Everyone (including me) just walked past this one at a recent guitar show I attended, it just looked to clean to be a 70's original and everyone assumed it was a re-issue. It was not on a stand with other vintage guitars, so was hard to spot but curiosity got the better of me and after I stepped over to examine it very closely, I just could not beleive what I was holding in my hands. Needless to say, I did not release my grip on it until it was successfully prised from the hands of it's last carer of more than 20 years...

This is a JAW DROPPING totally near MINT and 100% original - SUPER RARE 1975 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe finished in Blue Sparkle with it's superb, original type 1 protector hard shell case. You do not come across these as clean as this every day and I would not be surprised if it was the finest example of this rare Les Paul Deluxe on the planet.

It is in totally near MINT condition and the only real marks are a small ding on the top near the switch and a few small dings on the back, mainly on the edge and a small amout of checking on the headstock. That’s it! There is no fade at all and it looks almost factory fresh from new. I do not think you will find another quite like this, especially in this rare and desirable blue sparkle finish. This was part of the private collection of a guitar store owner who has kept it in his vault for at least the last 20 years.

What’s more and even better - this is one of the last Les Paul Deluxe’s to be made at the Kalamazoo plant before they switched to Nashville and manufactured these with the not so desirable, maple neck.

It plays really well too with no wear at all on the lovely, original wide frets and no wear at all on the fingerboard. All solder jpits are totally undisturbed. There are 2x superb sounding pat number mini humbuckers fitted and needless to say all hardware is 100% original correct and in perfect condition. There is hardly even any fade on the binding too!!! You do not see this very often and it goes a long way to making this amazing guitar look no more than 2 years old let alone 40 years old.

All pots date to 52nd week of 1974 and serial number is almost completely faded, it’s on the oval sticker you get for years 75,76 and 77 and this must be a very early one. You need to look closely but you can see the model number ‘LES PAUL DELUXE’ with ‘MADE IN USA’ in small capitals under it and the only numbers I can read are x9 22753x but these may not be the correct ones as I struggle to read even those!

Guitar plays and sounds really nice, it is well set up and has the more desirable ABR-1 type bridge as opposed to the later Nashville type. Weight is 4.2Kg which is pretty good for this period.

I do not think you will find a better one out there and if you are looking for an investment, this should be up there with them as it is a very rare colour, one of the most desirable LP Deluxes.