Jumbo (acoustic) & the first year of the L5S, that would cover all of the Low Impedance guitars Gibson made at the time. The Amp was nicknamed "The Monster". They claimed that you could add 10 speaker cabinets to one preamp! Epiphone reissued the Les Paul Signature guitar with a made in Korea version about ten years ago. They still produce a Korean made version of the bass called the Jack Casidy Signature bass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merseybeat1963 Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 Our bass player had a similar one but in a bass..with a standard 1/4 jack.I think it was called a professional asnd he played it through a 1969-70 Marshall Tube Amp.. My brothers and I loved this guy ..he only had one bass and we had a few guitars each..so we chipped in and bought him a mint used Alembic Bass from a guy in Manhattan. That Alembic blew that LP Bass away and I never saw him play that LP bass ever again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon S. Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 Very nice collection Grog! I've been itching for a LP Signature for years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btoth76 Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 Hello MusicZooRepairs! That's a real beauty! It's haven't been 2 weeks since I bought a '78 Recording. Before I saw Her, I wasn't aware of these L.I. guitars at all. Since then I discovered another universe of sounds and tones. I really like that fat shaped Les Paul on the pictures. Hope You don't mind, if I intrude into Your thread with the photos of my new source of joy: Cheers... Bence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mustache Guitar Repairs Posted March 5, 2013 Author Share Posted March 5, 2013 Hello MusicZooRepairs! That's a real beauty! It's haven't been 2 weeks since I bought a '78 Recording. Before I saw Her, I wasn't aware of these L.I. guitars at all. Since then I discovered another universe of sounds and tones. I really like that fat shaped Les Paul on the pictures. Hope You don't mind, if I intrude into Your thread with the photos of my new source of joy: Cheers... Bence I don't mind at all, that one's a real beauty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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