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It's here the 1959 50th anniversary Les Paul!!! (Pics included)


daveinspain

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I bought a new ES-339 last year. And a new Les Paul Studio for my daughter. And Scotty Stonemans 1933 Gibson Mandolin.

 

I spent some $5000.00 LAST YEAR on Gibson gear................

 

They NEVER email me............

 

Murph.

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Have a look at My Les Paul's Historic District and Backstage, then Les Paul Forum's Historic District.

There's already a good 50 pages on them.

 

The suggested retail price of a regular R9 is also $8,500; so, it may actually be the same price as any other high gloss R9.

 

BUT...just so you know, the price is $8,500 right now...but it's been jumping back and forth between $8,500 and $10,500.

So is the "5 bursts were scanned" part. I've seen it at 5 and 7.

 

$2,000 extra for an anniversary model sounds about right for Gibson.

 

I'm getting one...

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I bought a new ES-339 last year. And a new Les Paul Studio for my daughter. And Scotty Stonemans 1933 Gibson Mandolin.

 

I spent some $5000.00 LAST YEAR on Gibson gear................

 

They NEVER email me............

 

Murph.

 

I bought 3 Les Pauls and a ES 339 over the past year and a half.... but I don't think I got on Gibson's mailing list for that... It was most likely the contests I entered to win a Gibson in which I have to give my e-mail address...

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I must have been editing my post when you typed that' date=' Dave.

I'm definitely getting one. I've the the distributor on board and I'm basically getting my pick of every 50th R9 that enters the country. I really hope we get some good ones...[/quote']

 

How cool is that... maybe I can get my connection to do the same for me.... I had to ask because before you were talking about waiting for the price to come down after they are out for a while. That may not be a bad idea but if you want the pick of the litter it wont work....

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Have a look at My Les Paul's Historic District and Backstage' date=' then Les Paul Forum's Historic District.

There's already a good 50 pages on them.

 

The suggested retail price of a regular R9 is also $8,500; so, it may actually be the same price as any other high gloss R9.

 

BUT...just so you know, the price is $8,500 right now...but it's been jumping back and forth between $8,500 and $10,500.

So is the "5 bursts were scanned" part. I've seen it at 5 and 7.

 

$2,000 extra for an anniversary model sounds about right for Gibson.

 

I'm getting one...[/quote']

 

Very nice looking guitar but totally out of my price range. For that amount, I'd rather buy some regular Standards. But, I'm not a collector so I'm sure it will appeal to those who are.

 

Some of the comments at the bottom of the article make me questions just how accurately a 1959 Les Paul has been recreated. If I were a collector, I'd approach buying one of these as it being a limited edition guitar rather than a reproduction.

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Hey Rich, collecting has nothing to do with it. There's absolutely nothing wrong with Gibson USA guitars, they are great guitars in their own right; but once you get used to the reissues, the rest don't cut it...sorry to say, but it's true. That's why I sold the guitars that I did...and I'm not the only one. I'd pull out my LP Standard and play it for a little while and then put it right back in the case and grab a Rx. Anyways, enough snootiness...

 

Those prices are on the high side. Drop them down 2 or 3 grand, those'll be the actual store list prices.

 

Vintage accuracy...they're not. The problem with historic reissues is just in the name. Gibson uses the term 1958 or 1959 or 1950whatever Standard, it's just marketing. These die hard Les Paul enthusiasts take it literally and compare the reissues to the actual thing. In my mind, the majority of the complaints are silly. The tailpiece is not in the right place, the originals didn't have greenish tuners, the inlays look wrong, the knobs are in the wrong place...get my drift? I couldn't care less about these things, do you?

 

When ever I read a complaint like these I always ask myself "Who the **** cares if the tailpiece is on the wrong angle? How does that affect tone?"

 

Some of the o other gripes are...the bigger gripes...the fretboard not being Brazilian rosewood, the neck carve & truss rod condom. OK, Brazilian rosewood is an endangered species, nothing you can do about that. The other issues could be "corrected" by Gibson if they wanted to...but they don't.

 

If Gibson didn't call these guitars as 1959 reissues, there wouldn't be as many complaints about them...but because of the marketing slogan, people draw parallels.

 

The 2009 R9s have had a major refresh. Here's a quote from LPF. The guy is apparently a Gibson employee and has "confirmed" the following. Compared to a pre-2009 reissue:

 

Well, seems like most of the changes as I understood them have been mentioned. A few more details:

Hardware changes -

The CTS pots are now audio-taper.

Thumbwheels are now steel, rather than brass.

The nut is now Nylon. Gibson had apparently had one analyzed and it is nylon 6/6

The knurl pattern on the knurled nut has been change to match that of the fifties.

The material for the saddles and base screws is now correct, (not sure what material that is).

The Geometry of the truss-rod cover has been changed and is now historically correct.

Yes, the pickguard has been changed, I believe it will now have a gap by the bridge pickup.

The angle of the bevel on the bottom of the backplates now reflects that of the original die-stamped backplates and the material is now the correct ABS plastic.

 

Production changes-

The taper of the binding window in the cutaway is now correct

Neck pitch has changed. The range is now 4.5 - 5 degree neck angle.

BODY PERIMETER CHANGE most notable in cutaway and the waist, which is a bit slimmer.

The maple cap is thinner and the mahogany thicker.

The strap button, as a result, is now centered on the mahogany section of the rim.

The "heel" and "wrist" sections of the neck are shaped differently. In the case of the heel, the step is a bit higher, or closer to the back.

The body radius is tighter on the back

The scroll of the headstock has been changed slightly, I believe,in the moustache area.

The fingerboard thickness has been reduced.

The neck profile has changed. There is less "cheek" or "shoulder" to the neck.

The appearance of the spline (tenon?) in the neck pickup cavity has changed.

Here is an interesting one, the pickup routes are now parallel to the string line. This should keep the pickups from jamming up against the wall of the route and tilting down at an angle.

Serial # location.

Longer strap button screws.

Dial pointers not a sharp.

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