Les Paul Signature Model (c 1973)

[Tom Karol]

I didn't want to hijack the, "Which Guitar," thread. But I mentioned this guitar model there in passing, and someone indicated that they had been unaware of its existence, so here goes:

The Les Paul Signature was the only thin-line hollow-body Les Paul Gibson had ever made up to that point in time, and it had definitely not been a hot seller. They only made them for 2 or 3 years in the early ‘70s. By the time I decided I wanted one, the model had already been discontinued. However, I was able to locate a used one in a music store and purchased it for $375 in 1975 or so. The only mod I made was to replace the stock Kluson tuners with Grovers.

The Signature was an odd guitar in a lot of ways. Cosmetically, the guitar was much like an old Les Paul Standard, with metallic gold top, cream-colored pickguard and control plates and a bound rosewood fingerboard with trapezoidal pearl inlays. The body shape and construction were basically patterned after the ES-335 design. However, the double cutaways were asymmetrical - the bass-side cutaway was rounded and joined the body at the 16th fret (like on an ES-330), while the treble-side cutaway was standard Les Paul. Also, the solid center block was square rather than rectangular; it covered the area under the wide-travel tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece but didn’t extend further toward the end pin and the neck heel as it does in a 335. The neck was made of 3-piece laminated maple as opposed to the more typical mahogany. The electronics were a major departure from the norm, too. The two low-impedance Super Humbucking pickups were encased in cream colored plastic covers embossed with the Gibson logo surrounded by matching 4-way adjustable mounting rings. The control layout looked like the standard Les Paul setup, but it wasn't! It consisted of a 3-way toggle switch for pickup selection, a master volume control, a master tone control, a phase switch, and an unusual 3-position level control (intended to enable ‘tuning’ the guitar to any amplifier - bass rolloff @ 50, 250 & 500 Hz). And the guitar had 2 output jacks! One was high impedance via an internal passive transformer for use with normal guitar amps, while the other was low impedance for simultaneous direct feed into a console.

The Les Paul Signature was far from a commercial success. And, in spite of its relative rarity, it never quite became a vintage collectable either, though it does seem to have recently garnered a certain cult status. But, I was quite fond of it for the 20 or so years that I owned it. (If you're wondering, I replaced it with a Tele clone, but I do now own a 335 clone as well.)

[AZanshin]

Could you describe what type of tone this beast had?

[Tom Karol]

Strangely enough that's a hard question to answer. It sort of had a sound of its own. Depending on the way I set the phase and level knobs it could do the typical Les Paul sound to some extent - probably moreso than the 335 sound. It could almost do the Strat neck pickup sound. I have an old recording I did where it almost does the Tele middle position sound. So in retrospect, it could almost do a lot of things! I know that's a lame answer, but it's the best I can come up with.

[Dad3353]

A 'revamped' bass version was produced, which evolved into the Epiphone 'Jack Casady' model; one of the best basses ever, imho, especially in the hands of it's sponsor. It's still available, and when I win the lottery, I'll order immediately. My Verithin is great, but the Jack Casady has an enormous sound of it's own..!

[Tom Karol]

Yes, I do recall that they made a companion bass at the time as well. Anyway, look what I found on the web. (Disclaimer: No! That is not me in the picture!):
Gibson advertisement (1974). Les Paul Designed It. Gibson Makes It

[mangotango]

Originally Posted by Tom Karol

Yes, I do recall that they made a companion bass at the time as well. Anyway, look what I found on the web. (Disclaimer: No! That is not me in the picture!):
Gibson advertisement (1974). Les Paul Designed It. Gibson Makes It

Another example of the "Why you have a strap button on a guitar" - see my comment in the thread on this very subject.

Oh yeah, and at one time, there was no guitar in the world that I thought more desirable than this particular model. Times change, obviously. But I'd still have one if I could find a) the guitar and b) the spare £££'s.

[Tom Karol]

Funny thing is it did have a factory installed strap button in the same place they have them on a 335. Why the picture in the ad shows the strap tied to the headstock is a mystery to me!

Afterthought: Come to think of it, I don't think the guy in the picture ever picked up a guitar in his life before the photo shoot!