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CS 60th Anniv. '59 has weight relief????

NotJeffBeck

New member
Joined
Mar 31, 2019
Messages
24
I have had my CS 60th '59 for about a year and a half, bought from the first shipments from the Custom Shop after the 2019 NAMM show.
Tonight I was examining it and went all over the top, rapping it with a knuckle to hear the sound.
I am convinced that I am hearing solid areas and hollow areas that pretty much line up with Modern Weight Relief pattern.
Is that even possible for a 1959 Historic? It's supposed to be a totally faithful reproduction of the solid 1959... so what else could explain what I am hearing?
What if, in the rush to get them out after NAMM and after making a big deal about "bankruptcy or not, we're still here"... what if there just wasn't enough proper weight mahogany ready for that run so the Custom Shop just grabbed some weight relieved cores to build with and stay on schedule and on quota? "Nobody will ever know"?
 

Tim Plains

Active member
Joined
Aug 1, 2013
Messages
795
Doubtful. I think you are just hearing things. Have you knocked on any other Les Pauls?
 

GotTheSilver

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 14, 2007
Messages
2,433
I couldn't see this as being remotely possible. Could you imagine the negative press if someone proved that their R9 was weight relieved, counter to everything Gibson has said? Given the way some people are fanatical about these guitars, something like that would surely be discovered and harshly denounced.
 

axeman565758

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 23, 2007
Messages
1,204
Possible? I guess it could be....Probable? nah....in fact I highly doubt it
 

somebodyelseuk

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 10, 2020
Messages
454
Hmmm.
Grabbing weight relieved bodies in a rush? Unless the CS makes a weight relieved model, it's extremely unlikely.
Gibson USA are in different buildings to the Custom Shop. The Custom Shop views itself as a separate company, I doubt they even use the same parts suppliers.
 

NotJeffBeck

New member
Joined
Mar 31, 2019
Messages
24
It does seems next to impossible. I would like to get it X-rayed. I don't have a clue where I could go to get that done though.
To answer Tim Plains, yes I have rapped on other Les Pauls, quite a few. They generally sound like a solid block of wood - high pitched.
Maybe I have a chunk of wood so resonant, it defies anything I've heard before. But how odd that it has low pitched and high pitched zones right next to each other.
 

El Gringo

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 8, 2015
Messages
5,655
Hmmm.
Grabbing weight relieved bodies in a rush? Unless the CS makes a weight relieved model, it's extremely unlikely.
Gibson USA are in different buildings to the Custom Shop. The Custom Shop views itself as a separate company, I doubt they even use the same parts suppliers.

So True as Gibson Custom sources there own wood from the State of Washington as told to me right in person upon my visit to Gibson Custom last September .
 

El Gringo

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 8, 2015
Messages
5,655
It does seems next to impossible. I would like to get it X-rayed. I don't have a clue where I could go to get that done though.
To answer Tim Plains, yes I have rapped on other Les Pauls, quite a few. They generally sound like a solid block of wood - high pitched.
Maybe I have a chunk of wood so resonant, it defies anything I've heard before. But how odd that it has low pitched and high pitched zones right next to each other.

Anything is possible as wood is produced by Mother Nature . Natures finest !
 

dickie

New member
Joined
Sep 27, 2020
Messages
7
I just bought a 60th anniversary 1960 V1 (my first LP) and out of interest just weighed it. It came in at 3.575 kg which converts out to smidgen under 7.9 pounds. Reading around the forum this would seem to be very much on the lightweight side, but the scales I used are pretty accurate so I am confident in the measurement. I tried the tapping thing and can't really hear anything to suggest weight relief, and indeed these anniversary models are certainly advertised as having none. It's a lovely guitar though... resonates well and sounds great, so I have no problem with it being a low weight example :)
 
Last edited:

Lewis Liu

Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2021
Messages
37
Hmmm.
Grabbing weight relieved bodies in a rush? Unless the CS makes a weight relieved model, it's extremely unlikely.
Gibson USA are in different buildings to the Custom Shop. The Custom Shop views itself as a separate company, I doubt they even use the same parts suppliers.
Yes, I also think that is extremely impossible, but custom shop does make a weight relieved model, the regular Les Paul Custom for example. It is clearly stated in Gibson website that they use 9-hole weight relief in building the regular Les Paul Custom.
 
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