[jackyl]

Hi all. I've just bought a fretless Les Paul bass from the local pawn broker and was wondering what exactly the hell it is?! The pawn broker thought it was a Les Paul bass copy, so I got him down to $200. When I got home, I noticed that the pickups are Gibson, it has a Les Paul Bass trussrod cover, the inlays real abalone and it's a set neck. The headstock has an obviously wrong Gibson logo on it, but when I looked at the back I noticed a new headstock has been scarfed on and the back of the headstock painted black to hide the repair. You can see the scarf line in the photo below...

So the question is... do I have a real Gibson Triumph with a headstock repair or is it the best Triumph copy I've ever seen? For 200 bucks I'm not complaining, it sounds and plays amazing. I thought it might've been an Ibanez, but I don't recall Ibanez making set necked versions of this bass. Plus the Gibson parts make it a little confusing. Any help would be appreciated.


Here's the body. Note the extra mini toggle switch....


Headstock with weird Gibson logo + Les Paul Bass truss rod cover


Back of headstock. Note the line where the scarf joint is... headstock has also had other slight damage. Still plays well, though


Set neck join.

[Redbird]

For $200 it's a great score. Certainly looks like a Gibson body, that's more than worth $200

[jules]

Yeah, from the pictures it certainly looks like a Triumph - with a new headstock built for it, and changed around a bit. Good score for $200 certainly!

[chromium]

Nice!! That was a wonderful score. In parts alone, you could probably fetch around a grand off of that if you pieced it all out on Ebay. It looks really good as a whole, though, so you should enjoy it that way!

I've wanted a Triumph for a looooog time now. This is next in the pecking order for me (unless, of course, I get distracted by something else :twisted: )

[jackyl]

Thanks! I used a friends Triumph on my bands' last album and really wanted to find one for myself as it sounded so great. All I'm doing to this one is getting frets put on it. (Can't do the fretless thing...)

[jackyl]

I took the Triumph to my repairer and after having look at the neck tenon and electrics he said it's definitely a Gibson Triumph. He said the headstock has had the original veneer taken off and a new one put on the front & back of the headstock, along with some pins to hold the headstock together. Looks like it had a really bad break a long while ago. He says the repair job was very well done, though.

At the moment it's getting frets put on it, and a transitory Les Paul Standard headstock decal until I can find a NOS Triumph headstock veneer... Man I can't wait to get it back.

[Redbird]

Amazing score!

Easily worth $400-$600

[Thijs]

Could be one of the first series... I can't see the volute at the foot of the headstock. Don't know if it should be, but my (white) '74 triumph has the volute.
On the other hand, when I look at it carefully, the replaced headstock does not have the volute. The 'mustage' at the top is also less deep.

Never been made in black as far as I know. What function does the mini-toggle have?

All in all one great axe for a great price!

[rockinrayduke]

Goes to show you there are still reasons to check out the pawn shops! Great score!

[jackyl]

Found a headstock veneer on eBay, so that's going on soon. Very happy about that. The neck has no volute and from the looks of it never did. Also, the body paint looks original. It's definitely nitro, and definitely old. You can see the paint has sunk into the woodgrain like my 70's Les Paul Std. If it's a respray it's very well done.

Should have the bass back in a few weeks. I'll post some photos of the finished project then.