1977 Gibson Les Paul Custom Electric Guitar

Vintage American-made classic, upgraded pickups and aftermarket bridge 

The Takamine that was featured the other day is easily the guitar that I've put the most hours on, but this is the guitar that I've owned the longest and its the crown jewel of the collection. I picked it up at Westminster Jewelry and Loan in January 1991, for $550. I was 14 years old and had gone in the shop to buy an acoustic guitar, which I needed for a guitar class that I was taking as a freshman at Fountain Valley High School.

Once I saw a genuine Les Paul sitting on a hook for an attainable amount of money, there was no way it wasn't going to be mine. I had a decent first guitar at the time, a Kramer Striker 300ST, but it didn't really inspire me the way this did. I put down a certain amount of money and was on a layaway plan, I had 30 days to pay off the balance. Of course, I worked my ass off to earn the rest of the money and picked it up a few weeks later.

The same friend who customized the Ibanez Iceman IC-50 went through this guitar first and fixed the ground. He also told me that it had a Seymour Duncan Invader and DiMarzio Super Distortion pickup. That makes sense, because these pickups are absolutely screaming. Although I've owned this for nearly a quarter of a century, being a primarily a bass player, I've only used this myself in public a handful of times. However, nearly every guitar player in every band that I've played in has used it at some point, so it's seen its fair share of glory.

Thanks for looking, more high-resolution photos here.