• Guys, we've spent considerable money converting the Les Paul Forum to this new XenForo platform, and we have ongoing monthly operating expenses. THE "DONATIONS" TAB IS NOW WORKING, AND WE WOULD APPRECIATE ANY DONATIONS YOU CAN MAKE TO KEEP THE LES PAUL FORUM GOING! Thank you!

Les Paul Identification

SethBrundle

New member
Joined
Apr 20, 2021
Messages
2
Hi guys,

Not sure if this is in the right forum but I would like help identifying this LP. I was kindly given it by a friend who's husband sadly passed away. I'm interestested to know when it was made and a rough value if possible. I put the serial number (back of the headstock) on an online serial number decoder, which brought up models from the 50s to present day! The serial number is 66797.

Looks like it's seen a fair bit of action. The mounting ring on the bridge pup doesn't look stock. There are two strange drilled holes, one on the underside of the guitar near the binding and the other on the front underneath the last couple of frets. Also very bizarrely, the inlays on the 12th and particularly the 21st fret have been coloured in red, badly. Lastly the finish on the front is quite worn away, with minimal varnish left, whilst the rest of the body and back of the next is pristine...also odd! I've uploaded some pics to help identification. Thanks in advance for any help that can be offered and apologies if this is in the wrong place.

Blair

IMG_20210420_121131304_HDR.jpg
IMG_20210420_121223929_HDR.jpg
IMG_20210420_121315993_HDR.jpg
IMG_20210420_121359325_HDR.jpg
IMG_20210420_121451337_HDR.jpg
IMG_20210420_121523311_HDR.jpg
IMG_20210420_121606835_HDR.jpg
IMG_20210420_121625986_HDR.jpg
 

SethBrundle

New member
Joined
Apr 20, 2021
Messages
2
I have just discovered through some research that this is a fake! How dissapointing. I would delete this thread but have no idea how to.
 

Cody

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 23, 2002
Messages
4,494
The inlays, the open book on the headstock, tailpiece placement, knob placement... it doesn’t look like anything Gibson made.
 

Cody

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 23, 2002
Messages
4,494
On Larry Carlton’s 335, there is a spot you could have put the tailpiece that would look “correct”.

This guitar has no such spot. Let’s assume that the bridge is in the right place for its scale length (or the intonation would be completely off). For the tailpiece to be positioned where it lines up correctly to the vol/tone controls, it would be right up against the bridge; in other words, the controls also appear to be misaligned for a Gibson.

The bridge pickup is too far from the bridge. Usually, on a conversion, the bridge pickup ends up either too close to the bridge, or (with a wood patch) in the right location. I see no wood patch, and the top also doesn’t appear to have a ‘50s dish. The headstock doesn’t have glued-on “wings”, so the neck construction is wrong for a Gibson.

Even if the mahogany body turned out to be old Gibson (don’t hold your breath until you look closely at the shape of the cutaway), you’d still have a reneck/retop that would need to be re-renecked and -topped to get close to being right, and you’d still have some extra holes to fill, including a front strap button that’s in the wrong spot. Might as well buy a switch plate cover with 3 screws while you’re at it.

All the things that are wrong with the body look a lot more like Japanese copies I’ve seen, as does the inlay material. Here’s a Greco:


fnmyegvbp5e3qim8jp7x.jpg
 

Big Al

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 24, 2002
Messages
14,537
Are you sure it´s a fake?. I´m not saying it isn´t, but I would not rule out the possebility, that it MIGHT be a 1952-1953 LP converted to 1959 specs. Clearly some of the parts are wrong (White 2 screw cover on the toggelse switch cavity), and the mounting ring for the lead pu is obviously also wrong. The tuners also look quite new, and clearly the serial number is wrong.
But the Gibson logo is positioned fairly low on the headstock, just like on the early Les Pauls, and that is something I have not yet seen on a fake. The height of the tune-o-matic also suggests the low neck angle that was common on the early Les Pauls, which originally had a trapeze tailpiece. Are there any screwholes on the bottom of the guitar, near the strap buttom? (That would indicate a previously mounted trapeze). But almost the most important part, there is a lot of the usual tells of a fake that I´m NOT seeing on your guitar.
The two "strange" holes on the side and on the top, are for the scratchplate, so nothing strange about them.
Anyway, if you want anybody to give an educated guess, then we´ll need MUCH better photos. Photos of the control cavity and the pu cavities (Espescially the neck cavity), would also be helpful.
Are you flippin' kidding with this dumb ass post? I don't think you know enough about these guitars to give any advice. TELLS???? Everything on that guitar is a tell. WTF!!! Unless you know what is what don't give out this completely wrong and incorrect nonsense, some poor bastard might be fooled by the way you present this bullshit and get ripped off.

Try this, "Gee, I don't know, ('cause you clearly haven't even a basic clue)", but could that be a modified Gibson?"
Then someone who KNOWS will answer. But in this case with such a blatent Chibson, which clearly has obvious tells a post like yours is best left unsaid.
 
Top