VINTAGE VS MODERN
It might be far from a reissue, but how does the new Deluxe compare with an early 70s example?
Despite 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. Then there’s the notorious weight, often 10lbs and over – the main reason why Pete Townshend stopped using his Deluxes. But side-stepping vintage value, we’re reminded of the potency of this ‘wrong’ Les Paul when playing an early 70s example that’s been well used and has a neck repair that’s been totally stable since 1980. The sample we get to play is lighter (3.94kg/8.67lb) than many, despite its ‘pancake’ body and three-piece mahogany neck. In fact, it’s the lightest we’ve ever found. The headstock actually looks huge. It measures 88mm across its upper tip; the modern head is 79mm and is around 0.6mm thinner in depth at 9.6mm. Both the neck pitch and headstock angle of the old guitar are flatter, too. Typical of a well-used and near 50-year-old guitar, its condition isn’t great with plenty of wear and finish cracks to the back, sides and headstock, but less on the top, which suggests it was over-sprayed. The dual ring ‘tulip’ Gibson Deluxe tuners have definitely seen some action; the B, D and G string buttons have all been severely bashed out of line. And while the owner can tell us all about its life from the early 80s, before that we can only guess. It’s been played, that’s for sure. The original wide ’n’ low frets are now very low – approximately 2.65mm wide by 0.86mm high – and the fingerboard, as a result, is heavily worn, almost scalloped in places. A definite candidate for a refret! But the neck profile is good and it’s thinner back to front than our review sample – 20.1mm at the first, 24.9mm at the 12th – with a lovely unclubby C shape. The large binding strip in the cutaway looks rather funky, but you could certainly live with that. While the controls and probably the pickups have been removed at some point (probably during its repair and refinish) and then refitted, the pot codes date the guitar to 1972, as do the ‘Gibson’ logos on the front of the mini-humbuckers. The original ‘Black Beauty’ caps are still in situ, but about the only mod we can see is a replacement aluminium output jack plate and, possibly, what appears to be a reshaped heel.
Comparing the decades-apart two guitars, it’s not just the construction that differs, and no doubt informs the sound, but the unpotted mini-humbuckers of the original guitar expand and enhance what we hear from the new example. They are slightly hotter from their DCRs – 6.72kohms (bridge), 6.88k (neck) – but have so much more ‘old Les Paul’ about the voice, and that’s with not particularly fresh strings and those really low frets. What does that mean? The old example is more vocal. There’s also a little more depth but still with that focus and a beautiful touch-sensitivity. Terms such as ‘wiry’ spring to mind, but in a very positive sense. Of course, you can Deluxe-ise any soapbar Les Paul and the potential duality has immense appeal. There’s a surprising choice of minihumbuckers available, including from the UK’s Ben Fletcher (www.fletcherpickups.co.uk) who we featured in Pickup Lines back in issue 463, and a multitude of P-90 soapbars. We can’t help thinking that this new 70s Deluxe could be quite the tone-tinkerer’s favourite.
We’re reminded of the potency of this Les Paul when playing an example with a neck repair that’s been totally stable since 1980
Hardly tidy, but the ’72 features a pair of ‘Black Beauty’ caps
(with steel anchor bolts) are made by Advanced Plating in Portland, Tennessee; the steel saddles are pre-notched and height adjustment is easy via the Allenkeyed bolts. The tuners, meanwhile, do appear to be nickel plated with nicely antique-looking keystone buttons, but, importantly, they feel smooth and positive. We have no complaints.
Mini-Humbuckers
These mini-humbuckers were designed by Seth Lover for the Gibson-owned Epiphone line, and the reasons for employing them are also well documented. They were initially surplus stock once Gibson had stopped USA production of Epiphone, and they do give the Deluxe an almost player-modded vibe, sitting in their modified P-90 soapbar covers. Of course, there’s nothing to stop you swapping over to standard P-90s here.
The minis also mount to the guitar in a different fashion from a P-90 or standard humbucker. The pickup has a preset height within its surround so, when you go to adjust it, both the pickup and surround move up or down. The bridge pickup is fine, but the neck is right down as far as it will go and it tilts in the opposite direction to the rake of the strings. It’s not the end of the world, but it does look a bit odd.
Feel & Sounds
This new Deluxe is a big, chunky, weighty beast. Hey, it’s a Les Paul! The neck feels very similar to the Standard ’50s and dimensionally is very slightly bigger than the one we reviewed back in issue 448: 43.53mm at the nut with a 1st fret depth of 22.8mm filling out to 25.4mm by the 12th. There’s no tapering to the shoulders, which tells your left hand it’s bigger than it actually measures. Did we say it feels big? The fretting is perfectly good, from a low-ish medium gauge (approx. 2.28mm wide by 1mm high). The nut is well cut and, once strings are stretched and settled, tuning is stable. The rosewood fingerboard is very dark brown here, almost black, certainly compared with our reference late-2019 Les Paul Classic.
Rather like the Deluxe itself, the minihumbucker is far less a part of our sonic DNA than the PAF or P-90. The smaller pickup senses a narrower portion of the string, and with a lower inductance and output it produces a cleaner and brighter sound. We’re not saying it sounds like a Fender, because it doesn’t, yet it certainly loses some of that thump and chunk; it’s lower in output than our Les Paul Classic with Burstbuckers 1 and 2. There seems to be a little more cut to the attack, but it’s smoother – less grainy, if you like – than our