My New(old) Les Paul!!

[Ratking]

Hi y'all, I'm Mikey. 
New to these boards as this is my First(of hopefully a couple more) El Degas.
I'm a bassist but I play around on guitars alot. So after recently trading away my first guitar(a 70s tiesco tulip guitar) I was in the market for a new guitar. I've always been a huge fan of les Pauls and teles, and never really dug the strat sound or feel. So when looking for a cheap guitar to play around with, it was tough to find something other than a strat.
I came across an ad on ottawamusician.com selling a whole bunch of gear, In there was a el degas les Paul for cheap, so I went to look at her Friday, and DAMN! I fell in love instantly! What a beautiful guitar, defiantly blew me away from anything I was expecting. The build quality is very good and the look feel and sound of this thing is beautiful. All she needs is a clean and a set of strings.
here she is, anyone got any idea what kinda pickups they are?
Or any indicator as to what year it could be? The guy said it was a les Paul recording.
You wouldn't BELEIVE what I payed for this. Take a WILD guess!





Sorry about the crappy pictures, I'll post some more up when I get the good camera back!

[charles]

That's a nice looking Les Paul Recording copy you've scored there!
Is it a bolt-on neck?

Not sure on the pickups... supposed to be low-impedance single coils if they stick to Les Paul's specs. The pickups on the Les Paul Professional copy I used to have looked like regular factory-wound single coils with a bad wax job (perhaps done by a former owner to combat some feedback and microphonics?).

[Ratking]

Thanks Charles! Yes it is bolt on, and the body has this neat, lighter coloured wood stripe along the side of the body. It's real heavy but one heck of a guitar!

I was thinking single coils with a cover also, but there's a switch on the body to switch from low to high output and really changes the output. But I haven't found a battery box so I don't think there active. But the hi output is alot louder and thicker.

I'll post up some more pics tonight of the headstock and back!

[charles]

The light stripe on the body means it's likely what folks call a "pancake" body construction (http://www.lespaulforum.com/faqpage.html#pcakei) - common for the era, and probably true to the original guitar it's emulating.

The pickups and electronics can be a crapshoot - I've heard of guitars from various makers that copy this style that stay true to the original, with low impedance single coils that can be switched to high impedance for live playing (the low impedance design was for recording purposes I believe - Les Paul was a real pioneer in this field) which would explain the higher output with a switch change; but others that simply crammed a humbucker into a small footprint in order to look the part but not have the low impedance properties, with switching that changes the output enough to make some people think it's doing what the original did. If I had to guess, I'd say this one is the former (true to the original design, or at least truer!) - but don't quote me on that.

[Ratking]

Thanks for the info, that site had some cool facts!
I dropped it off last to the dude who usually works on my axes, and he was inlove with it.
Said the pick ups look like they should, and single coils. He also said he just finished working on basically the exact guitar, except it was an ibanez.
He also said these were some of the better copy's out there, with all the small details of the gibsons right down to the plastic saddle. Apparently they are worth a bit of money!

I'm excited to get her back after her clean, set up and restring!

[charles]

Enjoy her! Quite a cool model.
I had a Les Paul Professional copy (that model is just a little different than yours) but it was not in great shape and I ended up selling it. I've always wondered if I should have kept it and put more work into it.