Another Lester, my first Norlin
- Thread starter ivan H
- Start date
OP
ivan H
Ambassador of Tubes & Grooves
Thanks heaps guys, much appreciated. I have high expectations for this guitar & hope it delivers. jtcnj[/USER], yes, there is quite a variety of different spec LP's so researching possible candidates pays off. RVA & Mr Plexi, thankyou very much for the offers of assistance in the Tim Shaw 'bucker department, its really appreciated. I'm not a big evil bay user but did look into what they were going for before pulling the trigger on the guitar. Hackmaster, thanks, I think the subtle flame & darker burst is a nice look too. I believe that the most of these were finished in the standard 'burst & honeyburst so am imagining its a honeyburst. I'll give a review when it arrives & I've spent a few hours on it. Cheers
Edit; BlackSG91, I believe its around 9.4lb, not as heavy as the pancake (mahogany/maple/mahogany & maple cap) Norlin LPs with maple necks. I'll get back to you on it. Cheers
Edit; BlackSG91, I believe its around 9.4lb, not as heavy as the pancake (mahogany/maple/mahogany & maple cap) Norlin LPs with maple necks. I'll get back to you on it. Cheers
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gasket
Ambassador of the Guitarded
Cheers, just logged in and saw it, reply sent.
Dave Sloven
Ambassador of DOOM!
Congrats on that nice bit of history
From a fellow Australian (and considering you are saying good things about the him) will you name the dealer?
I'm south of Sydney and have purchased over the phone from Muso's Corner (Newcastle), The Music Shop (Adelaide) and Chicago Music Exchange (USA) all with good results. I've had my ups and downs with Sydney, Wollongong and Nowra shops. BTW there is a great US agent lurking in the Florida swamp that also looks after people.
I think The Music Shop is actually in Loxton, which is a country town. My SG Standard was bought from there.
gasket
Ambassador of the Guitarded
Looked it up and you're correct.
The reason I said The Music Shop was in Adelaide is we in the eastern states think SA only has one bigish town called Adelaide. Once out of Adelaide you have Maralinga nuclear test site and Coober Peady opal mine.
OP
ivan H
Ambassador of Tubes & Grooves
Ok, I took a day off today so I can spend some time with this & crank it up some. I've been playing at night using a Vox Amplug (classic rock) into my Champ type amp, but its not the same as, well, really moving some air with a decent amp.
Firstly, a couple of pics etc. It does have a small ding & couple of scratches on the back (buckle rash) & a couple of small marks on the front, but over-all, for (a few weeks over) 37 years old its really quite good. Serial No. shows it as having the headstock stamped on 11th June, 1981 in the Nashville plant. It has the extra four digits stamped below the Made In USA signifying it as a Heritage Series 80, along with the truss rod cover. A (hopefully) better pic of the top, sorry about the light reflection I was trying to avoid
Has the period type "ashtray" cavity shield
the very end of the can type output jack shield can be seen, also the can type switch cavity shield & foil backed cover
Has the ABR-1 type bridge
Side view of bridge with tailpiece decked & all strings clearing back of the bridge
Neck angle is good, the low, wide frets of the period in good condition. Action is nice & low with bugger all neck relief, which is good, I like the neck nice & flat. Beatifully playing guitar. I've read of people not liking these frets, saying they have trouble bending with them, but I tried all manner of bends & I'm liking them. Weight wise its a little heavier than my traditional, but not overly heavy, I'm guessing in the 9.4 - 9.5lb range. Controls are wired "modern" style (which will probably be changed).
With the 10~46 gauge strings it came with & plugged through my little champ, amp volume 4, guitar volumes 8 & bridge tone rolled back a little it has a beautifully rich, warm tone, not as aggressive as my traditional but more complex. The non stock neck pickup (which I yet have to ascertain what it is) is very powerful, even though set very low. It also has a nice rich, sweet tone. No mud at all. Its a little brighter than my traditional 's neck pickup (BB1 with A5 magnet swap). The middle position also is impressively nice but I don't really like the way the modern controls react. With the amp volume up 'round 9 (goes to 12), where both amp & alnico speaker are breaking up & compressing well, & with the guitar volumes dimed it delivers some really nice rich dirt tones. The bridge shawbucker can push the amp plenty hard enough & responds really well to picking dynamics. The neck pickup, whatever it is gives a great lead tone, rich & clear & also responds well to touch. Over-all I'm really impressed with how the guitar plays & sounds. So, I'm off to try it through my 4 hole 50 watter. I'll restring it over the weekend, which should make a difference. Cheers
Firstly, a couple of pics etc. It does have a small ding & couple of scratches on the back (buckle rash) & a couple of small marks on the front, but over-all, for (a few weeks over) 37 years old its really quite good. Serial No. shows it as having the headstock stamped on 11th June, 1981 in the Nashville plant. It has the extra four digits stamped below the Made In USA signifying it as a Heritage Series 80, along with the truss rod cover. A (hopefully) better pic of the top, sorry about the light reflection I was trying to avoid
Has the period type "ashtray" cavity shield
the very end of the can type output jack shield can be seen, also the can type switch cavity shield & foil backed cover Has the ABR-1 type bridge
Side view of bridge with tailpiece decked & all strings clearing back of the bridge
Neck angle is good, the low, wide frets of the period in good condition. Action is nice & low with bugger all neck relief, which is good, I like the neck nice & flat. Beatifully playing guitar. I've read of people not liking these frets, saying they have trouble bending with them, but I tried all manner of bends & I'm liking them. Weight wise its a little heavier than my traditional, but not overly heavy, I'm guessing in the 9.4 - 9.5lb range. Controls are wired "modern" style (which will probably be changed).
With the 10~46 gauge strings it came with & plugged through my little champ, amp volume 4, guitar volumes 8 & bridge tone rolled back a little it has a beautifully rich, warm tone, not as aggressive as my traditional but more complex. The non stock neck pickup (which I yet have to ascertain what it is) is very powerful, even though set very low. It also has a nice rich, sweet tone. No mud at all. Its a little brighter than my traditional 's neck pickup (BB1 with A5 magnet swap). The middle position also is impressively nice but I don't really like the way the modern controls react. With the amp volume up 'round 9 (goes to 12), where both amp & alnico speaker are breaking up & compressing well, & with the guitar volumes dimed it delivers some really nice rich dirt tones. The bridge shawbucker can push the amp plenty hard enough & responds really well to picking dynamics. The neck pickup, whatever it is gives a great lead tone, rich & clear & also responds well to touch. Over-all I'm really impressed with how the guitar plays & sounds. So, I'm off to try it through my 4 hole 50 watter. I'll restring it over the weekend, which should make a difference. Cheers
And Kangaroo Island...
Dave Sloven
Ambassador of DOOM!
Oh yeah, don't forget Kangaroo Island! The funny thing is that some tourists are so convinced that kangaroos are rare that they think they will have to go to kangaroo island to see one.
Kangaroo Island is not far from my home but the ferry is so expensive that I haven't been there since a school camp in the 1980s.
Kangaroo Island is not far from my home but the ferry is so expensive that I haven't been there since a school camp in the 1980s.
I had a mate from Broken Hill and we were on a rally team here in the States some years ago. It was fascinating to talk with him and I learned a lot. He like to go on holiday to Kangaroo Island.
One odd thing I remember is that he called Koala's "Kooglies."
It was, from him, that I learned about "getting pissed," "Chunder" and all other sorts of cool drinking terminology.
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Dave Sloven
Ambassador of DOOM!
Kooglies? I've never heard that one! No koalas in Broken Hill, he must have seen them down here. Yes 'chunder' is vomit but surely you mean 'getting pissed'?
Yes...stupid auto correct!
Dave Sloven
Ambassador of DOOM!
Yes we have a lot of very colourful terms for vomiting after drinking. Chunder, chuck, technicolour yawn, driving the porcelain bus .... I'm sure there are others ...
If Australian slang interests or puzzles you here's a pretty good page on it. Some of them are regional though. 'Tallie' is not used in SA (it's a longneck) and the word 'grouse' is not really used west of the Grampians, and certainly not in SA.
Australian slang dictionary
If Australian slang interests or puzzles you here's a pretty good page on it. Some of them are regional though. 'Tallie' is not used in SA (it's a longneck) and the word 'grouse' is not really used west of the Grampians, and certainly not in SA.
Australian slang dictionary
OP
ivan H
Ambassador of Tubes & Grooves
It is a great playing guitar & does have very good tone. I'm really liking the low, wide frets & neck profile too. Definitely a faster neck than my traditional & 50's tribute LP's. Neck thickness (at first fret & taken from fretboard) is in the vicinity of 0.84", which I've not seen before. Very comfortable neck though.
Prediction: Your prediction will prove to be correct, I can see myself looking for more Norlins.
One thing I forgot to mention earlier, the case that came with it is not original, instead it came with a "chainsaw" type case with 3 metal latches, which I believe makes it a type 3.
A couple more Aussie slang names for a chunder Robert; pavement pizzas, calling George or having a Ralf, though I believe Ralf originated with Cheech & Chong. Cheers
Edit; same most place I've been Dave. Though I have heard it called a "Tallie" its most usually called a longneck. Cheers
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gball
Ambassador of Boogie
The chainsaw/protector should be the correct original case for that year.
My '79 Custom came with a Gen 1 protector. I hated it (I've always hated them, at least for Customs, as the headstock literally touched the end of the case when the guitar was in it) and sold if for a decent profit, then bought a nice NOS white TKL that was a limited edition from 2010.
