Long awaited NGD! 1976 Les Paul Custom Black Beauty

[InTheEvening]

Hey guys! Super excited to share my new 1976 Les Paul Custom Black Beauty! As you know I’ve been looking for a Norlin era LP Custom for quite a while and just missed out on a 78 Black Beauty locally which I was very bummed out about and kicking myself for not acting on sooner. Then, literally within a day of missing the 78 LPC, this beauty popped up on the member classifieds. Couldn’t believe it but must have been meant to be! Shout out to @J50315 who I got it from and was amazing to work with, thanks again man.

It sounds and plays amazing. I love the slimmer neck profile, just can’t get that on any of the current LP Customs. And the T tops are great for the 70’s and 80’s rock riffs I play.

I’ve had many guitars but a Norlin era Les Paul Custom like this has always been my holy grail due to the very unique specs and killer looks. Def motivates me to practice and play more now that I have her.

Pics below! I also posted a video demoing some sounds/tones. You can skip my rambling/unboxing, playing starts at 09:40. Sorry for the sloppy playing btw, was just so excited haha.

Edit: Here’s an updated proper demo.

Unboxing/Quick Demo

Appreciate all the help and advice you guys have given on here. Only question I had, could this be a kalamazoo build? I know it’s hard to know for sure and honestly doesn’t matter to me but would be cool to know just for my own curiosity.

Love the aged gold hardware.

Sibling pic with my standard 60’s

 

[J50315]

Congrats on your new guitar and love the demo! Glad your enjoying it. I knew it arrived safely as you kept me updated but watching you unbox it still gave me anxiety hoping it didn’t arrive broken haha.

 

[Nick-O]

Cleans sound great, especially the neck. Distorted sounds like a HBs cranked thru a pedal, but something tells me this guitar is capable of all the tones you're going to need. Enjoy her!

 

[InTheEvening]

Congrats on your new guitar and love the demo! Glad your enjoying it. I knew it arrived safely as you kept me updated but watching you unbox it still gave me anxiety hoping it didn’t arrive broken haha.

Thanks so much! I didn’t have time in the video but I was gonna show how great of a job you did with the packing. It was in 20 degree weather but stayed room temperature. Will happily vouch for you if anyone else buys a guitar.

Cleans sound great, especially the neck. Distorted sounds like a HBs cranked thru a pedal, but something tells me this guitar is capable of all the tones you're going to need. Enjoy her!

Thanks! Haha yeah it’s going through an amp sim preset that had a lot of effects. Picked that one on the fly but I’m def gonna have a lot of fun playing around some more with the settings and seeing what works best with this guitar. I’ve been GASing to have a set of T-tops forever, super excited to explore all the sounds this can get.

 

[JohnnyN]

Sweet! Congratulations

 

[Deftone]

Wow, Congrats! Worth the wait, huh? Nice score, my friend.

 

[Dilver]

Always nice when you can get a guitar from a forum member. Congrats - it looks awesome!

 

[pondcaster]

Holy smokes! That is one gorgeous LPC, would love to own that one.

Enjoy!

 

[Mahoot]

Very nice!.. Been watching your hunt and over the moon you've found the one that belongs to you mate. Congrats.

 

[akuster777]

wow. congrats!

 

[Skit]

Congrats, that one sounds great!

 

[InTheEvening]

Sweet! Congratulations

Thanks!

Wow, Congrats! Worth the wait, huh? Nice score, my friend.

Thank you! Absolutely! I got a bunch of guitars the last few years that I didn’t love or compromised on because I was impatient or reluctant to spend the money and I ended up selling all of them shortly after. Decided this year I’d get the exact guitar I had been wanting, no matter what, and so glad I did. The excitement I have with this is close to what I felt when I got my first guitar as a kid.

Always nice when you can get a guitar from a forum member. Congrats - it looks awesome!

Thanks! For sure! It was my first time buying from a forum but the community here is so great, I felt confident buying here and had a great experience.

Holy smokes! That is one gorgeous LPC, would love to own that one.

Enjoy!

Thank you! Def feel fortunate that it found it’s way to me. Will def get lots of playing time in.

Very nice!.. Been watching your hunt and over the moon you've found the one that belongs to you mate. Congrats.

Thanks so much! I’m glad i could share the journey and excitement with you guys. New gear isn’t quite as fun if you can’t enjoy it with friends. I’m always looking at the next guitar I’ll buy but for the first time in a while, I think my gear hunting is done. Just wanna play this one as much as I can.

wow. congrats!

Thanks!

 

[InTheEvening]

Congrats, that one sounds great!

Thanks!

 

[Abozz]

A beautiful guitar!!! Congratulations! Good move! Enjoy it! I love my 76 Standard!

 

[Midnight Blues]

I've always been a Custom guy myself. Yours is absolutely GORGEOUS!!!! Congrats, HNGD and play her in good health!

Glad you were able to snag your

If you're so inclined, post some pics of her here too: Post Your Black (Beauty) Les Paul Customs

She'd certainly be a welcomed addition!

 

[decoy205]

Congrats! That’s a great example and looks to be in excellent shape. So how do you feel about it compared to the custom shop one?

 

[JMP]

Congratulations to you! It’s fantastic that you connected with someone via this great forum to get your dream guitar. It’s good to know that there’s good honest folks out there in the world.

Enjoy your new guitar!

 

[InTheEvening]

A beautiful guitar!!! Congratulations! Good move! Enjoy it! I love my 76 Standard!

Thank you! Glad to finally be part of the Norlin club.

I've always been a Custom guy myself. Yours is absolutely GORGEOUS!!!! Congrats, HNGD and play her in good health!

Glad you were able to snag your

If you're so inclined, post some pics of her here too: Post Your Black (Beauty) Les Paul Customs

She'd certainly be a welcomed addition!

Thanks! And for sure! Been eager to post on there as soon as I had finalized my purchase. Will add some of her pics now that I have them. I really like going through the posts there, I never get tired of looking at Black Beautys.

Congrats! That’s a great example and looks to be in excellent shape. So how do you feel about it compared to the custom shop one?

Thank you! I really really liked the Custom Shop but I’m definitely happier with this. The biggest difference to me was that neck profile. I’m much more comfortable on this 70’s neck than the thicker 57 neck. The frets on the Norlin being more worn and flatter feel different so that’s taking some getting used to but it feels more at home to me overall.
Tone wise the T-tops are def a big change from the Custombuckers. I really like both but I think the T-tops are more suited to the 70’s and 80’s hard rock I play.
Overall, I’m really happy I went with the Norlin since it’s better suited to me. Down the line, I would still love to add a Custom Shop to my collection since they were different enough, I could see the benefit of having both. But I’m def in no rush, which is probably a good sign. The only thing I really miss is that out of phase middle position sound you could get with the bridge and middle but I’ve been able to get close to that by rolling off the bridge tone knob and going into the middle position on this guitar and I plan to do some funky out of phase wiring mods to my old epiphone.

Congratulations to you! It’s fantastic that you connected with someone via this great forum to get your dream guitar. It’s good to know that there’s good honest folks out there in the world.

Enjoy your new guitar!

Thanks! And for sure. I’ve been on a lot of forums but MLP is def one of the best communities I’ve been in. Glad I can be a part of it.

 

[Progrocker111]

Congrats, cool Custom! Enjoy her

 

[InTheEvening]

Congrats, cool Custom! Enjoy her

Thanks!