'54 Gold Top reissue accuracy

[GGJaguar]

I've read with great interest about the accuracy of the R9's, but I was wondering how accurate the other reissues are? The Customs clearly lose out on accuracy points since they are fitted with Grover Rotomatics.

So what about the '54 reissue? Anyone compare it to an original?

Thanks!

GG

 

[ToneMaven]

I hear the R9 authentics have Grovers. What's authentic about that??

 

[Unmensch]

I think all of the historics are great in their own right. But as far as nit-picking accuracy goes, heres what I gather so far:

I think I read on this forum that the historic customs have a glued on mahog. top, whereas the originals have one piece body.

As far as the goldtop goes, I think it has all of the '59 inaccuracies plus a little bit more due to the fact that most of the historic tooling is based on the '59 model. On the originals, it seems like the '52s start with a very pronounced crisp top carve with a bulging belly and a sharp transition about an 1.5" away from the binding. By '60 it seems like the top carve is smoothed out with more gradual flowing curves. My take on the historic top carves is that they tends to be more gradual and less crisp than all of the carves from '52 to '60.

The other thing is the headstock logo is lower and the truss cover is farther away from the nut on the earlier goldtops. I think the top of the headstock tends to have more "pucker" in the middle of the "moustache" too.