tsol Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Hi Any specialists out there can give their opinion on the early 1990's made Gibson guitars ? We are close to reach the 20 years of age for Gibson guitars produced in early 90's. I've heard from various guitar store owners talking about an increasing demand for early 90's made Les Paul's , what makes them so "special" ? Would be that the best period of post-vintage / modern era ? Yet it is difficult to find used strats and teles from the early 90's under $1.000 .... thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichCI Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 My gut feeling is that there is nothing more special about early 90's Gibsons than any other period in time. This subject has been brought up before and my hunch is that someone on some message board somewhere or some rock star once said that early 90's Gibsons are good so everybody grabbed on to that statement and a legend was born. At least, I've never heard any more about early 90's Gibsons outside of message boards that tend to be chock full of rumors about "mojo." I bought my 1991 Les Paul brand new while I was working at a music store back during that time and I tried out well over 50 of them of various models; I was there, they were hanging on the walls so it was easy enough to do when the store was quiet. None of them were bad guitars but the one I ended up buying was truly exceptional. So, going on that experience, I'd say that the same holds true for the early 90's as well as any other point in time - try a bunch of them until you find a really good one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsol Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 so that means they are good :D/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichCI Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Well, from my own personal experience, it means to me that one in roughly 50 was really good and the other 49 or so weren't bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSG_Standard Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 For what it's worth...I have 2 1990 LP Standards from the limited colours edition series. They are the among the best LPs I've played (I've had a '74 deluxe and a '79 standard for comparison). And I've played many others from different years as well. Fit and finish is superb, they are weight relieved and not chambered, fairly heavy and they have nice plain tops. Both of mine have 490R/490T pups that sound sweet. Mine were limited edition's (only 200 made in each color) and this was before the custom shop started, the supposed story is that Gibson paid a little more attention to the early '90s gibbys as they were trying to win back customers after the Norlin years. Who knows, I just like talking about them. Mine were both made in 1990 and they are from the same series and they sound so much alike that I put one away for safe keeping. Rich might be right though (i don't believe in mojo either)...my .02 From what I read...the new '09 LP traditionals are a take on the late '80s early '90s...Someone correct me if I'm wrong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 I think (and it's just an opinion) that both RichCI and KSG_Standard are correct. After '85 Gibson tried hard to regain the ground lost and paid a bit more attention to the things that make people, like us, want to buy a high-value instrument. They spent a very long time trying to get back to the magic that makes the original 'Bursts so 'special' to some people and in the years before CustomShop existed the guitars created by the 'Gibson Historic Division' do seem to have an attention to detail which may have been keener as there were a fraction of the number produced by contrast to the current VOS series. I've read in numerous places and publications that 1997 is considered to be the pinnacle of post-McCarty era Gibsons. I totally agree with RichCI's '1 in 50' experience as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichCI Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 What's more, pippy, is that the LP I was talking about is a Custom Shop guitar (this guitar). Even still, it's not perfect. It appears that the fretboard was not laid perfectly on the neck as there is just the smallest bit of lip on either side - a little over the neck on the bottom and a little indent on top. Granted, a pretty minor flaw that doesn't effect the instrument's performance, but still... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbomb76 Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 As far as overall quality is concerned they weren't bad in the early 90's, but I think Gibson hit a quality high (we're talking post-1960's though, so that might not be saying too awful much) in the late 90's and first couple years of the 2000's. Good offerings, consistency, better value for the price at the time, etc. H-Bomb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Co-incidentally, on the topic of quality control, I've just finished reading Gil Hembree's (excellent) book "Gibson Guitars - Ted McCarty's Golden Era 1948-1966" and it seems that the quality of the instruments made from '66-on deteriorated only very slowly because the workers carried on making the guitars as they had been doing all along despite all the interference from the new senior management, NORton stevens and arnold berLIN. You learn something new every day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninety1vee Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 i still haven't found a guitar that plays as easily or fluidly as my 1991 Flying V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninety1vee Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 What's more' date=' pippy, is that the LP I was talking about is a Custom Shop guitar (this guitar). Even still, it's not perfect. It appears that the fretboard was not laid perfectly on the neck as there is just the smallest bit of lip on either side - a little over the neck on the bottom and a little indent on top. Granted, a pretty minor flaw that doesn't effect the instrument's performance, but still... damn rich, that's a beauty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsol Posted January 8, 2009 Author Share Posted January 8, 2009 I got an ES-175 of 1991, it is ... efffff an outstanding guitar.; mahogany back. And more recently i picked up a Gibson SG Standard, Cherry Heritage finish of 1991 , it is as well awesome... now i would need some good Les Paul Standard and a Flying V from the same period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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