Determining year of norlin era Les Paul Custom

[blackba]

My friend brought over a Les Paul for me to work on. It turns out that it is very similar to mine. This one is a norlin era, it has the pancake body and the volute on the neck. I am trying to figure out the year. The Serial is 139506.

Mine is a '73 (or so I think). It has a serial of 130876.

On these guitars are the necks maple or mahogany? I thought they switched to maple necks in '75. I know the early LP customs in the late 60's were all mahogany bodies, but I assume these have a maple cap?

 

[Greazygeo]

My friend brought over a Les Paul for me to work on. It turns out that it is very similar to mine. This one is a norlin era, it has the pancake body and the volute on the neck. I am trying to figure out the year. The Serial is 139506.

Mine is a '73 (or so I think). It has a serial of 130876.

On these guitars are the necks maple or mahogany? I thought they switched to maple necks in '75. I know the early LP customs in the late 60's were all mahogany bodies, but I assume these have a maple cap?

I've got my Gibson book at work, can check and let you know tomorrow. I'd guess a '74-'75. In 76 they went to the decals starting with 00....then 77 was '01

 

[blackba]

I've got my Gibson book at work, can check and let you know tomorrow. I'd guess a '74-'75. In 76 they went to the decals starting with 00....then 77 was '01

Thanks, that would be much appreciated. It would be nice to verify mine is a '73 too if you don't mind.

 

[Ventura]

http://www.gibson.com/Files/downloads/b ... UMBERS.pdf

Cheers,
V.

 

[blackba]

http://www.gibson.com/Files/downloads/bluebook/GibsonSERIALNUMBERS.pdf

Cheers,
V.

Thanks. Boy Gibson serial numbers were screwed up for a while. That PDF narrows both down to between '70-'75....

 

[Strat+Marshall]

Gibson and Fender serial numbers are pretty worthless around that time. Try dating the pots.

 

[Ventura]

Gibson and Fender serial numbers are pretty worthless around that time. Try dating the pots.

+1 Or the pups.

V.

 

[blackba]

Got the codes on the pots. Mine had a 1377325, which makes it week 25 of 1973. My friend's had a 1377336, which is week 36 of '73. This site was what I used for the pots. http://www.guitardaterproject.org/potcodereader.aspx

Here are some pictures of both guitars. Mine is on the right. My friend's is more worn. The neck in the first position is pretty thin, then it gets thicker as you go up toward the body of the guitar. Mine seems more uniform all the way down. Both are nice guitars, right now I prefer mine, but the other one is nice too, just not as punchy or full, but close.