1976 Norlin Les Paul Custom Content

glpg80

glpg80

Well-known member
Just got this back from my luthier!

New bone nut custom cut for 10-52
New tone pro bridge/cut saddles
New Jescar jumbo stainless frets
12-14” compound radius (12” to the 12th fret, 14” from the 13th-22nd)
Gibson 498T cover removed and pole pieces changed to nickel
Gibson 496R cover removed, pole pieces changed to nickel, and A5 magnet swapped

Pickup Thread Here
OG NGD Thread Here

This is a maple neck wine red Les Paul custom - my dream guitar ❤️

The black historic style pickup rings are unobtainium in today’s times. Literally makes this guitar that much more rare as specifications are concerned.

All natural worm holing in the mahogany on the rear

She plays like a dream and is amazing!

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She turned out great :rock:

She sounds amazing too. The 498T is the perfect match with the maple top and maple neck. It’s not overly bright but is super aggressive and easy to play.

I just wanted to share the results as I’m very happy with how it’s turned out. She’s not in mint condition but for almost 50 years old it’s amazing.
 
Had the triple pickup version just like yours for many years. Loved the sound and playing. Shoulder hated me on Sundays after playing Fri / Sat though….way too heavy for me.
 
Greazygeo said:
Had the triple pickup version just like yours for many years. Loved the sound and playing. Shoulder hated me on Sundays after playing Fri / Sat though….way too heavy for me.
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This one’s got some weight to her. I think she’s heavier than my other two, but she sounds just as good as the others.

I won’t be selling this one. Too rare and it absolutely demolishes anything Gibson is producing right now custom shop included, plus it’s literally my dream guitar.

I’ll post clips over the holidays
 
I'm half color blind but how on earth can your binding still be looking that white on a 50 year old guitar ? I have a 1990 Les Paul and it's binding is a dark yellow .
 
ccn said:
I'm half color blind but how on earth can your binding still be looking that white on a 50 year old guitar ? I have a 1990 Les Paul and it's binding is a dark yellow .
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My guess is that when my luthier was putting in bourns low friction linear pots, he noticed without pickups installed the guitar had a bad ground loop internally.

He found out it was defective wiring for the switch.

I’m guessing it had noise issues it’s whole life and as such, spent most of its life in the original case I have that’s with it.

It’s literally one of those guitars you dream of - a very little wear, rarely played Les Paul custom all because of janky switch ground wiring.

No I wouldn’t sell it. If I did I wouldn’t let it go for less than $8k. Maple neck wine red Les Paul’s are hard to find in decent condition. One with stainless frets and a bone nut? Even moreso.
 
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Beautiful!

Do those have a Mahogany body with no maple top? If so, how different does it sound to your others with maple top?
 
JackBootedThug said:
I bet that fuckin thing rips. New frets? shiiiit bwah.....plays like butta probably...
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Man you have no idea, night and day difference. He had to flatten these frets more than my others because of the geometry and neck angle. They weren’t consistent back then so he had to put the guitar in a jig to do some fretboard sanding to get rid of a ski slope type problem near the 22nd fret. With the stainless frets even sanded a bit down as they are it won’t need a refret in my lifetime. Every guitar is different so it takes real talent to refret one of these. I’m happy with how it turned out because you couldn’t even play it with how it was before.
 
blackba said:
Quoting the late Eddie Money - I think I'm in Love

Gorgeous guitar
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The pictures really pull out many of the tiny imperfections in it that in person you don’t really notice. I mean for 50 years old it’s nuts, it’s as nice as some of my 2018 and 2019 models. I really love how it sounds and plays - she’s aggressive and raw but with very full mids with the A5 magnets. The black pickup rings go great with the black Gibson pickups - a nice balance with the chrome hardware. I just really like the looks and playability of the guitar.
 
SpiderWars said:
Beautiful!

Do those have a Mahogany body with no maple top? If so, how different does it sound to your others with maple top?
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All of these had maple tops during the Norlin era. I forget when they bought out Gibson originally, but I do know older Les Paul’s like the Jr have all mahogany bodies and no maple top.

What makes these models my favorite are the non chambered mahogany body and the maple neck making them resonant and just big sounding with heavy gauge strings and high output pickups.
 
glpg80 said:
All of these had maple tops during the Norlin era. I forget when they bought out Gibson originally, but I do know older Les Paul’s like the Jr have all mahogany bodies and no maple top.

What makes these models my favorite are the non chambered mahogany body and the maple neck making them resonant and just big sounding with heavy gauge strings and high output pickups.
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Cool! I really love the ‘80 LPC I got recently. Different than any newer LP I’ve played. I’m gonna put a Tonenerd Psykes in the bridge even tho the stock one sounds great…just too sweet and polite.

What is the nut width? I thought they were skinny like the later 60s ones up to a point, then they got wider again.
 
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