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My 01 R8

ampdan

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Feb 6, 2007
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I bought this guitar new in 2001, just got a digital camera.:wah
4gzgilz.jpg
 

Browneyes

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Jun 22, 2006
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I have 1. The 01s are awesome. Lightweight and the thin amber lacquer really brings the guitar to life.

that's a beauty fo sho!
 
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Browneyes

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forgot to mention something that frank pointed out to me... the inlays on these seem to be les busy than other historics.

Also more of a 59 neck on mine.
 

ampdan

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Feb 6, 2007
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Thanks everybody. This is by far the sweetest guitar I own or have ever owned for that matter. I tried 11 different guitars the day I got this, R8 R9 R0's there were better tops on some, but when I played this guitar it was magic.
 

NHMorgan

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I love my 01 R8, and that one looks killer. Im not a fan of the inlays though, on mine they looked like jizzum, and nothing, I mean nothing would stain them. They look like the plasitc on my sparkley my little pony dolls. If it is possible for the color grey to fluoresce, then this would be the stuff to do it. Ok enough about the alien plastic inlays. Beautiful guitar, and these are pretty special guitars IMO.
 

Todd Louis

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Aug 7, 2002
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The Material for 01' 's is OK they cut it the wrong way on some.. Very different then 2000 back. It can get too white on some.. and the corners where round but..

The necks varied but nice Big U type on most. In 01' ALOT of things Necks Etc.. Where all over the place..!! The 2 I had where nice and had nice 58' necks's I still have one.
You really had to play a few to get the one you liked.. QC WAS A BIG ISSUE in 01'...!!

So Congratulations man You got one !!
 

ampdan

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Feb 6, 2007
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Thanks. The neck on this just feels perfect for me, nice U but it has a sort of flatter area right in the palm. It feels like it's been played for 40 years. This guitar just sings acoustically, and plugged into my 66' Deluxe Reverb it is tone heaven. Definitely a keeper.
 

Stevedenver

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Jul 17, 2001
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The Material for 01' 's is OK they cut it the wrong way on some.. Very different then 2000 back. It can get too white on some.. and the corners where round but..

The necks varied but nice Big U type on most. In 01' ALOT of things Necks Etc.. Where all over the place..!! The 2 I had where nice and had nice 58' necks's I still have one.
You really had to play a few to get the one you liked.. QC WAS A BIG ISSUE in 01'...!!

So Congratulations man You got one !!

im not sure i would charaterize it as a lack of quality control (to me that infers they were turning out poor products), but rather a lack of consistency and grading-this was the time i began to really shop historics-

IMHO gibson hadnt quite figured out the conflict between the R8 and R9 as you could get a pretty fine guitar with a top and light wood in either at the time

i think 00-02 were particularly great years for the custom shop-top quality products, imho really good quality timber too- it is my thought that the manufacturing process had really been fine tuned in these years and it was at a peak-(not talking about subsequent spec changes and tweaks) -they got a lot of things really close -color, wiehgt, shape, nice tops (didnt care for the bbq myself in that period tho) and good nitro shoots without too much plasticizer. etc

-and less internally stringent grading to the model/price range-

i can clearly recall regularly seeing even R7's and R8's with weight close to and sometimes even under 8 lbs

these were the 'good old days' when you could find ultra light in every LP model-cept customs of course-

and great tops too, and no particular neck thickness per se on any particular model cept the R0's
 

Mainah

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Jul 9, 2004
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Ampdan,

What's the serial number on that one? That top is very similar to one I have and I'm wondering if they're close.
 

Todd Louis

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Aug 7, 2002
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14,526
im not sure i would charaterize it as a lack of quality control (to me that infers they were turning out poor products), but rather a lack of consistency and grading-this was the time i began to really shop historics-

IMHO gibson hadnt quite figured out the conflict between the R8 and R9 as you could get a pretty fine guitar with a top and light wood in either at the time

i think 00-02 were particularly great years for the custom shop-top quality products, imho really good quality timber too- it is my thought that the manufacturing process had really been fine tuned in these years and it was at a peak-(not talking about subsequent spec changes and tweaks) -they got a lot of things really close -color, wiehgt, shape, nice tops (didnt care for the bbq myself in that period tho) and good nitro shoots without too much plasticizer. etc

-and less internally stringent grading to the model/price range-

i can clearly recall regularly seeing even R7's and R8's with weight close to and sometimes even under 8 lbs

these were the 'good old days' when you could find ultra light in every LP model-cept customs of course-

and great tops too, and no particular neck thickness per se on any particular model cept the R0's
Sorry Man
But 01' Was one of the worst years for Q Control in the Historic timeline..

That's one of the Reasons in 02' 59's where limited.

I am NOT saying the Guitars where bad in 01' just there where a lot and a lot of minor things that went unnoticed and shipped out.!
I myself bought a lot of 59's and 58's in 01' so I'm not knocking them
 

dwagar

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Apr 18, 2005
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First time I've ever heard this.

The '01 R9s were limited to 500 due to lack of maple, I think '02s were under the same fate. I don't believe I've ever seen anything that suggests the '02s were limited because of '01 QC issues.
 

NHMorgan

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Nov 13, 2003
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It may be due to the fact that there were well over 1000 R8 flametops put out that year alone. Mine has a a flame top, that I never was a huge fan of, although its got some interesting things going on. I played ALOT of historics before I bought this, as I never imagined I would every be able to get a shot at buying one of these again (my wife bought it as a marriage present) so I wanted to get it right. I bought one with a top I think is ok, but not perfect for me just because no other LP sounded as good. Here is what it looked like new:
R81.jpg
 
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NHMorgan

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I was suprised to learn though that all these 01 R8s had stained tops. I was under the impression that that had stopped in the late 90s
 

zensurfer

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Nov 3, 2004
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Thanks everybody. This is by far the sweetest guitar I own or have ever owned for that matter. I tried 11 different guitars the day I got this, R8 R9 R0's there were better tops on some, but when I played this guitar it was magic.

Better tops than that?!?!

I'd have to disagree (even though I wasn't there)...:lol
Seriously though, your guitar is beautiful and from your description, seems like it has it all.

Don't let it get away. I made that mistake once with an '04 R9 (due to money problems) and am paying for it everyday that I breathe. (even though the neck was bigger than most R8's that I've ever played and the pickups weren't all that great, etc, etc...but it was my first Historic and how I came about getting it and the whole story behind it, is another matter in itself that actually makes it special to "me").
 
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