2001 Gibson CS Les Paul R9 5A Killer-Top

2001 Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul Standard 1959 Historic Reissue (R9)

"Earle"

# 9-1721

Did I ever STRUGGLE over this one.

Let me start by stating simply that this is the best, most resonant, most fluid and most beautiful Gibson that I have EVER played. Perhaps (subjectively) the best guitar here? Yes. Perhaps the most expensive? Possibly.

But bloody hell ... what a journey.

It started with my 2016 idea that I was going to downsize, but not necessarily devalue the collection. That idea was a good one (if I say so myself), and resulted in me shedding loads of good guitars and replacing them with a few awesome ones. Thinning and strengthening the herd, so to speak.

I started flirting with the idea that I should look out for another Custom Shop Les Paul, and that's when the trouble started. The bar was set pretty high, as 'Gaffer' (my other CS Les Paul) is a truly wonderful thing ... pretty much the perfect hot-rod Les Paul to my palate, but there’s nothing at all ‘vintage’ about it. No Sir.

So I started looking. The trouble IS, that if you want a CS Les Paul, then you're almost certainly going to end up with a historic reissue. And I didn’t particularly WANT one of those, which isn’t a problem in itself, but brings with it its own set of issues. As I'm not into gold-tops, I was essentially limited to R8s, R9s and R0s. Again, that’s not necessarily a problem. To the uninitiated, R8s are reproductions of the 1958 bursts (so usually plain maple and a very chunky neck), R9s are reproductions of the 1959 bursts (so usually deeply figured maple tops and a slightly less chunky, but still very chunky, neck) and R0s are based on the 1960 bursts (so figured maple but a skinny-assed neck).

So I tried lots. A few trips to Richtone Music and to Andertons meant that LOTS and LOTS passed through my grubby palms. Some nice, some very nice, but ... that 'magic' wasn't there. That could have been influenced by the fact that they’d been hanging on the wall in a guitar shop for a while, with the usual sticky necks and lacklustre strings.

Now, these are serious bits of kit ... a nice new R9 (not a true historic, and not aged) is going to relieve you of about 5 grand. If you want nice ageing, then throw at least another grand at the deal, and if you want a True Historic R9, then ... shit ... they run up at about nine grand. Nine thousand pounds. Say THAT number out loud. And what d'you know, they're very nice ... but no cigar. So I embarked on a mission to try to find a great Custom Shop Les Paul, but not necessarily a Historic. They’re out there … stuff like the Class 5 and the hardtailed Axcess, and they’re generally very nice.

Part of the problem with Custom Shop Lesters, I think, is that our friends at Gibson (their 'Custom, Art, Historic' division) are aiming squarely at reproducing proper 1958 - 1960 bursts. Stuff like having the correct number of rings on your tuner pegs, the same aniline dye as the originals, the same thickness neck binding (and other silly shit that doesn't actually matter) seems to be what they think DOES matter. Take the True Historic stuff as a severe example ... thousands of pounds extra to get plastic bits that are precisely the same as the originals ... seriously? That's the sort of stuff that might actually be a turn-on to the re-enactment folks (you know the sort, the guys that need the same cable as the one used by Clapton on Beano, and need to be wearing boots made of the same leather, otherwise the tone won't be quite right) but to us normal guitar players, other things are important. Like build quality, good materials, proper QC ... not whether the glue used to join the maple cap to the body was made out of bits of a horses arse or not. The cork-sniffers and re-enactment guys are to blame; the folks that care less about whether a guitar is great, and more about whether the historical details are perfect.

So, I started looking around for other CS stuff … and I ALMOST bought a Custom Shop ‘Class 5’, which felt more convincing than the Historic stuff, as it wasn’t designed as a reissue … just as a nice modern Custom Shop Les Paul. It’s a long story, but that didn’t work out (don’t ask … a fake certificate made me bail at the last minute). So, I started searching for something else. Something Gibson, something Custom Shop, but not a reissue. I was convinced that I didn’t like reissues, after all. The Axcess hardtail was very nice, but was really just like Gaffer but with a hardtail (… what else was it ever going to feel like!?). Regardless, that became a strong contender, so I started gathering up the necessary suitcase full of money.

Then it happened. I was trawling eBay (a pastime of mine) and stumbled across this … an old R9. Although I’m not into obscenely flamed tops, this was achingly pretty, and it was only a short drive from my office. So, it would’ve been rude NOT to pop over and try it out.

The seller was nice … very nice actually, and accommodated my request to have a whirl without any suggestion of an intention to buy it. The worst that could happen is that I didn’t like it, and that would’ve sealed the casket on ANY plans involving a Historic Lester, for good.

So, I popped over to his gaff, introduced myself and opened the case while he went off to make a cuppa. I opened the case. Angels sang. The room filled with a warm orange glow. I got a feeling in my pants like I was looking over the edge of a very tall building. I almost passed out when I first saw it ... the enormous volume of blood that rushed to my groin left just enough in my brain to keep me conscious. There it was. I tried my best to look nonchalant, like it was just another pretty guitar. But it wasn’t just another pretty guitar. The neck was chubby but not challenging, the fretwork was bright, shiny and flawless (possibly, just possibly a refret, albeit a very good one indeed ... but he categorically denied it), and it played like a half-filled water balloon smeared with butter. My last chance was the hope that it sounded shit. It didn’t. It sounded wonderful.

Now, I’ve mentioned before that I’m not bothered about flame-tops. My LP Standard (‘Lester’) is entirely plain, and one of my PRSs (PRSi?) is almost plain, and they’re both lovely. I object wholeheartedly to paying huge mark-ups for a guitar, simply because it has a figured top … let’s remind ourselves that a PRS Artist Series can easily cost twice as much as the equivalent non-10-top. That’s fine if you get turned on by curly maple, but I try to be rational about that stuff. So, yeah, this one is very flamey. And has cross-grain to compliment the flame. I guess that I’m just going to have to suck it up … I’m growing to really like it actually, but hopefully I will never start to judge a guitar’s merit based on how flamey it is.

The colour is (for me) just perfect … a faded burst, but not faded enough to lose all of the red (I wasn’t sure initially whether it is “Iced Tea” or “Washed Cherry”, but a bit of digging shows that the 2001 Washed Cherry was still VERY red, so this is clearly Iced Tea, as the only other finish available on R9s in 2001 was a bright red clown burst, which this certainly is not). It almost exactly as flamey (a little more actually) as the Class 5 that I almost bought, and the Class 5 was so-named because of its AAAAA grade (or '5A', hence 'Class 5') maple cap. Regardless, I don’t know how this top would be classified, and, frankly, couldn’t care less really. It’s pretty, I like it a lot, and that’s all that matters. Thankfully, the maple isn’t quilted at all … Gibson released a bunch of CS Lesters recently with 5A grade QUILTED maple, which I think is ALL KINDS of wrong. Quilt maple looks wonderful on some guitars, but (to me) looks as ugly as a bulldog licking piss off a thistle when it is on a Les Paul. It's wrong. It's nasty. And it should be stopped.

Some spec? Okay then. This fits into a quite complicated lineage of R9 development; they’re changed regularly to keep the cork-sniffers happy. This one has a solid mahogany (1-piece) back (no weight relief), thin binding on the neck, a holly headstock veneer, round-edged board inlays (they’re normally really angular, so the round-edged ones shout ‘2001’), mid-jumbo frets, a ’59 neck profile (obviously), the thicker jack plate, an ally tailpiece, ABR-1 bridge, tortoise-shell side dots and a fine-knurl switch nut, all of which are entirely original. As are the Classic '57 pickups, with their little 'Patent Applied For' transfers on the base plate. The original case is present, as are ALL of the papers from when it was first bought from Wildwood Guitars in Louisville on 27 July 2001, when it was sold by ‘Steve’. Shit like that makes me smile. And yes, the certificate all checks out perfectly (… at least this one is REAL, not like the Class 5 CoA!).

Interestingly, the serial number format used on this is the same as that used on the original 1959 bursts (although there are only three original bursts listed on ‘burstserial.com’ with 9-17XX numbers). Also of interest is that one of the first of this run of reissue R9s (serial 9-0006) is owned by a certain Mr Knopfler, and is the guitar that he used to record Money for Nothing and Brothers in Arms. The inter-web-net is full of claims that Gibson made as few as 500 R9s in 2001 (due to ‘parts supply’ issues), which is fewer than the number of proper ‘59s made by Gibson in 1959 (there were 643). Useless information, but information nonetheless.

I realise that I have a tendency to claim that my latest guitar is the best I have, but (recently, at least) that has been the result of me buying better (but fewer) guitars. So, yes, I think that this is the best one here. It is a little beaten up (although nothing on the top, the neck or the board), so I’m instantly relaxed around it (one more ding or scratch won’t matter), and it plays wonderfully and sounds absolutely stellar ... smoothness, bite, sustain, articulation, hootiness … it has everything I want, and has that 'magic' that I was looking for. AND it’s pretty. The fact that it’s an R9, and a flamey one, and an older one, means that THIS is my non-Floyded Les Paul, and that's it. No more trading, swapping, agonising ... this is where I stop looking. This is (without getting cork-sniffy) simply the sweetest chunk of Les Paul that I've come across. And when I say "chunk", I mean it ... every ounce of its 9.5 lbs.

And why “Earle”? It’s a long story, and I should be playing it, not typing about it.

EDIT - I recently exchanged a bunch of e-mails with Gibson about this, and ended up sending them detailed photographs of the guitar, in an attempt to get a little background information on the build. After a very pleasant exchange with their service guys (... it turns out that Gibson's Stijn Vergeest likes the flame-top on this a LOT), they confirmed that this is on their database and is 'legit'. They confirmed that the 'Product Specifications' for this state that it has what they describe as a "5A-Grade maple killer-top". Far be it from Gibson just to call it 5A-Grade maple ... regardless, I say that their description is spot on.