1982 American series spirit

[RTH]

Those first gen. Epiphone USA Map guitars go for big money.

 

[BGood]

So must these ...

 

[Fullmoon 1971]

Did the Gibson Spirit ever come in the 'Custom' look ?

with Block inlays...?

Nothey nevr made a version with block inlays. The only other version that was produced came out in 1986 they replaced the tim shaw "59 humbucker" for a Dirty Fingers model and also added a kahler trem system. This model was the Spirit II XPL (Chris Hayes of Huey Lewis's News fame sometimes played this model)

 

[RTH]

I use to own a Gibson SG Special with a Kahler. Damn fine guitar. I miss it dearly.

 

[Alvis]

I was 19 yrs old in '82 and remember these guitars going for $299 at guitar center. I kinda hemmed n hawed ,but didn't buy one. Always wanted one though ...a nostalgia thing for me .'82 was a good time
Last week I tracked this one down on reverb. It had been there for awhile . I made an offer and it was accepted
It's beat pretty well and missing the Shaw pickup.It has a Rio Grande BBQ in there at present ,but I have a good DiMarzio double creme DP 103 from around.....1982 ,that Im gonna put in there tomorrow as well as gold speed knobs
It also has some gold Gibson keystone gears on it ,presumably from the 80's .If Im not mistaken they originally had double ring jade keystones ...which I always thought looked wrong on Junior & Special type guitars ...call me a dinosaur
Im gonna go with round button nickel Grover 136
The neck is a little slight for my 52 yr old hand ,but the guitar plays well ,sounds great
I thought I would change the bridge to something kinda contemporary-vintage ....but no ,I have a stash of Juniors & Melody Makers .I think this one should represent as it was
This is a Reverb pic. I'll have to get some good ones when Im done settin it up

 

[DPaulCustom]

Welcome to the forum Alvis.
Sweet relic you've got there. Can't wait to see some good pics

 

[Paruwi]

Hi Alvis,

Welcome here @ €pi-Talk


Congrats on your Spirit

 

[Fullmoon 1971]

Welcome to the madhouse Alvis. Can't wait for the updated pictures.

 

[Alvis]

I thought about joining in on this auction , but it ended at like 3am and I didnt need another pencil neck guitar for the sake of nostalgia

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1982-Epipho...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

[Alvis]

Got it set up to ROCK
Had an 80's DiMarzio PAF waiting for somewhere to go ,so it found it's way here
Changed the pots to some CTS with an actual taper & some gold speed knobs
The allen set screws that were in the Schaller were too short to get the bridge into position for some proper adjustment . Previous owner had saddles maxed .I put some stainless pan head screws in there ....made it easy
New Jack ,jack plate
Nickel Grovers ....I kinda wish I'd aged 'em a bit,just to go with the well broken in look of the guitar ....but whatever
Now ,Im a Les Paul Junior freak . I got my 1st one,a '58, when I was about 22 yrs old ,30 years ago . Been thru a few since
I have to say the Spirit I is a proper Les Paul Junior ...be it poplar & maple ,whatever
It really does it...way better than any current USA production Junior I've had
I only wish it had a bigger neck profile ....my only gripe

 

[PermissionToLand]

Nice man! I'm curious about Dimarzios, what do they sound like? They're pretty high output, right?

 

[Alvis]

Nice man! I'm curious about Dimarzios, what do they sound like? They're pretty high output, right?

Not necessarily high output ....depends which model I suppose . When I was a youngster (late 70's) DiMarzios were the only game in town . You might hear them on any pre-Van Halen rock guitar records of the late 70's ...
In 1979 EVH stated in his 1st Guitar Player Mag cover story , DiMarzios were "Too Distorted", Overnight ,guys started pullin' the DM's outa their guitars ..... And I bought as many as I could ,some as low as 10 bucks
I favored the PAFs (above) ,which were generally between 7.5 - 8.5k alnico 5 magnets ...a good medium output pickup. Just enough to push a good tube amp (read MARSHALL) into a fat overdrive.They fell out of fashion for quite awhile but have been reissued in the last few years and have become quite popular again.



I've stuck a Super Distortion Humbucker in a few guitars over the years (black one on the bottom there) . The Super D is pretty hot ...maybe spikey. About 14k ,ceramic magnets ...The sound of Boston & Ace Frehley

I like the Super II (The Paul Stanley Pickup) in Humbucking Strats & Teles. It's constructed the same as as the Super D ,but less output ,maybe 9k.Has a good twang when split to a single coil