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Pre Historic 59 question....

paris is burnin

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Apr 15, 2003
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196
What can anybody tell me about these guitars,I've seen two for sale and both had ripping tops and were advertised as Pre Historic.Do this guitars have any markings/serial numbers that tell you that there "pre historic'' or is this just a selling ploy.I searched and didnt see anything either..the ones I saw were just beautiful guitars and one was a Yamano guitar I believe with a Lemon top.Thanks
 

Zoomer

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Feb 1, 2005
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2,357
What can anybody tell me about these guitars,I've seen two for sale and both had ripping tops and were advertised as Pre Historic.Do this guitars have any markings/serial numbers that tell you that there "pre historic'' or is this just a selling ploy.I searched and didnt see anything either..the ones I saw were just beautiful guitars and one was a Yamano guitar I believe with a Lemon top.Thanks

The 1st time I saw these advertised was in July 1982 Guitar Player I remember magazine there was a add for the reissue actually using the photograph from the 1958-59 Gibson Catalog.

If I remember properly They didn't have the right headstock shape, no long neck tenon and had standard factory inlays -- I think Mike Slub would know a lot about these.

:2zone,

Zoomer
 

27sauce

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Jul 9, 2007
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4,415
This thread should be in the Sunburst Pub. Zoomer is correct, and here is my '88.
DSC05388.jpg

DSC05039.jpg
 

27sauce

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Jul 9, 2007
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4,415
In most cases the easiest way to tell (if the year is provided) is the pre-Historics have ABR-1's, 2-piece tops, thin binding in the cutaway, and inked serial numbers. There are exceptions of course...
 

SoK66

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Aug 31, 2009
Messages
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I had a bought-new '89 that looked virtually identical to 27Sauce's '88. Excellent, very lightweight guitar. Had the Lawrence PCB-bottomed pickups that by consensus everyone liked better then the first-gen early 90s '57 Classics I put in it.
 

Gibsonian

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May 21, 2005
Messages
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AFAIK, the Pre-Historic specs are:

Up to 1991/1992
- Medium-width headstock (same as the Standard and Studio of the same era)
- Schaller screw-in tuners
- Open b & o Gibson inlay with or without dot over i
- Inked serial # in x_xxxx format (the first digit denotes the year of production)
- Rounded fingerboard inlays
- Shaw PAFs or Bill Lawrences or Classic ‘57s
- “REISSUE” stamped in pup cavity (not always?)
- ABR-1 (as opposed to Nashville TOM on regular Standard)
- Top hat knobs (as opposed to the speed knobs on regular Standard)
- Thin-binding in the cutaway

After 1991/1992
- Narrow “Classic”-width headstock
- Push-in tuners
- Open b & o Gibson inlay with dot over i, positioned high at the headstock
- Serial # scheme remains the same
- Pointy “Classic” fingerboard inlays
- Classic ‘57s
- “REISSUE” stamped in pup cavity (not always?)
- Bridge remains the same as pre-1991 model
- Knobs remains the same as pre-1991 model
- Cutaway binding remains the same as pre-1991 model
 

Trans-Am

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Jul 15, 2001
Messages
4,686
...is it my eye's fooling me?:wow or am i seeing a resurgence of the pinstripe/ribbon coming out of the woodwork?

Man they're beautiful as always, check out the other threads on the top of this forum on them type of R9's.

Just Beautiful!:wow

Peace!:hank
 

Steven

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Jul 16, 2001
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Home Of The 1994 Winter Olympics!
Incredible better than all the Vancouver faults.
 
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