NGD: LPR7 Darkback.

[somebodyelseuk]

Meet 'Shirley'.
Born on January 25th, weighing... well, I haven't weighed her yet, but guessing 8 and a halfish pounds - feels slightly heavier than my R9 (8lb 1oz), but lighter than my Tokai (8lb 11oz).





Apologies for the picture quality - it's my eyes, not the gear. 1st image is with flash, 2nd without.
Surprised that the neck feels almost the same as my 'other two'. Doesn't feel thicker just the shape might be different, hard to say, but a lot closer to the R9 than I expected. VOS doesn't seem to be as heavily applied as on my R9. The fret stuff... I like what they did. Narrower, but the height is good, so no problems with bending.
Delighted... this might just be my fave LP.

 

[GotTheSilver]

Congrats! I love a darkback goldtop! Let's see a pic of the color on the back.

 

[somebodyelseuk]

Congrats! I love a darkback goldtop! Let's see a pic of the color on the back.

Just for you...



Again, apologies... I can't say for sure which is the more accurate representation. As before, 1st image is with flash, 2nd is without.

FWIW, bear in mind I have sight damage from glaucoma AND advanced cataracts, when I take it into bright daylight, even I can see the grain through the stain. Also, to me, it appears more dark cherry than brown, but... I put it side to side with the R9 later for a comparison. I was expecting it'd be very dark brown, which it isn't, but it's a long way from the 'natural' colour of the 'regular' GT. I'll hopefully have a better idea in a couple of months, after I've had the cats done.
Pickups measure 7.95k each.

 

[AA00475Bassman]

Very nice !

 

[Froggie]

Congratulations, beautiful guitar. I would love a gold top

Enjoy!

 

[jb_abides]

Surprised that the neck feels almost the same as my 'other two'. Doesn't feel thicker just the shape might be different, hard to say, but a lot closer to the R9 than I expected.

Congrats, a beauty!

FWIW, none of my R7s feel overly thick. On mine (all pre-20013 and subsequent True Historic, post-HJ era), it's definitely a shape thing: more of a subtle Uber-soft V thing happening...

Enjoy in good health!
🍑

 

[somebodyelseuk]

"Why Shirley?", I hear no one ask.
Well, I'm a big fan of the James Bond books/films... THE classic is 'Goldfinger'... there's the scene where Bond finds the girl dead, covered in gold paint... the actress who played her is Shirley Easton... and also, the theme tune was sung by a a talented Welsh, black lady, who has the distinction of being the only person to do two Bond tunes, (Dame) Shirley Bassey.

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

 

[57 Goldtop]

Gorgeous -- Got my R7 Darkback in 2005 and it rarely sees the inside of its case!

 

[rockabilly69]

beautiful guitar, enjoy the hell out of it! My R7 is one of my favorites!

 

[renderit]

beautiful guitar, enjoy the hell out of it! My R7 is one of my favorites!

Kinda the 'unsung hero' of the humbucker variety...

 

[corpse]

Dark backs are almost black.
Nice fiddle though. Congrats.

 

[somebodyelseuk]

Dark backs are almost black.
Nice fiddle though. Congrats.

Yeah, that's what I thought, but I bought new, that's what it was advertised as, that's what it says on the box?
Ultimately, it doesn't matter to me that much. If they'd have done any, I'd have gone for an all-over gold.

 

[latestarter]

Dark backs are almost black.
Nice fiddle though. Congrats.

Modern ones can be...the ole ones were more brown like this one in my experience.

 

[Ed Driscoll]

"Why Shirley?", I hear no one ask.
Well, I'm a big fan of the James Bond books/films... THE classic is 'Goldfinger'... there's the scene where Bond finds the girl dead, covered in gold paint... the actress who played her is Shirley Easton... and also, the theme tune was sung by a a talented Welsh, black lady, who has the distinction of being the only person to do two Bond tunes, (Dame) Shirley Bassey.

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

Great looking guitar! One very minor correction -- Bassey sang three bond tunes: Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever, and Moonraker.

 

[somebodyelseuk]

Great looking guitar! One very minor correction -- Bassey sang three bond tunes: Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever, and Moonraker.

Thanks. I forgot about Moonraker.

 

[renderit]

Who sang on Deadpool 2?

 

[El Gringo]

Who sang on Deadpool 2?

Juice Newton ?

 

[Thunder Dump]

Dark backs are almost black.
Nice fiddle though. Congrats.

That's definitely a modern Gibson Goldtop/Darkback. For a brief period they were doing them as blackbacks, but a real darkback is a dark chestnut brown. This one, while a little in between, would still be classified as a darkback because it's not the normal light/natural back.

 

[somebodyelseuk]

Okay, for a bit of contrast, I hope, I took the following, again with and without flash.
The cherry LP is a late 2019 60th Annie R9 in Factory Burst. Assuming Gibson has some measure of consistency to the shade of the back of the 'bursts...
Camera is a Fuji Finepix S1900, on 'fully auto'.





There would have been no point in me trying to match the colours to the real thing, partly because my lappie monitor isn't calibrated, but mostly because my eyes are even less reliable.
FWIW, to me, in each example of the back, the first image, with flash, is the more accurate representation of how they actually look, but I wouldn't say 100% accurate.

 

[Musicman]

Nice congrats!