Members Texas Noise Factory Posted May 15, 2012 Members Share Posted May 15, 2012 Heh, the volute returns. Kind of silly when the neck is already made of maple, but hey, the 70s were silly. Might have to check one of these out. Yep. It's like one step more ridiculous this time since now they are doing it for the sake of tradition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Texas Noise Factory Posted May 15, 2012 Members Share Posted May 15, 2012 Used Gibsons>New Gibsons +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Loobs Posted May 15, 2012 Members Share Posted May 15, 2012 Agreed. I wouldn't buy a new Gibson unless I got an absolute steal on it. Early/mid 90s were a good period for Gibson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Too bad they can't just do a regular reissue of the Les Paul Deluxe for around that price. As silly as it may sound, the lack of neck binding kills it for me, and if the body binding is half-assed like on the other tribute les pauls it's a double nay as far as I'm concerned.One of the earlier nice electric guitars that I was fortunate enough to spend considerable quality time with was an early 70s (73, IIRC) Les Paul Deluxe Goldtop. Mini humbuckers, surprisingly sweet neck... but it weighed a metric #$%-ton. Sucker was seriously heavy. Which kind of lead me to think about the whole Norlin era and how much it was (and to a degree still is) detested, and I thought... "why would they reissue the Norlin era stuff?" And then it occurred to me that not only were some of those guitars more than decent (despite their Norlin era origins), but that to the younger players (under 40) those are now "vintage" guitars that are older than they are... for guys like me, they were just regular old used guitars that were only a few years old by the time we started playing them in high school. Nice, but because they were five years old, we could buy them for less than what a new one would cost. Kind of like now... only with early 70s Fenders and Gibsons. And we would have been able to keep getting away with it too if it wasn't for all you meddling kids coming along and wanting one for yourself and driving up the prices! Still, for nostalgia's sake, I might just have to have a look at that 70s Tribute Goldtop. The whole Baked Maple thing and the maple neck both give me pause, but I'm willing to give it a fair shot before making any judgments. I hope they have 60s profile Slim-Taper necks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thermionic geek Posted May 15, 2012 Members Share Posted May 15, 2012 The cherry SG What I would really like to see though is the three piece maple neck with a volute, and good powerful T tops. Dont really care about the binding on the neck but an LP custom with the three ply binding on the top and peghead only to keep cost down would be good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hivedestruction Posted May 15, 2012 Members Share Posted May 15, 2012 My point exactly. Faux binding. Which impo is a shame. haha Something tells me you haven't even seen one in person, because there's literally no binding. Not even faux binding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zappa74 Posted May 15, 2012 Members Share Posted May 15, 2012 The LPs and Firebirds I understand. Those are cool. But the SG with mini hums escapes me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members erksin Posted May 15, 2012 Members Share Posted May 15, 2012 These are random mashups of Norlin-era parts? I don't see why they don't just do them proper. That Firebird is hideous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members erksin Posted May 15, 2012 Members Share Posted May 15, 2012 Funny that they're doing this, being as the 70's through the mid 80's norlin era is the time in which gibson was really known to have gone down the toilet in a big way. I guess the current era is in itself kind of a tribute to that, so maybe it's appropriate. Well yes and no - I've owned Norlin-era stuff that has sucked balls and I've owned Norlin-era stuff that was fricking awesome. Crap shoot just like any other era. There are snobs that will condemn the whole period and that's fine by me - keeps the prices down. I bought my '78 Deluxe for way less than a new reissue would have cost me and it's a fabulous guitar with high quality woods used throughout. Weighs less than newer versions too - so that shoots that myth down as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members arthurdent'd Posted May 16, 2012 Members Share Posted May 16, 2012 the Firebirds probably have those awful super high output pickups in them, like the more recent Firebirds, which sound bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Texas Noise Factory Posted May 16, 2012 Members Share Posted May 16, 2012 Well yes and no - I've owned Norlin-era stuff that has sucked balls and I've owned Norlin-era stuff that was fricking awesome. Crap shoot just like any other era. There are snobs that will condemn the whole period and that's fine by me - keeps the prices down. I bought my '78 Deluxe for way less than a new reissue would have cost me and it's a fabulous guitar with high quality woods used throughout. Weighs less than newer versions too - so that shoots that myth down as well. I love my Norlin era Gibsons. I've got 5 of them. Three guitars, and two basses. They did build some good stuff during that era. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 I love my Norlin era Gibsons. I've got 5 of them. Three guitars, and two basses. They did build some good stuff during that era. Absolutely - and some dogs too. IMHO, it's the consistency, or the percentage of great guitars vs crap ones from each era that goes a long way towards their reputation. If the quality drops 10% in the 70s vs where it was at in the 50s or 60s, that's enough for people to notice - and to adversely affect the brand's reputation in that era. You can still have the normal fluctuations - all years have some good and bad individual guitars, relatively speaking - and a good Norlin era Gibson is still a very good guitar. Dare I say, just like today - a good Gibson is still a nice guitar. I was playing one as part of a review just a short while back. J-45. The thing smoked. It might not be popular to say that about a new Gibson, but I thought it was a great sounding guitar. I was impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AidyCM Posted May 16, 2012 Members Share Posted May 16, 2012 I have permission from my fiance to buy the firebird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members goaway Posted May 16, 2012 Members Share Posted May 16, 2012 Always wanted a gold top with mini hums. Might have to grab myself one of these Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dZjupp Posted May 16, 2012 Members Share Posted May 16, 2012 One of the earlier nice electric guitars that I was fortunate enough to spend considerable quality time with was an early 70s (73, IIRC) Les Paul Deluxe Goldtop. Mini humbuckers, surprisingly sweet neck... but it weighed a metric #$%-ton. Sucker was seriously heavy. Which kind of lead me to think about the whole Norlin era and how much it was (and to a degree still is) detested, and I thought... "why would they reissue the Norlin era stuff?" And then it occurred to me that not only were some of those guitars more than decent (despite their Norlin era origins), but that to the younger players (under 40) those are now "vintage" guitars that are older than they are... for guys like me, they were just regular old used guitars that were only a few years old by the time we started playing them in high school. Nice, but because they were five years old, we could buy them for less than what a new one would cost. Kind of like now... only with early 70s Fenders and Gibsons. And we would have been able to keep getting away with it too if it wasn't for all you meddling kids coming along and wanting one for yourself and driving up the prices! Still, for nostalgia's sake, I might just have to have a look at that 70s Tribute Goldtop. The whole Baked Maple thing and the maple neck both give me pause, but I'm willing to give it a fair shot before making any judgments. I hope they have 60s profile Slim-Taper necks. i almost bought a 76' les paul deluxe that was all maple. i've only seen a few of them ever, but the top and the fretboard had a maple finish and the thing weighed so much i couldn't see my back sporting it, this was even when i was about 18. you know its bad when even that young you think its too heavy. man it sure did look sweet though.i've never been a fan of mini hums, ever, just don't like them...these tributes (all eras) are prob what is keeping gibby afloat right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members frankthomson Posted May 16, 2012 Members Share Posted May 16, 2012 like this??^^^ (but i NEVER saw a Dlx in all maple...???) Baked maple? not interested, unless it was burned by Jimi or somethingthis.so u get the HUGE headstock too??was it made from like 15 pcs of scrap wood, too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orourke Posted May 16, 2012 Members Share Posted May 16, 2012 Are they bringing back the volute? I've always felt it's what saved this '72 SG headstock from cracking off when I wacked it into the wall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GuitarSlim101 Posted May 16, 2012 Members Share Posted May 16, 2012 Hmmm, there's a few of those I wouldn't mind giving a spin. Like that red SG I have a Norlin era LP Standard that, aside from weighing a metric {censored}ton, is an awesome guitar. It has the three piece maple neck. I have never had to adjust the truss rod. I don't think I've even had the truss rod cover off. When I got it in 2006, it had 9s and was tuned down to Eb. I put 12s in standard on it and the neck didn't move at all. It was a nice contrast to the smartwood LP studio that I also had at the time (and wish I had never sold), which would need the truss rod adjusted if you breathed on it. I have done a lot of things to that guitar, though, and have some more planned for the next couple of weeks. I'm going to refinish the top in a honey/iced tea burst (or whatever the hell they call the lighter brownish burst) under shellac, replace the full size humbuckers with either P90s, minihums, or a combination thereof, and refret it. I just need to figure out what I want to do for pickups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members erksin Posted May 16, 2012 Members Share Posted May 16, 2012 Hmmm, there's a few of those I wouldn't mind giving a spin. Like that red SG I have a Norlin era LP Standard that, aside from weighing a metric {censored}ton, is an awesome guitar. It has the three piece maple neck. I have never had to adjust the truss rod. I don't think I've even had the truss rod cover off. When I got it in 2006, it had 9s and was tuned down to Eb. I put 12s in standard on it and the neck didn't move at all. It was a nice contrast to the smartwood LP studio that I also had at the time (and wish I had never sold), which would need the truss rod adjusted if you breathed on it. I have done a lot of things to that guitar, though, and have some more planned for the next couple of weeks. I'm going to refinish the top in a honey/iced tea burst (or whatever the hell they call the lighter brownish burst) under shellac, replace the full size humbuckers with either P90s, minihums, or a combination thereof, and refret it. I just need to figure out what I want to do for pickups. The routs aren't wide enough for P-90s - you can do mini hums though. They will need a different style mounting ring than what came on the Deluxes. My buddy dropped a Firebird mini in the neck of his Standard using a special ring he had made and it sounds cool to me. And hells yes regarding the truss rod on those '70s multi-piece necks - I haven't touched mine since the guitar was set up in 2005. NORLINS4LYFE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GuitarSlim101 Posted May 16, 2012 Members Share Posted May 16, 2012 The routs aren't wide enough for P-90s - you can do mini hums though. They will need a different style mounting ring than what came on the Deluxes. My buddy dropped a Firebird mini in the neck of his Standard using a special ring he had made and it sounds cool to me. And hells yes regarding the truss rod on those '70s multi-piece necks - I haven't touched mine since the guitar was set up in 2005. NORLINS4LYFE Yeah, I know the routes won't work for P90s as is, but I have some scraps of maple left over from a recent neck build that have a pretty similar grain pattern to the top on my guitar, so I may just fill in and re-route for P90s. Or maybe I'll do the Firebird bridge/P90 neck Neil Young combination. Already have the Bigsby. Hmmm.... -edit- I suppose a pic of the guitar in its current state wouldn't hurt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members erksin Posted May 16, 2012 Members Share Posted May 16, 2012 I'd kill for an Old Black replica! Would look weird to me in a non-Black finish though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GuitarSlim101 Posted May 16, 2012 Members Share Posted May 16, 2012 Yeah, that's why I'm leaning towards using two P90s. And I have been wanting to give that new pickup winder a spin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members poolshark Posted May 16, 2012 Members Share Posted May 16, 2012 FYI, The Music Zoo claims to have the Les Pauls in stock. Minus the goldtop, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hivedestruction Posted May 16, 2012 Members Share Posted May 16, 2012 They're on zzounds.com as well with a ship date of June 8th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Faldoe Posted May 16, 2012 Members Share Posted May 16, 2012 get the vintage stuff while you can. can't be beat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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