1975? LP Deluxe

Caffeine_Vampire

Giving this one some serious thought. Had a ‘73 and miss it. Thoughts folks? 1975 was the crossover year but this seems to be an early one with a mahogany neck. Pots date to ‘75. 

https://imgur.com/gallery/JJTEPhd

guitars4you

Neck change to maple was later in 75 I believe - some say 76 by the time they got changes into production - Always a transition period  based on using up old stock, existing neck blanks etc

Looks fine - 3 pc mahogany neck

I'm never a big fan of the frets from that era - wide and low - As such find many play better with a good refret

How much are they asking for it

Overall it looks okay

Funkfingers

You snooze, you lose. At the very least, go and take a proper look at the thing rather than rejecting it out of hand.

Caffeine_Vampire

guitars4you said:

Neck change to maple was later in 75 I believe - some say 76 by the time they got changes into production - Always a transition period  based on using up old stock, existing neck blanks etc

Looks fine - 3 pc mahogany neck

I'm never a big fan of the frets from that era - wide and low - As such find many play better with a good refret

How much are they asking for it

Overall it looks okay

Thanks for the reply. £2500. Looks like a possible/likely refin. Serial looks to be 60038? 9.5 lbs. 

guitars4you

Caffeine_Vampire said:

guitars4you said:

Neck change to maple was later in 75 I believe - some say 76 by the time they got changes into production - Always a transition period  based on using up old stock, existing neck blanks etc

Looks fine - 3 pc mahogany neck

I'm never a big fan of the frets from that era - wide and low - As such find many play better with a good refret

How much are they asking for it

Overall it looks okay

Thanks for the reply. £2500. Looks like a possible/likely refin. Serial looks to be 60038? 9.5 lbs. 

poor photos around the reverse side of the headstock ref serial number

On pics alone I'm not so sure about a refin - That 'bright' cherry sunburst they used then is fairly distinctive - Some say tomato soup burst 

many are heavy around this era

It is not a bargain at £2500 but at that price I'd want all original

Caffeine_Vampire

All original so I’m told, only the assumed refin which looks to have obscured the serial no. 

ICBM

Looks like a refin, and the back plates aren't original - they would have been brown in that era - hardly a big deal though. At least with a sunburst finish and without goof hiders you can tell it hasn't been routed and filled...

The finish is much nicer than the usual 'clownburst' Gibson were doing then. I like the wide low frets too. It's a good weight, the price is about right - if you can get a couple of hundred off then it's probably as good as you'll easily find one of that era.

Caffeine_Vampire

ICBM said:

Looks like a refin, and the back plates aren't original - they would have been brown in that era - hardly a big deal though. At least with a sunburst finish and without goof hiders you can tell it hasn't been routed and filled...

The finish is much nicer than the usual 'clownburst' Gibson were doing then. I like the wide low frets too. It's a good weight, the price is about right - if you can get a couple of hundred off then it's probably as good as you'll easily find one of that era.

Gonna go check her out. There’s a ‘71 i was looking at but it looks to have been routed for bigger ‘buckers. Thanks for the reply. 

Henrytwang

Not quite  sure of the exact age of my 70s Deluxe, it doesn’t have the pancake body but does have a 3 piece maple top.I’ve owned it for over 30 years but never played it much as it weighs a ton and has quite low frets. I’ve hung on to it as it has a nice low action and sounds amazing .

Henrytwang

guitars4you said:

Neck change to maple was later in 75 I believe - some say 76 by the time they got changes into production - Always a transition period  based on using up old stock, existing neck blanks etc

Looks fine - 3 pc mahogany neck

I'm never a big fan of the frets from that era - wide and low - As such find many play better with a good refret

How much are they asking for it

Overall it looks okay

Did Gibson ever produce 3 piece mahogany necks? The three piece necks on my Gibson guitars look like maple.

Bridgehouse

Henrytwang said:

guitars4you said:

Neck change to maple was later in 75 I believe - some say 76 by the time they got changes into production - Always a transition period  based on using up old stock, existing neck blanks etc

Looks fine - 3 pc mahogany neck

I'm never a big fan of the frets from that era - wide and low - As such find many play better with a good refret

How much are they asking for it

Overall it looks okay

Did Gibson ever produce 3 piece mahogany necks? The neck in the pictures looks like a 3 piece one.

In the 70s Norlin era yes - certainly on semis up to the late 70s from about 71 onwards, and some of their basses did too - the claim was it stopped cracking and breaks (that’s what they claimed on the basses anyway).

I could easily see them doing it on some LP Deluxes as well. 

ICBM

Yes, 3-piece mahogany from around 1970 to 1975, then 3-piece maple.

Bridgehouse

ICBM said:

Yes, 3-piece mahogany from around 1970 to 1975, then 3-piece maple.

I can easily see a norlin era Gibson engineering team looking at a big pile of offcuts and saying “so, how do we use all these up and sell them as a positive benefit?”

guitars4you

ICBM said:

Looks like a refin, and the back plates aren't original - they would have been brown in that era - hardly a big deal though. At least with a sunburst finish and without goof hiders you can tell it hasn't been routed and filled...

The finish is much nicer than the usual 'clownburst' Gibson were doing then. I like the wide low frets too. It's a good weight, the price is about right - if you can get a couple of hundred off then it's probably as good as you'll easily find one of that era.

I'm not convinced yet on the finish  - but poor pics and unless obvious I'd hold back until I saw it in the flesh to confirm re-fin etc

valid point on the brown control plates, but sure I've seen black in the past ! - faded memory time and chances are either transition issues and/or using other parts if low/no stock - Both happen 

ICBM

guitars4you said:

I'm not convinced yet on the finish  - but poor pics and unless obvious I'd hold back until I saw it in the flesh to confirm re-fin etc

I think the area around the serial number makes it a certainty, and the rest of it really doesn't look like a 70s Gibson finish anyway - far too subtle!

guitars4you said:

valid point on the brown control plates, but sure I've seen black in the past ! - faded memory time and chances are either transition issues and/or using other parts if low/no stock - Both happen 

I've only ever seen black plates on Customs (of all colours) in the 70s, or the Pro Deluxe in black.

The screws are also the wrong size, although that doesn't necessarily mean the plates have been replaced.

Caffeine_Vampire

Here’s the link - https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F392218335987

guitars4you

ICBM said:

guitars4you said:

I'm not convinced yet on the finish  - but poor pics and unless obvious I'd hold back until I saw it in the flesh to confirm re-fin etc

I think the area around the serial number makes it a certainty, and the rest of it really doesn't look like a 70s Gibson finish anyway - far too subtle!

trying to think what that oval shape is round the serial number - poor pics - my initial thought, before reading more of the OP, was it is the oval serial number sequence from a year or so later - Would want to see more as to what is going on  granted something suspicious

ICBM

guitars4you said:

trying to think what that oval shape is round the serial number - poor pics - my initial thought, before reading more of the OP, was it is the oval serial number sequence from a year or so later - Would want to see more as to what is going on  granted something suspicious

Yes, the '76 series had an oval decal with the serial number there. I think they started in 1975 because the earliest ones in the sequence start with 99 - the 76s start with 00 as it was the Bicentennial year, which the Yanks seemed to make a big thing of across the board.

Caffeine_Vampire

Seller says the serial is 60038 as best as he can tell. I thought Gibson numbers from that period were 6 digit?

Brize

On the originality of the finish, didn't Deluxes from that period have bursted backs and necks?