Info on les paul copy - no serial no.

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Author Message Moody (Moody) Posted on Sunday, June 22, 2003 - 8:49 am:    Hi, I got this old Ibanez les paul which I gather is pre-1976 (no serial no.) I got it given to me by my uncle who has had it in his garage for 15 years - it was second hand when he got it. Essentially I'd like to know if it can be identified by year and also how original it is. I know that the neck pickup isn't original because I put it in myself (it was empty). I don't know if the machine heads are original either (they aren't much good if they are replacements). There is a lot of corrosion on the bridge and tailpiece. Pictures are here: http://www.pbase.com/rmoody100/music Moody (Moody) Posted on Sunday, June 22, 2003 - 8:53 am:    PS, I have the scratch plate and back plates - I just detatched them to wipe it down and fix up the electronics. Harry (Harry) Posted on Thursday, June 26, 2003 - 2:47 am:    Hi Moody What you have here is an old Les Paul copy from the early seventies (1970/1971). The fretboard-end has rounded edges (from 1973 on these edges were sharp) and the fretboard has not position markers in the high positions. The machine heads are original, and the plastic knobs indicate also that the guitar was built in that time. From 1973 on the tuners mached the rest of the hardware; on your Les Paul type the tuners would be gold by then. The earliest Les Pauls (like yours) had no headstock "split diamond" inlays. So now you know that your guitar is more than 30 years.....probably older than yourself? Greetings, Harry Moody (Moody) Posted on Sunday, June 29, 2003 - 11:06 am:    Thanks >probably older than yourself? Easily (I'm a 1976 vintage). Presuming it is worth anything to anyone, would anyone want to buy it? I'm in Australia, I'm a student (read poor), I have several good guitars (I prefer strats and teles) and I play bass - it isn't exactly of much use to me at the moment. Is this collectible in the condition it is in - which isn't exactly great? The machine heads sort of hold tune but I've played a lot better. The guitarist in my band is going to start using it as a backup and we were wondering if modifications (permanent) would be sacrilege or not. He paints designs on the front of his guitars and would be likely to do the same to the ibanez if he started using it. Does anyone cringe at this or is it not that collectible. Harry (Harry) Posted on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 3:39 am:    Hi Moody Your guitar is not very collectable or valuable, mainly because it's not original anymore; both pickups are replacements (strange: your early seventies Les Paul's bridge-pickup has the "Flying Fingers" logo that must originally be from a late-70's Ibanez, so allthough it's an Ibanez part it is a later replacement). Also the pickguard is missing. In this condition I'd say it might bring you no more than 200/250 US dollars. See, what's the matter here is that even these old Ibanez guitars have the most value when they are in their original condition. Every change of the instrument means: devaluation, even if you "upgrade" it with better tuners, better pickups etc. So every change you would add in the future (paintbrush, or whatever) will devaluate it more. That is: for collectors. If you don't care about a certain collector's value than every change will make the guitar (for you) more personal and unique and maybe way better as a player. It's up to you to decide if the artistique project your friend has in mind is worth 200, 250 bucks. Greetz, Harry Moody (Moody) Posted on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 10:35 am:    Actually, I still have the pickguard - I took it off to clean it (along with all the back panels). Sorry I forgot about it. PS, when I opened the panels they had a whole heap of socks stuffed in the cavities I presumed that the flying fingers humbucker was original? What would the original humbuckers look like? As it is, I'll probably get replacement machine heads anyway. Any idea what sort are best to drop straight in? Harry (Harry) Posted on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 10:49 am:    Hi Moody The flying fingers pickups were developed by Ibanez in the late seventies (around 1976). Your guitar is made in 1970/1971, so the fl.f pickup must have been installed lateron by a previous owner. The original pickups should be "ordinairy" goldplated (more gold-painted, that is....) El Cheapo's: in those years Ibanez mostly installed the low-quality Maxon pickups. So it most certain that your guitar should have a much better sound now than if it would still have the originals. Greetz, Harry Moody (Moody) Posted on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 11:05 am:    Thanks, Though I woudn't be so certain that the neck pickup sounds better. I put in a spare humbucker that I had lying around, originally from an old canora guitar (absolute rubbish). I've got a spare super distortion somewhere, I'll put that in when I get a chance. Harry (Harry) Posted on Saturday, July 05, 2003 - 11:12 am:    Hi Moody! Just for sound-sake: put the super distortion in the bridge position and the flying fingers in the neck position. Greetz, Harry Moody (Moody) Posted on Sunday, July 06, 2003 - 6:32 am:    I was going to anyway

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