PSA: 1996 R9 with a RIDICULOUS top

andrew

No affiliation with the seller:

https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/gibson-les-paul-1959-reissue-r9-1996-custom-art-historic-/1163625313

Got to be the craziest top I've ever seen on a Les Paul - just mad.

jd0272

It's ok. It's not the £££'s asked IMO.

Adam_MD

R9s weren't £5,500 new in '96 were they?

crunchman

I remember seeing one priced at £3950 in '99.  £5500 would appear to be an exaggeration.

Very nice looking guitar but agree it's overpriced.

hobbio

Too much money, surely?

johnonguitar

I think he could get close to that if he finds the right buyer. That's someone's wet dream right there

musicman100

crunchman;1031274" said:

I remember seeing one priced at £3950 in '99.  £5500 would appear to be an exaggeration.



Very nice looking guitar but agree it's overpriced.

crunchman;1031274" said:

I remember seeing one priced at £3950 in '99.  £5500 would appear to be an exaggeration.



Very nice looking guitar but agree it's overpriced.

crunchman;1031274" said:

I remember seeing one priced at £3950 in '99.  £5500 would appear to be an exaggeration.



Very nice looking guitar but agree it's overpriced.

maybe it was just an RRP and not what they were actually selling for.

Branshen

Had a quick glance through. Beautiful guitar, but I agree that it'd be hard to justify paying that price.

richardhomer

And twenty years less accurate that this year's.....

As always, next year's will be 'really' accurate.

ICBM

Crazy indeed - that they let it out like that. Very poorly matching top - the treble side is nice, the bass side is a mess.

It might sound nice though, who knows...

WezV

ICBM;1031318" said:

Crazy indeed - that they let it out like that. Very poorly matching top - the treble side is nice, the bass side is a mess.

It might sound nice though, who knows...

Its mainly the angles.

1st pic, bass side figuring looks faint. 2nd pic, treble side figuring looks faint. 3rd pic, both sides look evenly figured.

That tells me the top will really come alive when viewed in the real world... Proper 3D holographic effect

ICBM

It's the way the bass side looks like it has two slightly mismatching flame patterns superimposed, most noticeable parallel with the tailpiece, bridge and pickup.

It does disappear in the second pic, but it's in all the others, so it's not just a trick of the lighting angle. I normally like uneven flame and not even, but that just looks odd.

The sunburst looks a bit uneven too, it's noticeably darker around the knobs than on the other side. Picky, yes! But at the prices these are they should be done right.

andyoz

I'm not that impressed with the top TBH?

ThorpyFX

Adam_MD said:

R9s weren't £5,500 new in '96 were they?

I paid £3200 for a new r9 in 2007 (which I sold like an idiot at my ex's behest) so I doubt they were £5500 in 1996......

Adam_MD

ThorpyFX;1031567" said:

Adam_MD said:

R9s weren't £5,500 new in '96 were they?







I paid £3200 for a new r9 in 2007 (which I sold like an idiot at my ex's behest) so I doubt they were £5500 in 1996......

I didn't think so cheers.

WezV

ICBM;1031561" said:

It's the way the bass side looks like it has two slightly mismatching flame patterns superimposed, most noticeable parallel with the tailpiece, bridge and pickup.

It does disappear in the second pic, but it's in all the others, so it's not just a trick of the lighting angle. I normally like uneven flame and not even, but that just looks odd.

The sunburst looks a bit uneven too, it's noticeably darker around the knobs than on the other side. Picky, yes! But at the prices these are they should be done right.

Dude, its wood!!

I see a nicely matched, but slightly riftsawn top. The two side react differently to the light, but they are clearly both reacting quite a bit.

To me that's a near perfect top, in fact it probably looks nicer than it would if it was not rift sawn



Not for you maybe. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with it

Skipped

I don't see how this is a very rare guitar as described by the seller. Gibson have churned these out on an industrial scale.
But it is nice and would sell at the correct price.

ICBM

WezV said:

Dude, its wood!!

I see a nicely matched, but slightly riftsawn top. The two side react differently to the light, but they are clearly both reacting quite a bit.

To me that's a near perfect top, in fact it probably looks nicer than it would if it was not rift sawn


Not for you maybe. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with it

Not for me, definitely.

I see a top with significantly mismatched grain between the two sides. I actually like 'uneven' flame - I find perfectly parallel, equal-width stripes boring - but in the sense of unevenness across the length and width, not from one side to the other .

In any case, this is *far* from the most spectacular top I've ever seen on an R9, even if you like that sort of thing (I don't really), so I'm not quite sure what all the fuss is about - it's just an average, not-very-perfectly chosen or finished piece of wood. Very typically Gibson, which is fine.

But then I tend to prefer goldtops and black Customs anyway .

Iamnobody

You are right it is ridiculous much prefer a good plain top or a GT any day...

Each to their own though I guess..

Someone will be happy.

Gassage

I think it's bloody stunning.

Re the price, it's a 'pre-historic' 'goodwood' era model and they fetch top coin.

Braz fretboard for sure too.

thomasross20

Looks good to me but what a price!