Hi Just thought i'd jump into this discussion about CS9's. I went to my (not so) local guitar dealer and tried a true historic, a 2015 R9 and a CS9. I bought the CS9. Let me tell you why. The true Historic was out of my budget and I would find it hard to justify the extra £1700 for, lets face it, not much difference (plastic bits a few tool marks and hand sanded (big deal) the ONLY difference between the R9 and a CS9 is the neck joint everything else is the same. Am I gonna get upset about something that A) i can't see and B) has no significance in sound, tone, sustain or anything else that keeps the "purist" awake at night, no. The reason i did buy the CS9 over the R9 was i had a slighly better feel/connection for the guitar and the top was dirty lemon over a lemonburst and the figure/top/flame/wood grain appealed to me just a little bit more. Go back a few years and the fingerboards on some older R9's weren't one piece. but i'm sure the people with two piece finger boards enjoy their guitars just as much.