A Mint 30th Anniversary Les Paul Standard

This Les Paul Standard "30th Anniversary" model weighs 10.80 lbs. and has a nut width of 1 11/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Single-bound one-piece mahogany body with carved maple top, one-piece mahogany neck with a medium profile, and bound Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 22 jumbo frets and inlaid pearl crown position markers. On the nineteenth fret is the inscription "30th Anniversary". Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and "Les Paul Model" silkscreened in gold. Two layer (black on white) truss-rod cover. Serial number "A 0215" inked-on in black on the back of the headstock, with "Made in U.S.A." below it stamped in yellow. Individual 'Kluson' Deluxe tuners with double-ring tulip-shaped Keystone plastic buttons. Two Gibson "Tim Shaw" PAF Re-issue pickups with cream plastic surrounds and outputs of 7.17k and 7.47k., The underside of the pickups are stamped in black "137 982" and "138 982" respectively and each is also engraved on the underside "PAT. NO. 2,737 842. Single-layer cream plastic pickguard. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way pickup selector switch on upper bass bout. The potentiometers are stamped "137 8029" and "137 8045" (CTS July and November 1980). Gold plastic barrel-shaped "Speed" knobs. 'Gibson' ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic retainer bridge with metal saddles and separate stud tailiece. All hardware nickel-plated. This guitar is in absolutely mint (9.50) condition and is complete with the original hang-tags and the original case key.. Housed in the original Gibson brown hardshell case with purple plush lining (9.00).

The 30th Anniversary Les Paul was issued with a great marketing campaign that included Les Paul himself in the ads. The 30th Anniversary model is a goldtop with nickel hardware, thin binding in the cutaway, speed knobs, double ring Kluson-style tuners, and the inscription "30th Anniversary" at the 19th fret. The back of the guitar is mahogany, stained light to medium brown, although some 30th anniversary models had gold backs. Our example has a one piece mahogany neck, which was an option; others had 3 piece mahogany necks. (http://www.lespaulforum.com/slubanniv/sanniver.html)

"Whether it was rivalry between plants or increased market awareness, the Nashville plant jumped into the reissue action in 1980. By this time, one of the most glaring deficiencies of new Les Pauls (compared to the originals) was the humbucking pickup. In preparation for its first attempt at a reissue, Gibson assigned engineer Tim Shaw the job of designing a reissue of the original Patent-Applied-For humbucking pickup-within certain restrictions. "This was 1980 and Norlin was already feeling the pinch," Shaw said, referring to Gibson's long decline through the 1970s and early '80s. "We weren't allowed to do much retooling. We redid the bobbin because it was worn out. We got some old bobbins and put the square hole back in. We did it without the T-hole, which stood for Treble."

To replicate the magnets, Shaw gathered up magnets from original PAFs and sent them to a lab to be analyzed. "Most were Alnico 2's," he said, "but some were 5's. In the process of making an Alnico 5, they stick a magnet in a huge coil for orientation, but an unoriented 5 sounds a lot like a 2. They started with Alnico 2 and then switched to Alnico 5."

Shaw discovered that the original magnets were a little thicker than 1980 production magnets. "Magnetic strength is largely a function of the area of the polarized face; increasing the face size gives you more power," he explained. So he specified the thicker magnet for the new PAF.

Wiring on the originals was #42 gauge, which Gibson still used. However, the original wire had an enamel coating and the current wire had a polyurethane coat, which also was of a different thickness or "buildup" than that of the original, which affected capacitance. Norlin refused to go the extra mile-or extra buck, as it were. Enamel-coated wire cost a dollar more per pound than poly-coated. Shaw could change the spec on the buildup without additional expense, so the thickness of the coating was the same as on the original wire, but he was forced to use the poly coat. The difference is easy to see: purple wire on the originals, orange on the reissues.

Shaw later found a spec for the number of turns on a spec sheet for a 1957 ES-175. "It specified 5,000 turns because a P-90 had 10,000 turns and they cut it in half," Shaw said. In reality, however, originals had anywhere from 5,000 to 6,000 turns, depending on how tight the coil was wound. Shaw later met Seth Lover, who designed and patented Gibson's humbucker, at a NAMM show. Lover laughed when asked about a spec for windings, and he told Shaw, "We wound them until they were full."

The spec for resistance was even less exact, Shaw said. The old ohmeter was graduated in increments of .5 (500 ohms). Anywhere between 3.5 and 4 on the meter (3,500 to 4,000 ohms) met the spec. Consequently, Shaw pointed out, there is no such thing as an exact reissue or replica of the 1959 PAF pickup. There can only be a replica of one original PAF, or an average PAF. As Gibson would find out in the early 1990s, the same could be said about the entire guitar.

Shaw's PAF reissue debuted on Gibson's new Nashville-made Les Paul Heritage 80 in 1980. Compared to anything Gibson had previously made (which is to say, compared to nothing), it was an excellent reissue of a sunburst Les Paul Standard. It had a nice top, thin binding in the cutaway, nickel-plated parts, more accurate sunburst finish and smaller headstock, but the body shape, body size and three-piece neck, among other details, were just regular production. It appears that Gibson still didn't understand the demand for an accurate reissue, because Gibson accompanied the Heritage 80 with fancier versions: the Heritage 80 Elite, with an ebony fingerboard that had no relevance to the reissue market (although it did have a one-piece neck) and the Heritage 80 Award, with gold plated hardware that also had no relevance to the reissue market.

The Heritage 80 was still not good enough for those who wanted a Standard like the original Standard, and the push for a more accurate reissue came once again from dealers and from the Kalamazoo plant. In 1982, Jimmy Wallace opened his own store in the Dallas area and continued ordering what were becoming known as "Jimmy Wallace Reissues." At the same time, Leo's Music in Oakland, California, and Guitar Trader in Redbank, New Jersey, began ordering reissues. These dealers requested more accurate specs for body size, body carving and neck shape, although they usually didn't get them. Also in 1982, the Kalamazoo plant added fuel to the fire with the Les Paul Standard '82, which was distinguished from the Heritage 80 primarily by its one-piece neck and the fact that it was made in Kalamazoo." (http://www.gibson.com/magazines/amplifier/1999/1/mainevent1.html)