Gibson Les Paul Standard Tobacco Sunburst, 1976 (No Longer Available)

Over the years, the Gibson Les Paul Standard has gained and iconic position in the guitar pantheon, though it has been in and out of favour as time passed.

Built during 1976, about halfway through Norlin’s ownership, this Gibson Les Paul Standard sports a classic tobacco sunburst finish. It also has a relatively steep neck angle, which can be seen in the fact that the strings are “Top Wrapped” over the stop tailpiece. This practice, an approach taken by players like Duane Allman, requires that the tailpiece studs be screwed in close to their maximum depth, though here they are up about 1/8 inch. This might provide marginally more sustain, while the reduced break-over angle on the saddles reduces tension when bending strings and friction on the saddle, which can reduce string breakage. The original Gibson Deluxe tuners have been replaced with Grover Roto-Matics.

At this point in Les Paul production, Gibson had made a few changes, some for durability. The neck is made of three pieces of Maple, plus two small pieces to fill out the shape of the head. The headstock is a larger size, reminiscent of that used on 1950’s Gibson archtops, but the headstock pitch is reduced and a volute was added when the neck was shaped. Gibson currently uses a headstock angle of 17 degrees, but during this period, it was as low as 14 degrees.

This example has been used as intended and plays well and cleanly. This is definitely a pre-weight-relief model! The finish has an amount of wear, particularly some ‘buckle rash’ on the back. It has been re-fretted with a higher, modern fretwire, and it looks like this was done in the recent past. These should last for many years to come.

This Gibson Les Paul Standard is sold with a modern Les Paul style, arched top Hard Shell case. The case contains the original pickguard and bridge pickup cover.