Gibson Les Paul value??

My nephew traded a rifle for this Gibson Les Paul 25th Anniversary edition. The guy said it was worth about $4k. I have no idea so I’m asking for help. Anyone know approx value of this guitar?? Thanks!!

In Germany one sold for more. If in good condition I'd guess more like $4,500 in average.
Current Reverb offers are for $4,499, $5,400, $5,700 and $5,800 with the most expensive one $8,500:


And a Les Paul signed one for only $17,000...


Ralf

Tom, it sounds like that's also an expensive rifle!

walrus

walrus said:

Tom, it sounds like that's also an expensive rifle!

walrus

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Oh yeah. Super nice rifle!! Never got to shoot it tho. They’re in Colorado..... and they travel to LA often and always stop to visit but not with firearms. Damn my luck......

Dang! I guess he wasn't lied to! That's one pricey LP!

Nice looking LP.

"I got a boat for my wife, best trade I ever did" ;]

All jokes aside, that guitar was selling for nearly $4k ten years ago.

This one is really clean. Somewhat typical, these were real expensive, so they got kept as more of an investment than a bar guitar.

There was also a Les Paul Artisan, with more inlays, maybe more expensive than this one.

I see a Phase Switch, a big deal for a Les Paul, special order?

The TP-6 tailpiece is really great for fine tuning, but butt ugly, I usually took those off for a plain tailpiece for a more traditional look and less weight.

What this is is basically a Sunburst Flametop Les Paul Custom with fancy inlays.

These were affectionately referred to as " The Most Les Paul" ;]

1952 + 25 = 1977, really quite an oldie, amazing condish.

He didn't get hurt. The phase switch or maybe coil tap looks to be standard, here's one on Reverb for $5k and some change. It's probably not in as good a shape as this one and there something hinky* about the tailpiece. I'd say this is a $6k guitar.


Here's a Sunburst Flametop Custom I had, more or Les the same guitar, not the Anniversary model, but still quite unusual for a Custom.



*Urbandictionary.com describes “hinky” as meaning, among other things, “Something as yet undefinable is wrong, out of place; not quite right.

And yes, it is in the Scrabble dictionary.

That looks extremely clean, even the case. Norlin LPs are kind of in flux right now -- I've seen some seemingly stupid asking prices actually met. I don't think anybody has a great feel for the market right now, lots of fishing. If that is truly as clean as it looks, take great pics and list it at something silly, like $7-8k and see if you get a bite.

Okay, this just in. Big crack through the knobs through the wood!! And if it’s that dry and I don’t know about solid/chambered but the rest must be dried as well. Not a cheap fix? Effects value for sure!! He’s negotiating for an old fender tube amp as well. He’s smart but not guitar or amp savvy. I’ll post amp details soon. What a pretty guitar huh?? Shame about the damage. Can you get to that through the chambers?? Cleat humidify and what??

davismanLV said:

Okay, this just in. Big crack through the knobs through the wood!! And if it’s that dry and I don’t know about solid/chambered but the rest must be dried as well. Not a cheap fix? Effects value for sure!! He’s negotiating for an old fender tube amp as well. He’s smart but not guitar or amp savvy. I’ll post amp details soon. What a pretty guitar huh?? Shame about the damage. Can you get to that through the chambers?? Cleat humidify and what??

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Solid bodies don't really suffer the sort of humidity cracks you deal with in acoustics. Occasionally you see some improperly cured wood warp/crack a little, and that could be happening here, or it could be an impact crack from something whacking into the knobs. Either way, wicking some super glue into it will take care of it. Definitely takes away some value, but that's a pretty clean/simple crack and not all splintered out like you sometimes see with impact cracks. Less detriment to value than anything headstock/neck would've been.

Here’s the damage. Sorry not used to working off my phone. I thought you got the images!! Sorry!!

Tom, there is nothing you can cleat as that is a maple cap on a hog body. Does not have any stability issue on such a guitar. Usually happens not from dried out wood (well maybe in a combination) but from pushing hard on the case and through the two knobs on the pots. Open the back panel and check if it goes through. It looks like it does. Maybe the guitar was laying on the ground and somebody stepped on the two knobs. All possible sources for such a crack at that position. That crack looks old already, it's not a new crack. The edges are already polished out as it looks.
I simply would leave it alone, glue on the finish might make it worse looking. But you could remove the pots and use super thin super glue to close the crack if needed and close the remaining crack with NC lacquer, shave it flush with the finish and polish it out.



Ralf

Hey Tom - There's a youtuber that's really into those, and he gives a lot of info about them, if you're interested. Most people don't seem to play them, just collect them.


A pre-1976 Fender tube amp would definitely make up the value.

Hardly much value to make up really, these cracks aren't that that big a deal. Close the cracks with humidifying, inject with thinned Titebond, will have no effect on the Nitro, just wipe off. I doubt somebody stepped on the guitar. as I've seen the same cracks before. The guitar was probably too dry for too long. The Maple top is very thin at the control cavity, and you should be able to cleat that from the underside, after undoing the pot nuts and lifting them out of the way.

Guildedagain said:

inject with thinned Titebond, will have no effect on the Nitro, just wipe off.

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Wouldn't you see the yellow color from titebond afterwards? Titebond stays yellow and not crystal clear.


Ralf

SFIV1967 said:

Wouldn't you see the yellow color from titebond afterwards? Titebond stays yellow and not crystal clear.

About Titebond Wood Glue | FINE TOOLS

Read here what our colleague Anthony writes about Titebond glues

www.fine-tools.com

Ralf

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IF you could use titebond and then close the gap so it all squeezed out, then it can be wiped off or better, left to dry and then scraped or razored off. However, by looking at the cutaway photo that you showed me, I'm not sure that could be done in a solid body because it's totally adhered to that mahogany underneath. He has a guy in Denver who says he can fix it. I warned him, damage is better than poorly repaired damage but he's kinda headstrong, so..... we'll see. If this was an acoustic, moisture to close the gap, glue, cleat, clamp, and scrape and you're fixed but this is a totally different story.

But you're right, Titebond is not filler of any kind, so if you can't reduce the fracture, not a good thing!

davismanLV said:

However, by looking at the cutaway photo that you showed me, I'm not sure that could be done in a solid body because it's totally adhered to that mahogany underneath.

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As Guildedagain correctly said, it's very thin at the position where the crack is (as it's towards the edge), so when you look into the potentiometer cavity there might be no mahogany left and you would only see the maple cap. In any way there is much more maple left compared to an acoustic top, so it's not as thin as an acoustic top there. You will see when you remove the potentiometers.





Ralf

If you can see the yellow in the Titebond after it's done, you're looking at the guitar way too close ;] You can blend it in with a fine sharpie or artist pencil also.

Does Elmer's dry clear? It's pretty good glue actually. There's also hide glue, not sure what it's effect on NCL is.

I personally like the yellow look, it matches old guitar finishes well. If it was me, I'd definitely fix it myself. A damp sponge temporarily on the area would probably almost close the cracks, get some thinned Titebond in there. I prefer to wipe, not much into razor blades on the top on LP idea.

Looking at the bridge and pickup, the wear there, this isn't unplayed, it's somewhat well used, so the super duper mint collector value isn't there anyway. The cracks are much better dealt with, from a sales standpoint.

Somebody shoulda told me years ago that Titebond isn't a filler. I've been using as a sealer filler for decades.

Here's the back of a Strat headstock Swiss cheesed with tuners holes. I used Titebond to fill the holes so moisture can't get it, effectively using it as a filler. The yellowish tint actually works out here, matches the aged finish.





Excalibur Chiaroscuro

Hey Ralf and everyone, he seems to have a good guy who's super familiar with these Les Pauls and knows about this problem when they get super dry. Apparently, it's almost as dry in Denver as it is here. Probably more heating and a/c or maybe the same and mile high?? Anyway, this guy wants to fill the crack with epoxy and then in the chamber drill and small tiny hole at the ends of the crack, to make future expansion and contraction less devastating, which makes sense. However again, I told him what he needs to do is either make the crack less obvious, humidify the guitar, and also don't worry about future cracking because he's gonna sell it and I advised he NOT have him drill into the maple even from the back!! That sounds like invasive stuff on a vintage guitar and people will know and ...... just repair the crack as best possible to make it look better. Or just leave it alone. Did I advise him correctly?? Drilling into (even the back) of a vintage instrument sounds bothersome for resale. So if this was a flat top acoustic, I could advise him, but I'm lost. He's read all your responses. I said, "Repair crack, don't drill." Is that okay advice??? Thank you all for your expertise.... I love this place!!

davismanLV said:

Hey Ralf and everyone, he seems to have a good guy who's super familiar with these Les Pauls and knows about this problem when they get super dry. Apparently, it's almost as dry in Denver as it is here. Probably more heating and a/c or maybe the same and mile high?? Anyway, this guy wants to fill the crack with epoxy and then in the chamber drill and small tiny hole at the ends of the crack, to make future expansion and contraction less devastating, which makes sense. However again, I told him what he needs to do is either make the crack less obvious, humidify the guitar, and also don't worry about future cracking because he's gonna sell it and I advised he NOT have him drill into the maple even from the back!! That sounds like invasive stuff on a vintage guitar and people will know and ...... just repair the crack as best possible to make it look better. Or just leave it alone. Did I advise him correctly?? Drilling into (even the back) of a vintage instrument sounds bothersome for resale. So if this was a flat top acoustic, I could advise him, but I'm lost. He's read all your responses. I said, "Repair crack, don't drill." Is that okay advice??? Thank you all for your expertise.... I love this place!!

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That sounds kind of overkill/non-standard to me. I'm not a repair guy, but this really looks like a tight, simple crack that you just let water-thin CA wick into and be done with. And I don't know why you'd keyhole the ends of the crack unless you were leaving it open. If it's properly glued up, there shouldn't be any risk of it growing.

Are you guys sure the crack isn't already glued up?