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1979 Gibson Les Paul, before pulling the trigger...

leyoculta

By leyoculta
in Electric Guitars

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leyoculta Newbie

leyoculta

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Hi,

I'm about to pull the trigger on a 1979 Gibson les paul, found it over an ad (not the auction site). It's about one and a half hours drive from where I live. I'd have to go over there to pick it up (guy not shipping).

 

I'm in contact with the guy selling. The serial number looks legit (checked it), got a bunch of photos too.

 

Got any advice on what I should look for when testing it? I mean to tell if it's really a Gibson LP custom? (maybe the serial alone is guarantee enough)

 

To test if a guitar is for me or not I'm ok. I can tell if it "feels" good, but to know the details or if something is "authentic" in just in a few minutes... well I could for sure use some help.

 

Looks like a really good deal, but would hate to rush into it and get burned.

Any comments appreciated.

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LIVEWIRE Newbie

LIVEWIRE

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Check the controls cavity it should not be painted also there should be a metal box for lack of a better term "hiding" the pots.
also the neck should have the "volute" behind the nut where the headsock meets the neck,also the headstock will be of the larger variety of the norlin les pauls. also the neck may be either maple or mahogany and the body may also be of the pancake style two pieces of mahogany with a slice of maple between then so if you see those things dont freak out as they were par for the era. hope this helps.

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Wyatt Newbie

Wyatt

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Well, I would try it before buying.

 

It probably weights close to 12 lbs., which would be a dealbreaker for me.

 

The best thing to do is familiarize yourself with the appointments a '79 LP should have, but don't consider them set in stone, back then each guitar was made by hand and there is a lot of variety. And give it a good going over for wear and tear, if it looks 30 years old, it's probably real.

 

The pictures look good, but they are small and don't show any detail.

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onelife Veteran

onelife

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It looks good to me - I bought a LP Custom new in 1978 and, apart from the finish your pictures look very similar - I even removed one of the tone pots so I could put in a mini-toggle to switch the pickups to single coil.

 

One thing to look for on a Gibson is the smaller posts that the bridge sits on. If you compare a Gibson to an Epiphone or most other imports you will notice that there is a difference at the bridge that is easy to spot.

 

My '78 was extremely heavy - it was difficult to carry over any distance if I wanted to walk to rehearsal or to the gig.

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ColoradoFenderB Newbie

ColoradoFenderB

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The case looks real.. I have one just like it. It will say Gibson in silver letters right over where the guitar controls are.



Are you referring to case shipped with recent guitars? In 1979, I think the case was brown. Also, that one looks cheap.

EDIT: Just did some research online and it appears the Gibson cases in 1979 were plastic on the outside - this is a 1979 LP:

!B-+g5KwEGk~$(KGrHqZ,!i4EzM9MHYg0BM-TcFk

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leyoculta Newbie

leyoculta

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Found a difference. In a picture I got, the back of the headstock does have the serial number carved (maybe a bit worn) but there's no visible "Made in U.S.A." as in the one posted above from elderly:

31U-482_headstock-back.jpg

Something to worry about? Could be nothing. Maybe it just faded or it was a bad pic. Or, could be they just weren't so standardized when building them back then.

Other than that, the headstock from the back looks the same to my eyes.

At the moment I'm convinced enough to try it out. In the end it'll come down to that. Just checking if there was something obvious to others that wasn't clear to me. So far, so good... actually really good.

====
PS: sorry for not posting the headstock pic, it's not my guitar (at least not yet) and that photo was not online.

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cratz2 Newbie

cratz2

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I'd ask for a pic of the back of the headstock shot at such at angle as to show the Made In USA imprint.

 

I'm not really a Les Paul guy, but I had a friend when I lived in Texas and he WAS a Les Paul guy and I bet I handled and played at least 100 LPs each year at the big vintage guitar show they have there and a lot of them were during the 'bad' Gibson years and many of those 78 - 82 Pauls were unbelievably heavy. At the last local show here in Indy I played a beautiful LP Supreme (I forget the year) and I fully bet it weighed 14 lbs. 12 or 13 for sure.

 

In the late 80s, they almost couldn't give those things away.

 

:lol:

 

Just something to expect before you drive 150 miles and get surprised. But some guys don't mind. Randy Rhoads was a little bitty guy and his famous Paul weight 13 lbs or so.

 

:idk:

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