I have decided to sell my Les Paul to raise some cash for my Gaza appeal. It was made on 26th April, 1989 in Nashville, Tennessee and comes complete with the dedicated Gibson flight case. The flight case itself is the same age as the guitar and they retail for hundreds. II bought the guitar in Cotati, California many years ago from a guy who used to play bass for Pablo Cruise (if anyone remembers them). He was such a nice guy, I ended up chatting to him for hours. The guitar is all original but the scratch plate is missing (it was missing when I bought it). I thought about fitting a new one for the sale but a 1989 guitar with a brand new scratch plate seemed daft to me. You can get a Gibson multilayer plate for just a few quid if you really want one. The guitar is one of the first set of Les Pauls that were lightened slightly. The original Les Paul was 13lb and was causing neck and shoulder problems for musicians doing long sets. This one is around 11lb and, I think, the newer ones are around 9lb. I’ve read that the newer guitars have compromised on sustain but this guitar will sustain until the middle of next week. The guitar has just been serviced by an Edinburgh based guitar tech and good friend, Pete MacDougal, who really went to town on it. It’s playing superbly well with re-polished frets, pots cleaned and lubed, fingerboard cleaned and oiled, nut cleaned and lubed, tuners stripped and lubed, intonation done, the action set fast and the pickups adjusted accordingly. He has done a stellar job. These guitars are selling on Reverb for between £3,000 and £4,000 (although I think 4k is taking the piss). I’m looking for £2800 OVNO. It’s a pile of cash but you get to own a prestige, vintage instrument that will only appreciate in value. If it doesn’t sell here I’ll stick it on Gumtree, Reverb and ebay for £3000. I thought I’d try here first because I know some people on this site are players and people on this site are good people. I will be in the North London area in the next couple of weeks (date to be fixed). I could bring the guitar down with me if you are in the area and fancy a look. I just noticed that in the third pic (front on body close up) it looks like there is a scratch near the toggle switch but there is no scratch there. It’s the same deal for the pictures of the back. I’m not sure what the white marks are but they are only in the photos.
If only I had the talent……… My son, well I think he is mine because he plays these things for other people, says it is a very nice example He sent me on a mission to buy a 1954 Gibson ES 175D in Teaneck New Jersey from a guy called Moses who could only see me after sundown. It was a filthy night driving over Washington Bridge and turns out my driver was a bit “military”. I went into the store and looked at the item. I asked “does it work?”. Moses wasn’t impressed as he twiddled his very long, grey beard. I handed him $5k in cash and walked out with the guitar in a beautiful crocodile skin case. My driver clearly though this was some kind of drug transaction and interrogated me on the way back to Midtown. The pure innocence of Dad buys son a guitar made him even more suspicious. I didn’t dare put the instrument in checked baggage after "American Airlines Broke My Vintage Martin Guitar” so I walked on the plane with it. I was then treated like a rock star after someone mistook me for someone famous. He still has it and it features on many recent tunes. Old guitars are special, even if you can’t play them…...
That is a thing of beauty, I had a big clearout a few years ago, a 335, A Telecaster, A Jumbo, I'm old enough now to resist such temptation, just.
Did you keep any guitars? I have a fairly modern Martin acoustic that I won’t part with (well not yet anyway). It’s the romantically named GPCPA1 Plus. I imported it from the US as an ex demonstrator which saved a bundle of cash. When it arrived it was completely unmarked. It still had the polythene on the scratch plate and even that was unmarked. It looks and sounds amazing.
I kept a Baby Taylor, An Epiphone Jumbo, A Yamaha 12 string, A very old Squire Strat, An Alan Stroud Custom, the most outrageous 6 string ever, I think that's it.
Indeed, there's various amps, a Marshall, A Blackstar One valve, A line six modelling amp, there could be more.
