# 70's El Degas Les Paul Copy



## KWJolin (Feb 28, 2017)

Hi Everyone,

I got this 70's El Degas Les Paul Copy a few months back and know nothing about it. I did some googling and ended up here. It says Made in Japan on the Neck Plate but no serial no. or anything else visible.

Does anyone know what these are worth?


----------



## KWJolin (Feb 28, 2017)

Doesn't look like my images showed up...... I'll see if I can figure that out. Sorry


----------



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Welcome to the GC forum!!
Hope you enjoy all that it has to offer.

You will need to use something to "host" your pics (photobucket, Imgur, etc).
You must pay to be a member here in order to post pics directly form your computer.

If you can't get the pics to show, send me a PM/"Conversation" and I'll give you my email and you can send them to me as attachments for me to post for you.

Cheers

Dave


----------



## dcole (Oct 8, 2008)

Welcome, nice looking axe by the way!


----------



## KWJolin (Feb 28, 2017)

Ok. Got the pics figured out. If anyone knows anything about these and how much they are worth I would appreciate it!

I got this thing for free  I expected it to be a piece of crap, but was nicely surprised when I plugged it in and played it. The fret board is really nice and the pick ups sound pretty cool. Way different sound than my SG so I was quite happy.


----------



## rhh7 (Mar 14, 2008)

Welcome to the forum, nice guitar!


----------



## Bubb (Jan 16, 2008)

Ahhh...guitar of my youth,saw lots of them.
They were/are a decent playing instrument,some better than others , like anything.
A good one...ie neck/frets , can be a great player that may benefit from a wiring/pick-up swap..but that is a personal choice.

I have no idea about monetary value ,just play it .
Never actually saw a white one...looks good !


----------



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Man, that is in good shape. Nice pick up. There is one on eBay right now selling for $262.00 CDN.


----------



## KWJolin (Feb 28, 2017)

Steadfastly said:


> Man, that is in good shape. Nice pick up. The is one on eBay right now selling for $262.00 CDN.


That one says custom. Has gold hardware instead of chrome. I think thats a step up from the model I have. I just wanted to have an idea before I do any work to it. Has some bad fret buzz right now so that will be first!


----------



## Bubb (Jan 16, 2008)

KWJolin said:


> That one says custom. Has gold hardware instead of chrome. I think thats a step up from the model I have. I just wanted to have an idea before I do any work to it. Has some bad fret buzz right now so that will be first!


Colour of hardware means F/A in the scheme of things
First step is determining the cause of the fret buzz, could be a high fret some where ... does the buzz occur above or below a certain fret ?
could be a low cut nut ... does it buzz on open strings ?
or it could be just a matter of neck relief ... does it need some ?

buzz can be addressed


----------



## sambonee (Dec 20, 2007)

I know Dégas prices pretty well. I'd say $275-$400 tops. They're nice but still don't fetch much. Bolt on keeps the price down. Hope that helps.


----------



## Tone Chaser (Mar 2, 2014)

I had one for years and finally decided to sell last week. I asked $300 and got 12 seriously interested buyers from everywhere, but my hometown. The locals were downright insulting. I gladly shipped out of town to a person who would appreciate it.

I had over 35 guitars, and this same buyer inquired if I had more and bought my Hohner LP as well. I got more for the Hohner, but it was my favorite of the two. Two guitars gone in one day, got two others off of the floor and into the storage rack. If I could only get down to the number of guitars that fit in the rack.

They definitely were fun guitars for me, and I did get a lot of pleasure from them.

I really like the look of your white Custom. Add a fuzz, a phaser, your favorite tube amp, and have at it.


----------



## KWJolin (Feb 28, 2017)

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate the knowledge! I'm definitely going to keep it, it just feels so nice to play. With a bit of set up work I think it's going to be pretty sweet!.


----------



## GuitarT (Nov 23, 2010)

Memories of my high school days.  East End Music in Kitchener sold a pile of El Degas guitars back in the late 1970's. A number of my buddies played them back then.


----------



## Tone Chaser (Mar 2, 2014)

I really liked Gibson Vintage Reissue strings on these guitars (0.010's). It just made the guitar feel exceptionally good with surprising tone. I tried several others and always came back to these.

I usually play a wide variety of 0.009's on most other electrics.


----------



## alwaysflat (Feb 14, 2016)

Looks a lot like my Harmony. Mine was plywood body, weighs a ton ! Check for twist in the headstock , low E side pulling forward. The twist was the cause for fretting out in my case on bends above 13th fret. 
My neck (maple) was like a baseball bat thick which I really admire, but I could not cure the twist. Hot lights, humidity,clamping etc ... no joy. I had to finally re-radius the neck and refret. (a learning experience for me). Yours looks very well cared for. Good luck, hopefully just an easy setup gets you going.


----------



## Voxboy876 (Jul 16, 2013)

Personally I think these guitars get more attention than they should in a vintage market sense. A lot of the early made japan stuff was actually pretty crappy. Plywood bodies and such. 250 tops IMO. I'm not saying this one is plywood...but if you look at the binding around the headstock...not very clean, the control covers fit weird....just a lot of little stuff that make them anything but lawsuit.


----------



## The Director (Mar 4, 2017)

I have the same guitar (in black). It is a good guitar but has some low end electronics in it (single pole pups in a chrome cases and cheap pots). IIRC it is a 3 piece body (thick centre section with thiner laminated top and bottom). I suppose that is "Ply" to some. There are El Degas' of varying collectibility and quality out there. This is a lower end, bolt on neck but having said that, I really like mine. She plays well, looks the business and sounds good too.


----------



## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Voxboy876 said:


> Personally I think these guitars get more attention than they should in a vintage market sense. A lot of the early made japan stuff was actually pretty crappy. Plywood bodies and such. 250 tops IMO. I'm not saying this one is plywood...but if you look at the binding around the headstock...not very clean, the control covers fit weird....just a lot of little stuff that make them anything but lawsuit.


I'm inclined to agree. It's in the same basket as a modern day Chibson, IMO, in the sense that some will be good players worth a few hundred $ and some will be boat anchors. age alone doesn't add value to me. In the 80's when I was in my teens, these were starter guitars that every 15 yr old kid had. I don't see why 30 more yrs changes that.
No disrespect to the OPs guitar, I have no firsthand experience with it. Could be a jem.
Just something always put me off of bolt on neck LPs.


----------



## KWJolin (Feb 28, 2017)

I would agree. I definitely think it's more of a collectors guitar. Someone who has some good memories of their early days. lol

It does feel a bit cheap. Plays nice ( would be nicer without fret buzz , and I like the sound of the pickups. Im sure they are low quality but they have a nice raw sound.

And I won't get offended with any comments. I got it free, so if it's worth $40 or $400 its all good to me!


----------



## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

KWJolin said:


> I would agree. I definitely think it's more of a collectors guitar. Someone who has some good memories of their early days. lol
> 
> It does feel a bit cheap. Plays nice ( would be nicer without fret buzz , and I like the sound of the pickups. Im sure they are low quality but they have a nice raw sound.
> 
> And I won't get offended with any comments. I got it free, so if it's worth $40 or $400 its all good to me!


The condition of it is phenomenal. Us teens were pretty hard on those guitars in those days. Wasn t uncommon for a dumbass to carve junk into it with a pocket knife, lol or cigarettes burns or other signs of abuse/neglect.
I suspect few look like yours today.


----------



## Rob Sapp (Mar 13, 2018)

I might be interested in it. My very first solid body guitar was a gold Degas Paul copy from the mid-70s. I'm not able to see the pics. Is there anyway you can sent them to me? Also, do you have an idea of what you want for it?


----------



## Jehane (Mar 13, 2021)

KWJolin said:


> Hi Everyone,
> 
> I got this 70's El Degas Les Paul Copy a few months back and know nothing about it. I did some googling and ended up here. It says Made in Japan on the Neck Plate but no serial no. or anything else visible.
> 
> ...


----------

