there's a program "pawn stars" i am addicted to on history channel on fridays...... where they follow the buys of a LA pawn shop

and this week dude walks into the store trying to sell what he thought was a 1960 Gibson les paul custom ........ he had owned the guitar since the 80's and obviously the store calls in an expert and was way cool cos the expert run through everything to look for in a 60's les paul........

after examination by the LA guitar expert it was revealed that it was genuine Gibson but NOT a 1960 as the owner was thinking but prob a mid 70's one ... the dude who owned it looked devastated by the news........

the expert said the one he had was a really nice one ....... but not worth the price of a 1960 's on they still offered him $3000 for it but the muso walked out with it and did not sell, saying if he was only gonna get that he would rather keep it since he toured with it since the 80's and would take it back on the road.......

so i assume he (the muso) was duped into thinking it was a 1960 lespaul when he bought it .bummer or else he was trying his luck in a con ,...... who knows.. but in his favour the look on his face when the guitar expert said it was not a 1960 les paul but a mid 70's one was one of pure shock so maybe he was tricked.....

anyway was cool hearing what the dude said and seeing the guitar ....... it was a black ...well roadworn , mid 70's les paul custom in original condition.... as in all the stock tuners and control knobs ect ........

and importantly the thing that ultmately gave it away as a mid 70 model?

the two piece body...

which i thought was strange, wouldnt have expected a 2 piece glued like that. Like it had a real thick top, or real thin back... whichever way you prefer to look at it.

Eden wrote: what was the episode and season number? would like to download and watch it

S2/ E4

I love that program too ?

This guy thinks he has a 1960 Les Paul and he's expecting some serious money and he takes into a pawn shop?

Yeah right.

If he really thought he had a 1960 Les Paul he wouldn't have been dealing with pawn shops, he'd be dealing with George Gruhn.

X-rated Bob wrote: This guy thinks he has a 1960 Les Paul and he's expecting some serious money and he takes into a pawn shop?

Yeah right.

If he really thought he had a 1960 Les Paul he wouldn't have been dealing with pawn shops, he'd be dealing with George Gruhn.

hi ya Bob , not sure if you watched the series but this is kinda "more than a pawn shop" they do some hectically big deals ...... along with normal ones associated with average pawn shops....... this last week they also spent $100 000 to rebuild an original handmade sports car ....... after buying the aluminium body for 25K from someone ...... and they say they can resell for about 160K in us dollars .....so yes they big money there .....

The guy used to be the guitarist for Toto. And the pawnshop is located in Vegas, not LA. Probably the best place in the world for that kind of business.

Isn't the show on Discovery?? Love that! And also the other one where the 2 guys go and buy the storage units on auction?

Jacquesg4j wrote: Isn't the show on Discovery??

this must be about the 3rd time they are repeating the series so probably is on History ? ?

and agree with Keira - the look on the dudes face tells me he had no idea either that it wasn't a 60's.

must say, i really felt for the poor guy. he looked devastated. so now, i'm going to show my complete lack of knowledge on the subject of two-piece lp bodies. i thought there was a back and a top, but this one was 'split' almost precisely down the centre of the body. i would have expected it to have shown a split closer to the top?

educate a poor sinner anyone?
dh

ps, here's the lowdown on the separation and why it's not at the top and bottom.

Les Paul models in the Norlin era (1969–1985)

"The LP body was changed from a one-piece mahogany with a maple top into multiple slabs of mahogany with multiple pieced maple tops. This is referred to as "multipiece" construction, and sometimes incorrectly referred to as a "pancake" body. The expression "pancake body" actually refers to a body made of a thin layer of maple sandwiched between two slabs of mahogany, with a maple cap. The grain of the maple was placed at 90 degrees to that of the mahogany. The "pancake"-like layers are clearly visible when looking at the edge of the guitar. This process is also known as "crossbanding", and was done for strength and resistance to cupping\warping. Crossbanding was phased out by 1977."

Also a quick run down on Pawn Stars.....(if you like the show and don't want it spoilt, then don't read on)......

Just thought that I'd add this after finding it after a quick search. The episode was totally staged as are pretty much all of them. The guy who "played" with triumph and toto, turns out to be Rod Miller who works as a luthier and tech at Cowtown Guitars in LV.

http://centraltendencies.com/2011/03/pawn-stars-is-fake/



Pictures of the 70's LP that were taken from the Cowtown Guitars website shortly after the episode aired for the first time about 2-3 years back.





And the guy that gets brought in as the pro...............also works for Cowtown Guitars. He's in the center of the pic.



http://www.shortscale.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=744225&sid=ed67710288556515b77d140280424696

Guess it's pretty much the WWF.

So I guess reality tv ain't that real after all. Bastards!

Nice sleuthing flatfour ?

Now find those Tokais!

o ..... k ......

won't be watching that TV show anymore ...

Jack Flash Jr wrote: Nice sleuthing flatfour ?

Now find those Tokais!

I'm a webmaster, so I'm online all day................how do you think I got all my guitar gear.

The best episode of Pawn Stars is however the coke machine episode and even I picked up this one. The "restored" machine isn't even the same machine.....lol.

And that, is why I only watch BBC wildlife shows... ?

I like the show, it's quite entertaining ..... especially the grandsons' buddy, and the old man. ...... :applause:

It's funny. I deleted a post on this thread because I thought it was getting a bit long-winded and boring (since I'm sure many of you find most of mine to fit that description, you can only imagine the ones I decide not to post ? ) and I hadn't seen the show in question. But I thought, "How on earth could this guy have laboured under that delusion so long?" It's ok for someone who finds one in their attic, but someone who claims to be a working guitar player? I could have told him from one glance at the guitar. So would many others he'd have encountered.

Firstly the neck volute - very obvious in those pictures. Only found on '70s and early 80's LPs. In fact, the only '70s LP Customs that don't have that are the '72-'73, '54 reissues (you follow that ?). So unless by some fluke it was one of those routed for humbuckers (instead of the P90 and the Anico V square pole-piece neck pickup) there's no way any one who knew Jack about LPs would have made that mistake otherwise.

So it was staged. Ra-ra for the "History" channel, or the "Discovery" channel or all of the other American "how-low-can-we-go" programming.

Tonight on the History channel: we explore the history of photographs of women in bikinis posing with motorcycles.

Tonight on The Discovery Channel: We follow the lives of women who pose in bikinis on motorcycles.

Now that's edutainment!

i like the show , them fat kids ...bloody hell how they get fat like that so young .....to many pies eh