# 1973 Les Paul Standard



## krall (Apr 19, 2009)

Not quite "NGD" since I picked it up a month ago, a few parts had been replaced and I set about to locate/purchase the proper vintage replacements, which I successfully did and brought it to my tech late last week. Finally got it back earlier today.

For those not in the know, Standards from this period are rare. Originally discontinued in 1960, reintroduced in '68 only as a goldtop w/P90's (renamed "Deluxe" w minihums in '69) then officially reintroduced in 1976.

This one was one of the few Standards (between approx. 20-25) custom ordered in 1973 (a few ordered between '72-'74). Thought you guys would be interested in seeing it.

-Factory custom ordered Standard, factory routed for humbuckers
-Has original T-tops
-Mahogany neck
-Pots dated 51st week of 1972
-Small script "Standard" trc
-Serial number 121281


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

How about that, a real nice and as you say relatively rare bird. How's she play n sound? Looks like it hasn't seen *too many* bars in 40 years, nice shape.


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## krall (Apr 19, 2009)

keto said:


> How about that, a real nice and as you say relatively rare bird. How's she play n sound? Looks like it hasn't seen *too many* bars in 40 years, nice shape.


Plays and sounds great! Very resonant one. My tech gave these T-tops a thumbs up, loved them (he's pretty fussy when it comes to pickups)..I'll have to disagree the "hasn't seen *too many* bars in 40 years" comment..When I got it, it was *dirty*! It was obvious this one had seen a lot of smokey bar room action in it's day, lol. My tech told me he was quite surprised at how black his cleaning rag was when he started cleaning it..All of the binding is now dark yellow and even the inlays on the neck have yellowed quite a bit. Lots of lacquer checking throughout..Lots of mojo!


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Pretty cool LP, congrats!

Any idea of the burst colour?
Is it an actual faded tobacco burst, I wonder?

Very nice.


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## krall (Apr 19, 2009)

sulphur said:


> Pretty cool LP, congrats!
> 
> Any idea of the burst colour?
> Is it an actual faded tobacco burst, I wonder?


A member of another forum has a '74 like mine..He got in touch with an older Gibson employee that worked there when these were made, and he said the finish is called "Dark Wineburst"..It's differs from the bursts on the Deluxes from the same period.


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

Very nice. Great finish on it. Congrats.


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

Awesomeness !!. Love it.


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## gtrguy (Jul 6, 2006)

Cool guit! What's the deal with the black circles around the tailpiece posts?


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## 5732 (Jul 30, 2009)

krall said:


> ..When I got it, it was *dirty*! It was obvious this one had seen a lot of smokey bar room action in it's day, lol.


Haha, a true tobacco burst! HNGD, lots of mojo like you said.


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

I was wondering if someone had slapped a bigsby on there at some point.




gtrguy said:


> Cool guit! What's the deal with the black circles around the tailpiece posts?


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## Morkolo (Dec 9, 2010)

I'd love to be lucky enough to find an old Les Paul like that, what a beauty. Congratulations.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Beautiful guitar! Congrats! The finish has a fabulous patina.

ENJOY !!

I was wondering about the black "circles" also.

Cheers

Dave


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## krall (Apr 19, 2009)

greco said:


> I was wondering about the black "circles" also.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Dave


I'm surprised none of you have seen them before..They were first used/seen in '73 and Gibson stopped using them in '74. This is the third Les Paul i've owned that has them. Although first thought to be "goof hiders", i'm not 100% convinced. One guy on another forum had them on his white '74 Custom and asked what were their purpose..He wanted them off..He was warned there could be a piece of wood missing/or finish blemish in that area, but when he removed them (they're plactic rings that are simply glued on) there was nothing there. After removing the glue residue it looked fine..So i'm not sure why Gibson started putting those on certain Les Pauls.

Just a couple of other examples from a very quick Google search:

'73 Deluxe:











'73 Custom:


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

krall said:


>


Nice find. I was wondering about the binding. Has it aged and got darker or is it meant to have the "wood" look?


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## ElectricMojo (May 19, 2011)

Wow.
Beautiful!


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## loudtubeamps (Feb 2, 2012)

ElectricMojo said:


> Wow.
> Beautiful!


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## corailz (May 1, 2008)

That's a killer axe!


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## ezcomes (Jul 28, 2008)

so...pardon the uninitiated question...but how do you know they are T-Tops?


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## krall (Apr 19, 2009)

ezcomes said:


> so...pardon the uninitiated question...but how do you know they are T-Tops?


They were the standard issued pickups from the late 60's til around '79...And they had a Pat.# sticker on the bottom 'til around '75 (then stamped on the bottom plate)


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## krall (Apr 19, 2009)

Steadfastly said:


> Nice find. I was wondering about the binding. Has it aged and got darker or is it meant to have the "wood" look?


It's aged and turned yellow..Years of smoke exposure in bars has made it a little darker than usual. 

Here's a closer pic of the binding:


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Love it! Congrats! I'm saving for a 70's Goldtop Deluxe myself. Love those 70's Gibsons!


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## gtrguy (Jul 6, 2006)

Interesting, I've seen a lot of Les Pauls and have never seen those rings... learn something new every day...


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

krall said:


> A member of another forum has a '74 like mine..He got in touch with an older Gibson employee that worked there when these were made, and he said the finish is called "Dark Wineburst"..It's differs from the bursts on the Deluxes from the same period.


Nice, I thought that I could see some burgundy/wine colour going on there.
That's a really nice burst.

So is that what they call a "pancake" body?


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

sulphur said:


> Nice, I thought that I could see some burgundy/wine colour going on there.
> That's a really nice burst.
> 
> So is that what they call a "pancake" body?


Yup. The Norlins that tons of pros played and loved, but "aficionados" still knew better.


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## krall (Apr 19, 2009)

sulphur said:


> So is that what they call a "pancake" body?


You can clearly see the pancake (crossbanding) in this shot of the lower bout I took..Mahogany, thin layer of maple, mahogany then a maple top:


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

I've read that it helped prevent cupping, but was there any other reason to do it?
Was there a "cupping" problem at the time? Was it a cost cutting measure?
They stopped doing it, so why would they do it in the first place?

Nothing against it either, I've just wondered about that method.


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## bluesmostly (Feb 10, 2006)

"thought we might be interested in seeing it" ??? seriously, that is a cool LP, of course we want to see it. I'd like to play that one. congrats on a great score! It looks to be in good shape, not too many bumps and scratches.


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## krall (Apr 19, 2009)

bluesmostly said:


> "thought we might be interested in seeing it" ??? seriously, that is a cool LP, of course we want to see it.


Haha, well the reason I wrote that is because I flip a lot of gear (This Les Paul is my 527th guitar owned in over 25 years) and I don't usually bother making "NGD" threads since I get guitars on a monthly basis it seems; but this one being a rare specimen was worth its own thread I thought and would generate questions and discussion.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

Beautiful guitar!! Lots of mojo in it.


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## smorgdonkey (Jun 23, 2008)

krall said:


> This Les Paul is my 527th guitar owned in over 25 years


Holy smokes. I believe that you are the 'numbers' champ of anyone that I have been aware of. Staggering!!


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## TheRumRunner (Sep 29, 2011)

What a wonderful LP Krall, I saw this '69 on kijiji and was quite perplexed over the positioning of the head stock logo, anyone care to comment?

http://ontario.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-...ul-Deluxe-W0QQAdIdZ470329009QQfeaturedAdZtrue










DW


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## dwagar (Mar 6, 2006)

what a great find, it's beautiful.

I thought Standards started in '74, finding a '73 has to be a very rare beast.


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## krall (Apr 19, 2009)

dwagar said:


> what a great find, it's beautiful.
> 
> I thought Standards started in '74, finding a '73 has to be a very rare beast.


From my research, Gibson heads gave the go ahead to do Standards on a custom ordered basis in 1972, but was a hush-hush thing. Only 12 made/shipped that year (they have the Gibson embossed pickup covers and truss rod cover reads "Custom"). they continued this in '73, minus the embossed pu covers and had "Custom" truss rod covers in the early part of '73, then later on they introduced the small script "Standard" trc. Numbers for '73 are still unknown, but a few people are saying anywhere between 20-30 or so. In '74 Gibson gave in to the demand and instructed their reps to alert the stores/dealers that they would make Standards in greater numbers. A bunch were made in advance and sold to higher volume stores, and the rest made as per custom ordered. I've read about 2000 shipped in '74. Les Paul manufacturing switched over to Nashville from Kalamazoo in '75 and I don't believe many (or even any) made in '75. Officially reintroduced to the catalog line in '76.


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## bluesmostly (Feb 10, 2006)

smorgdonkey said:


> Holy smokes. I believe that you are the 'numbers' champ of anyone that I have been aware of. Staggering!!


Crackies Smorg! He has had more gits than you!


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## krall (Apr 19, 2009)

I've seen that before, I believe it is right for the period.




TheRumRunner said:


> What a wonderful LP Krall, I saw this '69 on kijiji and was quite perplexed over the positioning of the head stock logo, anyone care to comment?
> 
> http://ontario.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-...ul-Deluxe-W0QQAdIdZ470329009QQfeaturedAdZtrue
> 
> ...


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## Petey D (Sep 8, 2011)

Cool old LP, I'm envious. A great find for sure and definately worth holding onto.


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## Bosrocker51 (May 10, 2013)

I was told on the Gibson forum that they only shipped 4 LP 1973 Standards of the Reissue style in 1973. I have seen 2 others on eBay, both with three piece tops. My 1973 LP standard is a 58 Reissue with a really nice two piece top, pancake body and dark knobs, tobacco burst.

Tom Wheeler's book "American Guitars" C.1982, p. 196, lists the 1973 Standard as a "58 Reissue", and states that 4 were shipped during that year.


As for the Deluxe's shipping totals for 1973: 
10,482 

And:

[quote name='L5Larry]Tom Wheeler's book "American Guitars" C.1982' date=' p. 196, lists the 1973 Standard as a "58 Reissue", and states that 4 were shipped during that year.[/quote']


This book lists the the '71-'75 LP Standard as a "58 Reissue", with the regular production model re-entering the catalog in 1975. Contrary to a statement above, a "58 reissue" Standard would be a humbucker guitar, since the P-90's were replaced by humbuckers on the LP Standard and Custom in 1957. 


There is a "Standard" listed for the years '68, '69, & '70, and that era model is probably the P-90 equipped guitar that has been mentioned. 


The published shipping totals or the '71-'75 "58 Reissue" are:
1971 - 25
1972 - 1046
1973 - 4
1974 - 1
1975 - 1


These numbers represent when they were SHIPPED, not when they were made. Quoted fr Gibson forum. 
Please note, plain 1973 Standard numbers are not known by me.


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## Bosrocker51 (May 10, 2013)

*Decal...*

The "Les Paul Model" decal looks to be put on high, not correct, but the "Gibson" inlay looks absolutely correct. Probably not a counterfeit, but a second, not first quality guitar, in my opinion. I have never seen such an off-center decal before... Thanks for posting it


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Very nice guitar man. Enjoy.


Some time this summer I'll be buying a Norlin era LP Deluxe. This one's a 1977.

Yes, pancake body, three piece neck et cetera.

Sustains for days, plays like butta, and has a nice patina (gold top). I like the mini humbuckers a lot.

I've played good LPs and bad ones from various years including some very old and collectble pieces of poo.


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## krall (Apr 19, 2009)

Are you saying mine's a "58 reissue"? And if so, one of 4 shipped that year? I didn't consider mine a '58 reissue. Also, the Standard was re-introduced in '76, not '75.




Bosrocker51 said:


> I was told on the Gibson forum that they only shipped 4 LP 1973 Standards of the Reissue style in 1973. I have seen 2 others on eBay, both with three piece tops. My 1973 LP standard is a 58 Reissue with a really nice two piece top, pancake body and dark knobs, tobacco burst.
> 
> Tom Wheeler's book "American Guitars" C.1982, p. 196, lists the 1973 Standard as a "58 Reissue", and states that 4 were shipped during that year.
> 
> ...


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