1974 Gibson Les Paul Custom 20th Anniversary, White
1974 Gibson Les Paul Custom 20th Anniversary Model in White. Owned for the last 35 years by the previous owner it has been played and enjoyed, sounds great and has just the right amount of wear.
Released in 1974 as Gibson's first Anniversary model, the 20th Anniversary Les Paul Custom celebrates 20 years from the first appearance of the range topping Les Paul Custom in the Gibson catalog. As is befitting the guitar has high-end appointments throughout and a commemorative 20th Anniversary inlay at the 15th fret. Offered in Black, White, Wine Red and Cherry Sunburst, the 20th Anniversary Custom proved to be very successful and would go on to be used by players as diverse as Randy Rhodes, Steve Jones and Lindsey Buckingham.
Construction is consistent with Les Paul Custom models from the early 70’s with a three piece Mahogany body with two piece Maple top, three piece Mahogany neck with Ebony fingerboard and two Gibson humbucker pickups as standard. Appointments include a diamond inlayed, multi bound headstock with Gold plated Gibson tuners, a bound neck with multi-ply double-bound body, gold plated ABR-1 bridge and tailpiece, black pickup surrounds and pickguard and gold plated pickup covers.
The guitar is in great overall condition, the original white finish has aged to a mellow cream and looks great with plenty of character. There is an area of touch up paint by the bridge volume control and an area of buckle-rash on the back through to the Mahogany beneath. The input jack is a replacement as is often the case and as a result there are two small plugged holes. The neck has the perfect amount of wear both in the hand and visually. The guitar has been stored at sometime on a foam or plastic wall hanger causing the nitrocellulose finish to react. There are two marks below the headstock ‘wings’ and an area of discolouring by the volute. Having studied the area under different lighting and backlight there is no evidence of any repair to the headstock with any finish marks likely being due to environmental factors.
The CTS pots date to the 37th week of 1974 meaning this guitar would likely one of the later produced examples in 1974. The neck pickup is a Patent No. Sticker T-top with a resistance of 7.1K and the bridge a Patent Number Stamp T-top with a resistance of 7.2K. 1974 was the year Gibson started to use Patent Stamped Pickups so it's not uncommon to see a mix of the two during the period. The witch hat knobs are later replacements but correct in type. The guitar plays well still on its original “Fretless Wonder” frets. The Pat. No. T-tops sound glorious with decent output they provide just the right amount of grind whilst retaining all the bite, attack, sustain and richness they're known for.
1970s Les Paul Customs have a reputation for being notoriously heavy, this one tips the scales at a very decent 9.7lbs, it wears the weight well and doesn’t feel as heavy as the numbers suggest. The guitar comes with its original purple lined Gibson case and hangtag.