Gibson 1974 Les Paul Custom

I first became aware of 1974 Les Paul Customs as a fan of Randy Rhoads, but I never pursued owning one since I preferred to picture RR in my head playing one of the Jackson models I own. When I first started talking to the legend John Sykes about guitars and doing a guitar deal, he told me all about how he picks out a guitar, why he keeps a guitar, and ultimately our shared love for Randy’s playing. John had retained three 1974 Les Paul Customs for most of his career (once he could afford more than one guitar – his words, not mine). John went into great detail about why 1974 LPC’s were so appealing to him, and if you dig a bit, you’ll see plenty of photos of John with white LPC’s – those are all 74’s I believe. Anyway, his endorsement was enough for me so I bought several clean 1974 Les Paul Customs. This is one, first located for me by my friend Mark Morton. Once I did the deal on it, I asked the dealer to send it straight to Zach Rickard, who had done work for Mark and other professionals, for a complete refret. The guitar returned in short order and she’s perfect. Just a perfect player, great tone, great appearance. I showed this to John once Zach finished her via cell phone photos and I was going to bring her out for him to check out on my next visit. Other than frets, she remains all original.

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