Rare mid-seventies Les Paul Custom
With a Maple Fretboard and Two Tim Shaw PAF Humbuckers

1977 Gibson Les Paul Custom - Maple Fretboard.

This is one of the now rather scarce 'Maple Fretboard' Les Paul Custom's. This very unusual guitar weighs 9.60 lbs. and has a 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 "pancake" body, three-piece mahogany/maple/mahogany neck with a medium profile and with a small and unobtrusive volute at the top of the neck. Maple fretboard with 22 jumbo frets and inlaid pearl block position markers. The top of the guitar has seven-ply binding, the back of the guitar has five-ply binding, the headstock has five-ply binding, and the neck 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, secured by two screws. Serial number "72917121" impressed onto back of headstock. Individual "Gibson" Grover Roto-Matic tuners with bell-shaped metal buttons. Two Gibson 'Tim Shaw' Reissue PAF 'Double Black' Humbuckers with black plastic surrounds and super hot outputs of 13.92k and 13.69k. Each of the pickups is engraved on the underside "PAT NO. 2,737,842" and both are also stamped in black "427383" and "428383" respectively. The potentiometers are all stamped "137 7725" (CTS June 1977). Five-layer black over white plastic pickguard. Four controls (two volume, two tone) on lower treble bout plus three-way pickup selector switch on upper bass bout. Black plastic bell-shape control knobs with metal inserts. Gibson 'Nashville' Tune-O-Matic retainer bridge with metal saddles and separate stud tailpiece. All hardware gold-plated. The end of the neck is stamped in black "SEP 1  1977 B". The guitar has been expertly re-fretted with the same gauge fretwire that Gibson used in the mid-seventies. There is some minor fretboard wear which is confined to the first ten frets. There is a small sliver of wood chipped away from the rear treble-edge of the headstock and a minimal amount of belt-buckle scarring on the back of the body and a few insignificant surface marks on the sides. The pickup covers have been removed - we cannot say when. Housed in the original Gibson black 'Protector' hardshell case with red plush lining (9.00).

This guitar has two of the legendary Tim Shaw humbuckers with really hot outputs. This is the earliest example of a Les Paul fitted with these pickups that we have ever seen. The sound is pure magic…

The maple fretboard combined with the mahogany body give it a slightly brighter attack than a standard Les Paul Custom. The sustain and high-end crunch are massive.

The maple fretboard Les Paul Custom was offered as an option between 1977 and 1979, with 467 guitars shipped in 1977, 250 in 1978 and the final 66 in 1979 making a total of just 783 of these ever produced.

Also made during the 1970's is the "protector" case; a huge thing made completely out of molded plastic. This case was very popular for Les Pauls.