One of the First of the "New" Les Paul Customs -- Just Thirty-Eight Years Old!

This wonderful thirty-eight-year-old "Third Version" Les Paul Custom weighs 10.40 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of 1 11/16 inches, a medium neck profile, and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Solid mahogany body with maple top, three-piece mahogany neck, and ebony fretboard with 22 small frets and inlaid pearl block position markers. The body of the guitar has seven-ply binding on the top and five-ply binding on the back, the headstock has five-ply binding, and the fretboard is single-bound. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl five-piece split-diamond inlay. Two-layer black on white plastic truss-rod cover with "Les Paul Custom" engraved in white. Individual Kluson Super tuners with tulip-shaped metal buttons. Serial number ("836989") stamped into the back of the headstock. Two original Gibson patent-number humbucker pickups, each with a black rectangular label ("Patent No 2,737,842") on the underside, with nicely balanced outputs of 7.32k and 7.37k. Five-layer (black/white/black/white/black) plastic pickguard. Four controls (two volume, two tone) on lower treble bout plus three-way selector switch on upper bass bout. The potentiometers are stamped: "137 6929" (CTS July 1969) and the two capacitors are stamped "Sprague / .022-400 DC / 160P". Four black plastic ribbed-sided conical-shaped "Witch Hat" knobs. Gibson Tune-O-Matic retainer bridge with nylon saddles and separate stud tailpiece. All hardware gold-plated. A diamond-shaped two-layer black over white plastic cover has been neatly fitted over the lower strap button hole… this hides an extra small hole where at one time the strap button had been very slightly re-positioned. The plastic cover is of a similar material to that used on the truss-rod cover and at first glance really looks as if it was original to the guitar. This great guitar is truly in excellent plus (8.75) condition. There is some minor checking to the body and some more marked checking on the face of the headstock. A few miniscule indentations on the back, one tiny chip the size of a match-head on the top of the guitar by the lower strap-button, a couple of tiny surface chips to the rear edge of the headstock, and some minor tarnishing of the gold hardware are just about all that prevent this amazing example from being exceptionally fine. Housed in the original four-latch Gibson black hardshell case with yellow plush lining (8.75).

This guitar is actually the Custom "Third Version" (1968-Current): "Two humbuckers. Similar to 'Second Version', except that it has two humbuckers instead of three" (Tony Bacon, 50 Years of the Gibson Les Paul, p. 134).

"Gibson decided to re-introduce the relatively rare two-pickup Les Paul Custom, and the gold-top Les Paul with P90 pickups and Tune-o-matic bridge...Gibson formally launched the two new models at the June 1968 NAMM trade show in Chicago. The company's pricelist from that month shows the two revived Les Pauls for the first time: the Custom is pitched at $545 and the gold-top at $395. Throughout this period Gibson in their literature called the gold-top a 'Standard' model. This was rather confusing since they had never officially referred to the gold-top as anything but a 'Les Paul Model' or 'Les Paul Guitar' during the 1950s...Les Paul was at the NAMM show to promote the new guitars for Gibson by doing what he's always done best -- playing the things...Gibson's press advertisement publicizing the revived guitars, headed 'Daddy of 'em all,' admitted that Gibson had virtually been forced to re-introduce the guitars: 'The demand for them just won't quit. And the pressure to make more has never let up. Okay, you win. We are pleased to announce that more of the original Les Paul Gibsons are available..." Soon after the summer '68 NAMM show, production of the new Customs and gold-tops was started at Kalamazoo. [Gibson president Stan] Rendell says that the first run, which took 90 days to get from wood shop to stock room, was for 500 guitars: 400 gold-tops and 100 Customs. 'And by the time we had that started, CMI wanted 100 a month of the gold-top and 25 a month of the Custom, and before we were finished with that we were making a hundred Les Pauls a day. That's out of a total of 250, 300 instruments a day.' Gibson clearly had a success in the making" (Tony Bacon and Paul Day, The Gibson Les Paul Book, pp. 36-37).






"Gibson changed their neck construction around 1969, moving from traditional one-piece mahogany to a stronger three-piece laminate, and on to three-piece maple around 1974 for even greater strength. From about 1969 they added a so-called 'volute' to the back of the neck just below the point where it becomes the headstock -- a sort of triangular 'lump' that theoretically reinforces this notoriously weak spot. Another change made to minimize problems in the same area was introduced at this time, when Gibson slightly decreased the angle at which the headstock tipped back from the the neck. Such seemingly practical changes did nothing to enhance Gibson's reputations among traditionalists" (Tony Bacon and Paul Day, The Gibson Les Paul Book, p. 40).

"1968 Gibson Les Paul Custom guitar re-introduction specs: In 1968, single cutaway model resumes again with black finish, two Humbucking pickups, 14 degree peghead pitch (instead of 17 degrees), 'amp' style volume/tone knobs, wide peghead, and a maple top (the custom generally did not have a maple top in the 1950s). The neck tenion (the part of the neck's tongue seen in the neck pickup route) is long. The control cavity route in 1968 is different too, as it was routed all the way thru the mahogany body *before* the maple top was glued on.
Early 1969 Gibson Les Paul Custom guitar specs: Starting in February 1969 the control cavity was routed like 1950s guitars with the maple top glued in place. This can be seen because the maple is slightly routed with a step, where on January 1969 and 1968 Les Pauls the maple has absolutely no routing marks. Starting in February 1969 the control cavity was routed like 1950s guitars with the maple top glued in place. This can be seen because the maple is slightly routed, where on January 1969 and 1968 Les Pauls the maple has absolutely no routing marks. Also the 'cross banded' (pancake) 3-piece Les Paul body started in early 1969, with a thin layer of maple sandwiched between the mahogany body back. The first generation of the pancake body had this thin maple pancake close to the top of the body. By mid-1969 the maple pancake layer moved to the dead middle of the mahogany portion of the Les Paul body. Also the dot in the 'Gibson' peghead logo seems to largely disappear on 1969 Les Pauls" (http://www.provide.net/~cfh/lpcus.html). This guitar conforms to the February 1969 specs, with the maple top having a small step inside the control cavity, but still with a single-piece mahogany body. Also, there is no dot in the "i" in the Gibson headstock logo.