what's the verdict on the 60th Anniversary R9s? Did they nail it?

philip_m · Oct 16, 2019

Hey guys,

just to pass the waiting time until mine arrives: what's the consensus (if there is one) on the 2019 R9s?

cheers

Ace139 · Oct 20, 2019

I did not buy one all my money got spent in 2015 on True Historic. You know it was the most accurate reproduction ever made &#55357;&#56834;&#55357;&#56834;. The 60th look AWESOME. I really like the Factory Burst.

JPP-1 · Oct 21, 2019

Congrats on the new guitar.

The good news is that the recent Historics are by most accounts stellar and the 2019s continue that trend.

“Positive” changes for 2019 include unpotted custombuckers, vintage taper pots, and Luxe bees capacitors. On the “downside”, Bolivian Rosewood is not a true Rosewood. Whether this makes a difference tonally, I really can’t say, but the name is quite misleading and sounds very close to that “grail” rosewood Brazilian. It should be noted that Gibson is also using Indian Rosewood which while still not Brazilian is at least a true Rosewood.

I’m not sure what “nailing it” implies but the closest Historic, spec wise, to an actual Burst would be the 2017/2018 Brazilians as these would be the first new hide glue production Les Pauls to have all three species of woods since 1960. (Unpotted boutique PAFs, vintage taper pots and Luxe bees are an easy mod that can be added to any Les Paul).

At the end of the day, it cannot be overstated that every guitar is tonally unique. Trying to judge them by year of manufacture is a bit specious. That said, the 2019s I’ve played were very good, as were the 2018s. So, without reiterating what Tom Petty said about waiting, I would say the chances are very high you end up with a helluva good sounding and playing Les Paul.

El Gringo · Oct 21, 2019

I agree Gibson Custom is flying high and mighty proud of the excellent guitars they are producing . I myself have purchased the new Brazilians 2018 R9's and can testify to there greatness first hand . One nagging question I have is who gets the credit for the smaller profile more accurate "Carmelita" profile 59 neck ? I wish they had left the more larger profile neck , here is why . I love the 59 Custom Shop Les Paul's because of there more fancy tops . While the 58 has the bigger neck , the 59 has the prettier tops. I wish they left the bigger profile neck on the 59 R9's.

guitplayer · Oct 21, 2019

El Gringo said:
I agree Gibson Custom is flying high and mighty proud of the excellent guitars they are producing . I myself have purchased the new Brazilians 2018 R9's and can testify to there greatness first hand . One nagging question I have is who gets the credit for the smaller profile more accurate "Carmelita" profile 59 neck ? I wish they had left the more larger profile neck , here is why . I love the 59 Custom Shop Les Paul's because of there more fancy tops . While the 58 has the bigger neck , the 59 has the prettier tops. I wish they left the bigger profile neck on the 59 R9's.

+1

philip_m · Oct 22, 2019

thanks guys for your input.

I have been without a historic Les Paul for a while now, almost 5 years, and about 8 years without a really good one. The really good one was the 2007 R9 that's still my avatar here, and boy am I missing this guitar. All the others I let go and later replaced over the years I can live without but that one felt special to me.
But sometimes you have to do what you have to do to pay child support, rent and all of that.
A few years later I bought a '96 R7 custom which I thought was pretty good. Until I tried an amp that I was going to buy and the guy suddenly brought his limited edition Perry burst. And man, that thing just exploded with tone, sooo snappy and responsive. Crazy.

So that's where I'm coming from.

The specs of the 60th anniversary read incredible on paper. Like they ticked all the boxes. The biggest ones for me might be the hide glue, neck angle and the nice, old looking tops. I always swapped the pickups for something closer to a PAF and the pots and caps to vintage specs CTS and various paper in oil.

Judging from the photos it looks like they finally got the plastic right (or at least in the ball park), and I love the aged inlays and Gibson logo.
I'm not convinced the pickup covers have the correct shape: the edges look too round I think, but, that's going by photos so I can very well be wrong. If I'm not, I still have a set of old Throbak SLE-101 that I can pop in.

Anyways, I'm excited for this one, bought it from Marks Guitar Loft and his tone report has me eagerly awaiting the brown truck.

I'm not sure about the etiquette regarding re-posting photos someone else took, so I won't, but if you want to head on over, it's Item#523 and in my mind this is a dead ringer for "The Duke" 9 1982. I love those curly ribbon flames...
(while you're there, check out Item#526, that one looks incredible as well!)

philip_m · Oct 24, 2019

Oh boy oh boy

philip_m · Oct 24, 2019

let's try that again

Big Al · Oct 24, 2019

Mine are glued. I don't want one that's nailed.:ha:laugh2::laugh2:

corpse · Oct 24, 2019

Gorgeous top. Play the shit out of it.

Big Al · Oct 24, 2019

corpse said:
Gorgeous top. Play the shit out of it.

Check his NGD post. Lots of pictures, [enough to moisten Ren], it is beautimous!

renderit · Oct 25, 2019

Ren is positively damp with this beasty!
What a beautiful machine of destruction.
Civilizations will be destroyed in it's wake and thousands of ships launched to find it.
I am looking for my damned oars as we type.
Which is not easy to do, damn these manually inputted charged electrons!
TO THE SHIPS BOYS!

Where do you live phillp_m????

philip_m · Oct 27, 2019

renderit said:
Ren is positively damp with this beasty!
What a beautiful machine of destruction.
Civilizations will be destroyed in it's wake and thousands of ships launched to find it.
I am looking for my damned oars as we type.
Which is not easy to do, damn these manually inputted charged electrons!
TO THE SHIPS BOYS!

Where do you live phillp_m????

thanks Ren! I moved house on the weekend, hence the late reply.
I live in Wellington, New Zealand.

So, what are you rendering?

renderit · Oct 28, 2019

Originally 3d matrices with texture maps in the 80's and 90's.

Then cutters driven by said matrices with the addition of stepper motors after the turn of the century.

Then nozzles and lasers aimed at piles of shit.

Now mostly pork and beef drippins'...

philip_m · Oct 28, 2019

renderit said:
Originally 3d matrices with texture maps in the 80's and 90's.

Then cutters driven by said matrices with the addition of stepper motors after the turn of the century.

Then nozzles and lasers aimed at piles of shit.

Now mostly pork and beef drippins'...

So you were there in the pioneer days. Sweet! Anything I might have seen?

renderit · Oct 29, 2019

Probably not directly but part of it is very much in one of the more prevalent OS's today. But I probably could never prove it.

PeteNJ75 · Oct 30, 2019

My answer to the question: Yes, they nailed it.

They really started nailing it with the 2018 models, IMO. I slightly prefer the '18 potted pickups because I play high gain stuff sometimes, but the new unpotted pickups have some of the best bridge pickup tone I've ever heard. I find the neck pickup to be a bit too dark, but it's easy enough to replace (when I get around to it). One other thing the 2019s have over older models is the tone and volume pots are so much more usable than they were before, no question. And overall I love the feel of the 60ths... the neck is super comfy to me... and both of mine play like butter. Bends are effortless. So while I wish they potted the pickups, I totally understand why they didn't... and I am very happy with both of mine.

kiwi burst · Oct 30, 2019

I'll be in Wellington celebrating my mum's 90th in a fortnight! Kiwis cannot fly but they sure get around- enjoy your new guitar.

goldtop0 · Nov 1, 2019

kiwi burst said:
I'll be in Wellington celebrating my mum's 90th in a fortnight! Kiwis cannot fly but they sure get around- enjoy your new guitar.

What on earth are you referring to kiwi burst in the first part of this post???? apart from 'enjoy your new guitar' I can't see the relevance.
Care to explain and then we'll all know..........thanks.

kiwi burst · Nov 1, 2019

OP is in Wellington and I'll be visiting my home town (Wellington)- just saying- beautiful guitar .

what's the verdict on the 60th Anniversary R9s? Did they nail it?

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