Gibson Les Paul 1970 guitar

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Up for sale Gibson Les Paul Gold Top I bought this guitar few months back from gentleman from Tennessee. This gentelman claim that this guitar was made in 1968 and was one a few ordered by Mike Ladd of Mike Ladds Guitars. Mike had the shop right across the street from Graceland and he custom paint and built guitars for lot of famous people, including: Elvis Presley, Leslie West, Jimmy Page and others. In late '60s Mike got Gibson Les Paul guitars from Gibson unfinished and you could specify the finish, pickups, etc. This is one of the examples from internet how the story goes: St. Blues Guitars was born in the heart of the Delta, where country tangled with the blues and spawned the true birthplace of Rock & Roll, Memphis. On the street now called Elvis Presley Boulevard, across the way from Graceland, Mike Ladd and Tom Keckler were doing something magical with guitars at Mike Ladd’s Guitar City. Seems whenever these boys laid hands on someone’s guitar, it just played a whole lot better. Hell, they even customized one for the King ordered by his father. You can see him play it in “Aloha From Hawaii”. Now the story of this guitar will become even more interesting. I bought this guitar without hardware meaning: no tuners, bridge, tale piece, pickups and pots. And right after that I send this guitar to Gibson repair and restoration department in Nashville, Tennessee to a manager Mr Todd Money to be evaluated. Week later I receiver email that they have the guitar and will be evaluated. Then I had a discussion over the phone with Mr Todd and he told me that this guitar was made by Gibson, but even he is not sure what year this guitar was made. To him looks like it was made in 1970, but he wasn't sure why was routed for humbucker and he offered to finish this guitar for me, meaning: install all missing parts for $875 and $450 to refinish the headstock, but after 6 weeks of no answering my phones and emails I got upset with this Gibson people and I ask to send me back that guitar the way it was. I decided to finish this guitar myself. And now the story becomes even more interesting. I received email from Mr Todd Money, I think that was his attempt to evaluate this guitar to me. He claim (I'm giving exact copy of the email): Darius, Based on the following, we believe your guitar to be a Les Paul model from the early 1970’s: · “sandwich” body with approx 1/8” filler. · Rectangle shaped wire channel through body. 1968 would be round. · Neck tenon and heel shape don’t conform to 1968 spec. Regards, Todd Todd Money Manager Gibson Repair & Restoration 138 12th Ave North Nashville, Tn. 37203 ext 2282 800-4-GIBSON ext 2284 And I don't know what to say to that, my guitar, this one, I send to Gibson to be evaluated is not "sandwich" body with approx 1/8" filler. As u can clearly see on the pictures. My guitar is single body with 2 or 3 pieces maple top, one piece neck with added 2 small pieces on headstock and all the cavities on the back on the guitar are consisted with guitars made in '50, '60 and '70s. I don't have a clue why this guys from Gibson send me this information. They must have look at many guitars and they were just confused. I must say very unprofessional. I was hoping that they will take very close investigative look at my guitar and they will give me more precised answer. They also missed 2 plugged holes underneath the paint, clearly suggesting that this guitar used to have tale piece holding strings like in 1954 or 1970-1958 les paul standard or '70 Jeff Beck model. And this is what I think. I think this guitar could be made 1954 or 1958 0r 1960s Les Paul converted to tale piece and the bridge and custom painted in 1968 by Mr Mike Ladd. Fingerboard on this guitar is brazilian rosewood, that was verified by lot of people who know Les Pauls and the wood (luthiers). I also think that Mike Ladd customize the shape of the neck and he installed bigger frets on it, before he paint the guitar. I must say that after I finished this guitar and I play I never have anything play... read more

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