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My 77 had the maple neck and sounded great. I did not much care for the large volute on that guitar though (I had a 75 Les Paul Custom that had the small volute which did not bother me a bit). My 82 was a rare variant. They had lost the volute, metal tuning knobs and had gone back to a mahogany neck, but had not yet switched to laminated mahogany sides and back. And the Shaw humbuckers in the 82 were every bit as good as Classic 57's.
Originally Posted by DB's Jazz Guitar Blog
The things that give Norlin a bad rep are things like volutes, chrome vs. nickel hardware, plain woods, different woods (maple necks on a 175, etc.), different peg head pitch, different sunbursts and quality control issues. There are great Norlin era Gibsons, but there are duds (and there are probably duds from all era Gibsons).
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03-14-2020 06:44 PM
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Wow now that's bop guitar! I just kept imagining Jimmy Raney, Rene Thomas, Billy Bauer, Sal Salvator, Joe Pass, all those great bop players.
This is superb!
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Very nice collaboration! The playing and the guitars sound fantastic.
Fits in with the CDC guidelines too, on Social Distancing! Doing your part(s) to flatten the 7th. I cut my teeth on a '72 175 with mahogany neck, bought new. That's 48 years ago, and, I still have it. Nothing wrong with it either. Great guitars.
Thanks for sharing!
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Are you telling me you played this together live from different countries? That is wild
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No, I recorded my video first, sent it to Dick, then he added his part to it. Originally Posted by corpse
We last did one of these 8 years ago!
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I had 2x ES175 guitars new in the UK in 1971.
They were both bad guitars sorry but thats the truth. The second I bought as I thought I had been very unlucky with the first guitar.
The first one with a cherry sunburst top had a badly bent fingerboard where the neck joined the body. Selmer had this guitar back but simply roughly jammed a piece of wood under the fingerboard as a repair. I could not believe what they did. The other a blond or natural guitar, the neck and fingerboard was twisted and the fingerboard had to be planed in an effort to correct the problem. I was so disappointed with the guitars. Pickups were great but construction quality was appalling and this badly effected their playability. For an instrument in their price range both were bad. Personally would not go near a Norlin Era Gibson 175 again. The Norlin guitars were not good.
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Both my Gibson Les Paul Customs are from the so-called Norlin era. Can't say when I got the guitars anyone would know what that meant back then.
These are great guitars, for example they have a volute that strengthens the neck/headstock area.
Also, the electronics are very well shielded, they even fitted the expensive Switchcraft shielded RCA jack.
The burgundy Custom even sports nickel hardware, which is pretty unique, last being seen on 1950s Les Pauls.
Back then they did not make a Standard. So, to get the full-size humbuckers, I went with the Custom rather than the Deluxe.
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To each his own, I can’t stand Norlin Era Gibsons. Cheap shortcuts in construction, incredibly bad neck shapes, heavier than cement overshoes! And poor aesthetics generally.
When the historic division came into being things improved drastically! Not sure exactly who to credit with the good sense of bringing back taste,style and workmanship to Gibson!
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My L6-S is a beautiful instrument. I particularly value its volute.
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My first "good" guitar was a walnut Norlin 335. It was fantastic.
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I always thought they were very cool. Originally Posted by Litterick
> Vintage Guitar and Bass" data-noaft="1" style="width: 300px; height: 300px; margin: 0px;">
Last edited by Woody Sound; 09-14-2022 at 12:10 PM.
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Mrs k thought I should have one from the get-go. Unfortunately, only ever encountered two in the wild: a blond one being purchased by a co-worker, for whom I acted as middle man* and a specimen that was being sold by one of my jazz pals, in the most ungodly hideous brown color.** Originally Posted by Woody Sound
I always thought there were very cool.
> Vintage Guitar and Bass" data-noaft="1" style="width: 300px; height: 300px; margin: 0px;">
* Later he complained that he thought he got a poor deal. I offered to pay him what he paid for it, and he declined. Do people complain just to hear themselves?
** I think he was offended I declined the offer. There was a distinct coolness after that. I just couldn't stomach the color. Less chocolate-y and more upchuck-ly, if you get my drift.
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Volutes are a great feature! Originally Posted by Litterick
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I had an L6S from about 76 to 83. My first Gibson. I saw it as a poor man's Les Paul. Nothing like an LP but I wish I'd kept it though.
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I was a 19 year old kid when I got my '71 335. After the honeymoon, and I started looking closer, I saw that the cherry red had bled into the white fretboard binding. Also there was a strange dip in the neck from about the fourth fret to the nut. The only way to fix it would have been to remove the frets and plane the fretboard level and replace the frets. Of course I did not know about that and would not have been able to afford the repair anyway.
With a couple of exceptions, I avoided Gibson guitars like the plague.
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I have a 1974 ES-175 that i love. Plays well and has *that sound* ~
Would it win a beauty contest? Probably not…. but I will keep it, play it, and pass it down to my grandchildren.
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Played one of these through most of the early 80s. Awesome guitar for pop/rock.
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Interestingly saw this today...peak post-PG Mac...
Man I would love that white LP. It was a '74 or '75 apparently.
I wouldn't mind that kimono shirt either.
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I have a 1979 ES175CC, plays great, sounds as expected, no flaws. I bought it new in 1980, I guess it's a "keeper", love the guitar.
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I have had occasion to meet several atrocious women who were born in 1962; vile, humorless personalities with cigarette breath, a complete lack of common sense and the social graces of a badger along with single digit IQ's.
Just so happens the woman I married 25 years ago was born in 1962!
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Were any of them named Norleen? Originally Posted by whiskey02
"The social graces of a badger"--I will have to borrow that.
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Great guitar! Originally Posted by Woody Sound
Played one of these through most of the early 80s. Awesome guitar for pop/rock.
A pair of Norlin ES models:
And a few more:
Danny W.
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For me The Actual Rub is different. Originally Posted by Jazzarian
I have spun through my share of guitars -- not as many as the heavy hitters we learn from here, but plenty. If I've actually learned anything from the experience it is that features, measurements or characteristics that were rock-bottom line-in-the-sand must-have or no-can-do at one point became 'Oh, no big deal' later and vice versa. After a while it became a preference and not an impediment.
So idiot that I am, I've been through phases of "only 24.75 inches" and "only 25.5 inches" and back. "Only 16 inches" and "only 17 inches" and back. Humbuckers and single-coils. 1.75" nut and 1.69" nut and 1.57" nut. Thick and thin, solid, semi and hollow. Ebony, BRW, IRW and maple boards. Volute and not. Nitro and poly. Solid and plywood. Modern and classic models. Antique, Golden Era (20s-30s), Really Golden Era (40s-50s), Who Are You Kidding Golden Era (60s), Norlin, Henry. Bespoke guitars, custom-shop instruments, craft-factory builds, machine-made cheepos.
The conclusion: A lot of people help themselves feel better by making a really big deal out of really small differences.
When I set aside my so-called 'requirements' and just approached it as, "This could be fun to have for a while," I started finding a lot more fun guitars.
All the best with your quest.
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You totally ignored Stevie ! ? Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
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Originally Posted by Sam Sherry
I recently went through the 'thinning the herd' conversation with myself, and this week actually did 'reduce the cases' here by one.
Some of the lessons learned, for me anyway were :
I went from ' No way can I lose money on this ' to ' Oh yes you can, Dennis, and will. '..........
And regardless of how much list prices of new instruments have increased, this doesn't mean used stuff automatically increases
by the same percentages - - if any .......
And some dealer principal observations, right, wrong, bs, or at least partially true were:
'Jazz boxes are hard sells and they stick around, and stick around. '
'And we finally get tired of staring at them and finally 'blow them out the door' to another dealer / buddy of ours'......
That was interesting - - I know that guitar musical chairs thing occurs a lot, and that also drove home the point that players won't get a lot of these ' deals ' either -
those guitars will keep churning amongst the old boy dealers.......I was sort of surprised he actually admitted that......
' And in our store, we don't hear kids picking up guitars / trying them out and playing a riff from a jazz tune - it's all rock '.......
So as I was heading out and rationalizing my ' loss ' as just a two year guitar rental fee, I thought of that old expression about the two best days of owning a boat -
you know the rest.
Maybe these high-buck jazz boxes we've dreamt of for years and finally acquired, are all just ' boats '.....
Just my latest two cents worth, fwiw.....: )
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