Left Handed Heerby LS-500 1978 - Black - Les Paul Standard - All Original With Maxon Pickups - Kasuga - Made In Japan - MIJ

DESCRIPTION ------------

1978 Left Handed Heerby LS-500 - Les Paul Standard - In gloss black finish - All original (except the jack plate) with original chrome covered Maxon humbuckers - Made in the famous Kasuga factory in Japan - MIJ.

• Serial Number: 876522? (can't make it out - it's embossed - could be 076XXX, or 078XXX...)
• Body: Birch top on a mahogany back (semi-hollow or chambered style)
• Neck: 1 piece nato (looks like mahogany)
• Fretboard: Rosewood
• Fretboard Radius: 10"
• Fret Edge Binding: No
• Inlays: Pearloid
• Frets: 22 x Medium Jumbo
• Nut Width: 41.21mm
• Width at 1st Fret: 42.17mm
• Width at 12th Fret: 51.8mm
• Thickness at 1st Fret: 21.99mm
• Thickness at 12th Fret: 25.08mm
• Nut: Plastic or Corian
• Tuners: Unbranded torque adjustable tuners (same as Greco and Aria used on their 600+ models at this time)
• Bridge & Tailpiece: Chrome Japanese made ABR-1 style bridge and tailpiece
• Pickups: Original Maxon made "PL-103" pickups - November 1977 Date Stamps
• Neck Pickup Resistance: 7.77K ohm
• Bridge Pickup Resistance: 7.68K ohm
• Pots: Original - March 1978 Date Codes
• Strings: D'Addario EXL 120's 9-42 strings - E Standard tuning
• Weight: 7.60bs
• Non Original Parts: Jack Plate (original was broken - this one is from my parts bin, it's old)
• Case: None
• Truss Rod: works as expected, with room in both directions
• Issues or Repairs: No signs of a heel or headstock break or repair or any other repairs

You don't see left handed Heerby's, or many left handed vintage Japanese guitars often. This is a 1978 Heerby LS-500, which was their "entry" level Les Paul at the time, and was made by the famous Kasuga factory, known for making early Navigator guitars (ESP's top of the line models at the time). You can instantly recognize a Kasuga build as soon as you remove the pickups - the cavities are completely clean - it's like they cut them out after the guitar was painted (which seems insane to me, but they must have had one incredibly reliable and accurate CNC machine back then - or incredibly skilled craftsmen - or both).

I can't make out the embossed serial number on this one. I've tried a black light, tried every angle under different lighting, but can't get a definitive read on it. Could be 876522, or 076522, or something completely different. But the Maxon pickup date codes are November 1977, and the pot date codes are March 1978, so I suspect this was made in early 1978.

Like many models during this era from Greco and Aria, this one is a semi-hollow or chambered style build. The top of the body is a birch ply-wood sitting on a solid mahogany back. Out of all the guitars I've owned built like this, this one sounds and feels the most like a semi-hollow guitar. It has a much more open sound than a typical Les Paul (to my ears). And it's probably the lightest Les Paul I've owned at only 7.60lbs.

The catalog calls these pickups the PL-103, and they are made by Maxon. I assume they're very similar, if not the same, as the Greco U-1000 or U-2000 of that time - they have a very similar sound to those. I haven't removed the covered to see if the magnets are alnico or ceramic.

Everything, except the jack plate, on this guitar appears to be original, and this guitar is in fair player grade condition. The reason I have it marked as fair is because there are white-ish hand and finger prints all over the guitar - mostly concentrated to where your hands would touch the guitar while playing - so right where your picking hand would rest, around the control knobs, and on the back of the neck. It's almost like a previous owner/player had some kind of acid or paint stripper or super glue on their hands, and it left an imprint. You can't feel anything - it's smooth to the touch. And I've tried hand polishing it out with no luck. You might have better results than me? The finish doesn't react to acetone, so I don't think it's lacquer.

Beyond that, it has pretty normal signs of playing as any other 45 year old guitar would have, but everything works as expected.

Like all the guitars I sell, and even with the hand/finger prints, this guitar still looks awesome from every angle - it has a authentic vintage vibe.

The neck has a nice comfortable C carve to it.

The frets have been played, but overall there's lots of life left in them.

Overall, this is classic looking, sounding, and playing guitar - it plays well, has lots of mojo, is built really well, and sounds unique.

If you're looking for a Japanese Les Paul, don't miss this one.

SETUP ------------

Like all the guitars I sell, I test, thoroughly clean, and setup my guitars completely before I list them. Anything I see that is missing, damaged, or non original is mentioned in the listing.

I setup all my Gibson style guitars to Gibson factory specs - including neck relief, action, pickup height, intonation, and tailpiece height. So this guitar will be ready to play out of the box (after you tune it up - I ship my guitars with the strings loosened).

CONDITION ------------

Overall it's in fair player grade shape.

I've tried to capture all of the flaws in the photos and in the description.

The body, top, back and sides, and neck have white-ish hand and finger prints. It's concentrated where your hands would be placed while playing. But it's smooth to the touch.

The back of the body has a larger dent down to the wood.

The back of the neck has been rubbed down to show the wood - but I don't think it's through the finish, it's completely smooth.

The face of the headstock has some blushing in the black paint (really common on vintage Yamaha guitars)

The truss rod cover is curved upward - it still works properly. It probably warped from a face melting solo played on this guitar!

The body, top, back and sides, neck and headstock all have small dings, chips, scratches and swirling on it,

The chrome hardware, pickup covers, bridge, tailpiece, pickup pole pieces, tuners, pickguard bracket and hardware all have varying degrees of corrosion and pitting, but they're not bad.

The cream plastics are all in relatively good shape, with typical light scratches and pick marks.

All of the unbranded torque adjustable tuners are straight and work properly, and the torque adjustment mechanism works on all tuners.

Around the strap buttons there's some very light strap marks/swirling.

The frets have been played, and there is some play wear across the fretboard, but there's lots of life left in the frets.

There's no signs of a neck or heel break, or any other major repairs.

SHIPPING ------------  

Will be shipped, fully insured with tracking, and fully wrapped in bubble wrap, in a cardboard box meant for guitars. There will be proper support inside. In order to reduce environmental impact, the packing material (paper, bubble wrap, air packets, foam, etc...) used may be recycled.

Package dimensions are 118cm x 47cm x 17cm

Total shipping weight will be around 15lbs.

Shipping within Canada - via Canada Post Regular Parcel from Ayr, ON, Canada.

Shipping to United States - via UPS Standard from Ayr, ON, Canada.

Shipping everywhere else - contact me for a precise quote on shipping.

Note: if you want an exact shipping quote, just send me a note with your postal/zip code, and I'll get a proper quote for your address. 

QUESTIONS ------------

Any questions? Want more photos or detailed shots? Measurements? Shoot me a message, and I'll be happy to answer them, or send more pics, or take any measurements you want/need.

Thanks for looking!