Yes they were made the same year and this is supposed to be a limited number of 50. The owner of the other has a bill of sale from Gibson but they didn't issue him a certificate. I do have a certificate.We're they both made in the same year? Serial numbers repeat every 10 years.
Both are in the USAI bought 1998 R8 called Gibson to verify they said the numbered two guitars same number one shipped to Japan one shipped USA go figure ?
Have you heard the joke about Limited editions ? Like how many are they limited to ? As many as they sell .Yes they were made the same year and this is supposed to be a limited number of 50. The owner of the other has a bill of sale from Gibson but they didn't issue him a certificate. I do have a certificate.
Big Al, thanks for taking the time to look at my post and I do have clear pictures of both guitars, serial numbers and bills of sale for each, tried to call Gibson to no avail. Not sure what to do because the other guitar certainly appears to be a Gibson original other than contact the distributer that sold me the guitar as a 1 of 50 with a serial number that should not appear on another guitar.Without clear pics of both it is just a hard to believe story.