ES-335 Les Paul?

Johnny-B

Hi. I found this guitar hanging on a wall in a coffee shop in Betty's Bay.

It has "Les Paul" on the headstock but is clearly an ES-335. Note the two knobs on the bottom, one a phase switch and one a "contour" knob. Note also the two jacks. Is this a mod or was it Gibson's standard on this model?

There was also a brief write up on the history.

Apparently, it belonged to the chef at the coffee shop who emigrated from the UK to SA. Pity it's hanging on a wall rather than being played.
Has anyone seen one of these before?

Chocklit_Thunda

It's clearly not a 335 ? It's the Les Paul signature model. Made in the 70s under Norlin

It draws from the 335 with the large bout and upper horn but the bottom horn and low-Z pickups are Les Paul-esque (especially the pickups which Les favoured so he could plug directly to desk)

The Jack Cassidy bass model is based on this shape

beardedmoose

Its a Les Paul Signature model , remember Les Paul was a person not only a solid body guitar. This was one of he's signature models... Just like Stephen Carpenter has more than one signature model, or Jim root has more than one... Les paul also had a few.

Check out this link for a nice sunburst one

http://guitarz.blogspot.com/2010/12/1974-gibson-les-paul-signature-sunburst.html

Peace
:goodtimes: :goodtimes:

But great find none the less make them a offer... ?

Keira-WitherKay

interesting guitar ....but not from Gibsons "golden years" so may be pretty affordable......make him an offer .... ?

Chocklit_Thunda

Keira WitherKay wrote: interesting guitar ....but not from Gibsons "golden years" so may be pretty affordable......make him an offer .... ?

Unfortunately, rarity makes up for it being from their Norlin Years... They still go upwards of $2000 on eBay.
Funny how with the "vintage" craze even those lemons from the Norlin and CBS era are commanding premium prices Just because they're old enough to have watched Star Trek when it first came out

Banditman

That's a common collectibles issue, especially in South Africa. People equate "old" with "collector's dream / rare / highly valuable", forgetting that people made rubbish as well as good stuff in the past as they do today.

My favourite "collector's dream" on Gumtree remains a listing for an '83 Datsun Pulsar 1.3. Not a '68 Shelby GT.500, or a '32 Duesenberg, or a '40 Ford Coupe. A Datsun Pulsar. Priced accordingly, of course.