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Topic: Les Paul Miracle Makeover Restoration |
Ben Elder
From:
La Crescenta, California, USA
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Posted 19 Nov 2009 1:12 pm |
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It's a long story (and one perhaps without a conclusion or moral) about what brought this traditional country/bluegrass/Americana/Weissengeek to a three-pickup Gibson Les Paul some years back. Elderly (no relation) Instruments had this priced in keeping with its horrific refinish (brown stain slopped on top, white paint slathered with a broad brush on sides and back and infinitesimal silver stars, hearts and moon stickers, just a smidge of original butterscotch finish on the headstock.) I looked and lusted, it disappeared from their listings and then--boom! back again. I couldn't resist. A virtual LP Artisan at a Melody Maker price.
   
This is a Les Paul XPL (as in Explorer; note the Grim Reaper pointy headstock and dotmarkers) and is documented in the second Gruhn guide. There are other so-called LP XPLs that are double cutaway, have other pickup combinations and/or have Kahler or other laughable dive-bomb locking tremolos. This does not and never did. it bears a 1986 serial number and a Custom Shop decal.
But here's the good news--restoration by Ron Lira of Honest Ron's Guitars in Oklahoma City. Instructions: try to match the remaining smidge of original headstock color to the extent possible.
   
Ron got the color right on (and that's still original finish--with some crazing on the heastock) and what I didn't expect is the "highway yellow" (the Pittsburgh Paints shade I refinished my blonde '67 Tele body in '70) appearance--nirvana for a yellow fetishist like myself. What does a three-pickup Custom or Artisan go for these days? (A lot more than a grandorso, combined purchase and restoration price here. P.S. Not for sale.)
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"Gopher, Everett?" |
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Leslie Ehrlich
From:
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
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Posted 19 Nov 2009 2:39 pm
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A Les Paul with an Explorer headstock. Neat.
I'd like to have a Paul with a Strat neck, complete with 1970s Strat headstock and logo.
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Sho-Bud Pro III + Marshall JMP 2204 half stack = good grind! |
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Dave Hopping
From:
Aurora, Colorado
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Posted 20 Nov 2009 4:58 pm
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| A Lestercaster???? |
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 20 Nov 2009 10:47 pm That is one ugly............., whatever it is...
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| But if it kicks butt, play on! |
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Ben Elder
From:
La Crescenta, California, USA
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Posted 21 Nov 2009 12:46 pm Thanks, Stan!
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I emailed this thread to Stan Werbin at Elderly and he dredged up the XPL's original web page from the previous century:
http://elderly.com/vintage/items/30U-9322.htm
(The mini-Schallers, mini-Gotohs, mini-whatevah were replacements because, to a previous owner's line of reasoning--and we've seen how good some previous owners' lines of reasoning were--one of the original mini-Grovers was broken. I bought a set of mini-Grovers to be able to put one of those plus the five good originals back on.)
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"Gopher, Everett?" |
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Scott Hay
From:
Portland, OR / Yucca Valley, CA USA
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Posted 23 Nov 2009 8:26 pm
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| ben, that came out awesome! |
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