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lets talk about Historic prices way back in the "good ol days " ......

Dr. Green

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Dec 12, 2018
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so my first Historic was a 2003 57 goldtop reissue from Saul in a store that was called "Center City Music" in southern California

bought the guitar brand new in 2003 for $1350 tax included

Saul begged me to buy the one with BRW for a few hundred more and I passed thinking he was full of it

He also had a full blown display of the Leonard Skynard limited version that I should have bought - live and learn !

I remember seeing the "pre-historic" lesters on the walls of guitar center in the 80s but dont remember the prices

anyway .... would love to hear stories from the "good O days " when these babies were not so expensive .....
 

DANELECTRO

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Feb 24, 2003
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My first Historic was a 2003 Brazilian board R7 purchased new for $1800:
HomemadePickguards015800.jpg



Later that year I bought this 2003 R9 for $3600:
Im007823%201024_zpspfwdtyga.jpg
 

Dr. Green

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Dec 12, 2018
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Danelectro -

you bring memories back to me .....

the BWR was about $1800 so Saul wanted about $500 more for it than the regular ones - that sounds right.

but you also reminded me how extremely more expensive the 59's were

now a days the goldtops and 58s go for a fortune in comparison to the 59s - there is not the huge cost divide

now here is a video off the web of what I almost bought instead of the goldtop
the Rossington historic came with a bitchin display

wish I could remember what the price was in 2003 ????

if nobody minds lets talk about "the good o days"



 

goldtop0

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Aug 19, 2003
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I wasn't as fortunate as you guys my one came from Music Machine(Washington State) in '03 who were a Gibson dealer back then.
They had non braz, braz and braz + stinger and I opted for a R0 braz that cost me around US$4400 or so.........the non braz R0 and R9s were around $3.6k and braz with stinger around $5.4k.
I learnt a lot from that guitar and kept it until 2015.
Being here in NZ I started to buy from the net as no local dealers stocked the CS historics, we'd see maybe 2-4 each year come into the country......... and that's still the same today.
 

Dr. Green

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I also remember seeing huge displays of the stinger historics at the shows back then .

I remember playing a Dumble overdrive which was around 10k at the shows too.

I hated the pups in those 2003's and swapped out for a Lollar imperial way back before he became famous - wow what an upgrade !

(those burst buckers really sucked....)

I remember that the prices stayed low going forward about 4 years to 2007 but there was a huge improvement in the mahogany and rosewood as Gibson was pulling wood out of the old growth forest in Honduras

other recollections were that you could get great deals on the blonde fender amps back then and other cool stuff like super champs

if memory serves the historics were not that much more than the regular line so it was crazy not to get yourself one
 

jrgtr42

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Mar 24, 2005
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I used to work at a certain large chain of guitar stores around the turn of the century.
We had a 3 '97 - 98 historics tagged at $3K, if I remember right. a '58R|I and 2 '59s. Only one of them sounded worth a damn... restring, adjust, didn't make a difference. those 2 wouldn't sustain for anything, and the notes they did play sounded dull, like your ears were stuffed with cotton. The management wondered why we couldn't keep PRS in stock at the same prices but these wouldn't move.
At this point I have no idea what we had into them - I would have known at the time, but easily could have knocked $500 off, if not more.
'57 RIs were tagged around $2000 or so, if I remember. '54s about $2500
At that time, Standards were $1500 or thereabouts.
 

EXPLRGAB

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I purchased LES PAUL CUSTOM FRETLESS WONDER IN 1971 AT SILVER AND HARLAN IN LOWER MANHATTAN...IT WAS $ 592.07.
 

sws1

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Dec 4, 2001
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I seem to recall paying $3100 for my first R9, back in 2000. Had it for a long time.

2004, bought one of the 55 Duane Allman Hotlanta guitars. It was a fortune at the time. I wanna say $8k. But I sold it for $13k about 5 years later.

Had a 2002 R9 Custom Authentic, but don't remember what I paid for it. Somewhere in the $3-4k range.
 

axeman565758

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Jan 23, 2007
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If ya wanna go wayyyy back, Dec 1985. My '85 (pre) Historic "1959 Reissue", from Don Greenwald at Rainbow Music. $1000.00 (marked "shipped" on receipt so no sales tax was charged)
Anyway, summer of 2002 I bought my R7 Goldtop brand new. $2199.00, plus tax. They had a (leftover from 2001, believe it or not) Dickey Betts Goldtop there for $2699.00 and a new Gary Rossington for $2899.00
If I only knew!!!!!!
 

Guitardon

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Feb 3, 2002
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I just saw the receipt for my heavily flamed R8, it was 3100. I’m talking about one of the ultra flamed tops they used on a bunch of R8’s that year

i went through 5 or 6 Brazilian 2003 R9’s The one I should have kept was one of the few Murphy Brazilian models from 2003. I think that guitar is very rare and that one had a real cool top, not your everyday flame. I think it was $4200. I sold it right away cause I bought so many guitars that year I had to get out of debt. I don’t even have a picture of it.
 

57 Goldtop

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In August of 2005, I bought a brand new R7 Darkback for $2,100 (Gibson Custom hardshell case and all the candy). My hands might have trembled a bit at the moment of purchase, never thinking I'd spend so much $$$ on a guitar. Such a sweet, soulful instrument that I play almost every day. Named her Katrina (see purchase month/year).

Those were the days!
 
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