1970 Gibson LES PAUL DELUXE Silver Sparkle, Good, Hard, $1,450.00

Summary: This guitar began life sometime in the 70s as a Les Paul Deluxe. Over time, it acquired a number of changes and became the hot rod you see now. Pretty much everything has been changed out (see below for details), but the bones are there and going strong. It sounds great and plays well, and definitely has its own unique mojo.

Body: Mahogany “sandwich” body with carved maple top. Single bound top. Top refinished in silver sparkle, back and sides in black.

Neck: Three-piece maple set neck. Bound rosewood fretboard with trapezoid inlays.

Pickups/Hardware: Three aftermarket soapbar P90 pickups. Replacement black Schaller locking tuners. Aftermarket roller bridge. Strap locks installed. Aftermarket Bigsby tremolo. Four controls with aftermarket chicken head knobs. Three way pickup selector and added mini-toggle. The previous owner has explained the wiring thus: with the mini-toggle down, the main pickup selector goes neck alone/middle alone/bridge alone; with the mini-toggle toggle up, the pickup selector goes neck and middle/all three pickups/middle and bridge.

Cosmetics: This guitar looks incredibly cool; the sparkle top, three pickups and chicken-knobs give it a custom hot-rod look with a glam flair. Close up, it’s apparent the refin is probably not professional: it’s uneven here and there, though nothing that disrupts playability. The serial number on the back of the neck has been painted over. The body and neck binding were non-professionally redone with the refin and is also a bit uneven on closer inspection. Screw holes from the original tuners are visible. There is an area on the back of the body where the finish has been worn through to the wood.

Playability: The neck has a smooth playing, thinner 60s style carve. The frets are low and wide, as is typical to 70s LPs; they’re in good shape with no divots. Action is low and playability is fast and easy with no buzz or dead spots. The sound from the three P90s is big and biteing and the comprehensive switch wiring covers a lot of tonal territory, from Tele twang to Les Paul thump.

Mods/Repairs: Complete refinish and rebinding of body and neck. Replacement tuners, bridge, pickups, knobs. Added Bigsby, strap-locks, and mini-toggle. Top has been routed for a third pickup and an additional P90 has been installed.

Weight: 10 lbs, 7 oz.

Case: Non-original.