NGD: 2023 Gibson Custom Shop R9 Reissue

[lp56tv]

So after many years of debate, I finally took the Custom Shop plunge. I have two Les Pauls now. A Wildwood Select 50’s Standard and a regular USA 50’ Standard. Both guitars very nice but I never completely bonded with them mainly based on the weight and the necks are just a hair too big.
I gotta admit it’s hard to pull the trigger on the $6000 guitar that you’ve never seen or played before but I figured if I get rid of some guitars that I’m not completely in love with I may be an amp head I can make it work.

So I found a great dealer called Guitar Riot who gave me a great price and I found one on their sight in VOS Iced Tea Burst. I had the owner check out how resonant the guitar was and he assured me it was a good one. I realize he wants to make an I realize he wants to make a sale, but wanted to get his opinion anyway. Also from the research I did I learned that even though the neck measurements were the same as my USA standards that the custom shop Les Pauls feel slimmer because the shoulders are tapered more. So that was good.

The guitar weighs, 8.8 ounces or 8 1/2 pounds compared to the 9.2 lbs of my two Les Pauls so I was curious to see if a little more than half a pound lighter would make a difference compared to what I have now.

So the guitar arrived today, and the weight question was immediately answered. The guitar felt a lot lighter than what I was used to. As soon as I lifted it out of the case the difference super noticeable. In fact 8 1/2 half pounds seems like the perfect Les Paul weight to me.

The question about the neck difference was also answered. The custom shop R9 neck profile felt incredible. Way less shoulder and super comfortable. Not slim like a 60’ but just right.
Also, the guitar just rang out acoustically. Super resonant!
There really was nothing I wasn’t happy about and I still didn’t even plug it in yet.
After plugging it into a Deluxe Reverb the guitar just rang out in a way that I’ve never heard out of a Les Paul before. It could be due to the unpotted custom bucker pickups or just the overall residonse of the guitar in general, maybe better woods who knows but it was inspiring to play.

I’ve watched hundreds of videos over the years comparing USA vs Custom Shop and was wondering if it was more hype or whatever but I can honestly say there is a big difference in my opinion.

On a side note as I was waiting for the Les Paul to arrive I went up to a local store that has several custom shop Strats in stock and and I went up to compare them to my regular non custom shop Strats and the difference didn’t seem as noticeable to me as the Les Pauls. I don’t know if that’s because the Strat is more of a rougher more raw instrument but the gap seemed not as big.

Here are a couple pics of the guitar.

 

[1allspub]

Congrats and HNGD! Iced Tea’s a great color… and a that’s a nice dark fretboard on that one! Enjoy!

 

[These go to 11]

Congrats and i can totally relate to how you feel about the newly acquired R9 as i myself recently scored a 2023 Murphy Lab R9 .(It is pictured in my avatar) and I owned a 2016 as well as a 2018 R9.
The Re-issues really are in a league of their own. Only those that have never played or owned one talk trash about them.

 

[Any Name You Wish]

Sweet axe! Love that ice tea.

On the CS v Standard comment, there are light standards that come up from time to time (8.5 lb-ish), and with a pickup swap, proper set-up, and maybe even a neck shave you would be closing the gap significantly. If I were still a gigging musician that's probably what I would do. In the end it doesn't matter because we're all going to be dead.

 

[jb_abides]

Congrats again, and keep sippin' that Iced Tea. ?

 

[Axis2000]

So after many years of debate, I finally took the Custom Shop plunge. I have two Les Pauls now. A Wildwood Select 50’s Standard and a regular USA 50’ Standard. Both guitars very nice but I never completely bonded with them mainly based on the weight and the necks are just a hair too big.
I gotta admit it’s hard to pull the trigger on the $6000 guitar that you’ve never seen or played before but I figured if I get rid of some guitars that I’m not completely in love with I may be an amp head I can make it work.

So I found a great dealer called Guitar Riot who gave me a great price and I found one on their sight in VOS Iced Tea Burst. I had the owner check out how resonant the guitar was and he assured me it was a good one. I realize he wants to make an I realize he wants to make a sale, but wanted to get his opinion anyway. Also from the research I did I learned that even though the neck measurements were the same as my USA standards that the custom shop Les Pauls feel slimmer because the shoulders are tapered more. So that was good.

The guitar weighs, 8.8 ounces or 8 1/2 pounds compared to the 9.2 lbs of my two Les Pauls so I was curious to see if a little more than half a pound lighter would make a difference compared to what I have now.

So the guitar arrived today, and the weight question was immediately answered. The guitar felt a lot lighter than what I was used to. As soon as I lifted it out of the case the difference super noticeable. In fact 8 1/2 half pounds seems like the perfect Les Paul weight to me.

The question about the neck difference was also answered. The custom shop R9 neck profile felt incredible. Way less shoulder and super comfortable. Not slim like a 60’ but just right.
Also, the guitar just rang out acoustically. Super resonant!
There really was nothing I wasn’t happy about and I still didn’t even plug it in yet.
After plugging it into a Deluxe Reverb the guitar just rang out in a way that I’ve never heard out of a Les Paul before. It could be due to the unpotted custom bucker pickups or just the overall residonse of the guitar in general, maybe better woods who knows but it was inspiring to play.

I’ve watched hundreds of videos over the years comparing USA vs Custom Shop and was wondering if it was more hype or whatever but I can honestly say there is a big difference in my opinion.

On a side note as I was waiting for the Les Paul to arrive I went up to a local store that has several custom shop Strats in stock and and I went up to compare them to my regular non custom shop Strats and the difference didn’t seem as noticeable to me as the Les Pauls. I don’t know if that’s because the Strat is more of a rougher more raw instrument but the gap seemed not as big.

Here are a couple pics of the guitar.

Nice guitar and a good choice with Guitar Riot. I've known the owner for 30 years... heck maybe more.

 

[corpse]

Nice- enjoy!

 

[Jethro Rocker]

Beautiful guitar, congrats on that!!
I have a CS Modern Axcess and a Woldwood Historic for Custom Shops. Absoutely perfect guitars.
Enjoy!

 

[Jasonj]

So after many years of debate, I finally took the Custom Shop plunge. I have two Les Pauls now. A Wildwood Select 50’s Standard and a regular USA 50’ Standard. Both guitars very nice but I never completely bonded with them mainly based on the weight and the necks are just a hair too big.
I gotta admit it’s hard to pull the trigger on the $6000 guitar that you’ve never seen or played before but I figured if I get rid of some guitars that I’m not completely in love with I may be an amp head I can make it work.

So I found a great dealer called Guitar Riot who gave me a great price and I found one on their sight in VOS Iced Tea Burst. I had the owner check out how resonant the guitar was and he assured me it was a good one. I realize he wants to make an I realize he wants to make a sale, but wanted to get his opinion anyway. Also from the research I did I learned that even though the neck measurements were the same as my USA standards that the custom shop Les Pauls feel slimmer because the shoulders are tapered more. So that was good.

The guitar weighs, 8.8 ounces or 8 1/2 pounds compared to the 9.2 lbs of my two Les Pauls so I was curious to see if a little more than half a pound lighter would make a difference compared to what I have now.

So the guitar arrived today, and the weight question was immediately answered. The guitar felt a lot lighter than what I was used to. As soon as I lifted it out of the case the difference super noticeable. In fact 8 1/2 half pounds seems like the perfect Les Paul weight to me.

The question about the neck difference was also answered. The custom shop R9 neck profile felt incredible. Way less shoulder and super comfortable. Not slim like a 60’ but just right.
Also, the guitar just rang out acoustically. Super resonant!
There really was nothing I wasn’t happy about and I still didn’t even plug it in yet.
After plugging it into a Deluxe Reverb the guitar just rang out in a way that I’ve never heard out of a Les Paul before. It could be due to the unpotted custom bucker pickups or just the overall residonse of the guitar in general, maybe better woods who knows but it was inspiring to play.

I’ve watched hundreds of videos over the years comparing USA vs Custom Shop and was wondering if it was more hype or whatever but I can honestly say there is a big difference in my opinion.

On a side note as I was waiting for the Les Paul to arrive I went up to a local store that has several custom shop Strats in stock and and I went up to compare them to my regular non custom shop Strats and the difference didn’t seem as noticeable to me as the Les Pauls. I don’t know if that’s because the Strat is more of a rougher more raw instrument but the gap seemed not as big.

Here are a couple pics of the guitar.

Cool story man. I used to live in Cleveland but I think that was before guitar riot was there. I have seen these stuff on reverb, seem to have good selection. I too have been searching for my first custom shop. I have had several standard LPs and still have 4 LPs, one is a 1990 classic. The classic is great but the neck is crazy thin and I don’t like to play. I only keep because my dad gave it to me when I was in HS (1991!). I have 2 wildwood select standard 50s and a standard 50s from Chicago music exchange. The one from CME only weights 8.5 and plays excellent. One of my wildwoods is 9lbs and the other 9.6. I actually pulled to trigger on a 59 reissue ultra light aged Murphy but had to return it sadly. It played rough, even after having my tech set it up. Must have just been a bad one but I felt like it was a challenge to play it. So I’m probably gonna wait for either wildwood or CME to get a CS I want and go with them. Or maybe guitar riot. I’m planning on going to Cleveland this summer so if I can wait maybe I’ll get a change to play some. I’d kind of like to try a 58 as well. Very pretty guitar you have

 

[AA00475Bassman]

Nice looks Thank you for sharing