Stars and Stripes Les Pauls and Variants

[rossington88]

So... Recently, I got an opportunity to play an out-of-state gig with a band. It looks like this may become a full-time gig (Touring, I mean) so I broke my Jim Beam LP out of the case and set it up and everything since it's absolutely PERFECT for this gig. I started thinking about some of the other cool-a$$ models Gibson came out with around that time like the Corvette's, the carved flame LP's, the Indian's and so on. Well, I got to thinking about the Stars and Stripes Les Paul's. In light of the Boston Marathon bombing and everything, I guess my patriotism has been reawakened and I'm kinda starting to want one. And like every other Gibson I own, I MUST know every single detail about it. I vaguely remember there being a type of colour-coding to them, if I recall correctly. There is sparse information out there so maybe this can be a fun little topic for the forum.

 

Which one is which? I know there have been several runs...

 

There were several guitars made ON September 11th, and those guitars had a special serial number and colour on their backs.

 

Then came the 2002 run of 50(?), which had the Blue-backs (My FAV!!). They also had the serial number 91101 with a hand-painted sequence number underneath.

 

There was another run with the Red-backs.

 

Somewhere in here were the White-backs.

 

I THINK I may have seen one or two with Black-backs???

 

Finally, we have the current Silver-backs.

 

My questions are: What colour were the originals that were made on 9/11? In what order/year were the rest of them made? AND: Which ones are the Standards vs. Customs vs. Class 5's?

[curiousgeorge]

Did you ever find any additional info on the stars and stripes guitars?

 

So... Recently, I got an opportunity to play an out-of-state gig with a band. It looks like this may become a full-time gig (Touring, I mean) so I broke my Jim Beam LP out of the case and set it up and everything since it's absolutely PERFECT for this gig. I started thinking about some of the other cool-a$$ models Gibson came out with around that time like the Corvette's, the carved flame LP's, the Indian's and so on. Well, I got to thinking about the Stars and Stripes Les Paul's. In light of the Boston Marathon bombing and everything, I guess my patriotism has been reawakened and I'm kinda starting to want one. And like every other Gibson I own, I MUST know every single detail about it. I vaguely remember there being a type of colour-coding to them, if I recall correctly. There is sparse information out there so maybe this can be a fun little topic for the forum.

 

Which one is which? I know there have been several runs...

 

There were several guitars made ON September 11th, and those guitars had a special serial number and colour on their backs.

 

Then came the 2002 run of 50(?), which had the Blue-backs (My FAV!!). They also had the serial number 91101 with a hand-painted sequence number underneath.

 

There was another run with the Red-backs.

 

Somewhere in here were the White-backs.

 

I THINK I may have seen one or two with Black-backs???

 

Finally, we have the current Silver-backs.

 

My questions are: What colour were the originals that were made on 9/11? In what order/year were the rest of them made? AND: Which ones are the Standards vs. Customs vs. Class 5's?