Built from 1971 to 1979, the Gibson Les Paul Recording model sported the features most desired by Les Paul himself, but unfortunately this did not translate into sales success. Still, even this low selling model was copied by Japanese builders during the ‘Lawsuit Era’. Constructed during the Norlin years with strong references to the original Les Paul Custom models, the Gibson Les Paul Recording model featured a Mahogany body with carved Mahogany top – unlike the Gold Top and Standard models, which had Maple caps on a Mahogany slab. At this point, Gibson was using what’s come to be called ‘Pancake’ bodies, with at least two narrower layers of Mahogany.
1972
Here is a rarity – a Gibson EB 0L long scale bass from 1972, reaching just past the Fender Bass scale length to 34.134 inches. This model was built from 1970 to 1977 to a quantity of 1,153, according to the shipping totals page at Fly Guitars, a site dedicated to Gibson basses. The Gibson EB 0L has straightforward construction, pairing a Mahogany body to a three-piece Maple neck with an unbound Indian Rosewood fingerboard.
Introduced in 1963, the Guild Bluegrass F47 model was aimed at the exploding folk and bluegrass boom. In 1966, production moved from Hoboken NJ to Westerly RI. In 1972, the year this guitar was built, Guild’s President Alfred Dronge was killed in a plane crash and was succeeded by Leon Tell. The Guild Bluegrass F47, here seen as a one-owner-since-new 1972 model, is based on what’s currently referred to as a ‘Grand Orchestra’ body shape, with solid spruce top and solid mahogany back and sides.
Here’s a rarity – the Gibson ES 150D, a double cutaway, full depth hollow body archtop electric built around 1972 at the Kalamazoo plant during the Norlin years. Drawing inspiration from the venerable ES-150 model – introduced in 1936 with the ‘Charlie Christian’ pickup and built until 1956 – the Gibson ES-150D is unusual. In 1958, the all-new thinline, semi-hollow ES-335 and 345 were introduced and started the final decline of the popular full depth archtop.
This instrument has sold
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