Legit Custom 68?

[berardo93]

Hey Guys,

I'm new to the forum, but I want to check with you if you ever saw a 68 Reissue with a 7 serial number, as the pics below show.


I already asked the Gibson customer service, but no reply yet.

 

[Wilko]

I've never seen a 7 digit number on one of these. Could be that they made a lot of guitars in '07. At least 1021 of them according to that number!

 

[Pip]

Ask Gibson

 

[Arch D. Bunker]

Mine has 6, but yours looks jake to me.

 

[Tollywood]

The 071 numbers are larger than the rest of the numbers.

 

[Tim Plains]

I haven't seen a seven digit serial but I also don't expect Gibson to stop production at 999 units. The guitar and COA look real.

 

[berardo93]

Guys,

Thanks for the help! I wasn't able to get an official answer from Gibson, but an old post from the Gibson forum shows another 7 digit 68 Reissue with the flame top. It looks like the LPC-F was a special run for Guitar Center in 2007.

 

[Arch D. Bunker]

Guys,

Thanks for the help! I wasn't able to get an official answer from Gibson, but an old post from the Gibson forum shows another 7 digit 68 Reissue with the flame top. It looks like the LPC-F was a special run for Guitar Center in 2007.

What makes you think that - I think I recall a 2000s Gibson catalog that showed this flame topped version as part of the 'standard' 68 RI line.

 

[fretout]

All of mine (five currently) all have six numerals. I’ve never seen one of seven numbers. Ever. And I’ve seen and played tons of them.

With that said, all pictures appear to be legit. Maybe it’s a weird oddity. Like an employee guitar or something. Because if it was designated a “second” or “player guitar”, I would still expect the sixth number to be an 8, with a random seventh numeral.

What makes you think that - I think I recall a 2000s Gibson catalog that showed this flame topped version as part of the 'standard' 68 RI line.

You are correct, Gibson did offer Flametop 68RIs as an option through the Made-To-Measure program, retailer-specific program, as well as on a case-by-case basis.

The Tribursts were the most prevalent burst offered on the 68s, but you can also find Ice Tea bursts and Natural Flametops. I’ve even seen an Iguanaburst 68.

All of the Flametop 68RIs were issued as “68 Custom F” on the COT. I think this may be the only time I’ve seen “68 LPC F” on a COT. For the record.

Attached below is what my COT looks like from 2007. You’ll see it a bit different in format, so I’d assume that the guitar is a little bit newer than 2007. However, by 2017, Gibson has switched from using Grover machines to Wafflebacks, so I’d guess the guitar in the OP was born somewhere between 2008 and 2013, based on the look of the COT and the hardware…

 

[Arch D. Bunker]

All of mine (five currently) all have six numerals. I’ve never seen one of seven numbers. Ever. And I’ve seen and played tons of them

View attachment 29368

Apparently not enough - this one came up as one of the first 68RIs when I googled these with 'flame top'....

 

[fretout]

Apparently not enough - this one came up as one of the first 68RIs when I googled these with 'flame top'....

View attachment 29370
View attachment 29371

Well, I’ll always agree that I haven’t played ENOUGH guitars, but I’m sure my SOs would disagree with us.

It is interesting that once again, just like the OP, the serial starts with 07XXXX8. And, a third COT type has entered the chat…

I remember many of the dealer exclusive 68RI from 2007, but I never saw any 68RIs with anything but six digit serials. GC had the Tribursts, and SA had the Naturals. The SA near me even had one 68RI that had a “milkburst” finish (alpine white fading into natural) circa 2007.

I’ll see if I can dig it up, but speaking from memory alone: there was a dealer in NJ that spec’d a bunch of 68RIs in the “ice tea burst finish” we see in the two examples above. I just can’t recall their name at the moment. I’ll see if I can find it, and maybe we can tie the weird serial numbers back to a specific shop.

 

[Arch D. Bunker]

You are correct, Gibson did offer Flametop 68RIs as an option through the Made-To-Measure program, retailer-specific program, as well as on a case-by-case basis.

View attachment 29368

Nope - what I said is that the '68 figured tops were STANDARD models in the early 2000s, part of which Gibson called 'the Custom Collection', with no less than five different finishes being offered (this shot is from the 2001 catalog - the OP's guitar likely has the butterscotch finish):

 

[fretout]

Nope - what I said is that the '68 figured tops were STANDARD models in the early 2000s, part of which Gibson called 'the Custom Collection', with no less than five different finishes being offered (this shot is from the 2001 catalog - the OP's guitar likely has the butterscotch finish):

View attachment 29378

I see. We’re speaking about two different points.

The OP’s guitar is not from 1998-2005. The silk screen on the back of the headstock dates it to post-2006.

And I believe 2005 was the last year any 1968 Reissue was mentioned in Gibson’s catalogs. 2005 was also the final year of the Custom Authentic 68RIs

In 2006, a new finish formula was introduced, along with the new “VOS” designation on specific 68RIs. The silk screened “Gibson Custom” graphic was changed from the “Custom/Art/Historic” logo, to the new “Gibson Custom Star” logo as seen in the OP’s post. 68RIs were made in special limited runs starting in 2006.

Nice find on the flyer though! That’s great to reference for the actual color names assigned to the 68 Custom Fs!

 

[berardo93]

Guys,
Thank you so much for the input! No reply from Gibson yet, but I may have confused when I said the post from the Gibson forum had the LPC-F and the 7 digit serial, when it was only the 7 digit serial (https://forum.gibson.com/topic/1745-gibson-les-paul-custom-1968-reissue/page/2/).

I'm selling some stuff to get it, as I'm pretty sure this guitar is one for life!

 

[LyleGorch]

Well, I’ll always agree that I haven’t played ENOUGH guitars, but I’m sure my SOs would disagree with us.

It is interesting that once again, just like the OP, the serial starts with 07XXXX8. And, a third COT type has entered the chat…

I remember many of the dealer exclusive 68RI from 2007, but I never saw any 68RIs with anything but six digit serials. GC had the Tribursts, and SA had the Naturals. The SA near me even had one 68RI that had a “milkburst” finish (alpine white fading into natural) circa 2007.

I’ll see if I can dig it up, but speaking from memory alone: there was a dealer in NJ that spec’d a bunch of 68RIs in the “ice tea burst finish” we see in the two examples above. I just can’t recall their name at the moment. I’ll see if I can find it, and maybe we can tie the weird serial numbers back to a specific shop.

Was the store Russ’s?

 

[fretout]

Was the store Russ’s?

Possibly, but that name doesn’t ring a bell.

 

[longrichard]

Was the store Russ’s?

Oh that brings back memories