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Gibson Les Paul Custom
25/50
Anniversary
1927-1952-1977 serial number 1304
I bought it brand new
(mint) in 1986. It was bought at store "Musik Mads Copenhagen", who got it from
"SuperSound Copenhagen", price at that time was discounted to 13.000 DKr. (approx
$2.300).
Released 1978 (a year after the original
anniversary date in 1977), Black
Beauty in Anniversary touch up.
Hand made stuff, heavy as
hell, very, very low string setting, your fingers just fly on this neck.
Special fold-out-winders into the tuners
for very fast winding of strings.
The shield on front is custom add on with my name engraved.
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Head when
the guitar was brand new
Head after 30 years and thousands of gigs, everything turns gold/yellow
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25/50 Anniversary (1978)
The 25/50 model was issued to commemorate the 25th anniversary
of the Les Paul model (a year late, since 1977 was actually the
25th year), and the 50th anniversary of Les Paul's career in the
music business. |
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The 25/50
model is a distinctive model in the Les Paul lineage for many
reasons, including the unique and intricate pearl and abalone
"25/50" headstock inlay design, creative use of silver and gold
hardware combinations (e.g., the tuners are gold with silver
buttons), abalone side dot marker inlays, beautiful flamed maple
top, five piece flamed maple neck, split block parallelogram
inlays (one of only two Les Paul production models to sport
these inlays), large control cavity, gold truss rod cover
inscribed with "Les Paul Anniversary", brass nut, and a coil tap
mini-switch (one of the few production Les Pauls with a coil tap
until the Jimmy Page Les Paul was introduced).
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In addition to the above unique features, the 25/50 had
multi-ply binding on the front and back of the body and the
front of the headstock, a volute, Nashville bridge with TP-6
fine tuning tailpiece, black speed knobs, Schaller style
"Gibson" tuners, and Series VII pickups. These Series VII
pickups were potted with a black, rubber-like material that
fills the gold covers and makes these pickups virtually
impossible to remove from their covers for repair. The Les Paul
25/50 was available in tobacco sunburst, natural, wine red, and
black. Based on the resale market, it appears that tobacco
sunburst was predominant, followed by natural. Wine red and
black are very rare. There has been a report of a few 25/50s in
white. There are photos of a few 25/50s in what appears to be a
lighter honey sunburst color, but it could be a lighter
tobaccoburst under bright photographic lighting. There is one
25/50 in Japan that has a flamed pickguard and pickup rings, but
it is not known whether or not these are replacement parts or a
special order. Despite its "limited edition" marketing image, it
is ironic that some factory seconds of the 25/50 were released.
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All 25/50s were made in Gibson's Kalamazoo plant. The regular 8
digit serial number in "YDDDYSSS" format was used on the 25/50
(where "YY" is the year, "DDD" is the day of the year, and "SSS"
is the production sequence number, with numbers below 500 used
at Kalamazoo). In addition, the 25/50 has a four digit edition
number, which presumably gave it that "limited edition"
marketing image. The "Made in USA" stamp is also on the back of
the headstock. The three 25/50s profiled in this article weigh
between 10 lbs. 5 oz. and 10 lbs. 8 oz. According to the 2003
Vintage Guitar Price Guide, Les Paul 25/50 Anniversary Models in
excellent condition are selling for $1,700-$2,200.
Source http://www.lespaulforum.com/slubanniv/sanniver.html |
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