This is a rare gem from the Gibson Custom Shop from 2003. The Music Machine was one of the larger Custom Shop dealers and they commissioned a limited run of 25 of a very special R9 reissue guitar to match the specs of one of Dave Carpenter's personal 1959 Les Paul Standards. This run was made in conjuction with their MM Stinger series from 2003 that are more widely known. The tops, backs, necks, and fingerboards were hand picked by Edwin Wilson at Gibson for this run in early 2003 to include "vintage correct" highly flamed Eastern Maple, Honduran Mahagany, select fingerboards, and a custom shaped neck to match Dave's 1959 Standard. This neck has a distictive and comfortable V shape with no shoulder. This shape is a favorite for many owners of original Les Pauls produced in the mid to late 50's and was tagged "Real Feel" for this limited run. The back of the headstock is stamped RF #13 under the serial number. The guitars were all targeted at 8.5 lbs or less for the finished weight. This is #13 of 25. It is very resonant, has a stunning wide flame top, and just under 8.5 lbs. These guitars did not come with a pickguard to better show off the flamed tops. This guitar has a killer fingerboard but does not fall under the "official" Brazilian board serial numbers and therefore it is only speced as "Rosewood" by Gibson.
In the last couple of years there have been some nice professional upgrades to this guitar. All the parts are from the Gibson Custom Shop and include: pickups are the original Gibson Burstbuckers modified with Alnico IV magnets and lightly potted, True Historic Tuning machines, Custom Shop 2023 wiring harness with true taper 500K pots, True Historic Knobs, real Bumble Bee caps, nylon nut to replace the Corian one, historic whiter M69 rings and toggle switch poker chip, 2024 Gibson Custom ABR-1 with brass adjustment wheels and post, 2024 Historic Tailpiece with Long Steel Studs. All the original components are included with the guitar. The upgrades make the guitar just a bit more accurate to the originals. These modifiactions were done to improve the acoustic sustain significantly, improve the sweep and adjustability of the Volume and Tone controls, and get a closer PAF tone.
The condition of the guitar is excellent. There are some minor signs of play wear, some light worming on the back from buckle or Jean rivets, very minor fret wear, an a few minor dings but nothing through the finish. The guitar has the original 2003 Lifton 5 latch case, all the original case candy from 2003 and Music Machine, and all the original parts.
