1973 Gibson Les Paul Recording
Stats
- Paid price: $850 at Willie's American Guitars in St. Paul, MN
- Trade-in Value in 2008: $1,400
- Serial Number: 104960
- Body: Walnut Brown single cutaway mahogany, carved top; raised multi-layer pickguard
- Neck: C-shaped mahogany, rosewood fretboard, pearl block inlay, 22 vintage frets; pearl split diamond/logo inlay on headstock
- Tuners: Deluxe Grovers
- Binding: 2-ply black/cream binding on top, neck, and headstock
- Pickups: Two low-impedance humbuckers with "Gibson" embossed covers
- Controls: Volume, Decade, Treble, Bass knobs, two 3-way toggle pickup selectors, In/Out Phase slide switch, Hi/Lo Output slide switch
- Bridge: Large Tune-O-Matic style; '70s TP-6 tailpiece (not shown; original stopbar tailpiece kept in case)
- Built-in transformer
Pictures
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This is the Les Paul model that Les Paul himself played until his death in 2009. I reluctantly traded in my Epiphone Les Paul Elite for this number, and although these days I'm not quite sure why I was so fascinated by the Recording model at the time, I still like the vintage, solid-body sound I get from it. Plus, its value was recently appraised at about twice what I paid for it. Can't be bad.
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Incidentally, GuitarDaterProject.org estimates that this guitar “was made at the Kalamazoo or Nashville Plant, USA, approximately in: 1970, 1971 or 1972.”
In August 2007, I acquired this original spec sheet for the 1978 Les Paul Recording. Feel free to download a copy for yourself if you've always wondered what the Decade switch is supposed to do! (Special thanks go to Cream City Music of West Allis, WI, for providing the spec sheet.)
In August 2008, I traded it in for a new Les Paul Standard.
