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About This Listing
Up for sale, a 1972 Gibson Les Paul Recording model in excellent condition and in perfect working order, complete with a hardshell case. The fulfillment of Gibson's renewed relationship with the man himself, Les Paul, in the early '70s, the Les Paul Recording model was purpose built for Les' performance and tonal needs.
Fitted with a pair of original low impedance stacked and angled humbuckers with embossed Gibson covers, the Recording model endeavored to provide a traditional palette of humbucker tones, but with settings that could also provide deeper bass and highs that can transition from silky, to bell-like, to searing. Able to operate in low impedance mode when plugging directly into a mixing console, as Les Paul preferred, or in high impedance mode via the internal transformer for more traditional operation through your favorite amp, the Recording model has a host of surprising innovations and tonal tools. With phase switching, a three-way tone selector, and Decade switch (a secondary treble knob) this guitar works exactly as intended and is viable for a wide range of genres. The guitar weighs 9lbs 5oz, professionally setup here at Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar with 10-46 strings, low action and accurate intonation.
The three-piece mahogany neck has an extremely slender C-shaped profile carve at the nut, with a gentle yet consistent increase in overall heft further up the fretboard, measuring .720" deep at the 1st fret and .980" at the 12th. The bound rosewood fretboard features pearl block inlay and original medium jumbo frets with Gibson's low/flat fret dress of this era. The frets have been freshly leveled and crowned, showing no wear and playing cleanly up the 24 3/4" scale with a straight neck and responsive, optimally adjusted truss rod. The original nut is present and measures 1 11/16" in width. On the headstock, all of the cosmetic touches of this model are accounted for, with the split diamond inlay reserved for Gibson's top-tier models, the original truss rod cover, and nickel-plated Grover Rotomatic tuning machines.
All of the electronics work as they should, and the wiring harness retains all of the stock componentry. The chrome-plated hardware is positively gleaming, including the pickup surrounds, harmonica bridge and stoptail, and the plastics are near-mint, comprising a replacement control plate, and the original quartet of reflector cap knobs. The jack location has also been moved from the control plate itself to a more secure, traditional location on the treble side of the body, complete with jack plate. The gloss Walnut finish is 100% original with no touch-up or overspray, and the top presents very well with only a few tiny dings. There is moderate buckle rash below the belly carve on the back, and various dings concentrated on the back and lower bout body edge. The neck profile retains its extremely clean and smooth gloss.
A modern rectangular black tolex hardshell case is included.
As one of the more innovative Gibsons of its time, the Gibson Les Paul Recording boasted a number of innovative and strange electronic features into the guitar itself, similar to the Les Paul Personal and Les Paul Professional. The Recording included low-impedance plastic-covered pickups, a high/low impedance selector, a phase switch control, and a few more extra goodies, though it did away with the XLR output found on the Professional and the Personal. Oh, and the Gibson Les Paul Recording was a favorite of the man, Les Paul himself.
