Gibson Les Paul 70s Deluxe

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GUITARIST SEPTEMBER 2021

GIBSON LES PAUL 70s

DELUXE

£2,199

WHAT IS IT? Homage to the mini-

humbucking Les Paul Deluxe but

with regular LP construction. No

volutes or pancakes here!

y contrast to the mighty Standard

a n d C u s t o m , t h e L e s Paul D e l u xe,

originally produced from

1969 until

1984, was never quite in the same classic

league. It shone brightly and sold in

significant numbers in its early years

because the single-cut Standard had, of

course, been replaced in 1961 by the very

different Les Paul/SG. But more and more

high-profile players were picking up and

playing Standards during the 60s, which

simply increased demand that Gibson

ignored. Even when the classic shape made

a comeback in 1968, it was in the form of

the twin-pickup Custom and, briefly, the

goldtop P-90. So when the Deluxe launched

the following year, its appeal was obvious.

Except for the fact that, with its mini-

humbuckers, it wasn’t a Les Paul Standard

– and its construction had changed, too,

with a laminated ‘pancake’ body, three-piece

mahogany (then maple) neck with a volute

and a larger headstock.

Artists didn’t exactly jump onboard. Pete

Townshend was one famous exception, as

was Scott Gorham, while Stateside, Barry

Bailey of the Atlanta Rhythm Section,

nicknamed ‘The Steely Dan of The South’, is

a well-documented Deluxe user (although

his very early ’69 doesn’t have that ‘pancake’

Words Dave Burrluck Photography Phil Barker

The 70s are back, at least that’s what Gibson

would like us to think with its new era-

inspired, mini-humbucker-loaded Les Paul.

But does it do justice to the original Deluxe?

Deluxe

Addition

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Summary of content (6 pages)

PAGE 1
GIBSON LES PAUL 70s DELUXE £2,199 WHAT IS IT? Homage to the minihumbucking Les Paul Deluxe but with regular LP construction. No volutes or pancakes here! Deluxe Addition The 70s are back, at least that’s what Gibson would like us to think with its new erainspired, mini-humbucker-loaded Les Paul.
PAGE 2
GIBSON LES PAUL 70s DELUXE SEPTEMBER 2021 GUITARIST GIT476.rev_gibson.
PAGE 3
GIBSON LES PAUL 70s DELUXE VIDEO DEMO http://bit.ly/guitaristextra 1 2 1. These tuners are a modern take on the classic vintage style and are used on numerous other Original Collection guitars. They’re smooth and precise in use, too. Take note, there’s no volute here! 2. Typically, a Les Paul’s pickups tilt to match the string line.
PAGE 4
GIBSON LES PAUL 70s DELUXE VINTAGE VS MODERN It might be far from a reissue, but how does the new Deluxe compare with an early 70s example? D espite its speckled past, you’ll be lucky to snag a real 70s Les Paul Deluxe for the price of this new model. As ever, vintage prices centre on condition and you’ll often find repaired neck cracks or full breaks, and plenty of Deluxes routed for humbuckers with the minis long gone.
PAGE 5
GIBSON LES PAUL 70s DELUXE UNDER THE HOOD What’s happening inside the Deluxe? 3 W hile an original Deluxe invariably used brown plastic coverplates for the control and switch cavities, here they’re standard black. Inside the control cavity, mounted via a conductive metal screening plate, are four ‘Gibson’ stamped CTS audio taper pots, nominally valued at 500kohms as you’d expect with a twin-humbucker guitar.
PAGE 6
VIDEO DEMO GIBSON LES PAUL 70s DELUXE http://bit.ly/guitaristextra 5. Like the chrome-plated hardware, these gold reflector knobs evoke the 70s, and unlike Gibson’s Modern Collection there are no wiring tricks (or PCBs) here 6. Both these new mini humbuckers – which have one coil with adjustable polepieces, the other coil with a bar polepiece – use Alnico II magnets and have a relatively low output 6 5 GIBSON LES PAUL 70s DELUXE Broadcaster-style ‘Tele’ reference.