1973 Custom restore

[Markus625]

In 1985 I bought a used Gibson Les Paul custom from musical exchanges in Birmingham UK for about £500 I think.
It was quite battered looked like it had quite a good gigging touring life but it played well and anyway at 16 years of age I wanted a Les Paul.

So I'm looking at restoring by a Luther or do some of the work my self.

So far I've identified by the serial number and number of the pot and having a valute that it's a 1972/73 custom.

The peghead split diamond inlay is missing in parts and the logo is missing some gold from the bottom of the G.

Can these be replaced with replacement mop inlays .
This logo does not have the dotted I.

There's quite abit of laquar that's cracked too.


Also this needs a complete paint strip and redone.

 

[Markus625]

In 1985 I bought a used Gibson Les Paul custom from musical exchanges in Birmingham UK for about £500 I think.
It was quite battered looked like it had quite a good gigging touring life but it played well and anyway at 16 years of age I wanted a Les Paul.

So I'm looking at restoring by a Luther or do some of the work my self.

So far I've identified by the serial number and number of the pot and having a valute that it's a 1972/73 custom.

The peghead split diamond inlay is missing in parts and the logo is missing some gold from the bottom of the G.

Can these be replaced with replacement mop inlays .
This logo does not have the dotted I.

There's quite abit of laquar that's cracked too.


Also this needs a complete paint strip and redone.

 

[Airplane]

theres nothing missing of the inlays, it’s just the laquer flaking off.

and why would you want it refinished?

 

[Markus625]

theres nothing missing of the inlays, it’s just the laquer flaking off.

and why would you want it refinished?

When you say it's the lacquer , but the gold has flaked off from the mop inlays, is that a colored laquar on the mop, or the mop has had color added.

 

[bungle]

Please post some Not sure why you would want to do that? Gold?

 

[ARandall]

As advised, its just clear that is missing. MOP is silver in colour. The 'gold' effect is the aged clear nitro over the top. Just look at the fretboard MOP inlay.
And guitars that age don't have the dot over the 'I' anyhow.

Second point, you have a wonderfully aged guitar there. By comparison to an actually battered guitar for the early 70's, that is just showing average wear.

People pay good money for the signs of use that you have. Its also a way of telling that the guitar is actually a good sounding guitar, unlike pristine versions of the same thing that often indicate that it played poorly.

You will lose big time for putting new finish. An old guitar like that is far more valuable with its original finish on. So comparing it to the guitar you have now, it is likely that a refin will devalue your guitar by 40%.....and that is on top of the money you spent on doing the work.

 

[Markus625]

Please post some Not sure why you would want to do that? Gold?

I will tomorrow, the body on front and back is in a bad condition and obviously you can see the neck and back photo.

What I would like to do is strip the colour off and restore.

 

[Markus625]

As advised, its just clear that is missing. MOP is silver in colour. The 'gold' effect is the aged clear nitro over the top. Just look at the fretboard MOP inlay.
And guitars that age don't have the dot over the 'I' anyhow.

Second point, you have a wonderfully aged guitar there. By comparison to an actually battered guitar for the early 70's, that is just showing average wear.

People pay good money for the signs of use that you have. Its also a way of telling that the guitar is actually a good sounding guitar, unlike pristine versions of the same thing that often indicate that it played poorly.

You will lose big time for putting new finish. An old guitar like that is far more valuable with its original finish on. So comparing it to the guitar you have now, it is likely that a refin will devalue your guitar by 40%.....and that is on top of the money you spent on doing the work.

Thanks .

I was under the impression I would loose money for it being in this condition, all the search's I've done I've not seen one for sale in this condition fetching good money let's say £3500 etc.

I naturally thought getting it restored world fetch a higher price and it would be nice to see it in a better condition that it is now.

 

[smk506]

ARandall is right smack on the money. You’ll spend a good amount having a pro make it look new and you’ll loose value while you do it.

If you just absolutely have to have it refinished because you just do, make sure and get a pro to do all the work, even if that means having different people working on different things and dealing with shipping.

Personally I would just leave it, it looks well loved and none of that wear is going to hurt functionality or preservation.

 

[Markus625]

ARandall is right smack on the money. You’ll spend a good amount having a pro make it look new and you’ll loose value while you do it.

If you just absolutely have to have it refinished because you just do, make sure and get a pro to do all the work, even if that means having different people working on different things and dealing with shipping.

Personally I would just leave it, it looks well loved and none of that wear is going to hurt functionality or preservation.

I would like to at least fix the flaky gold yellow laquar that's peeling off either remove the yellow gold so it's the original mop or get it looking like the below.

 

[Markus625]

Some info from my las Paul book on the headstock logo.


GIBSON HEADSTOCK LOGO

The Gibson brandname assumes pride of place on the headstock of all Les Pauls. The style and method of lettering has undergone various small changes over the years, and these can be related to certain periods. While many are extremely minor and can be very hard to spot or determine accurately, some are less subtle and of more immediate help.

From c1952 to c1968 the dot of the 'i' in 'Gibson' was not joined to the 'G', and the 'b' and 'o' were not continuously solid.

From c1968 the 'i' lost its dot, and the 'b' and 'o' became continuously solid.

In 1972 the dotted 'i' appeared again, but then came and went with confusing irregularity until c1981.

From 1981 the 'o' and 'n' were linked at the top, and not at the bottom as usually seen. However, the latter style was soon reintroduced, and the two versions have been used ever since.

 

[ARandall]

^ There is more wrong with the above info than right.

Fair to say that for your era of guitar has no dot over the 'I' in over 99% of guitars.

The absolute only thing I'd do to your guitar if you're worried about any aspect is perhaps an application of a wipe on sealer for the bare wood sections.

Other than that, you are not likely to be able to make a seamless fix. Trying to age lacquer to the same yellow/amber as what is on the headstock MOP will be nigh on impossible. There will in all probability still be a colour gradient from the fill to the original clear. So in short it will be good from far away but most likely troublesome close-up if you have an OCD about it.

 

[DJGranite]

What you are calling "gold" that is flaking off is the lacquer, it is clear to start and turns yellow as it ages.
Here a couple of pictures to demonstrate.
These are both the same guitar 30+ years apart.
before

and now...

 

[Nick-O]

Just play it...enjoy it and quit staring at it.

Looks like a gem thats been played, I'd just play it.

 

[Airplane]

you don’t even need to show us photos of the front side because 99% will agree the worst thing you can do is refinishing the guitar. you would ruin an cool original vintage instrument!

 

[Markus625]

you don’t even need to show us photos of the front side because 99% will agree the worst thing you can do is refinishing the guitar. you would ruin an cool original vintage instrum

 

[Markus625]

I'll add some more photos, I did a fret polish and used some 0000 wire wool on the fretboard with Zippo lighter fluid to clean it up and applied f-one oil to condition it.

I want to point out I don't think the front of the body needs any work even though there is plenty of dings and stretch marks to show its age.

Some things I'd like to address.
1:
The fret wire is quite low and kinked in areas from strings over the years, could do with new fret wire ?

2:
The headstock aged nitro laquar is coming off in places especially the split diamond area.
Could this laquar be removed and a new tinted laquar applied?

3:
On the back of the neck bare wood is showing so warn out from playing.

4:
Back of the mahogany back the laquer has chipped off in areas plus tons of buckle rash.

So could 3&4 be sanded down and color matched and laqured .

I wouldn't attempt this my self but I'd get a professional Luther to do it .

Fret wire below

 

[lowatter]

Oh my. Honest wear barn find beauties like this are hard to find. If it were mine and the frets didn't buzz after a setup I wouldn't do anything but rock it daily with a smile. Altering it's patina would take away from it's value in my opinion. It's your guitar however and this is the right place for advice.

 

[Markus625]

Oh my. Honest wear barn find beauties like this are hard to find. If it were mine and the frets didn't buzz after a setup I wouldn't do anything but rock it daily with a smile. Altering it's patina would take away from it's value in my opinion. It's your guitar however and this is the right place for advice.

You should have seen it when I bought it ,it had different tuners so now I've fitted original tuners I have some holes where the guy had put these different tuners on.

Also it didn't come with Gibson pickups it had dimarzio and the bridge was pink , so I removed these and bought some new Gibson humbuckers in 1995 I think and fitted them.

I've tried looking on reverb / eBay to see what these are going for but not seen one in this condition, there's several on eBay etc that seem to have a sunburst on the back of the neck but I believe mine is solid cheery .

I do intend on selling it to be honest as I now have a collection of prs tremonti guitars.

So looking for info on what price I'd get for it in this condition as apposed to having some of those areas I have mentioned fixed.

 

[switchcraft]

i would buy a set of period correct tuners and a set of period correct pickups instead of refinshing

those parts would make the guitar easier to sell

i mean, you wouldn t get back the money for a refinish, but you would get back the money for the missing parts