Help identifying Les Paul model??

[Luckytwentytwo]

Hi guys, I'm new here so - Hi everyone!!

I was looking for a bit of advice if possible, I recently acquired my dream guitar and I'm looking for a bit more info about it if possible!

I'm told it's an '89 MIK Epi Les Paul, it's a factory second although it has a 3 stamped on the back instead of a 2, and the serial is scratched out so identifying it thus far has proven to be difficult!

Any ideas and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[ChuckHall03]

Hi Lucky, welcome to the forum! Lots of friendly and helpful folks here who may have the insight to be able to identify, but I know MIRC stamps headstocks, I thought just with a “2” or “USED”, haven’t heard of a 3. In case you don’t know, MIRC is a company that takes blemished or damaged guitars from dealers and refurbishes them for resale. If it is in fact one of those, resale value is unfortunately lower than a normal used version of the same guitar. 3 could indicate some serious structural damage, but again this is just an assumption. On another note, when they refurb a guitar, they usually just scratch off the last 3 digits of the serial, not the whole thing. Maybe someone else has more info here, but usually if a full serial is removed, my first thought is someone is trying to hide that info about the guitar, maybe would show up as stolen if you did have the serial, but again, just speculation. Where did you purchase this guitar?

 

[Luckytwentytwo]

They all sounds like very disappointing things! I severely hope they aren't true! I got hold of it off of Facebook, there was a dude who said he buys and sells guitars and this was one of them! I've always wanted a black LP with white binding so I just jumped at it! I guess I should have done my research before I got it it seems to play really well and everything on it seems solid! I just hope someone else can add a little more insight and maybe redeem it's shady history! Thanks for replying though buddy, nice to meet you!!

 

[ChuckHall03]

They all sounds like very disappointing things! I severely hope they aren't true! I got hold of it off of Facebook, there was a dude who said he buys and sells guitars and this was one of them! I've always wanted a black LP with white binding so I just jumped at it! I guess I should have done my research before I got it it seems to play really well and everything on it seems solid! I just hope someone else can add a little more insight and maybe redeem it's shady history! Thanks for replying though buddy, nice to meet you!!

I’m far from the most knowledgeable person on here, so hopefully better news to come. Regardless, you ended up with a guitar that you enjoy playing and has the looks you wanted, nothing to be disappointed with there!

 

[Luckytwentytwo]

I’m far from the most knowledgeable person on here, so hopefully better news to come. Regardless, you ended up with a guitar that you enjoy playing and has the looks you wanted, nothing to be disappointed with there!

Yeah that was my thinking! I absolutely love it and whether it has a shady history or not, it's being loved and played and that's what counts! Cheers dude

 

[ChuckHall03]

Yeah that was my thinking! I absolutely love it and whether it has a shady history or not, it's being loved and played and that's what counts! Cheers dude

Couldn’t agree more, that’s what it’s all about! Cheers and welcome again

 

[frisco]

Welcome!
By the pictures i will dare to say it's a really late '90 or a proper 90's Les Paul Custom.
89 and 90 Les pauls featured an open book headstock. That run only lasted 2 years before
they changed to the clip ear headstock like on your pics and they made les paul standards and customs.

The trussrod cover that says Gibson also points in the direction that it's korean made.

The most important thing is that you like it