Do you have a "NORLIN Era" Gibson guitar or bass? What do you think of it?

Here's an ES-140T and a 3/4 LP Jr side by side:



And a comparison of different-scale Jrs:

 

I work in a guitar shop which specialises in vintage instruments. We are happy to stock Norlin era instruments. A recent arrival, a black Les Paul from 1981, sold as soon as it arrived. There are some truly funky electronics options, which can be difficult (but by no means impossible) to sort out on some models. The "blob" mother of pearl with the stencil spray on the headstock was a really bad idea and a poor way to save money. Still, a Norlin era L5C is a top professional instrument, as are many other guitars of this era. Avoid the acoustics, though.

 

Jumping on the necro-thread, as someone else mentioned a "The SG" - I have one too, stamped 1978, Made in Kalamazoo. I love it. I've had it since the mid-80s (I wanted, but couldn't find\afford a Les Paul at the time). It's an unprepossessing hunk of brown, but man, it has a fast neck. It's somewhat derided as the pickup select is in a different position to that of a Standard SG, as is the jack (it's on the side, not the front). I love it to bits, and so do most who play on it. I finally got my Les Paul in 2014. It was 10x more expensive, and it's not 10x as good, though it's growing on me daily.

 

I just recently purchased an 78 Gibson Les Paul Custom Natural with ebony fingerboard.... Now Mind you I was not looking for another guitar; was just looking about at a local shop when I spotted this guitar on the wall. I took it down and started noodling around and this guitar sounded so amazing!!!!!! it wasn't even plugged in!!! Needless to say I walked out with the damn thing..glad I did...what a find!!!

 

Indeed, not the purtiest guitars, those late '70s "budget" walnut SGs, but I loved mine as well, for the neck and for the nice beefy tone and sustain (the ad copy wasn't just blowing smoke on that point). Wish I still had it.

 

In 1975, I purchased a Norlin build Gibson L6S. I thought it was a cross somewhere between a Les Paul and Telecaster. It was a set neck maple fret board and a maple body. I always though it was a good playing and responsive guitar. The thing that made it special was that it had the Bill Lawrence pickups and rotary selector switch that made it rock. The brighter wood and the hum bucking pickups made for a good tone. At the time I was playing through a Silver Face Twin reverb and boss tone pedal. That combo really worked well. I ended up trading the guitar for a cheap car. At the time, I needed the car more than the guitar. I do regret parting with it though.

 

The Gibson mandolin from that era range from barely Ok to wall hangers at Applebees. Fit, finish, and tone so bad that a whole new crop of independent lutheirs emerged to build something playable, the golden era of Gibson mandolin having passed by the early 1930s. No idea on the guitars but writing about the "good ones" from the acoustic side of Gibson in the 1970s is a non-starter.

 

My brother had one new, I got one old about 10 years ago, just did not bond with it. They re-issued it in 2012 for 1 year IIRC. Usually referred to as the Santana Guitar.

 

Those were nice for the $$$. They remind me of my 2013 70's Tribute SG:

 

I had one for a couple of years, back when they were first made. At the time I couldn't get it to do what I wanted and I eventually sold it. I think I'm better now at letting instruments be what they are rather than trying to force them into what I think they ought to be, so I suspect I could get some good sounds out of it. I bet they could make good rhythm instruments, something related to a Telecaster.

 

IIRC the neck was rather narrow, and the tone was quite thin, I think they missed the mark on that guitar only because it was a budget model, if they had put $$$ into it it may have worked out better, like a neck through, with mahogany wings, the all maple thing just does nothing for tone for me. Access to the 24 frets was very good.

 

All of my gibsons were made before 1962.

I have had a bunch of Norlins, though. No better or worse than other guitars. I think a lot of the flack Norlin era guitars get is from abandoning the EXACT Replica Recipe of the original LPs.

Which makes no sense when you look at the difference between a 52 Goldtop, a 57-59 Goldtop. Models grow and develop, but LP players want as close to the 57-59 Recipe as possible.

My favorite LP is my 58 TV Special.
...or maybe my 60 SG/LP.
The more mahogany the better, I think.

 

Your next article should be on the Brass Nut Craze.

 

Sounds like the name of the next big underground/alternative band!

 

I have two guitars with brass nuts. . .very happy with the resulting sound and feel.

 

I don't currently own any Norlin Gibsons, but I did have a Norlin era SG (probably mid-70's) for a season that was a fine guitar, albeit, not something to be too particularly jazzed about.

It had the Schaller "harmonica" bridge, Chrome covered humbuckers, ebony fingerboard without binding, wide flat frets and a pretty heavy cherry red mahogany body. It looked the part of a classic SG and had a nice bark to it. It played pretty well, if you didn't mind feeling the fretboard a bit and it had a great middle/both pickups combined tone. I actually liked the heavier body as mid 60's SG's can be rather neck heavy. The extra girth helped it to balance a little better when using a strap. Older SG's, you have to hang on to the neck or it will dive down on you.

It was not what purists would call a great SG and it broke from 60's spec with the Ebony fingerboard. But I actually liked the extra "zing" the ebony brought to the tone table, as the mahogany body was not as lively as old 50/60's bodies tend to be.

All in all, it was a fine professional grade guitar, perfect for AcDc riffing and clean middle position picking (I was really into the Meat Puppets at the time). I let it go to a friend who had one almost identical to it and wanted a backup. I sold it to pay for an early 80's USA strat that was quite the turd.

The best Norlin era guitar I ever came across was my buddy's 1979 black Les Paul standard. It was a factory second, not exactly sure why...probably a sunburst or a wine red that got resprayed in black. He made upgrades to it over the years with some newer hardware, fret job and Classic 57's, but the basic guitar was a rock machine. Really punchy and perfect for drop D riffing through a 50 watt 2 channel JCM 800 half stack. It was not the most harmonically rich guitar, but it wasn't too terribly heavy, either. What it did have was a GREAT feeling neck. Not too baseball batty and not too thin. It was just right...not sure why. Everyone who picked it up loved the way it felt. Once the "neck hump" got fixed and refretted, it was a dream. My friend had all of us lined up to buy it if he ever wanted to sell. He never did!

I worked music retail for a number of years and we came across all sorts of Norlin era Gibsons. The electric stuff could be hit or miss, but usually almost all of them would have at least something of value in them and we priced them reasonably. Those days are gone now.

Norlin era acoustics were usually pretty bad. Many of them had structural and playability issues that would be cost prohibitive to fix and their Mandos we're really bad.

Jazz boxes tended to be the best steals of them all, although pretty scarce. Es 175's from that era were great values, even though they usually lacked the biting nature of a 60's era (think Steve Howe early Yes.) they made for great jazz boxes if you were wanting s smooth Methany like tone.

I remember two Howard Roberts models from the early 80's that were great guitars. A neat combo of 335 meets a Les Paul. They were pretty smooth in the mids, looked killer with the sharp single cut and not too heavy as I think they used spruce as the center block. We ran across TWO of them in the course of a couple of months and then never saw another. That is a great sleeper Norlin era guitar to look for.

 

I have a 78 SG standard I bought new for $349.00. The Fastest neck I have ever seen, closest slim taper neck I can get is my 2015 Memphis ES-LP slim taper VOS. I compare all guitars to my Norlin SG. I took out the original pick ups on the 70's and replaced them with Dimarzio PAF and Super Distortion, I kept the originals and recently had the Dimarzios taken out and put the old ones back in, love how they sealed up those pick ups huh? I could never replace my SG! It's still my favorite guitar out of the 15 I own! I have been collecting Gibsons for several years now. It's so light, and just smokes! Had Warren Haynes guitar tech "Farmer" (R.I.P.) Check it out a few years ago. He said yea, they just grabed what ever was closest when they made them in Kalamazoo. I am glad to have the one I have. My SG could be just one of a kind, it has a custom neck.

 

Are those the black epoxy sealed "tarback" pickups in that SG?

 

I can remember hanging Gibson posters in my store with Santana plugging the L6-S, with wording something like "Tones are like colors and my L6-S is a rainbow !


I am very pleased with my $150 copy of a Norlin-era L6-S. It says "El Maya" on the top and is lawsuit all the way.

Thing is, I am totally 'meh' about humbuckers but this guitar is completely as Carlos describes! It is a rainbow and every one of the 6 positions gives me a really inspiring sound, creatively speaking. All in all, it's full of new-wave tones, so actually, pretty Television/Fendery-sounding. And the 24th fret marker is in the 23rd fret.

 

I would love to find for sure if this is a Nashville build or Kalamazoo? Soon as I figure out how to post a photo I will..

 

I had a "72" special with a bigbsy. The guitar was awesome to play and the mini-humbuckerss rocked!

 

Gibson Support - Serial Number Search »

The serial number will be an 8 digit number impressed into the back of the headstock with "MADE IN USA" below.

The pattern is as follows:
YDDDYRRR
YY is the production year
DDD is the day of the year
RRR is the factory ranking/plant designation number.
Prior to 1984 when the Kalamazoo, MI factory was closed, the numbers 001-499 indicated Kalamazoo production. Ranking numbers 500-999 continued to indicate Nashville production through 1989.

See the full article as there are exceptions for certain models and age.

 

I have a '79 LP Custom / Kalamazoo. Purchased new for $645. It has the chainsaw case. At the time I was disappointed that it was a custom, thought I had ordered a Standard. I was also disappointed to see that case; really just wanted the old type. I was a kid though and it was my first 'real' guitar. I may have been reluctant to go through sending it back through the mail, etc. (at that time, it seemed a hassle as I bought it from Chuck Levine's in MD and had it shipped to TN).

I've thought about changing from black to creme and the gold to nickel and the pickups to DiMarzio PAF and SD several times over the years. But that would cost as much as a new Epi LP-Std. So I talk myself out of it.

Otherwise, I loved the guitar. I never really liked the gold plating and you can see it's partially worn off under the lead pickup. The weight is fine, though I too have come to love my Strat in recent years. I always associated it with sustain that you could feel against your thigh and belly. The neck is great. (You can see that it is a 3-pc in the photo below.) You can also see the volute which is the raised curvy part where the headstock meets the neck just beneath the nut. It could use some refretting.

I still love it.

 

Well seeing we have a dead thread resurrected I'll re-post my 1976 non limited edition Gibson Explorer, an amazing guitar proving the Norlin era could produce great electrics, the tar back pickups sound amazing.

 

I have a 75 Gibson Ripper.. my great grandfather gave it to me and I absolutely love it. If you love that funky 70s sound in a bass.. the ripper is perfect for that.

It's the best bass I have and will ever have. I could never sell it in my life.