Gibson's so-called "fretless wonder" got a bit more futuristic with the arrival of the silverburst finish in 1978. This example is in very good shape, with minimal wear and the greening that often occurs on vintage models.
Within this general rising tide of Les Paul Custom popularity and value, today's focal model, the silverburst Les Paul Custom, has seen an even more pronounced jump. These guitars were produced by Gibson starting in 1978 in very limited numbers and underwent a few spec changes before being discontinued in the mid-'80s. Sale prices on this specific group of guitars surged 28 percent in 2020 over 2019, with a 52 percent increase in prices since 2017. Just a few years ago, original silverburst Customs were selling comfortably in the $3,000 to $5,000 range. Today, we're seeing the best examples go for more than double that.
The basic configuration of the single-cutaway Les Paul has remained no nonsense for more than 60 years, with two pickups, four dials, a 3-way toggle, and a Tune-o-matic bridge at its core.
While there are always a variety of drivers behind such a jump in the pricing of a vintage collectible guitar, an artist or stylistic association is certainly part of the equation. Customs claim a certain reputation as metal guitars—think Metallica, Mastodon, and Zakk Wylde—and while plenty of classic-rock titans have employed them over the years, it could be that there are more metal and hard-rock fans getting into the vintage market than in previous periods, driving up prices. For this group, a dapper Les Paul Custom makes a lot more sense as a guitar splurge than something like a sunburst or goldtop Standard.
With no belt rash or other notable dings or scrapes on the back of its mahogany body, this guitar was handled with care. Note the well-defined back binding and lack of chipping along the edges, too.
This column's featured guitar is an original 1979 in very good vintage condition, listed on Reverb by Nationwide Guitars of Cumberland, Maryland, at $8,999 as we go to press. It sports the specs typical of its year and model: a 3-piece maple top with a mahogany body, a medium C-shape maple neck, an ebony fretboard with white binding, a bone nut, mother-of-peal block inlays, a Tune-o-matic bridge, a pair of humbuckers, a 3-way pickup selector, and a black version of the usual Les Paul dual volume and tone controls. Note that the finish shows some greening, which is typical of vintage silverbursts.
True to its roots, this Custom sports a larger headstock, which identifies it as a product of the era when Gibson was owned by the Norlin Corporation.
In the case of this month's silverburst, we can confidently point to the 2020 launch of a Custom Shop reissue of Adam Jones of Tool's trusty '79 as the culprit. This sort of high-profile reissue often has the effect of spurring collector interest in its vintage counterpart, and this can be even more of a factor when the new reissues are sold at prices that are similar to or higher than the originals, which is the case with this model. The Adam Jones 1979 Les Paul Custom VOS was also teased for a long while before going into production, creating more sustained silverburst hype, and this publicity was only amplified by news of a batch of these guitars being stolen this past November. While our guitar has some of the aforementioned finish greening in its center silver section, it's retained its original silverburst glow better than many of its brethren, which is appealing to collectors and players alike.
Photo 2
I've written my share about the insanely adventurous Kawai-made electrics from the '60s, but even Kawai had scaled it way back by the end of the decade—except for this 4-pickup monster. It's in my favorite guitar color, greenburst, and is a true throwback—a psychedelic leftover that refused to move on. Its design is similar to that of the Italy-made Eko Kadett I wrote about a few months back [“A '60s Solidbody That Would Make Sergio Leone Smile," December 2020], but the Kimberly Deluxe was a little more out there in almost every way.
I'm sure part of the appeal of the Kimberly Deluxe rested in the imaginations of us radio and electronics geeks who salivated over gadgets and widgets with a space-age flair. The guitar's pickups (Photo 2) are a variation of gold-foils that all read in the mid 4k range. But typical of Kawai wiring, it's all in series, meaning that the output increases as you switch on the pickups. For instance, with only the bridge pickup turned on, the output is 4.57k. Add the second pickup and it goes to 9.17k. But bring in the third pickup and it flies to 13.77k! And with the neck pickup engaged, the output is a whopping 18.43k, which is a lot of output for a 1960s Japanese guitar. The KD is a super-aggressive affair, and there was a time I actually owned and used five of them. They sound so interesting with fuzz and gain. Plus, switching on a Deluxes's pickups turns into a master class on how to boost your tone on the fly and scale back your pedalboard at the same time.
Photo 3
Also referred to as a “Bison" model, these instruments went by “Deluxe 4 Pick-up Solid Body Electric Guitar" in the Lafayette catalogs, with a corresponding model number of 24599WX. By the way, the guitar was priced at just $44.95 brand new. An optional case would set you back an extra $8.95. To further the deal, Lafayette also offered complete “guitar outfits" that paired the Kimberly Deluxe with an amp, cable, strap, strings, picks, pitch pipe, and an instruction book with a record—all for $148.75! Yep, those were the days.
Lafayette branded the majority of their guitars Kimberly, but the same model and variations of this guitar were sold elsewhere with different colors and pickup configurations. I've seen them branded as Sekova and Clear Sound as well, but in the end, all the coolest stuff was found in the Lafayette catalogs. Unfortunately, the Kimberly Deluxe ended its run by the mid-1970s, and Lafayette went bankrupt a few years later. Though I was only old enough to catch the tail end of all the Kimberly coolness, let's all give it up today for the last of the original space-age guitars!
Hear this late-'60s/early '70s Kawai Kimberly Deluxe—and some references to Link Wray and surf music—in this demo by Mike Dugan.