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Any tips on dating parts for vintage Gibsons?

Strange_brew

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Hello! does anyone reading this know a good website that helps you to date/authenticate vintage Gibson parts?
Regards Jackie
 
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Bruce R

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Many places to buy vintage parts, but authenticating is another matter. Reverb may be a good place to see what some people are trying to sell them for, but what they actually pay (value) varies on market factors.
 
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Strange_brew

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Thank you for the reply :)
You are probably right; Reverb has allot of sellers that sells quite a bit of vintage parts, so hopefully there are some sellers that have good descriptions and pictures of parts so I can compare;

I recently bought some black Les Paul standard parts that was said to be from the 60s including a poker chip, pickgaurd, backplates and pickup rings + reflector knobs. The pickup rings are M8s so hopefully the rest of the parts are vintage as well.
 
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Wally

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Feb 27, 2003
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Thank you for the reply :)
You are probably right; Reverb has allot of sellers that sells quite a bit of vintage parts, so hopefully there are some sellers that have good descriptions and pictures of parts so I can compare;

I recently bought some black Les Paul standard parts that was said to be from the mid 60s including a poker chip, pickgaurd, backplates and pickup rings + reflector knobs. The pickup rings are M8s so hopefully the rest of the parts are vintage as well.
“from the mid 60#”...that did not happen. There were no Les Pauls in the mid ‘60s. The SG-bodied Les Paul was introduced in 1961.
The Les Paul form that was discontinued after 1960 was re-introduced in 1968. So, those parts might be from the late ‘60s....hopefully.
 

Strange_brew

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“from the mid 60#”...that did not happen. There were no Les Pauls in the mid ‘60s. The SG-bodied Les Paul was introduced in 1961.
The Les Paul form that was discontinued after 1960 was re-introduced in 1968. So, those parts might be from the late ‘60s....hopefully.
I am very new to vintage guitars, so that is interesting to learn and it explains allot :) Just remembered that seller that I bought the parts from said that they had been put on his guitar as replacements during the later 60s, so it al seems to come together.
 

Strange_brew

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https://ibb.co/rQF3jRs

These are the parts in question, I will sell them once I am sure on the dates, so if anyone is looking for parts for a Les Paul project and is interested in these, they are up for grabs;
 
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blueline

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“from the mid 60#”...that did not happen. There were no Les Pauls in the mid ‘60s. The SG-bodied Les Paul was introduced in 1961.
The Les Paul form that was discontinued after 1960 was re-introduced in 1968. So, those parts might be from the late ‘60s....hopefully.
Not correct. the Les Paul standard continued into 1963. The new style was introduced in 1960. not 61 . There were no SGs standards until 1963.
 

Wally

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Not correct. the Les Paul standard continued into 1963. The new style was introduced in 1960. not 61 . There were no SGs standards until 1963.
The Les Paul model persevered, but the body shape went to the double cutaway, beveled edge ’SG’ body in 1961. You can do the research if you want. I got my first Gibson electric in 1963....a white ‘SG’ body Les Paul Jr with a Vibrola. I wish I still had it, but I traded it in June, 1967 for a new 1966 ES-345TDC in cherry red, which I still have.
 

Strange_brew

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The Les Paul model persevered, but the body shape went to the double cutaway, beveled edge ’SG’ body in 1961. You can do the research if you want. I got my first Gibson electric in 1963....a white ‘SG’ body Les Paul Jr with a Vibrola. I wish I still had it, but I traded it in June, 1967 for a new 1966 ES-345TDC in cherry red, which I still have.
That is pretty cool, was the vibrola any good on your white SG? And the headstock was it alright? or did it always dive for the ground? would really like to know because I am planning to save up for a 60s SG, Im 18 right now so it will probably take sometime before I can afford one..
 

fernieite

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file:///Users/ad58620/Desktop/Ska%CC%88rmavbild%202021-02-05%20kl.%2011.53.03.png

These are the parts in question, I will sell them once I am sure on the dates, so if anyone is looking for parts for a Les Paul project and is interested in these, they are up for grabs;
Are the pictures visible to anyone here? I don't see any.
 

Wally

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That is pretty cool, was the vibrola any good on your white SG? And the headstock was it alright? or did it always dive for the ground? would really like to know because I am planning to save up for a 60s SG, Im 18 right now so it will probably take sometime before I can afford one..
I have never had any problem with an SG diving that way. Perhaps I started out as a happy idiot and have never changed. ??.
if it were a problem, I would use a few small lead weights in a pouch on the butt end of the strap to balance it out because it is hard to get that sound from anything else.
The Vibrola is a stable unit, ime. It doesn’t do any radical up or down, and the steel spring metal goes back to where it started, ime.
 

Strange_brew

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Never thought about adding weight to the end of the strap, nice tip. Have had that problem with my current guitar so I will try ir out :)
Regarding the vibrola I have heard from some people having problems with it on their SG, however it have been with some later ones from the 70s;
will just hope on getting one where the vibrola is stable and stays in tune;
 

blueline

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The Les Paul model persevered, but the body shape went to the double cutaway, beveled edge ’SG’ body in 1961. You can do the research if you want. I got my first Gibson electric in 1963....a white ‘SG’ body Les Paul Jr with a Vibrola. I wish I still had it, but I traded it in June, 1967 for a new 1966 ES-345TDC in cherry red, which I still have.
Ok I did my research I found out that that body style that Gibson went with on the new Les Paul Standard was called new style or the "LP New" not SG and was produced in 1960 and again not as you state 1961. There are several examples of the 1960 new style Les Paul on this very site just do a search. The term SG never referred to a body style in the Gibson world.. It is sloppy convention to call Les Paul models that have double cutaways SGs as this convention appears to be based on the actual SG models of the late 60s &70s
 

Wally

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Ok I did my research I found out that that body style that Gibson went with on the new Les Paul Standard was called new style or the "LP New" not SG and was produced in 1960 and again not as you state 1961. There are several examples of the 1960 new style Les Paul on this very site just do a search. The term SG never referred to a body style in the Gibson world.. It is sloppy convention to call Les Paul models that have double cutaways SGs as this convention appears to be based on the actual SG models of the late 60s &70s

The thick bodied SG, which was used on What was the slab-bodied Les Paul Junior and Les Paul Special, was much different from the thinner, beveled edged ‘SG’ bodied guitar that was introduced in 1961 and has been in constant production since then. The beveled-edged Les Paul that was introduced in 1961 was renamed circa 1963 because Les Paul did not care for his name to be used on the guitar because he did not care for the guitar...he therefor chose not to gather the payment for that use of his name.
Here is a good basic history for your consideration....
 
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