NGD: restored 1985 Canora Les Paul

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NippleWrestler
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NGD: restored 1985 Canora Les Paul

Post by NippleWrestler »

Who?

Canora. They were a shot-lived 'brand' in the mid-80s started by a music distributor in Canada. Canora is a town in Saskatchewan.

They were made by Cortek in Korea. This exact same guitar was sold as the Hohner L59 and also the Cort GE27. If you ordered enough you could put your own logo up there, hence we have Canora.

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It was in a flooded garage about 20 years ago somewhere in QLD. I got it from Melbourne where they sold it as parts. The back and top were loose, the binding had fallen off, the fingerboard was detached from around the 15th fret onwards, there were no electronics or tuners and there's obvious water ingress under the finish (which presumably caused the loosening of the adhesives holding it together).

Much Titebond and clamping later, new electronics, new hardware (the tuners were ones I had lying around), new pickups, new knobs, a fret dress, a nut I made, a general setup and it's reborn.

It's a very interesting/weird thing. The core of the body is a big chunk of maple, then there's a plywood frame bent over the top which is then veneered with that flame maple. Then on the back they used an ash veneer. Quite mad.

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Water ingress which is under the finish. The wood is perfectly dry now but short of sanding off the poly and refinishing (that doesn't thrill me since the top is a veneer) there isn't a huge amount to do and it kinda grew on me. You can also see where I did my best to reattach the binding which was in about 15 pieces in a bag in the shipping box.

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It's got a 14" radius, medium jumbo frets, a 41mm nut, skinny neck, PAF alikes, usual 2 vol/tone wiring.

It plays great tbh. Sustain isn't amazing but it's a very resonant and punchy guitar.

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Re: NGD: restored 1985 Canora Les Paul

Post by kdawg2a »

Nice job there man!
1935 Martin D-45, 1942 Gibson Southern Jumbo,1950 Fender Broadcaster, 1954 Fender Strat, 1958 Gibson Moderne prototype, 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard.
1958 Fender twin, 1965 Vox AC30, 1966 Marshall JTM 45, 1977 Dumble OD Special.
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Re: NGD: restored 1985 Canora Les Paul

Post by Cdog »

Kick ass... That looks great, congrats!

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Re: NGD: restored 1985 Canora Les Paul

Post by FuzzMonkey »

Sweet! Looks great.
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Re: NGD: restored 1985 Canora Les Paul

Post by StrummersOfThunder »

Epic epic

IMOCD

Re: NGD: restored 1985 Canora Les Paul

Post by IMOCD »

Never noticed before, but do you play Eric Gales style?

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Re: NGD: restored 1985 Canora Les Paul

Post by NippleWrestler »

IMOCD wrote: Sat Mar 09, 2024 6:50 pm Never noticed before, but do you play Eric Gales style?
Yep. "Mungo style" as my mate calls it.

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Re: NGD: restored 1985 Canora Les Paul

Post by Slowy »

Ah the 'Lost at Sea' look as Oleg calls it. I have an acoustic bearing similar immersion scars. :D
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Re: NGD: restored 1985 Canora Les Paul

Post by GrantB »

What a freaky design concept. Seems almost more difficult than the original LP concept. well done on the resto.
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Re: NGD: restored 1985 Canora Les Paul

Post by NippleWrestler »

GrantB wrote: Sun Mar 10, 2024 5:30 pm What a freaky design concept. Seems almost more difficult than the original LP concept. well done on the resto.
The neck is 3 pieces too. The headstock, heel, and main neck shaft are all different pieces.

It's much louder than my other electrics when unplugged, and very balanced sounding when plugged in. I don't intend on keeping it forever but it's a good little guitar.

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