99 R9 vs 01 R8

[1959burst]

my buddy brought over his 99 r9 and i finally got to compare the two side by side, first thing i checked was the headstocks with a caliper and they are EXACTLY the same. his les paul model silkscreen was lower than the 01 r8 that was the only difference. the body carve,the r9 had a very distinct belly the 01 r8 was very flat at the pickups. finish, the 99 was very thick finish and as hard as glass no sticky on this puppy, but boy was it applied thick! the bridge angle on the 99 was real great on the 01 r8 it was less. also the 99's knobs were spaced different compared to the 01r8. yes the binding is thicker on the 99 also. funny how all these little things add up to us anal retentive les paul lovers but it does, the 99 sounded great all the same,i just thought you guys would want to hear about my findings...................cheers!

 

[Gazza]

Those tid-bits of info. are always interesting, thanks 1959burst.;\

 

[Roe Bow]

Cool

I love the colours on the 99's. I prefer the fingerboards, light tailpieces and top carves on the R8 1-2's.

 

[Luke Gibson]

I know my '94 R9 really had a prominate dish top, my '01 R9 seems to have less, and also has the flatter pickup carve. I spoke to Tom Murphy about the new dish contour and he told me he likes it better(FWIW). Gibson is definately making small changes as they slowly inch they're way closer and closer to the original '59 specs, I don't think these changes make for a better guitar just a more accurate one!

 

[fl_799]

And when Gibson nails '59 specs, we'll finally wake up, wise up and realize that there is no hard numbers for ANY of the specs on any soft tooled instrument from the 1950's!

 

[toni]

I agree with you guys,

yeah... and accurate to wich particular guitar anyway...
they were handmade,....and they are still handmade...

...wich is great.

but for !@#*&#@ i hate those Classic 57's.:dead: