Vintage 1998 Gibson Les Paul Smartwood Exotic - Cancharana Wood Top
Weighs only 7.1 lbs

Includes our Professional 66 point inspection and setup- $100 value.
See below for details.

Available Cases:

• Gibson standard gig bag, $69
• Gibson heavy duty gig bag, $89
• Gibson soft "Basketball" case, black, $149
• Vintage Gibson hard shell case, made in Canada by TKL, $199 (shown)
• SKB molded Les Paul Case with heavy duty TSA approved latches, $219

History:  This is the real deal from 1998. 
Back in the late 1990's Gibson partnered with an organization called the Rainforest Alliance to make a limited run of Les Pauls using exotic tone woods sustainably sourced from South America. They had three versions: the Studio, the Exotic and the Standard. The Exotic line had a thinner body with a belly cut, which made the guitar light and comfortable. It was available with one of six different exotic tops; Ambay Guasu, Banara, Cancharana, Peroba and Taperyva Guasu. These were made in small numbers and represent an excellent value in unique and limited run of Les Pauls.

Cancharana wood: The top on this guitar is made from Cancharana, which is absolutely beautiful. Cancharana  (botanical name: Cabralea cangerana) is a versatile, rot-resistant tropical hardwood native to South America. Highly valued for its warm, reddish-brown color and excellent workability, it is frequently used by woodworkers for fine furniture, cabinetry, and boat-building. It is well known as a tone wood and used in musical instruments.

Light and comfortable: The Exotic had a thinner body with a belly cut, which made it light and comfortable. If you love the look and sound of a Les Pauls, but struggle with the heft of a 10 lb guitar, this would be a great choice. At 7.1 lbs, it's lighter than a typical Strat, and the thinner body and belly cut makes it very comfy.

Woods used on this guitar:

• Body and neck: FSC-certified Mahogany. The standard Gibson tone wood.
• Top: Cancharana
• Fingerboard: Curupay. This sustainably sourced, dark and dense exotic wood was chosen to complement the mahogany backs and exotic wood tops

Condition: This guitar is 28 years old, but is still in excellent condition. Plays and sounds wonderful. The frets look almost new. The only two faults we can find is that there is a small dent on the lower edge and a plugged hole on the neck heel where someone mounted a strap button. Please see photos. We've gone through it and every thing works as it should and we will fine tune it all, as part of our 66 point professional setup, to make sure it is playing and sounding its best.

Luthier's Assessment and Measurements:

• Serial No. 92758514
• Weight: 7.1 lbs
• Nut width: 1.70"
• Neck width at 12th fret: 2.07"
• Neck thickness at 1st fret: 0.83"
• Neck thickness at 12th fret: 0.96"
• Action at high e: 0.050"
• Action at low E: 0.060"
• Neck pickup DCR: 8.2k Ohms
• Bridge pickup DCR: 13.2k Ohms
• Truss rod: Turns smoothly
• Frets: Excellent 9.5/10
• Cosmetic condition: Excellent
• Functional condition: Excellent
• Electronics: Excellent. No issues
• Playability: Excellent. No issues
• Overall condition: Excellent

Features and Specs:

• Model: Gibson Les Paul Smartwood Exotic
• Body: FSC certified Mahogany
• Top: Cancharana
• Neck: FSC certified Mahogany
• Neck shape: '60s Slim-Taper
• Body and neck finish: Satin nitrocellulose lacquer
• Fingerboard material: Curupay
• Fingerboard inlays: Figured acrylic dots
• Fingerboard Radius: 12"
• Scale: 24.75"
• No of frets: 22
• Fret size: Medium jumbo
• Neck Pickup: Gibson 490R
• Bridge Pickup: Gibson 498T
• Pickup switch: Three-way toggle
• Controls: Bridge volume, neck volume, bridge tone, neck tone
• Bridge: Tune-o-matic
• Tailpiece: Stop bar
• Tuners: Gibson deluxe
• Hardware: Gold
  

About Del Mar Lutherie: We’re a small shop in San Diego County, California. We build electric guitars, hand-wired tube amps, and do mods and setups.  We also buy and sell vintage and used gear.  Our owner is a guitar enthusiast, wood worker and professional engineer by training. We’re part of the local guitar community (Fender, Taylor, Carvin/Kiesel).  We're not open to the public, but we do welcome clients by appointment. 

Why buy from us?  Our customers have peace of mind knowing they are buying from a highly rated professional shop.  We've been doing this type of work since 1999 and have thousands of happy customers.  We pride ourselves in providing best-in-class personalized service for each of our clients. We are a Reverb Preferred Seller, and our approval rating is close to 100%.

Dr. T’s Professional Inspection and Setup: You may find a similar guitar at a lower price, but ours may still be the better value as we include our professional inspection and setup. This service costs from $80 to $150 at most shops. With over 25 years in the industry, we’re convinced that a good setup is the single most important investment to improve the playability and sound of your guitar.  Here’s what in entails. We inspect the guitar and address issues. Next, we remove the strings and tighten and set the drag on the tuners. We inspect the frets, find any high spots, then level, crown and polish. We clean and oil the fingerboard, restring, tune to pitch and set the neck relief, action and intonation. We then play each fret and check for fret buzz and fret-outs during bends, and we fine-tune as required.  Next, we test the electronics, clean and tighten pots and jacks and balance the pickups.  Occasionally, we find a fault with the electronics, so we dig in and diagnose and repair that.  Once the electronics are tip top, we play the guitar to make sure everything is just right.  Finally, we clean and polish the guitar, then slacken the stings to get it ready for shipping.

String Gauges and Settings:   We do our setups using common string gauges and settings, which we've found work well for most players. For electrics, we use 9-42 gauge strings for Fender (25.5") scale guitars and 10-46 for Gibson (24.75") scale guitars.  We set action to 0.050 on the high e side and 0.060 on the low E side. This action is fairly low and allows for easy fretting without buzzing or sacrificing tone. If you have special preferences, please let us know, and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Fine Tuning Adjustments:  Your guitar will be playing and sounding wonderful when we finish our setup. However, occasionally minor adjustments will be needed after shipping due to changes in temperature and/or humidity, rough handling or other unfavorable conditions. Since we have no control over this, we cannot cover the cost of these adjustments. However, if your guitar was mishandled during shipping, please let us know, so we can see if a shipping claim is in order. Sometimes it’s possible to get you a partial refund to help cover issues if we can show that they were caused by shipping.

Condition Ratings: We do our best to be consistent with Reverb’s condition rating system.  Please keep in mind that Reverb’s descriptions are general and open to interpretation. The guitar you get will be the one shown in the photos, and if it has any major flaws or defects, we will point them out in the listing.  Our guitars rated below “Mint” will have signs of use and cosmetic imperfections, including minor dings, dents and swirl marks, which might only be visible upon close inspection. If you are sensitive to minor cosmetic defects, please let us know, and we can provide you with close-up photos.  We do not accept returns nor give partial refunds if you receive your guitar and believe that it should have been rated lower.  We’ve sold thousands of guitars, and almost without exception, our clients have not had issues with our ratings.  This tells us that we are doing a great job with our condition ratings.  

Standard of Care: We strive to meet our clients’ expectations, and we want you to be happy with your purchase.  Guitars develop wear with use and it’s widely accepted that honest wear adds character and shows that the guitar has been played and loved. Our used and vintage guitars will have signs of use. Our Del Mar Lutherie brand guitars are hand-built and will have artifacts that some people might view as "imperfections".  If you want a guitar in “perfect” or “flawless” condition, we advise you to buy new from an authorized dealer or buy locally so you can inspect it in person. We do not guarantee that our guitars will be cosmetically flawless, and we don’t accept returns or give partial refunds due to cosmetic imperfections.

Specs: We list specs as a courtesy. Some specs are measured by our techs. Others are taken from the manufacturer's data. Manufacturers change specs all the time, and their listed specs may not be 100% accurate. Also, some used guitars have mods that may not be apparent upon visual inspection. The guitar you will get is the one shown in the photos. If there are any "deal breaker" specs that you must have, please let us know so we can double check for you before your purchase.

Videos: We often provide YouTube links to provide our clients with more information. These videos will be of a similar make and model which is representative of the guitar in our listing. 

Shipping: We ship guitars via UPS ground. The fee shown includes shipping within the contiguous USA with insurance. It also includes packaging materials and our time to pack up and drop off at UPS.  For guitars, shipping costs are controlled by box size and insurance is based on value. Your guitar will ship without a case, unless one is described as included in the listing or you add one to your order. If you decline to add a case, we will pack your guitar well with bubble wrap and other padding and ship it in a sturdy guitar box. However, if you want your guitar to have even better protection, we encourage you to add a hard case to your order. See below for details.

Delivery Time: We do our best to get your guitar setup, boxed and shipped as soon as possible. However, sometimes this can take a few days depending on our workload and other factors. Once UPS receives your guitar, they will estimate a delivery date, which you can access via Reverb. UPS will typically deliver your guitar within 2 to 7 business days after they receive it, depending on your distance from Southern California. If you're in a hurry, please let us know and we’ll do our best to accommodate you, or at least we can advise you of the estimated wait, so you can decide if you need to make other arrangements.

Damage Claims: Although rare, guitars sometimes are damaged during shipping. If you receive a guitar that is damaged, please let us know immediately so we can open a claim.

Returns and Canceled Orders:  We are a small business and can’t afford to offer free returns like the big guys. There is a lot of time, effort and cost involved with processing your order, pulling your guitar from inventory, setting it up, packing and shipping it. Please make sure you want the guitar before you commit to buy. If we agree to a return, you will be responsible for shipping costs (both ways) and a restocking fee to cover our time.

Trades:   We are a professional guitar business. Anything we take on trade, we resell. Due to shipping costs and transaction fees, we only do trades in person. To make sense for us, we can only offer wholesale value, which is typically 40% to 60% of what it would sell for on Reverb. This is usually as good or better than Guitar Center.  If you’re OK with this, please send current photos of the actual gear you have for trade. We need brand, model, year, and condition. Note any mods, repairs or other issues. If your guitar includes a hard case or gig bag, send photos of that as well.