The Gibson Les Paul was a seriously desirable guitar in the late 1960s. Highly revered musicians like Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Peter Green were all seen playing Les Pauls, yet Gibson had discontinued production by 1961. So as the '60s ended, demand was high, yet availability low. Gibson had reissued the Les Paul in 1968, but, naturally these were hugely expensive. The gap in the market was such, that just about every distributor needed an affordable Les Paul - model 3400 was Rose-Morris's version of the Les Paul Custom (black body, gold hardware, block inlays) sold under their mid-priced Shaftesbury brand. It launched in the UK in the Summer of 1969 with a list price of price was £69 10s. At the same time, Gibson UK-distributor, Selmer were selling the Les Paul Custom for 245 gns (£257 5s) - almost four times the price. But the Shaftesbury, despite it's looks, wasn't a Gibson. It had no set neck, carved maple body cap, or nitrocellulose finish, and the pickups were not Gibson patent number humbuckers. But it wasn't a bad guitar, and sold pretty well in the early 1970s.
Model 3400 was described as follows in the 1970 Rose-Morris catalog
Solid body with contoured top, finished overall in black polyester with white purfled edges. Detachable neck incorporating adjustable truss rod. Rosewood fingerboard with Pearloid position markers and white bound edges. Individual, all-metal covered machine heads. Two pickup units with separate polepieces. Two volume and tone controls plus pick up selector switch. All–metal bridge with individual string adjustment saddles. Polished black plastic finger plate. The all-metal covered machine heads and other metal fittings are gold plated
£100