Gibson Les Paul Custom Electric Guitar Stereo Rare 1973 Start Price USD 10,000.00 Current Price USD 10,000.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Wednesday, September 03, 2008 End Time Wednesday, September 10, 2008 Location Westminster, Co See more about 'Gibson Les Paul Custom Electric Guitar Stereo Rare 1973' Description I don't know much about guitars, but my Dad sure does,  This is what he has to say about this one:  "This guitar is in very good condition, it was never played day after day.  I didn't have or belong to a regular band.  I played for a few dances at places like the Elks, Eagles and church dances.  In later years, I had a 'Senior Citizens' band that played for nursing homes, senior centers and the like. I played different guitars for these because I hauled all the instruments in out of buildings in all kinds of weather.  I didn't want to expose this guitar to all the handling and weather changes.  This guitar and I have been together for 33-34 years and now I am going on 84 years of age and have decided to part with my pride and joy." Several years ago pictures of this guitar were sent to Gruhn Guitars (the World's Premier Guitar Store) in Nashville for an assessment.  I am quoting from that, word for word.  "We certify that the guitar described below is, in our opinion, a Gibson Custom Variation of a Les Paul Custom made between 1973 and 1975". Description: Serial number 673103.  This instrument appears to be in excellent original condition.  It does not conform to typical Les Paul Custom wiring.  Instead it has a large semi-circular plastic control plate with master volume control, two rocker switches, two volume controls, two tone controls, and two input jacks,  We have checked with Tim Shaw and Bruce Bolin both of whom formerly worked at Gibson in the Research and Development department.  Both of them now work at Fender.  We received the following reply from Tim, 'Hi Phil:  Bruce and I've both looked at this and our collective opinion is that it's a one-off, made in Kalamazoo, probably between 1973 and 1975.  We're betting that it's wired in true stereo, with two separate circuits and a stacked master volume control.  Rocker switches like that were around the shop when I arrived and the electrical engineer at the time would have preferred them to the slide switches we'd used earlier on non-reverse Firebirds.  That's another reason we picked those dates.  The back veneer may or may not have been requested by the customer;  it's possible that it was added to cover the original holes for the toggle switch and the treble tone control, which were used to locate the body on the profile tooling and the carver.  That's the best we can do; hope it helps.  Best regards/Tim'.  This instrument features typical Les Paul Custom binding and inlay but has a maple veneer on the back as well as having a maple top and has a maple neck, whereas at the time this guitar was made the typical Les Paul Custom had a mahogany neck and mahogany back.  The bridge, tailpiece and pickups are typical of the model and the cherry sunburst finish was a color option available on the Les Paul Custom.  The wiring system, however, is quite different on this guitar from the typical version of the model."  (signed) George Gruhn.The case is included and is in very good condition, just a couple of scuffed places. Please email me with any questions before bidding.  Please, only serious bidders. Cashiers check only!  I will invoice you with the total.  Please wait for my invoice. I would prefer local pickup, either in the metro Denver/Westminster area or the Northern Colorado/Greeley/Fort Collins/Windsor corridor or in between.  However the shipping weight will be approximately 25# and depending on the zip code the charge will be about $75.00.  I have checked on this with UPS as the carrier and using Chicago as a destination point, but will use another service as you prefer.Buyer will be responsible for shipping and insurance.      Place a Bid!