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Vintage threads from the first ten years

previous: dhr LP Gold Top? -- 1/16/2000 2:50 AM

Re: I have one,...

1/16/2000 8:31 PM
Wyatt	Re: I have one,... Mine is a '72. Slim-taper neck, multipiece back, three-piece mahogany neck. It's my #1. I love the sound of mini-HB's. They fall in line right between old-styler PAF's and strat single coils in tone, much like P-90's, but brighter. An LP Deluxe with mini's is probably as close to a Tele as an LP will ever get. The reason I mention all the details of mine is because they is a tone of variety in Deluxes. Gibson made all the necks by hand then and they vary from guitar to guitar (even Standards and Customs did), so finding one that you will like will take a lot of testing. Weight varies heavily from guitar to guitar depending on what quality wood was used and whether it's a one piece or multi-piece back, the late '70's models mostly have 5-piece maple necks (so did many LP Customs from that time), this brightens the tone up even more. All these factors figure into the tone and playablity of the guitar and you really have to play them before you buy them. $1,200 to 1,500 is currently the average for a Deluxe, Goldtop or Sunburst, in great condition. Look around, you should have no problem with the price (though I've seen dealers asking for up to $2,500 for horrible beat versions) you just have to check around the dealers that deal in used and vintage, as they are getting scarcer (especially as people mangle them into Standards). The prices on these just caught up to the Standards (even Standard GT's from the '70's), until a couple of years ago, a Deluxe was only worth about $800. -Y.

1/16/2000 8:31 PM

Wyatt

Re: I have one,...

Mine is a '72. Slim-taper neck, multipiece back, three-piece mahogany neck. It's my #1. I love the sound of mini-HB's. They fall in line right between old-styler PAF's and strat single coils in tone, much like P-90's, but brighter. An LP Deluxe with mini's is probably as close to a Tele as an LP will ever get.

The reason I mention all the details of mine is because they is a tone of variety in Deluxes. Gibson made all the necks by hand then and they vary from guitar to guitar (even Standards and Customs did), so finding one that you will like will take a lot of testing. Weight varies heavily from guitar to guitar depending on what quality wood was used and whether it's a one piece or multi-piece back, the late '70's models mostly have 5-piece maple necks (so did many LP Customs from that time), this brightens the tone up even more. All these factors figure into the tone and playablity of the guitar and you really have to play them before you buy them.

$1,200 to 1,500 is currently the average for a Deluxe, Goldtop or Sunburst, in great condition. Look around, you should have no problem with the price (though I've seen dealers asking for up to $2,500 for horrible beat versions) you just have to check around the dealers that deal in used and vintage, as they are getting scarcer (especially as people mangle them into Standards). The prices on these just caught up to the Standards (even Standard GT's from the '70's), until a couple of years ago, a Deluxe was only worth about $800.

-Y.

Replies:

Brad Yep, got my Deluxe and Standard bac... -- 1/16/2000 9:28 PM