An Early Seventies Cherry Les Paul Deluxe with Seymour Duncan Vintage Pickups.

1972 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe.

This 12 3/4-inch-wide 'Cherry-Flame' Les Paul DeLuxe weighs 9.50 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Three-piece (mahogany/maple/mahogany) sandwich body with a carved maple top. Three-piece (mahogany/maple/mahogany) neck with a very fast medium-thin profile. Rosewood fretboard with 22 original jumbo frets and inlaid pearl trapezoid position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and "Les Paul Model" silkscreened in gold. Two layer (black over white) bell shaped truss-rod cover with two screws and "Deluxe" engraved in white. Serial number "734711" stamped on back of headstock. The original tuners have been replaced with individual Schaller M6 machine tuning heads with half-moon shaped metal buttons. The original Gibson Mini Humbucking pickups have been replaced with a Seymour Duncan SM1-N Vintage Mini-humbucker in the neck position and a Seymour Duncan SM-3B Seymourized Mini-humbucker in the bridge position. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way selector switch. The original potentiometers are stamped are stamped "137 72 30" (CTS, July 1972). Gold plastic bell-shaped knobs with metal tops. The original Tune-O-Matic bridge has been replaced with a Schaller Roller Bridge. Original separate stud tailpiece. There is some light belt buckle scarring on the back, some small areas of wear on the edges and a few very minor and insignificant indentations on the top. The original jumbo frets have been professionally dressed and show very little sign of wear. Overall this guitar appears to be in near mint condition but because of the modifications we shall give it a strong excellent plus (8.75) condition rating. Housed in the original Gibson three-latch rectangular black hardshell case with purple plush lining (9.00).

This very attractive Les Paul Deluxe has had several modifications which include two Seymour Duncan Vintage pickups, Schaller M6 tuners and a Schaller Roller Bridge. The Seymour Duncans sound really great and are actually an improvement on the original Gibson Mini Humbuckers.

"The guitar design department at Gibson gave a change of style and name to the recently re-introduced Les Paul gold-top model in 1969, when the Les Paul Deluxe took its place. The Deluxe was the first 'new' Les Paul model for 14 years, and was prompted by calls for a gold-top with humbucking pickups rather than the single-coil P-90s of the existing reissue model. Gibson ended up using small Epiphone humbuckers for the Les Paul Deluxe model...At first the Deluxe was only available with a gold top, but gradually sunbursts and other colors were introduced, and it lasted in production until the mid 1980s" (Tony Bacon, Electric Guitars: The Illustrated Encyclopedia, pp. 145-146).

The Who's Pete Townshend began using Gibson Les Paul Deluxe guitars, after the Gibson SG Special that he preferred had been discontinued.