Ultimate Rhoads

Randy was a small guy with small hands. Les Pauls are known to have big necks like baseball bats. But Randy's Les Paul looks like it has a thinner neck on it suitable for his small hands....do you know what year and model his Les Paul was? I heard there was a year Les Paul had thin necks.

zmack mylde wrote:Randy was a small guy with small hands. Les Pauls are known to have big necks like baseball bats. But Randy's Les Paul looks like it has a thinner neck on it suitable for his small hands....do you know what year and model his Les Paul was? I heard there was a year Les Paul had thin necks.

as far as I know ... it was a '72 LesPaul Custom

randys les paul is believed to be a 1974 custom model although this hasn't been confirmed. i could be wrong but i think the '50's l.p. had a thicker neck than the '60s' models. at any rate, his guitar felt enormous in my hands back then.

frank wrote:i could be wrong...

Yeah right, since when?

Paul Wolfe wrote:

frank wrote:i could be wrong...

Yeah right, since when?

that's it. you're back on my list mister.

atleast they had Gibson T-top pickups in them

I always heard that LPs production in the 60s slowed greatly...

And I don't think Randy's "small hands" or whatever could have really limited him. I'm a girl who's smaller than Randy and I can play a Les Paul fine. I mean, they're a bit heavy, but fretwise it's fine. It's not like playing ESPs with Extra Jumbo frets...

Skully wrote:I always heard that LPs production in the 60s slowed greatly...

And I don't think Randy's "small hands" or whatever could have really limited him. I'm a girl who's smaller than Randy and I can play a Les Paul fine. I mean, they're a bit heavy, but fretwise it's fine. It's not like playing ESPs with Extra Jumbo frets...

i've always thought that LP's kind of smash the whole thin necks are faster argument.

i remember there was a discusion about the year of randys lp on the official fim forum but i cant find the thread

I'm sure i read an article about Randy sanding the backs of the necks down to make them easier to get his hand round.

rice_pudding wrote:i remember there was a discusion about the year of randys lp on the official fim forum but i cant find the thread

I'm sure that Randy thought his LP was an earlier edition but when he met up and jammed with Budgie's John Thomas who is a guitar collector .He told him that his LP was a later model 72? i'll have to read 'Off the Rails' to find the chapter but i'm sure it's mentioned in the book.

GUITARIDOL5682 wrote:

rice_pudding wrote:i remember there was a discusion about the year of randys lp on the official fim forum but i cant find the thread

I'm sure that Randy thought his LP was an earlier edition but when he met up and jammed with Budgie's John Thomas who is a guitar collector .He told him that his LP was a later model 72? i'll have to read 'Off the Rails' to find the chapter but i'm sure it's mentioned in the book.

The budgie stuff is mentioned in the story of the ozzy osbourne band book too

GUITARIDOL5682 wrote:I'm sure i read an article about Randy sanding the backs of the necks down to make them easier to get his hand round.

that would make sense actualy, in some pictures the neck of randys LP looks unfinished so it could have been sanded. I dont think gibson have released LP's with unfinished necks, anyone an LP expert?

Zakk Wylde Les Pauls come with an unfinished neck. I've never heard of Randy's being sanded though and in most pictures it looks stock.

Randy thought his was a '68, but the guy from Budgie told him it was a '74. The volute on the back of the neck at the headstock would determine if it was pre- or post-'70.

During the course of filming the documentary, Peter is supposed to get a chance to photograph/film Randy's guitars. He's been asked by numerous fans to get a shot of the serial number to determine the date. However, the headstock serial number markings used in '68 were used again in '72, so that my have something to do with Randy thinking it was a '68. Getting the serial numbers off of the electronics would give a better date, but I doubt anyone will ever see those.

GUITARIDOL5682 wrote:I'm sure i read an article about Randy sanding the backs of the necks down to make them easier to get his hand round.

never heard that one.