I Never Realised This Before! | Review + Demo 1974 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe Basalt Blue Sparkle

[@Zundfolge]

Bobby's used to be a great little shop in Denver. By the time they went out of business they had moved down to 9th and Broadway. The original location is kind of a guitar store as its a pawn shop now. Bobby Rosen passed away in 2009, but he had sold the store many years before that, I'm thinking sometime in the 90s (he was a realtor for like a decade and then retired and did handyman work). He was a prominent member of the Denver Jewish community. Bobby was a drummer, not a guitarist (but I imagine whomever was selling this guitar either bought it originally at Bobby's or this was part of his estate sold off by one of his kids).

[@michaelheller8841]

I actually like this Deluxe better than the other one in my opinion. The mini-humbuckers sound amazing too.

[@johngerson7335]

For anyone who's interested, what Austin commonly refers to as "ringy grain" is properly known as "runout". It's found on slab-cut boards and is not generally cared for by many folks as it technically denotes an inferior board when it comes to 'furniture grade' lumber. The good news is that slab-board backs and bodies are usually quite resonant and make for good bloom & warmth in a guitar's voice, hence why Trogly's new Deluxe sounds 'round' (as he put it) even on a mini-hummy in the bridge position.

[@lptomtom]

Wood doesn't matter all that much on an electric guitar

[@bluglass7819]

@@lptomtomit does matter. Wood with run out is more unstable.

[@johngerson7335]

​@@lptomtomYeah, and earth's flat, and there wasn't a moon landing.

[@johngerson7335]

​@@bluglass7819Guess you've had a couple of 1 3/4" slabs fly apart on you over the years, huh?

[@groover5863]

Thanks for that john. Now could you explain or define what a "juicy" pickup means?

[@nigelnunes]

That's a really narrow-looking headstock for a 70's LP, killer guitar!

[@davehopping7212]

Bobby's Music was in Denver and did great business up into the mid-'80s, I got and sold a lot of good stuff there. They went out of business sometime around 1988, and the location is a pawnshop now.

[@nieko3038]

Another great Deluxe. Those sparkles suit it perfectly.

[@PNWJEEPER01]

Are those p90 screw holes in the bottom of the mini bucker routes? If so, I’m wondering if i could put p90’s in my mini bucker lp of similar vintage…

[@nieko3038]

@@PNWJEEPER01Looks like the holes in the metal bar should fit p90. You might have to drill into the body underneath it to make some room. Question is if you want to do that on a vintage guitar. The routing is the same. I did a conversion from p90 to mini humbuckers. The holes you see in the body are for mounting the plates.

[@Furtheronmusic]

The "G" inside I wonder if stands for Glitter. As when I remember first seeing one in the 70s in the UK I'm sure it was billed as a Glitter finish. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@mikeyohe4750]

Those pickups sound great! 👍👍

[@timlyons5191]

How come no ever removes the cover on mini humbuckers

[@Bryan-jd7os]

Helluva question! Dont believe ive ever seen them naked! Now i wanna know!

[@KaycieCarryl22654]

I tried. The pickups held in place with the covers, unlike regular humbucker pickup bobbins are screwed into the back plate.

[@supermario2100]

Mini-humbuckers and Firebird pickups are made differently than your average humbucker pickup. You can find photos of uncovered Gibson mini-humbuckers and Firebird pickups, but they're hard to disassemble and just don't look good. Rio Grande pickups makes mini-humbuckers with zebra coils, basically just a shrunken humbucker.

[@zigzagrz]

Looking at the original listing from Reverb, if you zoom in, you can see the buckle worming

[@RiotHomeRecording]

I like the darker one too. Were any deluxe models from the 70’s made with p90’s or if they have p90’s they are the pro model?

[@MalisaDonnelly]

Pretty good shape for the age, still sounding great

[@allezjohn]

Austin, where did this guitar come from? Bobby's Music is now defunct, but an old Denver Colorado Shop. that 1025 Broadway address is now a Pawn Shop. It also had a different location, but that building got demolished and now a high rise is going up. Beautiful mahogany on the back. Sorry the 1970s clothes had big buckles...

[@aesus8459]

Also, thanks for the Thin Lizzy riff! Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson played Deluxes a lot during that era, appreciate that you gave them a nod.

[@leearft8605]

The darker example has a coarser brighter metal flake, it's particularly evident on the down flop angle, it's almost black in color.

[@Kahuna54]

Both of these guitars are beautiful, the blue metallic finish is so awesome! I would be so disappointed if my beautiful blue guitar aged to green!😂

[@IBuiltDaArk]

Gorgeous blue shade

[@jfiery]

Can someone tell me why there are 5 braided wires (counting the bridge pickup wire) in the video of the bridge pickup channel?

[@jfiery]

@@cataclysmicconverter thank you.

[@apathetiquette]

Do you have a video that shows your cleaning process? I'd love to know how it could take two hours.

[@woodybowen5362]

He probably applies his own special sauce to polish .

[@eyeballroomer]

What is that song at 16:39? I know it but I can’t think of it.

[@marions.120]

Darker blue is beautiful!

[@lucwilson1]

Now that's a cool one!!! I love the blue!!

[@PNWJEEPER01]

Are those P 90 screw holes in the bottom of the routes? If so, I’m wondering if I could easily convert my 70s mini bucker into a P90 guitar without doing anything but switching pick ups and trim rings…

[@jfiery]

Yes and yes.

[@aesus8459]

Wait, can somebody explain why the truss can't be loosened on this guitar? What am I missing?

[@Trog]

Think of the truss rod like a bottle cap. I need to loosen it a hair, but the cap only "falls off"

[@aesus8459]

@@Trog Ok, thank you!

[@markvonwisco7369]

Of two guitars, I like this one better. The wood grain on the back is especially nice.

[@TM-ev2tc]

We need a Les Paul that is "A Whiter Shade of Pale" 😁

[@sgt.grinch3299]

Excellent call

[@jimmyb4728]

The reason one looks like it has more sparkles is cause the metal flake is bigger in the one. There both nice

[@monsterkxf]

Darker 🤘🤘

[@larryburwell8550]

im not a mini humbucker fan but id keep the darker one personally if i was going to keep one

[@nicolasbeaudry6158]

A Mike ness special drop some Seymour d and voila , social distortion tone💯🔥😻

[@skidudek2]

Those mini's sound way better than the other one.

[@bingoflangeworthy]

I wasn't expecting to like the mini-humbuckers but that bridge pickup has character!

[@mitchellmtb7202]

Exactly what are we calling a polish? Dunlop polish spray and a rag or some swirl remover and a drill?

[@PikkaBird]

I know it's commonly accepted that the pancake layer is supposed to be a maple veneer, but in all my years of looking at pancake bodies I've seen exactly zero examples that looked like it was maple. All of them have had what looks like mahogany veneers with a few that _may_ have been walnut, or maybe just particularly chocolatey mahogany. But never maple.

[@PikkaBird]

@@cataclysmicconverter that's what I'm talking about, it looks nothing like maple (to me at least). And the finish shouldn't darken only the maple and leave the mahogany the same shade.

[@Trog]

It is best to view the maple from the inside of the cavities (the secret layer in pickup cavities and the main layer by the control routes.) The back and sides might “look” like a clear coat but there is a colored finish as well to enhance the look of the mahogany

[@glenfougeron2823]

I like the lighter blue. Absolutely stunning! A dream guitar for me…

[@mickkenny5412]

Have a question. Looking at a 81 gold top standard but it doesn't have "Made in USA" on the back of the headstock. Is that common or a red flag. Everything else looks legit and it is a guitar shop selling it. Any advice would be welcomed.

[@mickkenny5412]

@@cataclysmicconverter Cool thanks. This one is in Melbourne. There are 2 listed on reverb, one in the states and one in France 1984 and 1981 both have made in USA which has me questioning this one.

[@davesinger6526]

Sometimes the "MADE IN U.S.A." stamp is very faint and hard to see unless you tilt the guitar at different viewing angles. Can you look at it in person to check that?

[@mickkenny5412]

@@davesinger6526 Yeh I can, I'll keep investigating and if I want to see this one in person I'll will.

[@wooferdevlin3571]

The new one sounds much better, yes, even the bridge pup' sounds darker than minis usual. My question is: are there indicators of a marked market down turn? As a player, I've seen big swings in non- vintage, causing me to be bloated with G.A.S., haha. Ü ♫

[@Trog]

I’ve seen a slow down for common gear but the rare stuff still has a pretty strong market

[@andrewlipic8414]

It must have been re-fretted at one point. I have a 72'-73' gold top deluxe that was barely played by my dad, and the frets are flat. I've seen another video from a luthier, and he indicated in the video that this was one of the features that deluxes were infamous for, along with the pancake body and the bump where the headstock transitions to the neck, all features that Gibson purists despised about this model. I was watching it because I was trying to research a problem that I'm having with mine, which is a crack starting to form at the low e saddle screw. I'm curious, though, if a rounded re-fret affects the intonation, as you're moving the last point of contact on each back by a millimeter or so

[@paulketchupwitheverything767]

I've owned a Deluxe gold top since about 1980 and the frets were always pretty low. Similarly, I bought it off a friend and he hadn't played it loads. So, they could have come out of the factory like that. Getting the frets dressed by a luthier improved things for a while and it was my only gigging and rehearsing guitar for a long time. I got it re-fretted in the early 2000s and it plays beautifully now.

[@davidmorgan6000]

'Diggin' the matching outfit there, Austin!

[@mattc8723]

I've always wanted a gold top because of Adrian Smith, but Bath-Salt Blue sounds pretty cool! lol

[@jonathanhudak2059]

Gotta love Adrian! Even though he plays a lot of Jackson strat style guitars I always like to picture him with his Les Paul gold top which I think is a Deluxe too!

[@bottomkitchen250]

I like the double ring tuners

[@AS__77]

I would give anything for a reissue of one of these but in green. Something just a little bit lighter and sparklier than Gretsch’s Cadillac green.

[@snapfinger1]

Inverness Green

[@muinarc0]

Gretsch has made green sparkle Jets and they look amazing.

[@donthewatcher]

looks really nice what a Deluxe find mini humbuckers are winning

[@ryanmiller4890]

That thing is gorgeous! Even that purple in the case looks cool.

[@Bryan-jd7os]

Well, youre just gonna have to keep em both Trogly! 😀

[@memorylane7068]

Keep both!

[@thomasbaldwin4462]

I have a 72 deluxe with what looks like regular humbuckers

[@EricClapton1945]

I bought a 83 deluxe right haver my turkey dinner!

[@justingallion4902]

that's a really good sounding deluxe!!!!

[@RoboSteave]

How nice it is to get a day off from the hard work of looking at guitars online...

[@jfrorn]

Love the Deluxe 👍

[@craigdavidson4378]

The pale grain fill is nowadays a feature of some modern PRS guitars called “dog-hair”. It’s quite attractive when used appropriately.

[@KaycieCarryl22654]

I used to call it baby poop brown.

[@darrylmoore127]

Love the Color

[@thetoneknob4493]

i noticed the same thing with the red ones, one is darker and has bigger sparkles . sparkle tops are super cool! and the glitter industry doesn't want us to know its glitter, its totally glitter btw..and now that you know that you can make any top sparkle! with glitter!

[@Trog]

The red ones are tricky to find - hopefully I can document some more as it wouldn’t surprise me!

[@chucku.farley342]

Hey Trogly, love the show. I worked for Bobby's Music back in the 1990s, If you want to know the story about about the shop and how and when it closed let ma know. Take care

[@bluekoi455]

Love a blue sparkle deluxe

[@58BURST]

I thought the pancake layer was usually walnut,,,

[@IPLAYLOUD]

Bobby's Music Center is now an EZ Pawn Shop.

[@Zundfolge]

It moved down to the corner of 9th and Broadway first (then that building became an antique mall). Its been a long time though.

[@briannacery9939]

I don't want one but I think the Delux is beautiful!

[@johndaugherty4127]

70's mini humbucker's are the best sounding pu's ever

[@brianbeaven698]

I’d keep both if I were you … cheers 🎸

[@trevortrela4765]

Forever wishing for a new run of this finish available for lefties. There will never be enough blue sparkle top videos on the channel!

[@vegasdogg111]

Beautiful guitar!!

[@JoseSalas-wn7im]

Keep both of them.

[@RussBMCSGT]

Why would anyone use a yellow grain fill on a naturally more reddish wood like mahogany? Never made sense to me regardless of how cool it looks after the fact.

[@txphi17]

Did you hit the lottery or something? Just curious how you can buy all these.

[@snapfinger1]

Blue Sparkle Deluxe. The King of ‘70’s Rawk Git tah.

[@paulketchupwitheverything767]

It screams 'Glam'.

[@markcarleton6647]

Looks like a cool guitar. I’ve got a 70’s deluxe in cherry sunburst. It has a maple neck and weighs around 11 lbs. I remember the stock pickups would feedback when I played loud. I eventually had it routed for regular humbuckers. I’m in the process of getting Fishman Fluence Classic humbuckers installed in the guitar.

[@paulketchupwitheverything767]

Sounds good. I'd like a 70s LP with a maple neck. I think it would reduce the worry of suffering a neck break if a guitar is being taken out and about a lot. I've played a maple necked L6S which worked great apart from the slightly narrower neck width at the first few frets.

[@ChroniclesOfASadPunk]

That guitar sounds great, Trogs! But yeah, I like the darker finish better, too.

[@Zefi8125]

Head straight to the dark side! It looks really pretty

[@bigtorrisi]

As usual, an excellent video made even better by some Thin Lizzy Jailbreak thrown in at the end. Top Marks for Trogly.

[@bobbiholliday5961]

Holy dang those frets been hit hard. Someone played the heck out of this guitar but was very careful. Wow

[@thomasfritsch3536]

You truly love the blues it would be a shame if you didn't keep both they are beautiful I couldn't choose I love dark blue but I love the lighter one too

[@fabieneldridge3414]

I’ve always loved the sound of the little mini humbuckers. Beautiful both of them.

[@johndef5075]

What percentage of Gibsons need headstock repairs?

[@ericbgordon1575]

As I have developed a habit of saying over the last few years, I would take the one in the middle.

[@samiam5557]

The darker one is nicer looking.

[@Born2RiffRock]

How much do you want for them ?

[@barrygoins5429]

Keep dark one the light one probably seen more sun being connected jewel of a small shop

[@erickaufmancustomguitars1351]

Thanks for all the great videos man !!! That thing about the trussrod where your going to "train" the natural direction. Theres another option if it's not that bad. You (can/could) go to neutral on the rod, then turn 1/8-1/4 positive pressure, then level the frets. Will it take more off the middle than the ends of the frets, yeah. But, can make the difference between a guitar in Ohio(or other) playing 12 months out of the year as opposed to 8 or 9 months. I wont say which usa custom shop guitar company made my experience guitar but I dealt with this issue about 27 years before I did what I just described and behold...12 months ! And a tiny bit of play. The final difference in fret height was .1mm lower around frets 9-12

[@stevebaigorria3201]

Keep both ! You only live once, and you can document and show the difference in the history of the change of the guitar

[@jonathanhudak2059]

I like your style heck yeah!

[@jameshughes6049]

Howdy everyone!!

[@jeffbarnard9246]

Just keep both, There just going to keep going up in price.

[@paulmgregory3666]

This is gorgeous!

[@chip9177]

That surface on the back of the cover made me think it is Formica

[@TheAlexFromGalax]

Wasn't there a episode where Trogly told us that he sold his first Blue Sparkle LP to Mike Ness?

[@jfiery]

Yeah pretty sure the one he let go when he got the dark one.

[@Trog]

Yes, the first blue sparkle I reviewed and sold is now his. I replaced it with my dark blue a few years later and then picked this up about a year and a half after that

[@TheAlexFromGalax]

@@Trog thanks for the reply, just couldn't remember after all the videos (I think you told us about it in an unboxing, when you ordered a 70s Deluxe to replace the replaced knobs with vintage correct) of yours I watched over the years (been following your channel since the carpet era). Keep on the good work!

[@RBdeBell]

Love Mini-Humbuckers - they sound just amazing!

[@patrikgibbons7560]

Dam&$t Jim…I would LOVE to be able to afford one of those!!!!

[@scharrsilicio]

01:37 oooooooooo watch that wood dance!

[@markjamesmeli2520]

Ok, is it my failing eyes, or is this guitar ridiculously THICK? Being a drummer, I truly love the "metal flake" (aka: "sparkle") finishes. My thoughts? Keep 'em both!!

[@chadliljestrand9928]

Love the videos and your content. So, I have a request, during the sound tests maybe add a backing track to one small part. It would be nice to hear the sound of them along with the band.

[@TimHolcomb-c8x]

I’ll help you with you internal struggle just give me another Les Paul from your collection and you keep both of those 😎😎😎

[@mjeh1]

That one is a keeper. Beautiful looking and sounding.

[@ethanhitchcock5431]

I like them both , considering they are different versions you should keep both , a deluxe in that finish would look great with cream colored P-90s , sounds great ! Thanks Trogly !

[@ddixon2730]

Love the sparkle, and great Thin Lizzy riff mixed into the tone example.

[@rudiyantohalim736]

The pickup sounds good on this one, i love it

[@grantcindrich]

Yo

[@heavybrett-al4082]

Very nice considering it's age

[@DrVinnieBoombots]

Norlin Era...STILL VERY NOYCE. :)

[@davidhaegens]

nice, some Jimmy Page for his Birthday.. I like it.