How many 76 standards

[69 Goldtop]

Seems to be a few out there.
I`ve heard just a few were made in 76. Anybody know?
I`ve got 1

 

[HOT-BRIT]

no there are many of them

 

[69 Goldtop]

Do you know how many. 100,1000

 

[HOT-BRIT]

do you know how many. 100,1000

there are no accurate records that we can rely on but there were a few made in Kalamazoo and a lot of them made in Nashville in 1976

 

[josep_cla]

Mine is a '76 Deluxe with factory humbuckers.
(Well, in fact, under the pots, it says made in 1975...)

Here are the pics:
2lp 008 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
LP 010 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
LP 012 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I saw one like thin once on ebay...

 

[CHUNKYNECK]

I don't know how many standards there are out there but there are 3 for sale on ebay atm. They don't seem to cost any more than other late 70s les paul standards. One of the ebay listed is the same as yours if you're after a spare..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1976-Gibson-Les-Paul-Standard-/320990203367?pt=Guitar&hash=item4abc81cde7

 

[Chadd]

My 76 started life as a deluxe but was routed somewhere along the way before 1994 or so.

 

[HOT-BRIT]

My 76 started life as a deluxe but was routed somewhere along the way before 1994 or so.

routed Deluxes are great value

 

[Chadd]

routed Deluxes are great value

They were in the early 90s, not so much anymore.

 

[HOT-BRIT]

They were in the early 90s, not so much anymore.

they are only going to get higher with time

 

[mgrmatt]

There have been some good deals on Deluxes lately ( 1500 - 1600 range ) but they don't last long.


Posted from Mylespaul.com App for Android

 

[Chadd]

they are only going to get higher with time

While the prices will go up, it won't make them any better. Most of the new Les Pauls I've played in the last year have been quite good. In fact, on average, I would say that the newer models are better than Norlins. I couldn't see paying more for a Norlin than a new build. Don't get me wrong, I love my 76. It played better than any of the other Norlins I've owned, but if the prices start getting above new builds, there is not much "value" in purchasing the Norlin.

Sure, there are going to be the standouts here and there, but those are the exceptions and not the norm.

 

[69 Goldtop]

Sure, there are going to be the standouts here and there, but those are the exceptions and not the norm.

Thats how i feel about any newer Gibson.
A Norlin would be a far better instrument on average JMO

 

[mgrmatt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chadd

Sure, there are going to be the standouts here and there, but those are the exceptions and not the norm.


Thats how i feel about any newer Gibson.
A Norlin would be a far better instrument on average JMO

I too feel the same about my Norlins . Value and feel are subjective and most of us visit this section because of our appreciation of Norlin era Les Paul's but everyone is entitled to there opinion.


Posted from Mylespaul.com App for Android

 

[Chadd]

Thats how i feel about any newer Gibson.
A Norlin would be a far better instrument on average JMO

I've played at least a hundred norlins and a similar number of newer LPs and that is not what I have experienced.

 

[jhogler]

I've wondered about this a lot. I bought my first Gibson in 1977 at Akron Music Center when I was 16. It was a brand-new 1976 Les Paul Standard (as a side note, I passed by a 1968 hanging on the rack because it was 'old'&#8230. I still have the guitar, and it's aged beautifully. It's heavy, it sounds amazing, I play it every day, and I wouldn't part with it.

I have a copy of the shipping totals guide (you can buy it here: Blue Book of Guitar Values - Gibson Products). It does indeed say that only 24 LP Standards were shipped in 1976. That has nothing to do with how many were made, though. You have to look at the following years to get a sense of the actual production, I think. First, remember that Gibson started offering the Standard as a special order option in 1968. It wasn't a full production model until 1976. Basically, anything before 1976 is essentially a modified Deluxe model, and will typically say that on the headstock sticker. My headstock sticker, on the other hand says 'Standard'.

So, some background first. In what most people think of as the 'golden era' of the Standard, 1958-1960, Gibson shipped 434, 643, and 635 in each year, respectively. When the chance to special order a Standard popped up again in 1968, a lot of people took advantage of it, and Gibson shipped 1,224 of them that year and nearly 3,000 in 1969. The shipments tapered off (maybe they stopped offering it for a while again?) until 1972 when they shipped about 1,000 and again in 1974 when Gibson shipped more than 2,000 Standard models. But keep this all in perspective: during the same time frame (1968-1975), Gibson shipped nearly 77,000 Les Paul guitars of other, non-Standard varieties (~36,000 Customs, ~32,000 Deluxes, and ~9,000 'other' varieties (i.e., Professionals, Recording, Personals, etc)). So the total number of 'special order' Standards from 1968-1975 represented less than 9% of Gibson's total shipment of Les Paul guitars. They're rare by definition.

But what about the 1976? This was the first year that Gibson officially reintroduced the Standard as a regular production model. According to the shipment total guide, only 24 were shipped that year. My 1976 Standard was manufactured sometime in August 1976 (according to the date stamp in the body), but may not have been shipped until sometime in 1977 (I bought it new in the summer of 1977). So, like I said earlier, you need to look at the next few years to understand what the shipping total means. In 1977, Gibson shipped 586 Standards; 5,947 in 1978 and 1,302 in 1979. 1978 was apparently a banner year for the Les Paul in general, since more than 25,000 of them, of all types, were shipped that year - a number similar to the 1973 and 1974 totals. The overall Les Paul shipping numbers dropped again in 1979 to a more reasonable ~7,900; a number more in-line with most other previous years' totals (anyone know why 1978 was so huge for the Les Paul?). In any case, the Standard was still a relatively small percentage of the overall Les Paul shipments in those years: less than 0.5% in 1977, ~8% in 1977, and then jumping dramatically to ~31% in 1978 and ~20% in 1979.

Because of the normal production-to-shipping time lag, I think it's safe to say that many of the 586 LP Standards that shipped in 1977 were actually made in 1976, and bear a '00' date on their headstock stickers. But I also think it's safe to assume that a good portion of those guitars that shipped in 1977 were also made in 1977. How many? Who knows (certainly not Gibson). In any case, even if only a quarter of the 586 LP Standard guitars made in 1977 shipped in 1977 (a very conservative estimate), that means that means that the rest of the LP Standards that shipped that year were actually made in 1976. Using that kind of math, you can then estimate 1976's production: the 24 that shipped in 1976 plus another ~440 or so that shipped in 1977; a total production figure of fewer than 500. So what does that mean?

The total number of Les Paul Standards produced in 1976 is very similar to the production numbers of the Standard from 1957-1960 (actually fewer than were made in 1959 or 1960). While we can endlessly argue the merits of late-'50s Standards versus mid-'70s Standards, there's no denying that they are all good, remarkable-sounding guitars. What it should mean to a collector is that the 1976 has some unique characteristics: first official re-introduction year, low production numbers that represent a small fraction of the overall LP production, and finally, some were likely produced in Kalamazoo (although I’ve been told there’s no way to be sure of it, but it was during the ‘overlap’ period). It's just a matter of time before the value on these starts to soar, IMO.

Hope this helps!

 

[krall]

jhogler..Do you have numbers for '72/'73 LP Standards? I have a custom ordered '73 Standard (humbucker routed at factory)..I'm still trying to get a definitive number..But different sources are saying different things. A few people told me a couple of dozen made that year, others say 100's made..Just curious if your source has numbers for that period.

 

[jhogler]

jhogler..Do you have numbers for '72/'73 LP Standards? I have a custom ordered '73 Standard (humbucker routed at factory)..I'm still trying to get a definitive number..But different sources are saying different things. A few people told me a couple of dozen made that year, others say 100's made..Just curious if your source has numbers for that period.

Well, according to the shipment guide, the exact numbers of Standards shipped from 68-75 are 1224, 2751, 0, 25, 1046, 4, 2219, and 2. So the same problem as with the 1976 Standard - if you look at the '73 shipments there were only 4 shipped that year. But a whole lot were shipped in '74. So my guess is that if your guitar is a '73 model, then it probably shipped in 1974.

 

[krall]

Well, according to the shipment guide, the exact numbers of Standards shipped from 68-75 are 1224, 2751, 0, 25, 1046, 4, 2219, and 2. So the same problem as with the 1976 Standard - if you look at the '73 shipments there were only 4 shipped that year. But a whole lot were shipped in '74. So my guess is that if your guitar is a '73 model, then it probably shipped in 1974.

It was ordered in late '72 and has late '72 dated pots. "73" on tenon end.

 

[Chadd]

there's no denying that they are all good, remarkable-sounding guitars.

Hope this helps!

Quite to the contrary, there are a lot of dogs out there. Not every one produced was a gem, just like any other era.