1980 Heritage Les Paul Elite Burst

[Old-Guy]

1980 Heritage Les Paul Elite Burst
Hey Gang,

I know nothing about Norlin era Guitars but I just checked out a 1980 Heritage Orange Burst and I loved it ebony boad 9.5 condition. I can have this guitar for $3,300 canadian. What do you all think. I know it's a Norlin but boy does it play well.


Old-Guy

 

[Dave G]

My brother had in in the early 80's. It was an incredible guitar. Played and sounded fantastic. These are going up in value.

 

[Tiddles]

Several guys here have Heritage-80’s, & most seem to like them (inc. me). Of course $3300Can. is a fair lump of dosh (approx $2700US), & at that price many here will tell you to get a new-ish R8 or R9 instead. Personally I much prefer older guitars, so I’d always buy the Heritage (assuming it plays & sounds good, as you say).

There used to be a good article here by Mike Slub on H80 (& Guitar Trader, J.Wallace models etc.), but that seems to have disappeared. But briefly … Heritage-80 was one of Gibson’s first “pre-Historic” attempts to get away from Norlin era pancakes & volutes etc, trying to re-create best features of the original 1958-60 bursts, some here will complain about things like the cutaway being too sharp (which is true) but in most aspects they succeeded pretty well in my opinion …again if you try a search you’ll find a recent thread in which guys variously expressed opinion for and against.

Overall … interesting guitar which is becoming quite collectable as part of Gibson’s pre-Historic period (and as "Dave G" says…values rising) ... $2700 is good price if guitar has all-original fittings (especially the Tim Shaw pups … try a search here for info. from Big Al on how to id & verify these). The unusual features make it readily identifiable & should be no danger of unscrupulous or uninformed sellers misrepresenting the guitar, eg sharp cutaway, ebony board (on Elite), additional 4 digit production number (rear of headstock) …original fittings inc. Grover Kidney tuners & Nashville bridge. :2cents as always .

Ian.

 

[MikeSlub]

Very nice guitars. Here's a link to an article that discusses these guitars, along with other pre-reissue LPs:

http://www.lespaulforum.com/slubarticle/59reissues/59reissuearticle.html

 

[fast ricky love]

Anyone out there prefer H-80's to Historics?

If so, why? I've had a number of H-80's in the past and I don't know if it's just nostalgia or the true tone of those guitars that still has me wishing I hadn't parted with mine... Help!