Wayne Les Paul - Black, ~1974

[ozboomer]

'lo folks..

Just seeing if the amassed knowledge of my fellow Nutz might be able to shed some light on this old guitar of mine...

It came to mind, 'coz of the recent goings-on with Allans, which is where I bought this guitar in ~1974 (it was hanging in the shop for a while)... and I remember it was ~AUD200+ at the time. Obviously, it's trying to be a 1969 or 1973 Les Paul Custom "Black Beauty".

The label on the headstock is "Wayne" (please excuse the dust), viz:-

...and the neck plate at the back has "Made in Japan" on it.

As it stands, the guitar is now rarely used... but I just tried it and it holds its tune well, the controls work Ok but the pickup selector is a bit crunchy but it works. The pickups are non-original, being Ibanez something-or-other... but there were gold case humbuckers in there.

So, here's how it looks now:-

I heard tell something about a factory in Heidelberg (Melbourne's north) where these were assembled but I've never been able to find out any history if that.

Still, if you can provide any further info on this good ol' boy from 38+ years ago, I'd appreciate it.


John

[newey]

If it says "Made in Japan" that would seem to be inconsistent with a manufacture (or even a final assembly) near Melbourne.

Your best bet would be to repost this over at the VintAxe.com forums. Steve and the guys over there will be able to draw on a much more vast knowledge base.

There were 3 or 4 major Japanese manufacturers making knock-offs of LPs, Strats, whatever back in that time frame, and the resulting guitars might get branded with many different brand names for various export markets.

[cynical1]

While it's possible to find something on "Wayne" guitars, it's more than likely that the graphic was added after the fact. There were quite a few Japanese "Les Paul" copies to come out in the 60's and 70's.

Some of them (Burny, which would become Fernandes) are quite good. The electronics may leave something to be desired, but are perfect vehicles for retrofitting.

I can't tell from the pictures, but if the neck is a bolt on you can pull it and look for any builders markings in the neck pocket. Any serial numbers on a headstock or neck plate can help. Pulling the control cavity cover may yield some information.

Sometimes there is telling information on the back of the pickups.

Long and short of it is that you can still pull all of this information together and draw a blank, but it's fun doing the detective work.

So, any other numbers or details on the mystery guitar?

Happy Trails

Cynical One

[JohnH]

I googled on Wayne and Les Paul, concentrating on Australian entries, and found only this, about an acoustic:

www.musicswopshop.com.au/SwoppyItems.aspx?cat=guitars+%26+basses&man=wayne&sort=1

it states:
"1970's "Made expressly for Wayne Music" by Takamine"

Not at all your guitar, but maybe that site has some more info.

I'm guessing 'Wayne Music' didn't have a very big Internet presence back in the 1970's.

But, tell you what, I reckon that if you have a solid guitar that plays in tune, straight neck, nice weight, truss rod works, you may have a perfect base for a great project, and possibly a gem. It looks great!

John