Bought a 2018 Historic R9?

[These go to 11]

Sorry for the newbie question but i recently bought a '18 R9 VOS and just noticed there are no fret nibs on the binding at the end of the frets?
Do some Custom shop Les Paul's not have the binding nibs or is it likely it was Re-fretted? The edge of the fingerboard is rounded/rolled so i am not sure if that
has anything to do with the R9 not having binding nibs?

 

[Tim Plains]

Historic nibs are a lot smaller than Gibson USA guitars unless it had a refret and were removed completely.

 

[These go to 11]

Historic nibs are a lot smaller than Gibson USA guitars unless it had a refret and were removed completely.

Thank you. I looked at the binding really close under good lighting and magnification and there is only the side of the fret. Not even a small amount on binding there.
If it was Re fretted i wish i knew why it was? the guitar is not that old and other than the Vos treatment on the hardware looks brand new so i don't think it was played a lot.
I have been trying to learn what i can about these Re-issues in the forums but Gibson's modern history timeline is very confusing!?

 

[S. Weiger]

Thank you. I looked at the binding really close under good lighting and magnification and there is only the side of the fret. Not even a small amount on binding there.
If it was Re fretted i wish i knew why it was? the guitar is not that old and other than the Vos treatment on the hardware looks brand new so i don't think it was played a lot.
I have been trying to learn what i can about these Re-issues in the forums but Gibson's modern history timeline is very confusing!?

A good pic is worth a thousand words

The best place to locate traces of nibs are at the last 5-6 frets usually. Higher up the nibs might have worn away if the guitar was played a lot.
That's my experience, with R9's & vintage stuff anyhow.
Oh, and welcome to LPF btw.

 

[These go to 11]

A good pic is worth a thousand words

The best place to locate traces of nibs are at the last 5-6 frets usually. Higher up the nibs might have worn away if the guitar was played a lot.
That's my experience, with R9's & vintage stuff anyhow.
Oh, and welcome to LPF btw.

Thank you. I tried to upload pics but keep getting a error that the file size is too large?

 

[S. Weiger]

Thank you. I tried to upload pics but keep getting a error that the file size is too large?

Yes you have to reduce the size, I think under 1 Mbyte or thereabout.
Trial & error

 

[These go to 11]

Yes you have to reduce the size, I think under 1 Mbyte or thereabout.
Trial & error

 

[MarcB]

You can use a third party photo hosting site if you can’t upload pics.. but resizing does work..

 

[These go to 11]

You can use a third party photo hosting site if you can’t upload pics.. but resizing does work..

I resized it to the lowest possible available size on my galaxy phone and it is still too large at 2Mbyte. Not a problem i will just accept the R9 has been Re-fretted and be more careful
next time i buy a used Custom shop guitar. The very end of the fret is laying on top of the binding so i do not see any possible way a nib could have be there.
Never heard of Gibson ever sending any CS's out without binding nibs unless ordered that way.

 

[LPR6]

I resized it to the lowest possible available size on my galaxy phone and it is still too large at 2Mbyte. Not a problem i will just accept the R9 has been Re-fretted and be more careful
next time i buy a used Custom shop guitar. The very end of the fret is laying on top of the binding so i do not see any possible way a nib could have be there.
Never heard of Gibson ever sending any CS's out without binding nibs unless ordered that way.

Frets on top of binding means a refret if it’s an R9, or any R for that matter.

 

[These go to 11]

Frets on top of binding means a refret if it’s an R9, or any R for that matter.

Thank you i was pretty sure of this but what made me question it is Why it was Re-fretted? maybe the previous owner was going for a different wire size?
Unfortunately i have no clue to what wire the 2018 R9's had stock?
Finding this info on Gibson's is a real chore because they changed all the time! ?

 

[S. Weiger]

Thank you i was pretty sure of this but what made me question it is Why it was Re-fretted? maybe the previous owner was going for a different wire size?
Unfortunately i have no clue to what wire the 2018 R9's had stock?
Finding this info on Gibson's is a real chore because they changed all the time! ?

Does your R9 show traces of heavy use? If yes, that's prolly the reason for refret. If no, maybe for diff. fret wire size as you mention.
Re. pics size: If you don't have acces to a PC , I'd try looking for a Photoshop-ish app for your Galaxy.
IDK if that sounds far out ?

 

[These go to 11]

Does your R9 show traces of heavy use? If yes, that's prolly the reason for refret. If no, maybe for diff. fret wire size as you mention.
Re. pics size: If you don't have acces to a PC , I'd try looking for a Photoshop-ish app for your Galaxy.
IDK if that sounds far out ?

It is a Vos so the hardware is worn but the body finish is in excellent condition No dings,dents or scratches at all. I also found out that it is from Oct 2018
which explains why it has some 2019 appointments like a dark cherry back(early 18's have the faded lighter cherry) it also has the ambered Logo and tinted binding
The early 18's which were just leftover 17's as i was told? Had the bright logo and white binding. I think the Custombuckers are unpotted as well?
This R9 has definitely made me research 2018's!?

 

[These go to 11]

Here are a few pics i had from the original FS post,

 

[jb_abides]

Looks great, congrats!

I can't tell by looking but as stated before, it could be someone was going for another size (or material) upon buying it. Some do...

 

[These go to 11]

Looks great, congrats!

I can't tell by looking but as stated before, it could be someone was going for another size (or material) upon buying it. Some do...

If there was ever nibs they are long gone because the fret ends are laying on top of the binding edge now. Guess the Fret guy that did the work either did not want to
go through the PITA to save the nibs or the original owner did not like them and wanted them gone? I will never know since i bought this from a Shop that got it in along with a bunch of other used CS LP's. apparently there are many selling them to shop's and on R****b?

 

[jb_abides]

If there was ever nibs they are long gone because the fret ends are laying on top of the binding edge now. Guess the Fret guy that did the work either did not want to
go through the PITA to save the nibs or the original owner did not like them and wanted them gone? I will never know since i bought this from a Shop that got it in along with a bunch of other used CS LP's. apparently there are many selling them to shop's and on R****b?

Sometimes folks ask for longer frets to deter slippage off the edge.

You'll never know for yours, so just enjoy!

 

[These go to 11]

Sometimes folks ask for longer frets to deter slippage off the edge.

You'll never know for yours, so just enjoy!

Yeah you are 100% right and for all in know this may have been a M2M? Didn't Gibson first start offering the M2M custom options program in '18?

 

[El Gringo]

The harness was replaced ? I wonder why ?

 

[These go to 11]

The harness was replaced ? I wonder why ?

The original owner went with Nos 60's spragues and new CTS audio taper pots. I read many dislike the stock harness