dlacx
Active member
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2005
- Messages
- 181
I didn't post to the thread about the Whitford Burst's becasue it felt rather tainted. There are some great responses on there, but I took offense to some of the comments about those of us who would purchase such guitars and the generalized comments about the need for a better top.
First a picture....
Some of the comments on the other thread was about the poor quality of the tops on these. This was based on a pictuer from an add. This one has a very nice top. It really looks good from many different angles and at different times of day. At some angles it looks very flamey and at others, it looks very plain. It looks very vintage too me.
Searching for this Les Paul, I played probably at least 50-75 R9's. I travel all over the country and had opportunities to visit many stores. Even visited Third Eye in Springfield, but he didn't have anything I was looking for (which was a '54 Wraptail at the time). I really had a hard time finding one that had the sound that I wanted. I'm not just a collector snob. I have played for over 40 years. I've slowly worked my way up from Hohner's to some very nice guitars. I've really wanted 'that' Les Paul that had the sound I was looking for.
The quality and sound of this guitar is spectacular for the Custom Shop. The pickups are well balanced and provide a wide range of tone. Much better than the R9's I had played-old and new. The guitar has a very throaty (?) sound with good articulation. When I first played it through my '77 Boogie, I thought I was in my gain stage with low gain, but it was in my clean side. REALLY nice growl.
The relic'ing on the guitar is subtle and complete. If any complaint, the headstock could be slightly more relic'd, but still looks good. The aged parts look good.
So, to each their own. This was a bit more (not much) expensive than some other R9's that I played, but the quality was worth it to me. It is as close to a real '59 as I'll get (although I got to hold Sandy in 1984 in Dallas), but I'm quite happy with it.
First a picture....
Some of the comments on the other thread was about the poor quality of the tops on these. This was based on a pictuer from an add. This one has a very nice top. It really looks good from many different angles and at different times of day. At some angles it looks very flamey and at others, it looks very plain. It looks very vintage too me.
Searching for this Les Paul, I played probably at least 50-75 R9's. I travel all over the country and had opportunities to visit many stores. Even visited Third Eye in Springfield, but he didn't have anything I was looking for (which was a '54 Wraptail at the time). I really had a hard time finding one that had the sound that I wanted. I'm not just a collector snob. I have played for over 40 years. I've slowly worked my way up from Hohner's to some very nice guitars. I've really wanted 'that' Les Paul that had the sound I was looking for.
The quality and sound of this guitar is spectacular for the Custom Shop. The pickups are well balanced and provide a wide range of tone. Much better than the R9's I had played-old and new. The guitar has a very throaty (?) sound with good articulation. When I first played it through my '77 Boogie, I thought I was in my gain stage with low gain, but it was in my clean side. REALLY nice growl.
The relic'ing on the guitar is subtle and complete. If any complaint, the headstock could be slightly more relic'd, but still looks good. The aged parts look good.
So, to each their own. This was a bit more (not much) expensive than some other R9's that I played, but the quality was worth it to me. It is as close to a real '59 as I'll get (although I got to hold Sandy in 1984 in Dallas), but I'm quite happy with it.
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