After a bear market realignment of my collection led to me shifting a swathe of my higher end bits, and after one sherbet too many at my brother-in-law's birthday bash at the weekend, old, bad habits took over in the form of a late evening eBay raid.
Guitar Safari yesterday afternoon to snare this wild, bad boy: ladies and djentlemen, I give you the 1979 Gibson 'The Paul'.
This one's obviously lived a rock n roll life but looks all the better for it, I think (albeit that I will be stripping it down and doing my best to remove some of the ingrained DNA by application of Cillit Bang, Vim, and bleach).
Walnut body and neck, lovely LP Custom style oversized headstock, ebony fretboard, Grover tuners and the original T-Top pickups that I understand the
cognoscenti are diggin'.
Best bit about it is the neck: worn satin smooth from decades of having the shit played out of it. Only thing that ever came close was the similarly worn feel on a Novo Serus J I was briefly the custodian of. Oh yeah: while the purists may howl and gnash their teeth, I also think the arm chamfer on the front and the gut cut on the back are serious improvements to some of the more uncomfortable aspects of 'true' LPs.
What say you, people?
Inactivist Lefty Lawyer
Comments
That switch placement would do my head in though...
That one really looks like it's had a hard life... repaired body seam separation on the treble side, or just an unusually bad example of Gibson's sloppy approach to wood matching?
Given the size of the cavity, it's odd that they didn't fit it further away from the knobs, with the toggle moving front to back instead of up and down - ie the Hamer/PRS position, which I've always found the best.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Good spot: there is a definite ridge between the two short planks. Adds to the 'agricultural worker' vibe of the instrument
I love them!
Welcome to the club m8
Mandy says 'hi, and 'please stop texting me', btw.
Ha! Just mentioned DMs above. Sad to hear of the theft
Feedback
That's just how they were. Supposed to be an affordable yet gigable guitar. Quality tuners, electronics/pickups, ebony board etc.
Mine is a later deluxe which is painted and is all mahogany.
I bought one about 20 years ago as the only proper Gibson I could afford at the time.
I liked it so much I bought another as soon as I could afford one & still have both
I still find it hard to believe that Gibson made any money on them, given the quality hardware & ebony boards.
Walnut too, lovely wood, I prefer it over mahogany.
Hope that you continue to enjoy the rough charm, great sounds & sheer playability of it. Rumour has it, that's what guitars are for
Is that the 'Firebrand' model?
Gracias for the vote of support!
It's an oddity: I'd imagine walnut to be something one would reserve for higher end, more Lux Interior models. Add in all the other touches - esp. ebony fretboard, and they're a strange subspecies of 'budget' guitars.
What fresh madness is this? Everyone knows they're for hanging on the wall, and having esoteric arguments about on here.