Rare Norlin Les Paul Deluxe

[Triplet]

How is this not a three-legged dog pump and dump thread ?

 

[Bryansamui]

How is this not a three-legged dog pump and dump thread ?

I'm not selling it ,if thats what you're inferring?..I'll be moving on a brand new ( never retailed) 1998 standard /gold hardware to fund this one..

 

[Big Al]

It's a thick maple cap...A good half inch or so ..Since taken to a Luthier who said it's original not a ReTop....I wondered if it may have been a Goldtop (scraped) as the finish is in remarkably good shape?.. He confirmed that was impossible as you can never eliminate 100 % of gold from the guitar..Always tell tale signs somewhere like in cavities etc.
He's as good an expert on Gibson as the next guy and suggested they'd possibly run out of wood for the day and used this to fulfil an order...There are a few mineral streaks running through it, it doesn't book match perfectly , so albeit it is highly figured,it probably wouldn't make the grade for a celebrity or custom Instrument. It's probably "B Grade" highly figured maple .
..

You think I don't know how thick a maple top is? You think your unnamed expert has been inside more Norlin Les Pauls? Like I said, it would clearly have to have a maple veneer, or more correctly, a thin maple layer between the thick top and body mahogany. I own a beyond rare mid 70's bookmatched flame maple Kalamazoo made Standard in factory Viceroy Brown with gold hardware Strings and Things Standard. The only one ever made in that finish. I know how they are built. Your pals story is just dumbass speculation. Also I've personaly seen well over a dozen, bookmatched flame top Nashville Deluxes including 4 Lefties, not counting the three piece flame tops like Steve Craws beauty. The guitar was certainly a sunburst Deluxeand back is original. Top seems not, with available pics.

 

[Bryansamui]

You think I don't know how thick a maple top is? You think your unnamed expert has been inside more Norlin Les Pauls? Like I said, it would clearly have to have a maple veneer, or more correctly, a thin maple layer between the thick top and body mahogany. I own a beyond rare mid 70's bookmatched flame maple Kalamazoo made Standard in factory Viceroy Brown with gold hardware Strings and Things Standard. The only one ever made in that finish. I know how they are built. Your pals story is just dumbass speculation. Also I've personaly seen well over a dozen, bookmatched flame top Nashville Deluxes including 4 Lefties, not counting the three piece flame tops like Steve Craws beauty. The guitar was certainly a sunburst Deluxeand back is original. Top seems not, with available pics.

You're an over sensitive little soul .Sorry to ruin your day. Take your abrasive attitude somewhere else Mr "Know it all"

 

[Big Al]

You're an over sensitive little soul .Sorry to ruin your day. Take your abrasive attitude somewhere else Mr "Know it all"

Whose abusing you you thick headed numbskull. There are questions about this guitar, no matter how much you try to pump it up. Instead of repeating how thick the damn top is or bullshit drivel about running out of wood from some ????? what, expert. Try reading and answering the questions posed and get your panties on straight. Save the bullshit for the Reverb ad.

 

[Bryansamui]

Whose abusing you you thick headed numbskull. There are questions about this guitar, no matter how much you try to pump it up. Instead of repeating how thick the damn top is or bullshit drivel about running out of wood from some ????? what, expert. Try reading and answering the questions posed and get your panties on straight. Save the bullshit for the Reverb ad.

You're on Drugs...It's not for sale. ...I'll delete the thread..It's got out of hand ..

 

[guitplayer]

Big Al knows.

 

[Bryansamui]

Big Al knows.

He probably does know , but he's pretty abrasive in his comments.Hes hardly warm and friendly....I'm not an expert in this Deluxe LP area and he may well be, hence why I asked if people had seen one like it. ( I hadn't in my Shop)
My expertise lies in a very different area (Jimmy Pages Les Paul )having known one of his early 70s techs .

 

[fred dons]

I have seen retopped deluxes but these were all routed for full humbuckers and not mini hums, and the ones I have seen had poorly carved tops, without having the guitar in hand I would not state that the guitar is or isnt a retop but it is a very pretty top and certainly an anomaly

 

[renderit]

Big Al's abrasiveness is legend.

Shark Skin is modeled after him.

After Big Al opines some rush to "polish the finish".

I personally think the Finnish are un-polishable.

But that is another subject.

There is rumor that there is a valley filled with soles who did not listen to him.

It is called "Butt-Hurt From Big Al Valley".

But that is a rumor and should not be repeated, which is why I did.

I won't tell you to listen, I won't tell you to speak.

Just sit in the info and let it soak in and decide if it feels right.

I do that each time I fart as well so it is GOOD advice.

 

[gibson-r8]

If Big Al tells you a chicken dips snuff you can look under its wing for the box.

 

[Wilko]

All '74 Les Pauls have 1/2" thick maple tops with that layer under the top that is visible in your last pic.

Very odd that it is center-seamed and has minis.

Clear pics of headstock front and back. neck pickup cavity, control cavity can help figure it out.

 

[GlassSnuff]

It looks like an Ibanez.

 

[guitplayer]

Maple looks like maple not used during that time

 

[Bob Womack]

By the way, here is another '74 Deluxe that has been reworked:

That is Andrew Latimer of Camel and his '74 Deluxe with an entirely new two-piece flamey maple cap, PAFs, a new fingerboard with additional crown inlay, a knurled neck pickup volume knob, and a new headstock overlay with a swallow inlay added. You can see the pancake body and '70s cutaway binding in some shots during the concert. The guitar sounds lovely.

Bob

 

[SpencerD]

Yeah

It would behoove a person to pay attention to that Big Al dude.

I'm just sayin'

 

[seafood]

 

[Bryansamui]

More info: Spoke with last owner.Hes done no gigs with the instrument. Bought it used approx 5 yrs old around 1979..He's done nothing to the instrument in the 43 yrs he's owned it. The case is like new with no marks, albeit with patina on the latches and Gibson Logo quite faded..The last owner wasn't a shark. Elderly in his 80s who led a simple life..Nothing to suggest he wasn't genuine.

 

[garywright]

Could it be a case of them just using what they had that day to fill an order? it's really pretty!

I Seriously doubt that

 

[Bryansamui]

I Seriously doubt that

Who knows..If anything was done to it, it's been done between 74 and 79, when it was fairly new...My gut feeling is ,it had probably just been made like this..It's no big deal, there are plenty of Gibson oddities here and there over the years..Im not selling it ,it any case, but if it got sold in 2074 by my Grandkids as a 100 yr old guitar, it could be sold in good faith as a regular original Deluxe.