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My 2002 R8 Flametop at Historic Makeovers

ChevChelios

Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2012
Messages
774
Inspired by the wonderful pictures of that amazing R7 Custom http://www.lespaulforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=178801 I finally decided to send my precious and deeply loved R8 from 2002 to Kim and the guys for a makeover.

I recently had the pleasure of playing an original 60s at Emerald City Guitars (posted a short essay of that happening here: http://www.lespaulforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=181575 ) and just couldn't get over the fact that despite the fact that the R8 came extremely close to the sound of the Burst, it just didn't feel right. And it also didn't look right. The neck felt cumbersome, the sunburst was all too bright, the binding looked weird, etc.

So after seeing the results of the makeover of that Custom, I called Kim and sent in my guitar.
The tricky thing was that I did not want to change too much of the sound of the R8, so I decided to keep the neck and fretboard as they are (it is some particularly nice piece of fretboard, anyway), but wanted to get rid of the original paint and those rounded inlays. The appearance of Alberta (the 60s burst) totally knocked my out, so after a couple of e-mails we settled on a very faded burst, which still shows some good amounts of green in the faded areas.

Long story short, Kim and the guys nailed (and eventually exceeded) my expectations. What a beautiful guitar that is! I'll post some pictures of the final guitar as soon as I get them from Kim.

Here are two pictures of the R8 before the makeover
P1010503sm.jpg

Naomi2sm.jpg


Here she is with Alberta
P1010396sm760.jpg


And here she is at her current state (before the distressing and with unmatched plastic parts)
i-qZrvpzz-L760.jpg

102312350ba.jpg

102312351_sm.jpg

Here's a picture of the fretboard
Fretboard.jpg


I'll post some new photos, as soon as the distressing, etc. is done. Can't wait to get her back next year ...
 

Red Baron

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 14, 2004
Messages
6,774
What a massive improvement! :2cool

Btw tell us about Alberta as well.
 

axeman565758

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 23, 2007
Messages
1,204
I liked the original look ....until I saw the next few frames of the finished product...WOW...thats gorgeous!! congrats on a great looking guitar.
More pics please...
 

sharq attaq

New member
Joined
Mar 14, 2004
Messages
1,636
what the hell, why would anyone want to ruin the finish on that great looking.... ummm, R.....errrr, 8?


oh, damn! That looks goooooood!

:3zone
 

drift_boat

New member
Joined
Apr 22, 2003
Messages
69
I am very impressed! And I don't impress easily!

Great article on your experiences with Alberta btw.
 

ChevChelios

Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2012
Messages
774
Hi guys and thanks a lot!

Can't wait to get my hands on her. I'll try to repeat that photo shoot with Alberta to have/show a 1:1 comparison between an original and a makeover.

Merry Christmas to everybody! :salude
 

kingsxman

Member
Joined
May 19, 2005
Messages
316
I love it. 100% better color IMHO.

So how long do people give up thier guitars for when they do a HM?
 

ChevChelios

Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2012
Messages
774
I love it. 100% better color IMHO.

So how long do people give up thier guitars for when they do a HM?

Usually between 4-6 months ... I guess it depends on how many guitars they have in their pipeline. It's a long wait ... but - based on the pictures so far - it seems to be absolutely worth it.
 

Sct13

Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2011
Messages
569
Nice, wait till you play it!

Its a whole different guitar, you'll love it. Can't wait to see the distressing.

mine took 6 months almost to the day.
 

ChevChelios

Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2012
Messages
774
Yeah, it's almost exactly 5 month since the guitar arrived at HM. Haven't heard from the guys recently, but I guess they might have been in need for some vacation, too.

I'm getting more and more nervous ... can't wait to have it back.

Happy new year! :blbros
 
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