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Heritage 80 Questions

Bengal

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Joined
Jun 16, 2002
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112
Hello All! A few questions for the enlightened...

I found yesterday, and bought, A Gibson Les Paul Heritage 80. I don't know much about them. (I did a search here and only found 1 thread) Nice guitar with good weight. But my questions are...

1. Were these the first RI's made by Gibson? The salesman told me this...

2. What "color's" did they come in? Mine is a dark brown outside to a medium brown inside. Salesman refered to it as a "Tea-Burst".

3. Are the 3 piece necks accurate to the early ones?

4. The pickups are very, very bassy. Are there any telltale markings on the back of the pickup that would prove they are original?

5. Serial number questions. It has a regular serial number on the top of the headstock. 1st and 5th numbers would say it's a 1980. That sound like the right way to date it? I was told it was an '81. Also, there is a 4 digit number under the "Made In USA" stamp. What does that number mean?

Sorry for all the questions but I want to know all I can about this LP. Great guitar and I paid what I believe to be a good price for it. Thanks for all your help guys!!!!
 

DvnLesPaul

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Sep 17, 2002
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There's been a ton of threads here on these, I've chimed in on many myself. How did you search?
I have a couple, had a couple others. Mine have all been Elites (not the three piece neck). I'd call the brown a tobacco burst, there is also cherry sunburst--I've seen the red be very maroon though. The four digit extra number is the number of the special run--all H80s have it. I've had good luck increasing brightness with the pot/cap upgrade you'll find a lot of info on here about. I think the Shaw pups (H80 original) have a serial number that starts with 138 or 139-do another search here under that name (Shaw)and you'll get a ton of info on them as well.
The '79 25/50 was a modified custom that had a sunburst flametop, but these are basically considered Gibsons "first reissue".
A bunch of questions--you could almost get a thread out of each one--but thats the readers digest version.
 

Heritage 80

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Jan 10, 2002
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Bengal said:
Hello All! A few questions for the enlightened...

I found yesterday, and bought, A Gibson Les Paul Heritage 80. I don't know much about them. (I did a search here and only found 1 thread) Nice guitar with good weight. But my questions are...

1. Were these the first RI's made by Gibson? The salesman told me this...

2. What "color's" did they come in? Mine is a dark brown outside to a medium brown inside. Salesman refered to it as a "Tea-Burst".

3. Are the 3 piece necks accurate to the early ones?

4. The pickups are very, very bassy. Are there any telltale markings on the back of the pickup that would prove they are original?

5. Serial number questions. It has a regular serial number on the top of the headstock. 1st and 5th numbers would say it's a 1980. That sound like the right way to date it? I was told it was an '81. Also, there is a 4 digit number under the "Made In USA" stamp. What does that number mean?

Sorry for all the questions but I want to know all I can about this LP. Great guitar and I paid what I believe to be a good price for it. Thanks for all your help guys!!!!
Congrats! H80's are great guitars, and IMO one of the better values in the LP world. To answer some of your questions:

1. From what I've read, they were Gibson's first serious attempt at replicating the late 50's holy grails.

2. The Standards came in two "official" colors: Cherrt burst and Tobacco Burst. In reality, I've seen them all across the board.

3. No. Originals have 1 piece necks (as do the Heritage 80 Elites, but those also have ebony fretboards. Supposedly the H80 Standards have Brazilian rosewood boards).

4. The pickups wer designed by Mike Shaw, head of Gibson's R&D department at that time. Some regard them as very desireable. I really wasn't too fond of mine, and replaced them with Duncan 59's,and then with LPF forum member Tim Shaw's Timbuckers, and I'm fairly certain they'll stay in the guitar until I take the dirt nap.

5. The 4 digit number is the series sequence number (mine is 1959!). I'm not sure about this, but I believe about 2000 Standards were made.

Have fun with her!!:heritage :)
 

Kluson

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Joined
Jan 21, 2003
Messages
1,317
H 80 Standards were also available in Gold top versions.
There may be a stamped date inside the control cavity, some have some haven't. I have now had 3 of these fine guitars, my only comment is that I have never found a light one.
Congratulations and enjoy it they are real nice guitars
 

Bengal

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Joined
Jun 16, 2002
Messages
112
Thanks for the info guys. Obviously my search was inaccurate!

How's the flame on yours? Mine is very, very, very subtle. Not that its a bad thing. Has very nice woodgrain.

No pics yet but when I do, I'll get 'em to you.

All in all, much better than my '98 Classic.
 

Heritage 80

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Mine's nice and flamey:
230_p5476.jpg
 

DvnLesPaul

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Sep 17, 2002
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The elites have a bit more figure than the standard 80's. I don't know what I do wrong, I use Lilypix, and can insert a link to my pics but pasting the address between the bracketed IMGs just yields a damn red X. Anyway heres my 2

1

2
 
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DvnLesPaul

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BTW, I did a search using the keyword "Heritage 80" and got 181 hits under the Sunburst Pub alone. Actually this thread should be moved, I wondered about your lack of search response, and since you posted here, Heritage 80's are not technically "Historic" nor do they really qualify as vintage. They certainly have an important niche in Les Paul history and many devoted followers (including me!) but are nonetheless Norlin era.
 

gitarzilla

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Sep 28, 2002
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The few Heritage 80s -- standards and elites I've played had 3-piece necks. The Shaw pickups are kinda cool. I don't know if I'd describe them as "bassy," but they are extremely fat sounding. THe one thing that always kind of put me off the H80s is the funny looking cutaway. Other than that, I've seen and played some nice ones, some with really outstanding tops.
 

keef

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Jan 27, 2002
Messages
5,006
Not all of the heritage series guitars have the 'funny' cutaway (but most do)...see the earlier threads. I think I read somewhere they took a '52 with the slightly sharper cutaway as a template and went a little overboard.. here's my '82 elite:
1830_p25343.jpg
 
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MikeSlub

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Jul 15, 2001
Messages
15,166
Heritage 80 Les Paul Models

With the exception of a few Kalamazoo-built prototypes or “one offs” in circulation, all Heritage 80's were made in the Nashville plant between 1980 and 1982. These LPs have a unique sharp and wide cutaway at the horn, Grover kidney tuners, and an eight digit serial number with four digit second number beneath it. There does not appear to be any pattern to the second four digit number – it was used for marketing reasons to distinguish these guitars as limited editions by Bruce Bolen, then head of R&D. They have a unique headstock shape. They are generally on the heavy side (high 9's to high 10 lbs.), have the thin binding in cutaway, small black side dot markers, and a Nashville bridge. The back plates for the control cavity and switch are brown. The Gibson logo on the headstock has a closed “b” and “o” and a dot over the “i”. The necks on these guitars are of medium thickness. While not as close in terms of vintage specifications to the Guitar Trader and Leo's LP models, they are well regarded guitars by many players and collectors and have excellent fit, finish, tone, and playability. Tim Shaw of Gibson at the time designed reissue PAFs for them which sound very good and have come to be known as "Shaw PAFs" in the collector community. The pickups are one double white and one zebra under the covers. The truss rod covers are inscribed with the model names.

1. The Heritage Series Standard 80 has a three piece neck and rosewood fretboard. Some came with rather plain tops and others have moderate flame. There are a few examples with one piece necks and ebony fretboards, which indicates that Elite necks were used during parts shortages. The example in this article has a very deep flame. Colors were dark cherry sunburst or honeyburst. The truss rod cover is inscribed with “Heritage Series Standard 80”. The example below weighs 10 lbs. 10 oz. It has an exquisite curly flame top.

1004_p15669.jpg


2. The Heritage Series Standard 80 Elite has a one piece neck, ebony fretboard, and a quilted top. Most came in honeyburst but some were also made in cherry sunburst. The truss rod cover is inscribed with “Heritage Series Standard 80 Elite”. The two examples below are at opposite ends of the weight scale, one being 9 lbs. 3 oz., the other being 10 lbs. 8 oz.

1004_p15626.jpg


1004_p15627.jpg


3. The Heritage Series Award has a plaque on the back of the headstock with a number from 1 through approximately 50 (only approximately 50 of these guitars were made for dealers who sold a lot of Heritage models), cherry sunburst, ebony board, flame top, and gold hardware. The truss rod cover is inscribed with “Heritage Award”. The example below weighs 9 lbs. 4 oz.

1004_p15631.jpg
 

DvnLesPaul

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Sep 17, 2002
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385_p25422.jpg


Hey! Lily taught me a new trick!!! This is going to be bigger than the new polls feature backstage. I got me a new toy, and I'm a gonna be playin' wid it! Woo hoo-- Lily, you ROCK!
 

Lily

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Woo hoo! Time to haul out the eyecandy!:dude
 

surfweasel

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Nov 9, 2001
Messages
112
<img src='http://image.inkfrog.com/pix/surfweasel/778335picture.jpg'> Bengal here is my elite 80 #0399. They are heavy most of the time around 10 pounds plus. But always have a nice dark fretboard and good sound. They are really a nice playing guitar!
 

surfweasel

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Nov 9, 2001
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<img src='http://image.inkfrog.com/pix/surfweasel/908274picture.jpg'> Nice dark fretboards on these elite 80`s
 

surfweasel

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Nov 9, 2001
Messages
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<img src='http://image.inkfrog.com/pix/surfweasel/452647picture.jpg'> Tobacco brown burst with nice quilt top.
 

Bengal

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Jun 16, 2002
Messages
112
You guys are KILLIN' ME!!! My top is no where near as nice as yours... But it plays nice so that's all that matters, I guess... (I'll keep telling myself that til I believe it)

DVN: As for my faulty search, I may have mispelled or something. Because when I did the search only searching titles, I got quite a few hits. As for posting in the improper area, since this hasn't been moved, I'll assume it's in the correct spot...

Mike: Thanks for the info. I've seen many posts with great knowledge laid down by you. Thank you for that...
 
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