Gibson Les Paul Deluxe

Introduction: Pete Townshend’s Gibson Les Paul Deluxes: 1972–1979

1972

In August 1972, Pete Townshend began using Gibson Les Paul Deluxe guitars — primarily cherry sunburst at first — as his main stage guitar, replacing the Gibson SG Special, of which the model Pete preferred had been discontinued and were no longer available in mass quantities. Earlier, in late 1971, he began using Les Paul Deluxes occasionally, intermixing with SG Specials. In late 1972 to the lone March 1973 gig, he briefly used Polaris White pre-1965 Gibson SG Special guitars intermixed with the Les Paul Deluxes, switching permanently to the Les Paul Deluxe by the proper 1973 tours that began in October (though he flitted briefly with a ’60s Gretsch 6128 Duo-Jet for some late-1973 European shows).

The general Les Paul Deluxe model, introduced by Gibson in 1969, had the following features:

• Dual Gibson mini-humbuckers, with adjustable pole pieces and Alnico II magnets.
• Three-piece mahogany and maple body, with bound carved maple top.
• Mahogany neck, with bound rosewood fingerboard
• Gibson pearl trapezoid inlays
• Nickel hardware
• Tune-o-Matic bridge/tailpiece

Pete’s Gibson Les Paul Deluxes featured:

• Grover tuners
• Some with pickguards removed; most with truss rod cover removed.
• Gibson 340 Sonomatic .012 strings (.012, .016, .016, .032, .044, .056)

1974

In 1974, he began using the now infamous numbering system on the guitars — at first, just handwritten stickers, done by his guitar tech, Alan Smith — to differentiate between guitars for different capo settings, an identification system he uses to this day.

1975

In 1975, he settled on a fixed collection of Deluxes rotated for the stage, mostly Gold Top and cherry sunburst. They were as above, but with the Letraset block white stickers, again to identify different capo settings. Also used was a custom straplock system by Alan Rogan, who began working with Pete in early 1975.

1976

In 1976, he began using Deluxes with the following modifications (Note: early-1976 models are prototypes, most unnumbered, but some with Letraset stickers and some with handwritten stickers; the final collection, with numbered stickers and white surrounds on the middle-position pickup, began use around August 1976):

• DiMarzio Dual Sound humbucker pickup in middle position:
  • Early 1976, prototype models, with black surrounds.
  • Beginning August 1976, with white surrounds.
• Two additional switches (only one on most prototype models): a two-way coil-tap for the Dual Sound, the other a three-way pickup selector (Dual Sound on/off or all three pickups on).
• Control cavities enlarged to house extra switches with a larger custom-made backplate.
• Neck at body joint shaved down.
• Alan Rogan’s custom straplock system.
• Specially built metal jack plates replace the stock plastic jack plate.
• Grover tuners.
• Gibson 340 Sonomatic .012 strings (.012, .016, .016 or .018 for G, .032, .044, .056).
• Truss rod cover removed.
• At least one guitar in 1976 had its pickups disassembled and the parts coated and sealed in resin to reduce hum and undesirable microphonics.

For 1976, Pete has nine guitars for roadwork, maintained by Alan Rogan and set up for each performance. Pete selects six guitars for the main instruments, with the others for backup. The Gibson 340 Sonomatic strings are changed every set on the primary stage instrument.

1979

In September 1979, at the Madison Square Garden shows, he began using a Schecter ‘Telecaster’-type guitar on stage. By the end of 1979, Pete stopped using the Les Paul Deluxes altogether, finding them “too ’eavy.” The Dec. 28, 1979, Hammersmith Odeon “Kampuchea” show is the last known stage use of the Les Paul Deluxe.

2005 – Signature model

In 2005, Gibson issued three Pete Townshend-signature edition Les Paul Deluxe guitars, based on the “#1” Wine Red 1976 Les Paul Deluxe, the #3 Gold top 1976 and the #9 Cherry Sunburst 1976.

Gallery of Pete Townshend-once-owned Les Paul Deluxes

1976–1979-era models and whereabouts

The mid-1976- to 1979-era collection, with modifications as noted, above. Courtesy whocollection.com. Many thanks to Brad Rodgers. For more, see whocollection.com.

The mid-1976- to 1979-era Gibson Les Paul Deluxe collection

#	Color	Year	Whereabouts	Serial Number
* Model had black pickup surround on middle pickup, a la prototype three-pickup models.
1	Wine Red		Retained by Pete
2	Cherry Sunburst*		Whereabouts unknown
3	Gold Top	1976	Hard Rock Vault, Orlando, Fla.	00129732
4	Wine Red		Broken 1976 (Toronto) and not replaced
5	Wine Red	1976	Owned by Brad Rodgers; on display at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland, Ohio, from 1998–2007.	00129875
6	Cherry Sunburst	1975	In private collection	99222939
7	Wine Red*	1975	Owned by Ricky Byrd
8	Cherry Sunburst *		Broken and not replaced Retained by Pete
9	Cherry Sunburst	1975	Hard Rock Hotel – Las Vegas	9921766

Additional guitars

#6 Gold Top Gibson Les Paul Deluxe – serial no. 133592

23 December 1975 Hammersmith Odeon show – headstock owned by Chris Parry (courtesy Joe G’s site, thewho.org); In 2002, the headstock and body were reunited. See repair story.

Unnumbered three-pickup (prototype) Gold Top Gibson Les Paul Deluxe

Likely used (and destroyed) early 1976, owned by the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. See photo, courtesy whocollection.com.

Selected quotes from Pete Townshend

All quotes and references are copyright their original owners and are included for reference only.

From the May/June 1972 issue of Guitar Player:

My favorite guitar now for the stage is the Les Paul Deluxe with the small epiphone pickups that you can buy on the shelf for $50.00. They’re like Humbucking, but they’re small, like what you have on Epiphones, and they’re really loud. I like those. I think that’s what I’ll probably end up using, either that or I quite like those Dan Armstrong pickups.

From April 1980 issue of Sound International article, courtesy Joe G’s site.

SI: What is your main stage equipment now?

PT: For the last couple of years it’s been Les Paul Deluxes and I think they’re probably what I’ll stick with; the standard guitar, and again I usually have to go through about 20 before I find a good one. I have about six or seven of them. I’ve tried Hamer and Alembics and Ibanez and Yamaha and these people make guitars that are much, much better than Gibsons. But I’ve gotten into the weight and the shape of the Deluxes. The pickup suits the amp. The higher level DiMarzios and things like that, which most of these guitar makers are now using, don’t seem to suit my amplifiers. What I need is a fairly clean sound and then the amp looks after the distortion. And a lot of these current model guitars are made with the possibilities to get a clean sound or a dirty sound out of a transistor amp. But I’m still using valve amps. They’re modified slightly: I put a DiMarzio pickup in the middle but I never use it. I don’t know why. I bloody bother doing it. I just like the way it looks. The DiMarzio is the one where you can switch between two sounds (Super Distortion). I sometimes use that in the studio; I have one Les Paul that has three of those on it and each is switchable so you can get some really interesting sounds out of that. The thing I’ve had the most trouble with on my Les Pauls is the quality of the wood in the neck. It’s kiln dried and a lot of the resin gets dried out with the moisture and under the rough treatment I give them they don’t seem to last very long. I remember once an old mate of mine who used to work for Sunn became a representative for Gibson and he came to see me and asked why I didn’t do a deal with Gibson. I said, ‘The day you can bring me a Gibson off the end of the production line like this kid is going to save up his money for and it’s good then I’ll put my name on it.’ And he said he’d make me anything I’d like and he’d get me special instruments and I said that’s not the point. If I’m putting my name on it I’m putting my name on something somebody is going to go out and buy. And if I pick up a guitar in a store and there are six there and every one of the six are good then maybe I’d consider putting my name on it. But I’ve never really done any deals on guitars. For a long time Gibson wouldn’t do it and when I could have afforded some help they didn’t want to give it. So now I’m very touchy about doing it. I endorse Boogie amps because they’re handmade and a lot of care goes into them and they’re good and the people who make them won’t compromise. At least they haven’t yet. They’re not entirely to my taste; they’re much more complicated than they look and they’re quite hard to get used to. I don’t get them for nothing. I wish I did. I have to put my name on them to get one at all.

From the October 1989 issue of Guitar Player:

GP: You went through a period in the ’70s when you were performing with Les Paul Deluxes almost exclusively, and your models were decorated with large numerals on their faces. What was the code, and what purpose did their two extra toggles serve?

PT: I had various versions: There was a three-pickup one that had three toggles to switch the pickups on and off, but I think the toggle on the others — these were Deluxes, with those small humbuckers — was an extra switch to double-boost the Seymour Duncan in the middle for feedback. They were numbered because I had 10 of them and they seemed to go in and out of action. I used to need four in good shape: I’d have one main guitar, one with a capo on it for “Baba O’Riley,” another one with a capo on it for “Drowned,” one spare for the capo guitars and another spare. I was carrying five, so another three on the road seemed logical. Alan Rogan, my guitar man, put the numbers on. I don’t have very much to do with my guitars — it’s absurd [laughs].

…those guitars went in and out of action with an unpatterned regularity. “Back then,” offers [Alan] Rogan, “there were five main guitars, although that basically meant one Les Paul and ten spares. However, Numbers One, Two, and Three at the beginning of a tour weren’t necessarily the main guitars at the end. The first three Pete would have arrived at after trying a number of guitars, and the rest would become spares. Working with the others at the soundcheck and the gig, he may change his preference; Number Three would become Number Five, and Number Five would become Number Two — whatever. It’s much simpler these days, thank goodness.”

Modified 1975 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe (serial no. 450022)

Resources and Information

Thanks to the following for assistance with this page:

• David Brewis at Rock Stars Guitars, rockstarsguitars.com
• Brad Rodgers at whocollection.com
• Joe Giorgianni: thewho.org
• Norm DeWitt

For more information

• Vintage Guitars Info: provide.net/~cfh/gibson.html

Manufacturer:

• Gibson USA: gibson.com