Gibson R8 owners thread

Whitecat

danishbacon said:

RaymondLin said:

Voxman said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

To be inclusive I've not limited it to 2017 releases, though that year will always be popular with some of us, for obvious reasons

Sorry for my ignorance, but why was 2017 so popular?

And how much would a good vintage finish R8 cost, and what are the best years and why?  

2017 is the year when Peach (and GuitarGuitar) did the £2500 blow out and a LOT of people got on that boat.

Not only that @voxman, 2017 were true historic spec, hot hide glue construction, no condom on truss rod, true historic plastics, I think the only meaningful difference was that they’re not double carved tops. I don’t know whether a true historic r8 at the time was supposed to be more expensive than a big standard R8 or how it compares specs wise to other years. 

... and all R8s that year had R9 neck carves and bigger fretwire, so desirable from a playing standpoint if not as historically accurate as the ones that came before or after. 

In addition to the double-carving they were also not wet-sanded but have all the other TH specs. 

They didn’t do any True Historics after 2016 iirc. 

Whitecat

... anyway, here's my Peach feeding-frenzy R8, with the very slight DEFINITELY HISTORICALLY ACCURATE NO YOU SHUT UP neck pickup gap ... pic taken the day it arrived ...

andy1839

R8 Aged with Cream T Scanner pickups

TINMAN82

andy1839 said:

R8 Aged with Cream T Scanner pickups

The darkbursts do stand out in a sea of lemon and washed cherry. Not everyone’s cup of tea (and not sure there were many made as dark as these in 1958) but I do love mine. So here’s a second gratuitous photo of it...!

danishbacon

TINMAN82 said:

andy1839 said:

R8 Aged with Cream T Scanner pickups

The darkbursts do stand out in a sea of lemon and washed cherry. Not everyone’s cup of tea (and not sure there were many made as dark as these in 1958) but I do love mine. So here’s a second gratuitous photo of it...!

These darkbursts are really growing on me. Do they tend to fade at all and what into? Were there dark burst LPs in the late 50s @TINMAN82 ?

TINMAN82

danishbacon said:

These darkbursts are really growing on me. Do they tend to fade at all and what into? Were there dark burst LPs in the late 50s @TINMAN82 ?

There were definitely darkbursts in 59 (the Slash / Joe Perry ‘59 is a faded example). Not sure if they mixed them that dark in 58. There are relatively few ‘58s photographed in BOTB.

To my knowledge it was a case of the sprayer adding more blue to the standard cherry dye. They are dark purple rather than black in natural light.

I doubt these reissues will fade like the Slash one has. Here’s a relatively well preserved original ‘59 from BOTB. Also note the relatively plain top for a ‘59, looks very like @andy1839’s R8:

theimageofall

Here's mine:

sorefinga

These are all magnificent. Can we have an R9 thread as well? Mine hasn't had it's picture taken in a while... ;-)

MagicBus

Mine, which I'm very happy with 

danishbacon

MagicBus said:

Mine, which I'm very happy with 

what a wonderful top

MagicBus

Thanks db

daveyh

Philly_Q said:

Here's mine - it's actually not an R8, but a CR8.  It doesn't weigh much.

As I'm investigating Les Paul weights atm I have to ask, how much does it weigh?

Philly_Q

daveyh said:

Philly_Q said:

Here's mine - it's actually not an R8, but a CR8.  It doesn't weigh much.

As I'm investigating Les Paul weights atm I have to ask, how much does it weigh?

@daveyh 7lb 3oz, if I remember right.  It's fully chambered.

To be honest I would rather have an LP which looked the same from the front. but had a thinner body, belly cut and contoured heel.  And still weighed 7lb 3oz.  Variations on that approach have been used on a few LP models (e.g. the Custom Lite, Smartwoods, The Paul SL) but I think they should do it more often.

ThePrettyDamned

Philly_Q said:

daveyh said:

Philly_Q said:

Here's mine - it's actually not an R8, but a CR8.  It doesn't weigh much.

As I'm investigating Les Paul weights atm I have to ask, how much does it weigh?

@daveyh 7lb 3oz, if I remember right.  It's fully chambered.

To be honest I would rather have an LP which looked the same from the front. but had a thinner body, belly cut and contoured heel.  And still weighed 7lb 3oz.  Variations on that approach have been used on a few LP models (e.g. the Custom Lite, Smartwoods, The Paul SL) but I think they should do it more often.

I really liked the looks of the les paul vixen, Gibson had a classic, quite gender-specific marketing with it if I remember correctly. Slimmer body, light weight and really lovely pastel finish. 

Philly_Q

ThePrettyDamned said:

Philly_Q said:

daveyh said:

Philly_Q said:

Here's mine - it's actually not an R8, but a CR8.  It doesn't weigh much.

As I'm investigating Les Paul weights atm I have to ask, how much does it weigh?

@daveyh 7lb 3oz, if I remember right.  It's fully chambered.

To be honest I would rather have an LP which looked the same from the front. but had a thinner body, belly cut and contoured heel.  And still weighed 7lb 3oz.  Variations on that approach have been used on a few LP models (e.g. the Custom Lite, Smartwoods, The Paul SL) but I think they should do it more often.

I really liked the looks of the les paul vixen, Gibson had a classic, quite gender-specific marketing with it if I remember correctly. Slimmer body, light weight and really lovely pastel finish. 

Agreed, but I also like the slightly posher Les Paul Goddess.  I only found out recently that not only are the bodies slimmer, they're also slightly smaller.  Perfect.... except they (not unsurprisingly) have skinny necks.

ThePrettyDamned

Philly_Q said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

Philly_Q said:

daveyh said:

Philly_Q said:

Here's mine - it's actually not an R8, but a CR8.  It doesn't weigh much.

As I'm investigating Les Paul weights atm I have to ask, how much does it weigh?

@daveyh 7lb 3oz, if I remember right.  It's fully chambered.

To be honest I would rather have an LP which looked the same from the front. but had a thinner body, belly cut and contoured heel.  And still weighed 7lb 3oz.  Variations on that approach have been used on a few LP models (e.g. the Custom Lite, Smartwoods, The Paul SL) but I think they should do it more often.

I really liked the looks of the les paul vixen, Gibson had a classic, quite gender-specific marketing with it if I remember correctly. Slimmer body, light weight and really lovely pastel finish. 

Agreed, but I also like the slightly posher Les Paul Goddess.  I only found out recently that not only are the bodies slimmer, they're also slightly smaller.  Perfect.... except they (not unsurprisingly) have skinny necks.

Yup, want both. Either/or. 

Keefy

My CR8

... will appear as soon as I scan get on a computer.

danishbacon

Philly_Q said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

Philly_Q said:

daveyh said:

Philly_Q said:

Here's mine - it's actually not an R8, but a CR8.  It doesn't weigh much.

As I'm investigating Les Paul weights atm I have to ask, how much does it weigh?

@daveyh 7lb 3oz, if I remember right.  It's fully chambered.

To be honest I would rather have an LP which looked the same from the front. but had a thinner body, belly cut and contoured heel.  And still weighed 7lb 3oz.  Variations on that approach have been used on a few LP models (e.g. the Custom Lite, Smartwoods, The Paul SL) but I think they should do it more often.

I really liked the looks of the les paul vixen, Gibson had a classic, quite gender-specific marketing with it if I remember correctly. Slimmer body, light weight and really lovely pastel finish. 

Agreed, but I also like the slightly posher Les Paul Goddess.  I only found out recently that not only are the bodies slimmer, they're also slightly smaller.  Perfect.... except they (not unsurprisingly) have skinny necks.

Interesting, looks very similar to the approach taken by the 2014 melody makers (genuine regret at having sold my yellow one years ago)

Keefy

My CR8 (C = chambered). It is semi-hollow in a similar way to a Gretsch Duo Jet, not just weight relieved by having chunks drilled out of the body. The neck is very chunky but still comfortable. I removed the scratchplate a while back.

I prefer solid finishes to obviously woody ones, but I bought this because to me it was the best sounding LP in the shop my some distance.

Jonathanthomas83

sorefinga said:

These are all magnificent. Can we have an R9 thread as well? Mine hasn't had it's picture taken in a while... ;-)

The 2017 R8's are basically R9's without the blingy tops. Im not against widening the scope of this thread, or indeed feel free to start another. Happy to go with the flow :-)