Anyone have a ballpark estimate as to what I could get for my guitar? Its is an all-original Les Paul Custom with the Tobacco Sunburst Color Pattern, made in 1978. Gold (or something that looks like gold )plated tuners, pickup covers and bridge. All show quite a bit of wear, as would be expected in a guitar of this age, but all are in perfect working order. Humbucking pickups. No reall fretboard wear to speak of. No scratches on the front of the guitar, but a bit of wear on the back. All bindings have that beautiful yellowish tinge. The sound of the guitar is excellent.
Oh, dang it, jayrot, you just spoiled it for me…I was gonna say “You’d be lucky to get $20 bucks for it”, then generously offer $25, since I’m such a soft touch and all…
j/k…I figure anyone with the username Fiddle Peghead has got to have some decent stringed instrument knowledge, anyway…
I guess I’ve got a bit of knowledge. I sold my banjo last year (it’s peghead was shaped like a fiddle) but now I regret it. I want to buy a new one and hope to raise most of its cost by selling the Paul.
Here is what far too many dudes do. They place the item on eBay with a reserve so high Bill Gates can’t buy it (say in this case $10,000. and if you get that, good luck to you!), then wait for the bids to pour in. The happy-assed bidders at ebay have just performed a appraisal for you for the cost of an ad listing. :rolleyes:
That is one reason why I skip “reserve” auctions, BTW.
Can you see wood grain clearly through the finish? Is it highly figured? If so, is it bookmatched; i.e., is the top made of a single sheet of wood split and butted to produce
a symmetrical pattern?
70’s weren’t a great time for Les Pauls (or for Gibson generally), if I understand correctly. I don’t think Gibson was as focused on collectability as they are now. The guitars of that period were finished in polyurethane, which is durable but not as aesthetically pleasing as the nitrocellulose lacquer that Gibson has since gone back to. I suspect that the polyurethane finish doesn’t age in the attractive way the nitro lacquer does.
I had a wine red LP Custom that I bought in 77 or 78. I foolishly traded it away in the mid-late 90s, but I was already tired of the Les Paul sound and the weight.
I’m going to guess you paid around $600-$700 for your LP new. My WAG is that you could get as much as $1000 from someone itching to get a Les Paul with the Gibson name on the headstock (as opposed to the Epiphone brand). But look at a catalog from Musician’s Friend and see how many iterations of the Les Paul are currently being offered by Gibson, and you’ll get a feel for the competition.
There’s one '78 LP on eBay and they’re asking $2,475.95 for it–dunno if they’ll get it, there are no completed auctions for a '78. There’s one other with a Buy it Now of $1,650.00–reserve was not met on that one.
A '75 has a BiN of $1,699.00. A '76 got bids up to $1,225.00 but the reserve was not met.
Finally, there are two '79 LPs. One sold for $1,533.00, the other for $2,800.00. There’s one auction for a '79, the current bid is $1,700.52.
Why yes, now that you ask, it’s early morning and the family is still asleep and I’m looking for something to fill the time. Thank you.
)plated tuners, pickup covers and bridge. All show quite a bit of wear, as would be expected in a guitar of this age, but all are in perfect working order. Humbucking pickups. No reall fretboard wear to speak of. No scratches on the front of the guitar, but a bit of wear on the back. All bindings have that beautiful yellowish tinge. The sound of the guitar is excellent.