Pictured right next to the reason I'm selling.
Hi all,
Putting up a great LP for sale. I got this off eBay and painstakingly refurbished it - a whole list of mods are below. Unfortunately, I can't really gel with it so I'm listing it so someone else can enjoy. This is a Les Paul Pro, which was only produced from around 1978-1981 during the transition years from Norlin IIRC, when Tim Shaw joined Gibson - as such, the quality is pretty good compared to most of the usual 70s-era Gibbies. It has an ebony board, three-piece maple plain top, one-piece SOLID unchambered/weight-relieved mahogany body, three-piece sleek maple neck with volute, and was originally equipped with P90s. Heavy, but not *too* heavy...just nice, actually! Sustains like an absolute beast.
ORIGINAL MODS
- Routed for humbuckers (pretty clean job)
- Refretted with jumbo frets
- Neck was shaved down to bare wood. The 3-piece maple is insanely solid, given that it's spent the past 35 years without warping at all.
MODS I DID
- Total pickup change + rewire: I've installed a pair of calibrated Bare Knuckle Cold Sweat pickups in reverse zebra, complete with a full wiring harness (custom 525k CTS pots, NOS Russian PIO caps, vintage pushback wire and new Switchcraft jack/switch). These pickups are perfect for heavy rock all the way to modern metal, and seriously scream. Great clean tones too! If you know BKP, you know just how good their stuff is.
- Tuners have been changed out to locking Hipshots with keystone buttons and the Universal Mounting Plate for a drill-free installation - with 16:1 gear ratio and easy string changes, they're a great improvement over the original 12:1 Schallers.
- I've installed a Graphtech Resomax bridge and tailpiece to replace the original zinc pot metal hardware - killer lightweight, toneful aluminium alloy and magnetic locking.
- Aged Tusq XL nut professionally installed and cut/setup to D Standard tuning (one step down) with 12-60 strings and moderately low action. Neck is as straight as an arrow, so no need to worry.
- Installed and filed a pickguard to fit the routed humbuckers, and got all-new cream hardware to match the colors perfectly.
- Changed out all the rusted screws with stainless steel or fresh nickel ones.
- Re-sanded and finished the neck with Birchwood Casey Tru-oil (a polymerized tung oil 'hard finish' and pretty much the best thing to do raw necks with) - around 10 coats with wet sanding. It's not a perfect cosmetic job around the edges where it contacts the binding since I had to mask those off, but the neck is as smooth as butter now and plays insanely nice.
- Stained the slightly streaky ebony board jet-black with ebony stain (actually Fiebings black leather dye - what Stew-Mac sells to luthiers)
- Buffed out the top / did some minor screw hole drilling and relocation (nothing visible). Looks pretty damn spot-on.
Let me stress that this isn't a showroom guitar. It's quite beat up all around - buckle rash, a few dents through to the wood on the side/rear, upper bout playing arm wear, cracked/chipped binding, and a ton of dings and scuffs everywhere. However, there isn't any extremely major damage that'd impact the overall look. It still looks awesome, plays well, and has that vintage mojo, while having enough modern tweaks and upgrades to rival anything else you'd get out there today.
Comes with original red Version 1 chainsaw case (the better, smaller one) - missing one latch and the strap that helps keep the lid open, but in decent condition and sturdy as hell.
Selling for $2350 firm. Will blow away any other Gibson for that price, guaranteed.
Feel free to text me at 97three0 2six08 for more pictures.
