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Where are they now...

Danny W.

Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2010
Messages
106
I once owned a bunch of Gibsons from the '80's. Here are some of them, no longer have either guitars or serial numbers:

355 with hearts & flowers inlay, '82 I think:

h3vnu5I.jpg


L-5S in antique natural, no volute, 1983, best one I'd owned (had 6):



Wlsjk2z.jpg




Custom Shop ES-355 in very dark cherry. A fabulous guitar!

4X23Tsf.jpg


ES-357 (ES-Mitch), one-off, I think, with ES-355 trim instead of ES-347:

5pQxZD6.jpg


25th Anniversary Johnny Smith I bought from Johnny himself, 1985, nice looking, but not best Smith I'd owned:

5Fx16j8.jpg



Another 25th anniversaru I also bought from Johnny in 1988. I don't remember anything about it, but I have photos and correspondence:
eqcdSYw.jpg




Danny W.
 

Strings Jr.

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 17, 2016
Messages
670
Hello Danny. Those are some fabulous guitars :dude:

It would have been very hard for me to let go of that L-5S.

I think that all of those guitars were built in Kalamazoo, with the possible exception of the wine red ES-355.
And the only reason I say that is because it appears to have PAF stickers on the pickup rings.
I always assumed the stickers were a Nashville thing. Anyone know if Kalamazoo used them too?
 
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Danny W.

Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2010
Messages
106
Hello Danny. Those are some fabulous guitars :dude:

It would have been very hard for me to let go of that L-5S.

I think that all of those guitars were built in Kalamazoo, with the possible exception of the wine red ES-355.
And the only reason I say that is because it appears to have PAF stickers on the pickup rings.
I always assumed the stickers were a Nashville thing. Anyone know if Kalamazoo used them too?

I posted guitars built during the transition years--also had many from late '80's through mid '90's. I could post some of those if you'd like to see them.

As nice as that blonde L5S was I mostly like to play semi's for stand-up gigs--about 22 years ago I sold all of my solids.

Here's the serial # for the WR ES-355:

hv2JET1.jpg



Danny W.
 

Strings Jr.

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 17, 2016
Messages
670
I posted guitars built during the transition years--also had many from late '80's through mid '90's. I could post some of those if you'd like to see them.

As nice as that blonde L5S was I mostly like to play semi's for stand-up gigs--about 22 years ago I sold all of my solids.

Here's the serial # for the WR ES-355:

hv2JET1.jpg



Danny W.
Looks like I was right. It is a Nashville guitar.
In fact, I built it on February 11th, 1985.

 

Danny W.

Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2010
Messages
106
Looks like I was right. It is a Nashville guitar.
In fact, I built it on February 11th, 1985.


That was really an excellent guitar--if I had kept an ES-355 it probably would have been that one.

Here are a couple of later ones, also excellent guitars:



7GVcK9S.jpg



qLMbU20.jpg



Serial on the next one looks like 92845000 or 5008
KVHAwN4.jpg



Serial number on next one was 94012382:
i8zQ5RB.jpg


All those guitars were wonderful--if I still played the 355, I'd be happy with any one!

Danny W.
 

Satch0922

New member
Joined
Jun 24, 2020
Messages
5
Hello Randy,

Just stumbled upon this thread and wanted to know if you had any history on my 1988 Reissue Gold Top Serial 8 - 0543. This guitar is a beast and has been through hell. Sounds amazing and plays like a dream. Just curious more than anything about its origin. It was refretted and Plek'd by Joe Glaser in Nashville.

Thanks!
ZBnhRuyh.jpg
8HoQjcIh.jpg
bGiPi5dh.jpg
ixhIecah.jpg
 

Strings Jr.

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 17, 2016
Messages
670
Hello Randy,

Just stumbled upon this thread and wanted to know if you had any history on my 1988 Reissue Gold Top Serial 8 - 0543. This guitar is a beast and has been through hell. Sounds amazing and plays like a dream. Just curious more than anything about its origin. It was refretted and Plek'd by Joe Glaser in Nashville.

Thanks!
Hello Satch, and welcome to the forum.

By 1988 I had moved on to building carved tops and then doing Final Inspection. There were many versions of the LP "re-issue" in the early / mid 80's. Most had similar features, but the final version was known internally as Special #130. It remained the "normal" re-issue version into the 90's with features such as nickel hardware, ABR bridge, thin binding in the cutaway, amber switch tip, taller bridge pickup mounting ring, open b and open o in the logo, and the LP Model decal moved up closer to the logo.

No wonder it has been played so much. They were great guitars!!

Thanks for sharing.
 

Elmore

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 10, 2003
Messages
1,853
Satch, that is a beauty. I have an 87 prehistoric/standard that I will never let go. Same deep dish top.
 

Satch0922

New member
Joined
Jun 24, 2020
Messages
5
Thank you Randy!

Hello Satch, and welcome to the forum.

By 1988 I had moved on to building carved tops and then doing Final Inspection. There were many versions of the LP "re-issue" in the early / mid 80's. Most had similar features, but the final version was known internally as Special #130. It remained the "normal" re-issue version into the 90's with features such as nickel hardware, ABR bridge, thin binding in the cutaway, amber switch tip, taller bridge pickup mounting ring, open b and open o in the logo, and the LP Model decal moved up closer to the logo.

No wonder it has been played so much. They were great guitars!!

Thanks for sharing.
 

Medinamario2000

New member
Joined
Jun 26, 2020
Messages
3
Hello String Jr. I dont have the word to explain how much I have learned from you. This thread fells like a good book you never want to put down. I also have a question for you, I have a Gibson Les Paul custom from 1987 with a bridge I have never seen on another custom. Other then that it is a normal custom but plays amazing the serial number is 82937565. I hope this helps I am trying to figure out how to upload pictures. Thank you for all you have shared.
 

class5lp

Well-known member
Joined
May 10, 2005
Messages
1,629
You know you mentioned the name Jim "Hutch" Hutchin's and it made me think of the time I met this wonderful man on my very first trip to the custom shop. I believe it was Phillip "Big Daddy" Whorton that introduced me to him if I remember correctly but it could have been Trish or Rick Gembar. Just cant remember for certain. At any rate Hutch was one of the nicest men you could ever want to meet. Truly a class act all the way. He made you feel warmed and welcome and was a genuine fellow. In the short time I spent with him he gave me an education on arch top building that was incredible. When I got home I ordered a Gibson Byrdland Florentine and it was built by Hutch and he signed the orange label inside. Just a killer guitar.

Here is some trivia for you! Most people dont know this and may not even care but Hutch was from Michigan and started with Gibson like in the 70's when they were in Kalamazoo and dig this. He started out at Gibson as a handy man/janitor and had no guitar building experience what so ever.

R.I.P. Hutch
 

Strings Jr.

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 17, 2016
Messages
670
Hello String Jr. I dont have the word to explain how much I have learned from you. This thread fells like a good book you never want to put down. I also have a question for you, I have a Gibson Les Paul custom from 1987 with a bridge I have never seen on another custom. Other then that it is a normal custom but plays amazing the serial number is 82937565. I hope this helps I am trying to figure out how to upload pictures. Thank you for all you have shared.
Hello and welcome to the forum.

I'm not aware of any bridge used on the LP Customs at that time other than the normal Nashville Tune-o-matic.

Looking forward to seeing some pictures.

Thanks!
 

Strings Jr.

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 17, 2016
Messages
670
You know you mentioned the name Jim "Hutch" Hutchin's and it made me think of the time I met this wonderful man on my very first trip to the custom shop. I believe it was Phillip "Big Daddy" Whorton that introduced me to him if I remember correctly but it could have been Trish or Rick Gembar. Just cant remember for certain. At any rate Hutch was one of the nicest men you could ever want to meet. Truly a class act all the way. He made you feel warmed and welcome and was a genuine fellow. In the short time I spent with him he gave me an education on arch top building that was incredible. When I got home I ordered a Gibson Byrdland Florentine and it was built by Hutch and he signed the orange label inside. Just a killer guitar.

Here is some trivia for you! Most people dont know this and may not even care but Hutch was from Michigan and started with Gibson like in the 70's when they were in Kalamazoo and dig this. He started out at Gibson as a handy man/janitor and had no guitar building experience what so ever.

R.I.P. Hutch
I will be forever grateful for the years that I spent working with Hutch. He was one of the first people that came to Nashville when Kalamazoo closed.

The only things he loved more than Gibson guitars were 1) His family and friends, and 2) Fishing.

Thanks for the memories!!
 

Medinamario2000

New member
Joined
Jun 26, 2020
Messages
3
I hope this works.URL=https://app.photobucket.com/u/medinamario2000/p/094392dc-f656-4cd3-a498-2f05da6bf7bc]
ima
 
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Strings Jr.

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 17, 2016
Messages
670
Thanks for sending the pics. Appears to be a "Pro-Tune" vibrola.

BTW, very nice guitar!! Thanks for sharing.


 
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Medinamario2000

New member
Joined
Jun 26, 2020
Messages
3
Thank you so much for your info, I real appreciate all you have done please keep this going for as long as you can. Thank you
 

Satch0922

New member
Joined
Jun 24, 2020
Messages
5
Randy,

Here is a crazy one. Do not own the guitar any longer but in the past I was told it was a Gibson "Employee" guitar. I wish I still had the serial number and I can not see it in the picture. However there is a secondary number in the middle of the headstock that looks like 0012? Crazy part about the guitar is the block inlays like a LP Custom but the traditional logo on the headstock. The guitar was a 1982-83 model.Thanks for looking.
L6ntuSZh.jpg
jbTOC4rh.jpg
 

Strings Jr.

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 17, 2016
Messages
670
Randy,

Here is a crazy one. Do not own the guitar any longer but in the past I was told it was a Gibson "Employee" guitar. I wish I still had the serial number and I can not see it in the picture. However there is a secondary number in the middle of the headstock that looks like 0012? Crazy part about the guitar is the block inlays like a LP Custom but the traditional logo on the headstock. The guitar was a 1982-83 model.Thanks for looking.

That's a cool guitar. Unfortunately, without the serial number it's hard to know it's history. Might even be a Kalamazoo guitar.

It could have been an employee guitar, or, with the secondary serial number, could have been a small run for a dealer. Who knows?

In my experience, employees rarely deviated too far from normal. Maybe a three pickup Standard every once in a while. I did find one record for a mix-n-match guitar I built. It was a LP Deluxe, mini-hum in the neck position and super hum in the bridge position, with a complete LP Custom neck.

Thanks for sharing :salude
 

EdmundGTP

Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2016
Messages
41
Awesome thread!! Any chance that one of my ES-335's passed through your hands? SN: 81722513
 
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