is my guitar a re-issue 59?

Hi everybody,
This is my first post on the forum. I recently bought a brand new gibson les paul custom shop (serial number: 971716) that was sold to me as historic 59 reissue. I bought this guitar at one of the biggest european music instrument retailer but I am now wondering if it is really a 59 reissue. On the certificate of authenticity it is only written les paul standard. The word "historic" or the number 59 or r9 appear nowhere which seems kind of weird to me. I wrote an email to gibson before purchasing the guitar and they told me the guitar has been produced in 2017 but back then I didnt ask if it was really a 59 reissue.
I just wrote an email to gisbon but I was wondering what you guys think about it.

Here is a link on reverb of a guitar that seems to be exactely the same model as mine with bery close serial number (971670 on reverb and 971716 on my guitar). The only difference is that it is written "59 LP standard " on the COA on this one. The specs of the guitar are listed on the page of the link.
I am pretty confuse... Are these guitars part of the historic collection? Or is it something different?
Thanks for helping!

My 2011 R9 says LP 59 Reissue.
My 2009 R8 says LPR-8.
My 2010 R0 says LP 60 Reissue
My 2012 R0 says LP 60 Reissue

So it looks, at least for mine, that post 2009 models they use the format LP 'yy' Reissue.

Why not ask Gibson again attaching a pic of your COA

Welcome to the Forum ! Have the seller verify what they sold you , call Gibson to verify . Don't come here for more I THINK .

I would verify what Im buying ask questions research first , buying a guitar & hoping can be a hassle hard to undue & loss of money .

It's a 2019 R9 based on what you wrote. Gibson stopped calling them reissues, to make the True Historic line at the time more appealing, and instead just called them Les Paul Standards.

Yes don't worry, it's a 59 Reissue from 2017.
The years 2015, 2016 and 2017 are a little bit confusing. In 2015 you could get the True Historics and the CS line models. The CS serial number guitars had a short tenon. As you can imagine everybody complained about the short tenon. So in 2016 you could get again True Historics and now also a standard line with long tenon again. These had the R serial number. Again complains about the R serial. So in 2017 they produced less guitars and called them only Les Paul Standard on the certificate. No mentioning of R9, R8, etc. Even no stamp in the cavity. But the serial number is again the standard one and all the specs are Reissue specs with some true historic features (mostly plastics). There is only one neck profile for all 2017 models. It's a 59 profile regardless if it's a R8 or R0, etc.
In 2018 everything went back to normal.

Gibson wanted to change the line up in favour for the True Historics but the customers (we) told them otherwise.

So you do have a legit R9. I do have a 2017 R8 and it's one of the best Les Pauls I had so far. Enjoy your guitar!

BurstFan said:

Yes don't worry, it's a 59 Reissue from 2017.
The years 2015, 2016 and 2017 are a little bit confusing. In 2015 you could get the True Historics and the CS line models. The CS serial number guitars had a short tenon. As you can imagine everybody complained about the short tenon. So in 2016 you could get again True Historics and now also a standard line with long tenon again. These had the R serial number. Again complains about the R serial. So in 2017 they produced less guitars and called them only Les Paul Standard on the certificate. No mentioning of R9, R8, etc. Even no stamp in the cavity. But the serial number is again the standard one and all the specs are Reissue specs with some true historic features (mostly plastics). There is only one neck profile for all 2017 models. It's a 59 profile regardless if it's a R8 or R0, etc.
In 2018 everything went back to normal.

Gibson wanted to change the line up in favour for the True Historics but the customers (we) told them otherwise.

So you do have a legit R9. I do have a 2017 R8 and it's one of the best Les Pauls I had so far. Enjoy your guitar!

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for this very educated answer. I freaked out a bit wneh I saw the COA. After having played the guitar for 1 hour I didnt care that much anymore because it sounds fantastic!

BurstFan said:

There is only one neck profile for all 2017 models. It's a 59 profile regardless if it's a R8 or R0, etc.

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Not to nitpick, but there were also repurposed Collector's Choice models in '17 with (obviously) different neck profiles.
I can point to CC36 and CC29 in particular.
Both of those models retain the top and neck carve of the originals.

I also have a reissue LP with 2017 specs, the serial number means:

9 59 reissue
7 last digit of model year 17 (can be confusing for older guitars as could suggest 07, but other specs can help)
1716 = production number, unsure if this is just for 59s or all CS "Les Paul Standards" covering 54-60 as they were calling them in 2017.

Darth Surge is right, some Collector's Choice guitars were repurposed as 2017 CS Les Paul Standards.
But from previous posts on the forum they tend to have lower serial numbers, as they were previous years' guitars repurposed. They may also have CC stamps in the control cavity and will have a different neck profile.
Non-repurposed 2017 CS LPs all have the 59 neck shape and some True Historic features, as per deleted posts from Music Zoo saved elsewhere on the forum.

Anyway, what really matter is that you've got a great guitar, enjoy playing it for many years!:dude:

BurstFan said:

Yes don't worry, it's a 59 Reissue from 2017.
The years 2015, 2016 and 2017 are a little bit confusing. In 2015 you could get the True Historics and the CS line models. The CS serial number guitars had a short tenon. As you can imagine everybody complained about the short tenon. So in 2016 you could get again True Historics and now also a standard line with long tenon again. These had the R serial number. Again complains about the R serial. So in 2017 they produced less guitars and called them only Les Paul Standard on the certificate. No mentioning of R9, R8, etc. Even no stamp in the cavity. But the serial number is again the standard one and all the specs are Reissue specs with some true historic features (mostly plastics). There is only one neck profile for all 2017 models. It's a 59 profile regardless if it's a R8 or R0, etc.
In 2018 everything went back to normal.

Gibson wanted to change the line up in favour for the True Historics but the customers (we) told them otherwise.

So you do have a legit R9. I do have a 2017 R8 and it's one of the best Les Pauls I had so far. Enjoy your guitar!

Click to expand...

So that's why my R0/G0 doesn't have the R0 stamp in the control cavity. Good to know. Thanks for the info. Also the COA has LP GC '60, which is consistent with the LP Standard [Year] that you mentioned.

I don't know about some of the specs that is harder to check, such as the type of glue and the plastics, but everything that easy to investigate matches the regular R0. For instance, long neck tenon, custom buckers, double ring Kluson deluxe tuners, rosewood fingerboard, reflector knobs, v2 '60s neck etc. The only differences that I find is they only came in Gloss finish (no VOS option), no pointers/thumb bleeders and the top is lightly figured akin to an R8. Another thing that I noticed is the top carve is not as deep as my 60th Anniversary R9, but that's only my impression and I haven't used a carve gauge to check it for sure. If I'm right about the top carve, I don't know if that was a production year difference, if there is a difference between R9s and R0s carves or if there is an actual difference between a regular R0 and a G0. When I bought my G0 I had played it against a used regular R0 that was going for a bit less than the G0, however I liked how the G0 sounded and comfort a bit better and I did not pay attention to the top carves between the two. With that said, I've heard it in interviews that the 2018 and 2019 models were based on Carmelita carves and Carmelita necks for the R9, so that might explain my perceived difference, but I digress.

LP007 said:

I also have a reissue LP with 2017 specs, the serial number means:

9 59 reissue
7 last digit of model year 17 (can be confusing for older guitars as could suggest 07, but other specs can help)
1716 = production number, unsure if this is just for 59s or all CS "Les Paul Standards" covering 54-60 as they were calling them in 2017.

Darth Surge is right, some Collector's Choice guitars were repurposed as 2017 CS Les Paul Standards.
But from previous posts on the forum they tend to have lower serial numbers, as they were previous years' guitars repurposed. They may also have CC stamps in the control cavity and will have a different neck profile.
Non-repurposed 2017 CS LPs all have the 59 neck shape and some True Historic features, as per deleted posts from Music Zoo saved elsewhere on the forum.

Anyway, what really matter is that you've got a great guitar, enjoy playing it for many years!:dude:

Click to expand...

Just like to point out that is a spectacular rule of thumb that works more often than not. In some rare occasions that rule of thumb fails. For instance I got my R0/G0 new from GC, which came with all case candy documentation. The paperwork matches my serial number and according to the documentation, mine is a September 11th of 2017 R0/G0. However, the serial number starts with G0 6xxxx. With that said, most 2017 R0/G0s I've seen start with either G0 7xxxx and some even start with 0 7xxxx.

Simple and indisputable, pull the neck pickup and check tenon.

So I finally got an answer from Gibson customer service:

"

akazaran said:

So I finally got an answer from Gibson customer service:

"

Thank you for sending the pictures. The serial number of this guitar links in our database to a '59 Les Paul Standard Birdseye Maple, Washed Cherry Nickel Hardware hardware, made in Nashville, Tennessee in 2019."

I am very surprised because the store was selling this guitar as a 2017 guitar and the guitar is not a 60th anniversary. Is gibson Customer service usually reliable?
​

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Gibson oh Gibson :bigal

BIRDSEYE!!!!
Please post pics. Birdseye Maple is my favorite.



I'll give ya a dollar for it.

Here is my baby:

Sorry for the qualitry. Here is a close-up:

Gee, that's one you don't see every day. Very nice!