NGD: 1977 Gibson Les Paul Custom

[turbotoy87]

Hello everyone.

Posting my second "NGD" thread. Aside from an actual burst from 1958-1960, I would say that this is a close second for my grail Les Paul. Randy Rhoads is easily one of my biggest influences, and having an Alpine white Les Paul Custom was always a dream of mine.

However, I always expected that my luck would probably max out at a modern custom shop reissue. Well, I'm happy to say that for the price of a modern custom shop, I had the privilege of purchasing an ACTUAL 70's custom. I would say it's more of a player grade condition, and it's actually a factory second (which could either be a good or bad thing, depending on how you look at it). But the moment I saw it, I had to pull out all the stops to have it. I saw it as a once in a lifetime opportunity to purchase one of my grails at a (relatively) reasonable price. Especially looking online and seeing the ridiculous prices a white Norlin Les Paul custom is going for nowadays. It also has an abr-1 bridge, which implies it was made at the old Kalamazoo factory as opposed to Nashville (not that it would have deterred me.... But definitely a bonus in my eyes). Anyways, please see the attached pics!

 

[swaffy101]

Congratulations on that beautiful guitar!

 

[dc007]

Very nice!!!

 

[Leee]

Sweet!!!

 

[Knoby]

Congrats. It looks very clean despite the usual checking.

 

[LPTDMSV]

That is *so* 70s!

it's actually a factory second

There were lots of these in the old Kalamazoo days (as you all probably know) - fifty years later, the chances of finding the finish flaw that got it the "2" stamp are pretty slim.

 

[Renegade]

Great looking Norlin, Congrats!

 

[1allspub]

Congrats and HNGD! It’s in great condition, just enough checking to give give it extra mojo.

It looks like the SN is stamped super lightly. Can you read it in person? If the 6th digit is less than 5 it’s Kalamazoo, if it’s 5 or greater it’s Nashville. It does seem to have signs of both Kalamazoo and Nashville. ABR-1 = Kalamazoo, yet the small fret marker dots on the binding are a Nashville thing. I’ve seen Nashville Norlins with large dots on rare occasion, but not the other way around (not that they don’t exist, I just haven’t seen one, yours could be the first). Do you have a pic of the underside of the bridge pickup? The soldering looks like it could be factory, yet the neck pickup with a Pat# sticker is unusual for 1977 (AFAIK). Will wait for some real Norlin experts to chime in.

Regardless, killer Norlin! And if you’re so inclined, please post it in the Norlin Appreciation Thread.

 

[Tementnoise]

That thing looks amazing and is not helping my creeping GAS for a significantly yellowed LP Custom in white.

 

[musicmaniac]

Nice congrats!

 

[turbotoy87]

Congrats and HNGD! It’s in great condition, just enough checking to give give it extra mojo.

It looks like the SN is stamped super lightly. Can you read it in person? If the 6th digit is less than 5 it’s Kalamazoo, if it’s 5 or greater it’s Nashville. It does seem to have signs of both Kalamazoo and Nashville. ABR-1 = Kalamazoo, yet the small fret marker dots on the binding are a Nashville thing. I’ve seen Nashville Norlins with large dots on rare occasion, but not the other way around (not that they don’t exist, I just haven’t seen one, yours could be the first). Do you have a pic of the underside of the bridge pickup? The soldering looks like it could be factory, yet the neck pickup with a Pat# sticker is unusual for 1977 (AFAIK). Will wait for some real Norlin experts to chime in.

Regardless, killer Norlin! And if you’re so inclined, please post it in the Norlin Appreciation Thread.

Thanks for the info! The checking does seem quite a bit deeper than what I'm used to seeing (ie. The shallow checking seen on Murphy Labs). So maybe guitars were painted with a much thicker coat back in the day? To tell the truth there is not a chance I'm able to read the serial number. All I see are 5 little indentations and you can barely even make out the "made in USA". Hope that doesn't imply any shady business in the past if you know what I mean.

I tried to lift the bridge pickup, but the wiring is so tight that I didn't want it to come undone. But as far as I could tell I couldn't see a sticker like I could on the neck pickup. I've attached a photo.

I've read in other forums that there are also some Kalamazoo guitars with Nashville bridges, but never the other way around (Nashville guitars with ABR-1 bridges). So it's definitely a mixed bag of what it could be!

 

[turbotoy87]

That thing looks amazing and is not helping my creeping GAS for a significantly yellowed LP Custom in white.

Definitely hard to find a new one aside from the custom shop Randy Rhoads models.... But those seem to be starting at 10k, and all the way up to 20-30k for the relic models (Canadian pricing).

 

[LPTDMSV]

Thanks for the info! The checking does seem quite a bit deeper than what I'm used to seeing (ie. The shallow checking seen on Murphy Labs). So maybe guitars were painted with a much thicker coat back in the day? To tell the truth there is not a chance I'm able to read the serial number. All I see are 5 little indentations and you can barely even make out the "made in USA". Hope that doesn't imply any shady business in the past if you know what I mean.

The paint on the back of the headstock does look very thick … hmm. Not that this would put me off buying or playing the guitar, but it would awake my curiosity!

Also, patent number pickups ran out in 1974 being replaced by the stamped type, though I have also read that the gold-plated patent number p/us went on for rather longer as they were used in much smaller numbers so it took longer to clear the old inventory.

 

[Tementnoise]

Definitely hard to find a new one aside from the custom shop Randy Rhoads models.... But those seem to be starting at 10k, and all the way up to 20-30k for the relic models (Canadian pricing).

Yeah, there’s some M2M’s in “Buttercream” floating around that are less than the Rhodes stuff, but I suppose if I end up wanting one bad enough I’ll probably snag an older one that’s already yellowed.

 

[mudface]

The tenon route looks to be an earlier model,.. the transition period ended in 1975,.. need to find some exposed wood in the cavity routes to check for a pancake seam.

 

[Bobby Mahogany]

Lots of "WOW!" factor in there!

 

[Midnight Blues]

Gorgeous! Congrats, HNGD and play her in good health!

 

[turbotoy87]

That is *so* 70s!



There were lots of these in the old Kalamazoo days (as you all probably know) - fifty years later, the chances of finding the finish flaw that got it the "2" stamp are pretty slim.

What's funny is that I've read that sometimes factory workers would "accidentally" blemish the good guitars so that they could purchase them for themselves. The seller told me he bought the guitar from the original owner who happened to live in Michigan, who obtained it from a friend who worked at the Gibson factory.

Whether that's true or not, we'll never know!

 

[LPTDMSV]

What's funny is that I've read that sometimes factory workers would "accidentally" blemish the good guitars so that they could purchase them for themselves. The seller told me he bought the guitar from the original owner who happened to live in Michigan, who obtained it from a friend who worked at the Gibson factory.

Whether that's true or not, we'll never know!

It’s a good story, though!

 

[turbotoy87]

The tenon route looks to be an earlier model,.. the transition period ended in 1975,.. need to find some exposed wood in the cavity routes to check for a pancake seam.

If you could direct an expert to this post that would be appreciated! The only reason why I said it was 1977 was because the person I bought it from said it was, and also the pots date to 1977. The serial number is unfortunately ineligible now, so that can't help. I can try to see if I can open up the control cavity again and get some hints.

I also see no indication of a pancake seam along the edge of the guitar anywhere. I've attached some more pics.