"Gibson reintroducing the '70s Les Paul Custom"

[RobB]

15 hours ago, crunchee said:

I remember back in the late '70's/early'80's, practically everybody who was familiar with those LPs in transparent colors (Standards, Customs, etc.) with maple tops wished that Gibson would use two- piece maple tops (like '50's models) instead of those three-piece tops, me included.  Hell, it didn't even have to be figured wood, plain two-piece maple tops woulda worked just fine. it didn't make sense to me or anybody I knew why Gibson didn't do that from an aesthetic viewpoint, I always thought a three-piece maple top looked mismatched; also, maple was probably the cheapest of any of the woods that Gibson used on LPs, too!  Nowadays, Gibson probably charges a premium for 'vintage accuracy', for using three piece maple tops.  

So, they used a 3pc top? Big-flippin’-whoop! Wouldn’t be a 70’s LPC RI without one, now would it?

Edited September 24, 2025 by RobB

[Jeff R]

Or the even-better feature the "experts" critique and the RI subsequently omitted - the pancake bodies. Classic example of we fickle guitarists spending more time clicking a mouse versus becoming better players, and making consumer decisions with our eyes and our innerwebs "expertise" versus our own ears, hands and ribcages.

Every time someone bashes on pancake body Norlins in my shop, I respond that I can't remember if a '58-60 Standard has headstock ears, but I know they typically have absolutely no less than six glued-up pieces of wood (don't forget the holly headstock veneer). So be sure to include the Holy Grail LPs on your blanket "they suck" list.

Edited to add eye candy that doubles as a "disclaimer" note ... my very cherished '76 Standard.

Edited September 24, 2025 by Jeff R

[seeker]

Yeah, I had a 71 Custom LP in the 90s. Clownburst, Pancake body, Fretless Wonder, all Original Boat Anchor. Painfully heavy and was hard to get a clean tone out of.  Sold it to a guy and found it 6 months later at a GC in their Loud Lounge. And then it was gone. 

[Dave Scepter]

On 9/23/2025 at 1:54 PM, hamerhead said:

They're re-issuing those Norlin pancake boat anchor pieces of crap??

Still #1, all 10.2 lbs of it. Pretty sure it came with medium jumbos, although that was 46 years - and 2 fret jobs - ago.

 

Did it come this way or did you swap out the gold hardware for chrome/nickel?

[kizanski]

14 hours ago, Dave Scepter said:

It's just the difference between the brand of lacquer, thickness, temperature and the amount of exposure to UV light of the clear lacquer applied 

...and weed. 

[Steve Haynie]

A friend had a 70's Les Paul Custom with all the "wrong" features, and that guitar was magic.  Another friend fixated on 1979 Les Paul Customs.  

[Kerry Marchman]

22 hours ago, santellavision said:

Here's my '73 Gibson Les Paul Custom. I got it as a gift  from my dad in 1973. I still have it!


Yeah, It's definitely not the same now - haha. Been through a million changes. Here's the story...
 
It went through some crazy mods. First, I swapped out the pickups for 2 DiMarzio Super Distortion pickups. My dad drove me to Staten Island, NY and I went to Larry Dimarzio's house where he was selling them out of his basement!! I later added a middle PU a'la Peter Frampton. I then added an MXR Phase 90 inside the control cavity (Yeah, it actually fit) Added Grovers too (still on there)

 
I stripped it down to natural like Mick Ronson and filled in the maple top and took out the middle PU.

Kept it like that for a long time. It was a pretty nice sounding guitar! Under 10lbs too.
I then decided to fix her up. I sent it to a luthier to completely grind off the maple top and 're-top' it with a Spalted Maple top.
Recently, I added some custom-wound Gravelin pickups and 3rd refret by RS Guitarworks to Medium Jumbos. The only part still original is the tailpiece. Weird, but it's Super lightweight and actually makes a big difference in tone. I tried two other gold tailpieces and they didn't sound nearly as good, lightweight really made a difference. Here's a current pic I used for my CD insert on my album.

Lastly, I made a nice truss cover to remind me of my dad.
That has to be one of the best looking LP'S I've ever seen. Love the trussrod cover too!

 

 

 

[Kerry Marchman]

My only gripe is why do a 3 piece top if you aren't going all the way with the pancake body? Not that I would want a pancake body, but I don't really want a 3 piece top either.

I had a 1973 Custom fretless wonder that had 9 pieces of wood in it! 3 piece top, 5 piece back, and maple pancake veneer. I called it my Butcher Block guitar. It weighed 10lbs 10ozs.. Sounded fantastic, but I found a lighter Standard that sounded just as good.

 

[hamerhead]

1 hour ago, Dave Scepter said:

Did it come this way or did you swap out the gold hardware for chrome/nickel?

That IS the original gold hardware, just worn away.

[LucSulla]

Well, since we're showing pics of the kids, my ride or die 78 that's I've had since 1999 on a rare outing. 
 

 

[veatch]

l..l,

Rawk!

[murkat]

On 9/23/2025 at 3:37 PM, stobro said:

How can a '70s LP Custom be considered authentic when it has "medium jumbo" frets?

My 72’ lpc has it’s original stock medium jumbo frets. That’s how.

[cmatthes]

I played one of the Creamtop Customs today at the Vegas GC.  It was actually - and oddly - light to medium weight.  Not bad, bigger frets than on my Norlin LPC, but the neck was more of the slim taper shape to me.  Needed a setup - kinda pinky/some dead spots, like an Epi 355 IBGCS I played as well.  
 

I'm not in the market, but not bad at all.

[diablo175]

20 hours ago, LucSulla said:

Well, since we're showing pics of the kids, my ride or die 78 that's I've had since 1999 on a rare outing. 
 

 

I have that shirt!  

ETA- gawdayumm. That's some hella ferocious shredding there, @LucSulla

 

 

 

Edited September 26, 2025 by diablo175

[stobro]

6 hours ago, murkat said:

My 72’ lpc has it’s original stock medium jumbo frets. That’s how.

Hmmm. My '72 (or whatever year they had the Gibson logo stamped into the pickup covers) that I had back in the mid-to-late '70s (when it was just another used guitar) had the infamous fretless wonder frets, as did every other sample I came across back in that time.

[Brooks]

On 9/24/2025 at 11:34 AM, kizanski said:

My 1970 3 pickup LPC

ALL original except for frets and replaced toggle switch.

Original owner gave it to an old friend of mine, who sold it to me many years later.

I bought it to flip it but I fell in love with it and kept it.

Until I sold it, that is.

Frets over the binding (of course).

Cool, almost looks like the one Ace held on the cover of Guitar Player

 

 

[RobB]

20 hours ago, LucSulla said:

 

 

Dang, Beau! You’ve really made that Splawn your own. Killer clip!

[LucSulla]

On 9/26/2025 at 9:11 AM, RobB said:

Dang, Beau! You’ve really made that Splawn your own. Killer clip!

It is a survivor, considering how fast I roll amps.