Still in love with R9 14 yrs on!

Big Al · Oct 29, 2014

I just came up from the Temple of Tone and I have to say after 14 yrs I still get wood when I play this thing. I loved it when I bought it new in May 2000, and if anything it sounds even better. This is the Les Paul I used for gigs and recording, from upper Quebec to the Florida Keys.

I am really amazed that my newer R9's, though great in their own way, just don't make me moist like my Tupelo Honey!

I know we read a lot of posts about trading in and getting another, top hunting, spec chasing, whatever it's all cool, but how many of you guy's have kept your first ones or have long time playing histories with a favorite Historic Les Paul?

I'm guessing I ain't the only one and many others here have favorites you love, damn the top, damn the specs, damn the damnation they are part of your body and ain't going nowhere.

I have guitars I bought new in the 70's that I love and I tend to not change up by trading out the ones I like. I just add those that speak so loudly to me, that I have to step up and add them to they herd.

Maybe I'm a hoarder, though I have had no problem dumping or trading away ones I didn't quite like.

I just want to hear from those that like me, found happiness right of the bat, or soon after and have held onto one you can't really imagine not having?

Kevin James · Oct 29, 2014

I love my 2000 R9 also. I got it new in May of 2000 as well.

Big Al · Oct 29, 2014

Kevin James said:
I love my 2000 R9 also. I got it new in May of 2000 as well.

My serial is 9 0503

Ken Fortunato · Oct 29, 2014

Other than the mass sell off of 2005, I generally don't sell guitars...

That said... The Chris Burst is far and away the best playing, sounding, feeling guitar I've ever played... It's truly a freak... That once in a lifetime mega-winner...

:salude

Steve Craw · Oct 29, 2014

I've always been chasing something. Dollars have always been an issue besides, so the longest I've ever managed to hang on to a guitar (so far) has been ten years. It was a beautiful 1959 pre-Historic that I got from The HOG in August 1990 and sold (a couple of years after I got my first Historic) in 2001. Most of my guitars only were with me about five years, (or less) and sold with few regrets. My current goldtop has been with me for five years, and I've managed to keep her despite other temptations which have come along.

Kevin James · Oct 29, 2014

Big Al said:
My serial is 9 0503

Mine is 9 0336. Kind of a "BBQ" top as some call it, but I love the color on it and this one just feels like home. I also like the frets it came with more than what is on the current R9's. I'm not one for mods so this one is bone stock just as it left the factory.

And she has a sister, an R7 also from 2000 purchased new in December 2000.

johnnyslim · Oct 30, 2014

Big Al said:
I am really amazed that my newer R9's, though great in their own way, just don't make me moist like my Tupelo Honey!

Big Al...though not an historic or a reissue, I knew my Lentz 1952 conversion was a keeper within a couple of minutes. I guess the old saying "everything has its price" maybe true but I have my doubts regarding my only Les Paul. Only one guitar has ever come close and that was an early 1957 goldtop.

Curious, you mentioned Tupelo Honey. I named my conversion Tupelo Honey in 1999 and I have never heard another refer to a guitar with this name. Sixteen years with this one.

duaneflowers · Oct 30, 2014

9 0581 here... it was also my first historic... :jim

Mats A · Oct 30, 2014

Kevin James said:
Mine is 9 0336. Kind of a "BBQ" top as some call it, but I love the color on it and this one just feels like home. I also like the frets it came with more than what is on the current R9's. I'm not one for mods so this one is bone stock just as it left the factory.

And she has a sister, an R7 also from 2000 purchased new in December 2000.

Nice R9. The color looks a bit like the color on my 2014 R9. But maybe it´s the picture. Is it an Iced Tea Burst? My is Washed Cherry.

SFK · Oct 30, 2014

My first (and last so far) Historic LP Standard.

A 2001 R7. It's been with me since 2002.

SFK · Oct 30, 2014

2001 R7 Les Paul TV purchased new in '02 (My favorite guitar)

Here with my '06 R8 Jr purchased in '09:

Bobby Lee · Oct 30, 2014

I've got a 94 57' Goldtop (among others) . Sound and plays great, a good axe is a good axe. Don't let the music pass you by.

SS901771 · Oct 30, 2014

I bought my 2000 R9 new leftover in the early spring of 2001. Still have it, and it's still the best guitar I have ever owned. It seems even more resonant than when I bought it.

soulbrojcs · Oct 31, 2014

My 2000 R9 S.N.# 9 0456 I agree with the claims made in this post. I have tried to find another R9 to lessen the load on my #1, but closest thing I have found is a 2000 Nashville 59 Dot Neck ES-335.

SunburstKid · Nov 3, 2014

Big Al said:
My serial is 9 0503

Got mine Sept 2000 # 9 0507 from Wildwood. Where's yours from Big Al?

Red Baron · Nov 4, 2014

A guitar makes Big Al moist? :hmm ...that must be some amazing R9 :hank

slammintone · Nov 4, 2014

Wonderful story Big Al. About a year ago I felt compelled to let go of an AMAZING R7 I had owned since 2004. I wanted it to end up with a friend and a monster Les Paul player and took steps to make it happen. He knew that guitar was "the one" as soon as he started playing it and now the two are inseparable. Im glad it turned out like that but it does somewhat sadden me to have parted ways with such a great and faithful instrument. Don't think I could bear to do that again.

Black58 · Nov 8, 2014

I know that feeling.
Still have "Audrey", my all-black '97 R8, that I bought new.
NOTHING I've owned or played, before or since, sounds like that guitar.

:salude

Bobby Lee · Nov 11, 2014

SunburstKid said:
Got mine Sept 2000 # 9 0507 from Wildwood. Where's yours from Big Al?

I've got 9 0520 from Wildwood. Y2k was a good year.

GuitarDean · Nov 11, 2014

My Timbucker-loaded 2001 R7 Goldtop is the one that will go to the grave with me. Guitars will come, guitars will go, but that guitar ain't leaving my hands/house/studio until they pick me up to turn me into ashes. PERIOD.

Still in love with R9 14 yrs on!

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