From the amount of wear this Les Paul sports, it becomes obvious that this guitar was owned by a working musician. In fact, this guitar was owned by local guitarist, Glen Simmons who enjoyed success as a member of “The Wonderful Grand Band”. The bands album, “Living in a Fog” was a big success and was played frequently by local radio stations. I remember seeing him play this guitar live a few times, never dreaming that one day it would be in my collection. While the band never achieved national recognition, it was still a thrill for me to acquire the guitar given its history.

This 1979 Les Paul Deluxe is finished in a rather unusual, transparent wine red color. Most other Deluxes that I have seen were all finished in solid opaque colors. If you look closely at the pictures you will see that the top is made from three separate pieces of maple. Two of these pieces have beautiful birdseye figuring further adding to the aesthetics of this guitar. The guitar originally came equipped with two “mini-humbucking” pickups like those found originally on Gibson Firebirds. To my ear, these mini humbucker pickups sound a little weaker than the full sized humbucker pickups and more importantly, visually, I do not like the look of mini humbucker pickups on a Les Paul. Being vain, I replaced the original pickups with a set of Duncan Antiquity P90’s that not only looked great but sounded better. I always have been a big fan of the raunchy sounds that the P90 pickups deliver, and like the result of these pickups on this Les Paul. The relic (aged) look of the Antiquity pickups nicely matches them to the discoloration and wear on the guitars other hardware. I am willing to bet that if you did not know the difference you would think the pickups were original. To complete the transformation a Bigsby tremolo replaced the factory stop tail bridge as I have been a fan of Bigsby tremolos after playing Gretsch guitars.

The Gibson Les Paul Deluxe model was originally released in 1969 to replace the P-90 Les Paul, in part to meet demands of players who preferred the higher output and gain offered by humbucking pickups versus the single coil P90 pickups. Gibson’s solution was the Deluxe model which featured the now famous "mini-humbucker" pickups. A bonus was that no retooling of the production process was required because the mini-humbucking pickups were the same size as the original P90 pickups.

This guitar offers a well broken in vibe and looks cooler than shit in part because it is a Les Paul, the most recognizable rock guitar shape and in part because of the wear she bears. In the picture showing the back of the guitar, you can see that the finish is completely worn away by I assume, a belt buckle. The front and sides fared no better, for example the finish is completely worn down to the wood on the front in two areas near the pickguard. I guess Glen didn’t use the pickguard but rather rested his fingers (hand) directly against the guitar body. The hardware has aged and has become discolored from all the shows played in smoky venues. The knobs have turned a tan color and the pickguard and pickup selector ring also show the same discoloration. Even the inlays and logo have lost their shiny appearance and now look discolored.

This guitar is a great addition to my collection and offers a unique combination with the P90 pickups and Bigbsy tremolo layout. I really like the look of a worn guitar (as evident from my relic attempts) thus making this one a particular favorite of mine. This guitar is cool as hell and plays and sounds great. Using clean amp settings, this guitar offers a great Chris Isaac “Wicked Game” type sound, but when fired through an amps dirty channels, she screams southern rock, think Honky Tonk baby!