heinz
Sonic Engineer
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- Jul 15, 2001
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2 of a kind
- Thread starter heinz
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Ed Rafalko
Les Paul Forum Member
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'Interesting' that they were 'all made in the Custom Shop' in the years 1975 to 1979- when teh Custom Shop didn't even exist until 1983.
Tonefiend
Fiendish One
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I could have sworn those sold for a few hundred less than a regular production LP from the same years just a few years ago due to the gaudi factor. I wonder if the bids are legit?
Some clarification is in order. I know Abe Wechter personally. He was Richard's apprentice in the 70's & 80's. Richard was hired by Gibson to help develop the Kasha braced Mark Series Acoustics that never really took off. Abe was brought into the Gibson fold by Richard to also help develop the Mark Series. When at Gibson, Abe met John Mc Laughlin and subsequently went on to build the drone string prototypes for him. Abe went out on his own shortly after meeting him (Mc Laughlin) and built other versions of the drone string guitars. He now lives in Paw Paw Michigan and builds the Pathmaker Guitars.
The Zemaitis is a legit price although the 2 that I have seen in person went for about 15-16k each. Dont know about that LP though. Back in the late 1970's I had one called "The Paul" which was a way stripped down LP, this one looks like a stripped down custom, could be from the same series
MikeSlub
Administrator
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"The Les Paul" is indeed worth $10-12 thousand in the market. They were handcrafted guitars - the binding, the knobs, the pickguard, everything was hand made. The Austrian flame maple is exquisite. These were the only LPs with flame maple laminate on the front and back of the guitar (which also adds considerably to their weight). They did indeed sell for $3k back in 1976-79. The facts that he has indicated in his ad are all very accurate, with the exception of the fact that they were made in the Kalamazoo factory (there wasn't a Custom Shop then, as Ed points out), but they were handled separately from the rest of the production, and many of the wood parts were outsourced as indicated. These guitars look awesome and sound great. They came in natural, like the one pictured, and a wine red color. It is rare that one comes available on the market. Gruhn had a natural and wine red one about a year ago, both went for over $10k.
Tony V
"The Les Paul" is as Mike described it. "The Paul", however, was a humbucker-equipped flat-top budget guitar made of solid walnut. That's probably what you had. Gibson later made a thin, carved top, mahogany budget guitar called "The Paul II". I own one of those.
(Editor's note: This post was originally directed to MikeSlub, 'coz I didn't look at the site first and thought he was replying to Tony V. I have since looked at the site and realized my error. I here apologise to MikeSlub and direct this post to Tony V. Also, the post has been changed a little.)
"The Les Paul" is as Mike described it. "The Paul", however, was a humbucker-equipped flat-top budget guitar made of solid walnut. That's probably what you had. Gibson later made a thin, carved top, mahogany budget guitar called "The Paul II". I own one of those.
(Editor's note: This post was originally directed to MikeSlub, 'coz I didn't look at the site first and thought he was replying to Tony V. I have since looked at the site and realized my error. I here apologise to MikeSlub and direct this post to Tony V. Also, the post has been changed a little.)
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