A Near Mint Mid-Seventies Les Paul Deluxe with a Maple Neck

1976 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe (maple neck).

This 12 3/4-inch-wide electric solid body guitar weighs 9.60 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of 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 maple sandwich neck with a medium profile and a rosewood fretboard with 22 jumbo frets and inlaid pearl trapezoid position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and "Les Paul Model" decal. "Deluxe" on truss-rod cover. Individual 'two-line' Gibson Deluxe tuners with double-ring Keystone plastic buttons, stamped on the underside "D169400/Patent No". Two metal-covered mini-humbucker pickups with cream plastic surrounds and outputs of 6.00k and 5.98k. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way selector switch. Gold plastic bell-shaped knobs with metal tops. Tune-O-Matic bridge (second version) with retainer and separate stud tailpiece. The pots are dated "137 7613" (CTS March 1976). This guitar is in totally original and near mint (9.25) condition with just a very small amount of playing wear to the first few frets. As is often the case with this particular model there is a very slight 'twist' in the neck but this does not affect the playability. Complete with an original period Gibson catalog. Housed in its original Gibson black hardshell case with burgundy plush lining (9.00).

"Three-piece maple necks were nothing new to Gibson. It was deemed necessary for balancing the natural tendencies of the wood. Mid- to late-1969 transition models saw the intro of the first three-piece necks (some with
P-90s). The tri-laminate neck design strengthened the overall neck and gave more stabilization… Maple necks became standard during 1974 for most of Gibson's lineup. This hardwood saved many a cracked headstock, but gave a distinctively brighter tonality and sustain factor to the guitars -- and some extra weight." (Robb Lawrence. The Modern Era of the Les Paul Legacy 1968-2009. p. 20).

Gibson re-introduced two original-design Les Paul models in 1968, after a number of years when guitars with the SG design had replaced them: the relatively rare two-humbucker Les Paul Custom, and the gold-top Les Paul with P-90 pickups and Tune-O-Matic bridge.

"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.