2014 Gibson Les Paul Standard 1958 Reissue

Well this guitar has a very interesting story,

I bought an R8 from Dave’s Guitar is Wisconsin, it was a Hand Picked Series ordered by the shop, a run of 100 or so guitars, all of them lightweight and just wonderful tops especially for the 1958 reissues. I picked one with perfect color and weight and a small neck….but when I got it home I immediately noticed some serious quality issues and as a result I could not accept that guitar, despite its beauty. So to make a long story short, the end result was that Gibson decided it was best to rebuild the guitar and they sent me some photos of  maple blanks so that I could choose the top that best replicated the original  ..I picked # 3 in the photo’s below and they inserted it into the production line. When it got out of paint, they sent me the two photos below and I OK’d the colors.

They finished it up and I took delivery in July of 2015. This all started in March BTW….The guitar wound up a bit heavier 8 lbs 12 oz as opposed to the original 8 lbs 4 oz and the neck is a little smaller than I like….so I will see if I can bond with it….there are no big quality issues with this one however.

So the vital stats for Skew # LPR8HPEXSBNH1 are

Wt 8lbs 12 oz

Neck measures

1st fret .883

12th fret .967

Custom Bucker Pickups

Great pots on this, good taper and they do not go muddy too bad when rolled off. Tonally it is bright, with a good amount of bass response, I would call it well balanced. Plugged in the custom buckers are pretty damn good. The guitars woods interact with a Marshall amplifier at volume very nicely.

* Picture #5 in the Gallery below is the original R8 while it was at Gibson for the color comparison, I was told that the guitar was “band sawed” and thrown out…..I don’t believe it for a second….It will show up refinished as a Collectors Choice somewhere with a higher price tag… probably overseas……..

Gibson, however made very good on their warranty. However I did NOT get the zebra pickups that the original guitar came with….not sure what happened there….I made it known to Dave’s and never heard back.

I guess they got sick of me….:~)

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