I have a nice 1992 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe Plus bass here. This one comes with a nice hardshell case to.
Also note that i now have an external Reverb sales site. This is powered by Reverb and Reverb processes the payment. This does NOT charge sales tax as it is technically separate from the Reverb Marketplace which is now triggering a sales tax liability in most states. A link to this can be found in my shop profile here on Reverb, in the lower right corner of my shop description.
This is perhaps the best version of the Les Paul bass. It features select mahogany which is a little lighter, this one weighs 9lbs 5 ounces. Which is not bad for an LP bass. And it has a gorgeous curly maple top that has both horizontal and vertical figuring to it.
It has an active EQ system controlled by 4 knobs that has a "notched" center position to boost high and low frequencies. And this bass also features Bartolini pickups as stock. And also has a real ebony fretboard which is uncommon on Gibson guitars.
Conditionally this guitar is in nice condition with some average plays wear that i will describe for you.
The body top shows some surface level swirling playwear in the commonly played area's but non that penetrates into the finish like a scratch would. There are a handful of soft indentations on the body top about a couple millimeters in size. Near the knobs i see some very thin hairline checking spots in the finish. This is common an older guitars. They are extremely hard to see in the pictures because even when i look at them up close in person it is hard to distinguish them from the natural wavy grain line of the curly maple.
The body edges show a few indentations, a couple of which are right on the common spot of where the top meets the edge and the bottom input jack area meets the edge.
The body back is similar to the top, showing average faint swirling. And just a touch of scuffing/scratching to the finish in the central part of the body, but very little of this. There is no deep excessive buckle rash or scratching present. Beyond this i see a handful of tiny pinhead sized little indentations here and there.
Overall i would rate this bass an 8.2/10 cosmetically. The overall finish which is a high quality gloss, looks nice and has aged beautifully. There is average players wear as i described, but not any single ugly stand out thing. The playwear is fairly inconspicuous. It has an overall handsome appearance and the pics do a good job of portraying this.
The neck shaft and headstock are in good shape, i see a few soft indentations marks on the shaft but none of note, and nothing that would be felt while playing. I see one indentation on the lower portion of the back of the headstock, and only faint scuffing and signs of use to the upper and front of the headstock and no discoloration to the black veneer.
I am also happy to report the frets looks outstanding. I can only find a little bit of level wear on a couple of the upper D string frets. The rest of the fretboard shows nothing i would quantify as measurable fretwear. So this is a very strong aspect of this guitar.
Note that the tuners have been changed to black bottom locking Sperzel bass tuners. These have great tuning stability and functionality. The holes were not routed out to fit them. They drop in. You can see a little impression in the finish around them though where the larger body of the stock tuners used to be. But there are no new holes drilled there, and if desired you could install whatever was stock. The Sperzel's look and feel great though so i would recommend keeping them.
The pickups sound nice and clear. There is a little bit of scratchiness in the input jack only when you pull it out or insert it. Once it is in i hear no scratching nor signal loss. So i have opted not to replace that jack. In a critical professional setting that would probably be worth cleaning that jack. Playing sitting or standing at home i have not had any problem with it other than a moment of scratchiness when you pull the cable out.
There is a great variety of tone here. One knob is a 1-10 knob i believe this is master volume. The other 3 have 1-5 and 1-5 on each side with a center notched position, this activates the active EQ boost function. I spent a lot of time playing with this and could achieve many different types of tones in terms of thickness and EQ, it was hard to pick a favorite. It's quite versatile.
Tonally, overall it sounds closest i would say to the Music Man Stingray basses i have had that feature double big humbuckers. It sounds more "vintagy" to me though with more of a warm tone from the mahogany and that general subtle, blended sweet tonality that older higher end instruments possess.
Overall this is a nice semi vintage Gibson that was made in low circulation. There are not a ton of these out there and this model in particular is the upper echelon of what Gibson has done with the Les Paul bass.
Gibson basses (and amps!) are somewhat under the radar and never really caught on like their guitar models have. That does nothing to diminish their tone and craftsmanship and playability but has i feel softened their market price a little bit which benefits the player. This is basically the equivalent in all in specification and quality to a Gibson Les Paul Custom guitar which costs double of what this bass would. So i see this instrument as one of those rare sweet spot price niche Gibson's that is actually a really good bang for the buck.
Also note that i now have an external Reverb sales site. This is powered by Reverb and Reverb processes the payment. This does NOT charge sales tax as it is technically separate from the Reverb Marketplace which is now triggering a sales tax liability in most states. A link to this can be found in my shop profile here on Reverb, in the lower right corner of my shop description.
This guitar will be carefully packed, with sufficient filler and bracing in the shipping box and if needed a little in the case. I will detune the strings about one half a step prior to shipment. Another step i take is i will denote for it to be shipped "standing" with arrows drawn on the outer box and it will be marked fragile as well. It will be meticulously packed.
