{"id":49,"date":"2012-01-25T22:21:56","date_gmt":"2012-01-25T22:21:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/guitar\/?page_id=49"},"modified":"2015-06-09T20:58:58","modified_gmt":"2015-06-09T20:58:58","slug":"1979-gibson-les-paul-custom","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/bunnyears.net\/guitar\/electric-guitars\/1979-gibson-les-paul-custom\/","title":{"rendered":"Gibson Les Paul Custom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Year:<\/strong> 1979
\nFinish:<\/strong> Wine Red
\nOrigin:<\/strong> USA
\nPrice Paid:<\/strong> $700
\nMods:<\/strong> Bone nut, Schaller straplocks
\nAcquired:<\/strong> 1989
\nStill owned:<\/strong>\u00a0No<\/p>\n

The Story:
\n<\/strong>In high school, I told my parents I wanted to learn how to play guitar. Of course, that means getting a guitar \u2014 but they called my bluff and said \u201cuse your sister\u2019s.\u201d It was a nylon-string folk guitar by Framus (similar to this one<\/a>), thoroughly inadequate for rocking. I said I wanted an electric. \u201cIf you want an electric, you\u2019re going to have to save up and buy it yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mom didn\u2019t think I\u2019d do it. To scratch the itch, I borrowed a friend\u2019s Strat copy \u2014 a little-known but well-built Asian brand called Yakima<\/a> \u2014 for about seven months while saving up my cash from my job at the record store. My goal was to get a bright red, real Fender Stratocaster \u2014 albeit a 1957 reissue from Japan, much like this one<\/a>. I\u2019d visited Chet\u2019s Music Store, which was a Fender dealer but didn\u2019t regularly stock anything, and was told to come in when I had $600, which would be enough up front for them to order the $1000 model. Chet was a friend of the family, and while there was no deal to be cut, he was friendly and understood my enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

The day after I graduated high school in 1989, I took my $600 in savings and asked my parents to go with me to Chet\u2019s \u2014 it was a special moment and I wanted them to be there. Partly that was to rub their noses in it, but my parents didn\u2019t even seem to care that I\u2019d called their bluff; they were happy that I had saved my money and kept focused on a goal for such a long time.<\/p>\n

Chet said \u201cToday\u2019s the day, huh? Okay, but before we place the order, I have something I want to show you\u2026\u201d And from behind the counter, he produced a 1979 Les Paul Custom, all original, in a hardshell case. Now, I knew the name, and I\u2019d read by battered copy of the UK instructional manual Play Rock Guitar enough to know what a Les Paul was, but\u2026well, it was almost perfectly wrong. Stratocasters were light and hourglassy and had stinging, biting tone. Les Pauls were chunky and heavy and sounded similarly fat. It was exactly the opposite of what I wanted, of everything I\u2019d been saving for.<\/p>\n

\u201cOoh, that\u2019s pretty,\u201d said my mom. She knew of\u00a0Les Paul<\/a> from his multitracked\u00a0hits with Mary Ford<\/a>, and their television and radio appearances. I just knew him as the guy whose name was on the guitar. And I had to admit, the wine red finish with the gold hardware was pretty.<\/p>\n

We went into one of the student rooms and plugged it into an ancient Fender combo amp. I had meager skills at this point, but my mom asked if I could play Chet Atkins\u2019 version of \u201cSnowbird.\u201d My dad commented that it was lovely and that Chet wouldn\u2019t steer me wrong; if I liked it, I could trust him. I knew I was holding something valuable, but again\u2026it wasn\u2019t my guitar, was it? It had a tiny little bit of buckle rash but otherwise looked perfect. It had barely been played. Chet said he\u2019d sold it to a customer some years back who wound up keeping it in his closet and, when that guy needed money, Chet was a pal and bought it back from him. But Chet wasn\u2019t a high-priced guitar dealer; he made money from lessons. He wanted this thing out of his store for the insurance reasons alone. If I bought it for $700, I\u2019d be doing him a favor, he said.<\/p>\n

I looked at my dad. \u201cI don\u2019t think you should pass this up,\u201d he said. He knew nothing about guitars, but as a veteran bargain hunter, he knew a good deal when he saw it. \u201cIf you don\u2019t like it, you can always sell it or trade it for something else.\u201d So in the back of my mind, that\u2019s always what I\u2019ve considered doing. I mean, who keeps their first guitar, right?<\/p>\n

My parents loaned me the extra $100 \u2014 \u201cyou saved up the first $600, so we know you\u2019re good for it,\u201d said my mom \u2014 and I walked out with it in its heavy hardshell case, almost in shock. I didn\u2019t have that \u201cOMG this is the guitar I\u2019ve always dreamed of\u201d feeling. I had that \u201cwhat have I done?\u201d feeling. And a little voice in the back of my head said, \u201cThis had better go up in value, because I want to get a really nice Strat for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friends said they\u2019d never seen a guitar like it. It was actually not that uncommon; wine red was (and still is) a standard Gibson finish and it was pretty popular at the time it was made. But not in Trenton, New Jersey, apparently, because I got nothing but suggestions that it was unique or rare.<\/p>\n

The gold on the hardware has worn away in places, the white binding has turned yellow\/orange, and there are more than a few buckle scrapes on the back now. Still, it\u2019s in great shape overall; no damage, all original hardware (except for the strap pegs \u2014 Chet was the one who turned me on to strap locks as well as \u201cthe toothpick trick\u201d<\/a>), and the pickups still have strong output. I found its twin for $3000 a year or so ago, and I believe the value will only go up. Guess my dad was right.<\/p>\n

Chet\u2019s Music Store was destroyed in a fire some years back; I understand that Chet himself has passed on now too. But I kept the guitar for 25 years, ultimately selling it to a friend to help fund my first home. It wasn’t that<\/em> valuable, but it put a good dent in the down payment. I loved playing this guitar for two and a half decades and I have no regrets.<\/p>\n

Oh, and that 1957 Strat issue from Japan? It might\u00a0be worth close to $2,000 today, as the made-in-Japan Fenders of that era are now prized by collectors. But I took care of that red Strat craving<\/a> anyway…<\/p>\n