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Guitar With Interesting / Contradictory History (R8/R9)

R

RustySummerfield

New member
Joined
Oct 3, 2024
Messages
7
Hi All,

First of all, I've browsed this forum without an account for some time. I've not posted before, but I made an account because I've run into a mystery that might actually be of interest. At least, I hope I'm not wasting anyone's time.

I believe that I own one of the limited number of stinger R8/R9 guitars from the Burst Brothers run, but my emails with Gibson customer service indicate that Gibson is not sure whether I'm right or not, and/or sort of doubts it.

The thing is, I've read the forum threads here about those guitars, and the serial number lines up between the guitars that have previously been discussed in these forums. Here are some photos of the guitar:


PXL_20240928_165358943.jpgPXL_20240928_165558963.jpgPXL_20240928_165459765.jpgPXL_20240928_165252018.jpg

This post is already long, so I won't post the whole transcript of the customer service emails. But the short of it is I asked them to help me ID this guitar and provided the background on the R8/R9 Burst Brothers story, and their response boiled down to this:

"It just looks like a '58 Figured Top with a stinger. The Music Machine models had different serial numbers, and I’m not sure if there was anything particularly special about the "Burst Brothers" models. To my knowledge, they weren’t even an official series. Could this be one? Maybe, but there's no strong reason to assume that and unfortunately we don't have records on it. I'm sorry for the lack of info Gibson has on these.

My issue with the whole Burst Brothers story has always been the re-labeling as R8s. If they were really R9s, it would’ve made more sense to sell them as R9s to me but again, it remains a mystery.

Thanks,
Consumer Support
Gibson, Inc.
www.gibson.com"

I don't wish to actively disagree with the above, but my curiosity compels me: the SN here is lower than and in series with one of the guitars in this thread.

Does anyone feel like they have more information about this guitar than Gibson had, or that they can confirm Gibson's right? I'm curious either way. I've always wondered what this guitar is, and I've had it for over 10 years now. . .
 
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F

fred dons

Active member
Joined
Jul 20, 2001
Messages
335
it remind me a bit of the players choice series Gibson made for Session.de, these had R9 shaped necks, highly figured tops but a R8 serial number, which made it a more affordable guitar whilst still having R9 specs
 
Xpensive Wino

Xpensive Wino

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 3, 2012
Messages
7,169
There's a persistent story that the R8s like yours were re-purposed Don Felder models.

Prior to this guitar being made, the Custom Shop was making the Don Felder signature R9 Les Pauls that were meant to replicate Felder's 'Burst that he used to record "Hotel California" among other Eagles' songs.

After some time, they decided to end the run early, even though more guitars were already in production. Gibson painted a stinger over the back of the headstock to hide the Felder signature serial number, retrofitted an ABR-1 bridge to the Nashville post spacing (Felder's 'Burst was modded to have a Nashville bridge installed on it, so they made the post spacing to fit a Nashville), scraped the 9 in R9 in the control cavity (and overstamped it with an 8), and re-branded the serial numbers as R8s.

58 6.jpg​


For this reason, these guitars tend to have really great tops and also have a really great '59 neck profile meant to mimic Felder's 'Burst.

Also, since the color was supposed to be a unique match to the original and didn't really match any of the typical Reissue finishes, they called it Western Desert Fade.
 
R

RustySummerfield

New member
Joined
Oct 3, 2024
Messages
7
Xpensive Wino said:
There's a persistent story that the R8s like yours were re-purposed Don Felder models.

Prior to this guitar being made, the Custom Shop was making the Don Felder signature R9 Les Pauls that were meant to replicate Felder's 'Burst that he used to record "Hotel California" among other Eagles' songs.

After some time, they decided to end the run early, even though more guitars were already in production. Gibson painted a stinger over the back of the headstock to hide the Felder signature serial number, retrofitted an ABR-1 bridge to the Nashville post spacing (Felder's 'Burst was modded to have a Nashville bridge installed on it, so they made the post spacing to fit a Nashville), scraped the 9 in R9 in the control cavity (and overstamped it with an 8), and re-branded the serial numbers as R8s.



For this reason, these guitars tend to have really great tops and also have a really great '59 neck profile meant to mimic Felder's 'Burst.

Also, since the color was supposed to be a unique match to the original and didn't really match any of the typical Reissue finishes, they called it Western Desert Fade.
Click to expand...
Ah, thank you. That makes a lot of sense because the neck is quite thin--which I like a lot--and I've regularly wondered why. What should I look for on the bridge posts to confirm they are Nashville posts, or to confirm that the ABR-1 that is on there now was retrofitted?
 
Xpensive Wino

Xpensive Wino

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 3, 2012
Messages
7,169
RustySummerfield said:
Ah, thank you. That makes a lot of sense because the neck is quite thin--which I like a lot--and I've regularly wondered why. What should I look for on the bridge posts to confirm they are Nashville posts, or to confirm that the ABR-1 that is on there now was retrofitted?
Click to expand...
I can't tell you. I had my tech replace the original posts, tailpiece and bridge with Callaham hardware. He didn't mention any difficulties.

I'm sure someone here knows.

Robbie693

Thread 'Bridge post spacing'

Hello,

Quick question if I may, can someone tell me if the post spacings for a Nashville bridge are different to those for an ABR-1?

Reason I ask is that I bought a Faber ABR-1 that supposedly fits Nashville posts but it doesn't.. The holes on the Faber are closer together. So I'm wondering if I got the wrong one or there's something different with my guitar

Cheers

Robbie
 
garywright

garywright

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 17, 2002
Messages
16,019
👆post a closeup of the body showing the wood below the bridge thumbwheel
 
akstrat61

akstrat61

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 16, 2004
Messages
1,856
Drew is on FB. You may want to ask him directly, he may have more info on the BB Run.
 
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