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.
Norlin
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
MORE →Immediately popular particularly with singer-songwriters and carrying a distinctive hand-painted pickguard, the Hummingbird was used on many popular recordings, sometimes to surprising results. For example, The Rolling Stones’ ‘Street Fighting Man’ features a Hummingbird recorded on an overdriven Philips cassette recorder, with Charlie Watts using a portable practice kit. Other recordings, like ‘Angie’, record the Hummingbird more conventionally.
This instrument has sold
MORE →Appearing in 1960 next to the top of the line J-200, the Gibson Hummingbird was Gibson’s first square-shoulder – Martin style – dreadnought guitar.
This instrument has sold
MORE →The Gibson SG Standard appeared, named as such, in 1963 though it had been available for two years as the radically redesigned Les Paul Standard. It has remained in production since then, with a number of variations- some subtle, others less so.Here we’re looking at a nice Gibson SG Standard built during 1977, likely at the Nashville Tennessee plant. This was during the Norlin era, and the back of the head features a ‘Volute’ typical of that time, added to help increase head strength.
This instrument has sold
MORE →