R8 Peach Deal

skikdi53 · April 2020

Thanks @gringopig

terada · April 2020

Deijavoo · April 2020

terada said:

That top one.

Hattigol · April 2020

terada said:

Jeez.... @terada that top one is pure filth.

LPManic · April 2020

What prices were these Peach deals?

johnl · April 2020

LPManic said:

What prices were these Peach deals?

£2500 for an R8 and I think £3k for an R9. Honestly the best money I've ever spent on something guitar-related.

Whitecat · April 2020

johnl said:

LPManic said:

What prices were these Peach deals?

£2500 for an R8 and I think £3k for an R9. Honestly the best money I've ever spent on something guitar-related.

£3499 for R9s.

Deijavoo · April 2020

Hattigol said:

terada said:

Jeez.... @terada that top one is pure filth.

Aye, I'm calling dibs on that.

terada · April 2020

Deijavoo said:

Hattigol said:

terada said:

Jeez.... @terada that top one is pure filth.

Aye, I'm calling dibs on that.

That one is a very special guitar indeed. Its just under 8 lbs so super comfortable to gig with.

I've pretty much stopped playing anything else.

timmypix · April 2020

So in the interest of keeping this thread alive, I think I'm starting to get the R8 itch. "Think", being the key word, along with R8 because R9s are silly money and all you seem to get is a flamier top (there seems to be a lot of crossover in neck shape).

I've got a Les Paul Classic. I love it dearly, it's my favourite and nicest guitar, and I struggle to think how it could be much better.

So, for those who've compared, or have both Gibson CS and USA models... have you found the CS Reissues to be worth the extra splurge? I know there'll be a certain amount of bias because if you didn't think so, you wouldn't have bought one. I also know the law of diminishing returns absolutely applies in this price range.

BUT, if I wanted a honeyburst (for argument's sake) Les Paul, I could spend £1400-1600ish on a nice used early 2000s Classic or Standard, or I could spend an extra grand and get an R8, and that's quite a difference.

Or is this one of those things where the internet can spout for hours but the only way to be sure is play one and make up my own mind, based on my own opinions and financial position? Probably, but I'm bored and we're in a lockdown, and this thread's been off the front page for nearly a fortnight.

crunchman · April 2020

timmypix said:

So in the interest of keeping this thread alive, I think I'm starting to get the R8 itch. "Think", being the key word, along with R8 because R9s are silly money and all you seem to get is a flamier top (there seems to be a lot of crossover in neck shape).

I've got a Les Paul Classic. I love it dearly, it's my favourite and nicest guitar, and I struggle to think how it could be much better.

So, for those who've compared, or have both Gibson CS and USA models... have you found the CS Reissues to be worth the extra splurge? I know there'll be a certain amount of bias because if you didn't think so, you wouldn't have bought one. I also know the law of diminishing returns absolutely applies in this price range.

BUT, if I wanted a honeyburst (for argument's sake) Les Paul, I could spend £1400-1600ish on a nice used early 2000s Classic or Standard, or I could spend an extra grand and get an R8, and that's quite a difference.

Or is this one of those things where the internet can spout for hours but the only way to be sure is play one and make up my own mind, based on my own opinions and financial position? Probably, but I'm bored and we're in a lockdown, and this thread's been off the front page for nearly a fortnight.

You can find great ones from the regular factory production, but you might have to try 12 guitars, where it might be 1 in 3 from the Custom Shop.

hyperben · April 2020

I’ve played great ones and bad ones from all lines of production. It all depends on the individual guitar. Some CS ones I’ve tried have been surprisingly bad, but not many.

Whitecat · April 2020

I’ve had both USA and CS versions and I’ll never go back to USA. CS stuff is just on another level, and even though a lot of it is intangible it’s just worth it. Save the extra pennies. If you buy used you should always be able to flip for what you paid quite easily.

hyperben · April 2020

Whitecat said:

I’ve had both USA and CS versions and I’ll never go back to USA. CS stuff is just on another level, and even though a lot of it is intangible it’s just worth it. Save the extra pennies. If you buy used you should always be able to flip for what you paid quite easily.

I completely agree with this. The fit and finish of CS type guitars is just so much better - once you're used to it it's very difficult to go back! Yes the tone of standard production models can be very good and they can play very well, but they always feel much more cheaply made in your hands. But then vintage guitars are on another level again...!

Hattigol · April 2020

My R8 was the best guitar I ever owned.

Hence I sold it.

Tit.

JerkMoans · April 2020

Hattigol said:

My R8 was the best guitar I ever owned.

Hence I sold it.

Tit.

I salute your commitment to the Ancient and Noble Code of Flippisme

tomajoha · April 2020

hyperben said:

Whitecat said:

I’ve had both USA and CS versions and I’ll never go back to USA. CS stuff is just on another level, and even though a lot of it is intangible it’s just worth it. Save the extra pennies. If you buy used you should always be able to flip for what you paid quite easily.

I completely agree with this. The fit and finish of CS type guitars is just so much better - once you're used to it it's very difficult to go back! Yes the tone of standard production models can be very good and they can play very well, but they always feel much more cheaply made in your hands. But then vintage guitars are on another level again...!

As Ben says, CS guitars are generally excellent as modern interpretations of gibson's golden era stuff, very different from the old stuff but its kind of like comparing apples and oranges.

As always try before you buy at that price, especially the 2017 batch - i've seen some truly fantastic ones and some truly less than fantastic ones from the great 'blow out'.

Hattigol · April 2020

JerkMoans said:

Hattigol said:

My R8 was the best guitar I ever owned.

Hence I sold it.

Tit.

I salute your commitment to the Ancient and Noble Code of Flippisme

Thank you - I like to do my bit.

I actually got in touch with the guy to see if he wanted to sell it back. He said he'd given it to his brother as a birthday present.

Lovely gesture as a brother (as I pointed out to mine) but it did mean that unless they have a colossal falling-out, which sadly I have no way of engineering, it's never coming home...

crunchman · April 2020

I've had 3 CS guitars.

I bought the first one because it was the lightest solid body Les Paul I'd ever come across, but tonally it just didn't have it. I sold it after using a regular factory Les Paul Tradtional in a shop, and realising that it sounded better than my Custom Shop one.

The second one was a 2010 R8. I was actually thinking of buying a Traditional after selling the first one, and went to Guitar Village as they had the usual end of year blowout with Traditionals reduced by about £500. I tried about 5 of them, and then tried a second hand R8 - which blew them all out the water tonally. That one did sound very good, but the neck angle was too steep, which caused problems with the bridge being too high on the posts and tilting. The bridge posts were also not quite in the right place. It was a real struggle to get it to intonate. One of the ex-Chandlers repair guys told me that if it was his, he would have filled the bridge post holes and re-drilled new ones.

A few months after selling that the blowout that originated this thread happened, and I bought the R9 in my avatar.

They do vary, and you can find great ones in any part of the range - regular factory or Custom Shop.

Adamski · April 2020

Went to play mine today and it’s got sun damaged on the back. The cherry red has started to turn translucent in places and faded in others. Looks cool as feck but don’t know whether to be happy or very sad! Haha

Fifty9 · April 2020

Have had 2 standards - a 2002 and a 2015 traditional - and 2 R8s - an 01 and a 2017 blowout.

I only have the latter left and I have the best one of the bunch thankfully. Generally the CS 1k uplift is worth it for me for a ‘lifetime’ guitar.

sweepy · April 2020

Or get a Ryder Les Paul, just saying

Adamski · April 2020

Here’s the fade in mine!

Adamski · April 2020

And the front still gorgeous

Adamski · April 2020

roberty · April 2020

Adamski said:

Here’s the fade in mine!

Only thing for it is to fade the rest! It would end up looking like that anyway :-) very nice grain, front and back

Boromedic · April 2020

I've got a 99 Standard and a 2017 R8, there is a difference between the 2 guitars but most of that is because of the true historic spec.

I changed the bridge and tailpiece on my Standard for Faber parts, they now sound closer to each other but the pickups are too different to really compare. Personally they both feel as well put together as the other, so neither feels of higher quality, in fact the lacquer on the Standard feels very slightly better to me but that's the VOS thing I guess. The only real tangible difference is the weight, the R8 is a good half a kilo lighter.

The R8 is a magic guitar, sounds exactly like how I'd expect the classic 58s and 59s to, it's really amazing in that sense. My Standard is currently being rewired with 50's wiring and PAF style pickups so that will be cool to see how close it is in the end. That being said, I love the Standard and it plays more or less the same.

I guess my answer to your question in the end, is wait for a 2017 R8 to show up, £2.1 - £2.5k seems to be the going rate, however a well made standard is not a bad choice either!

Good luck with your search, please update us with whatever you get!

Tell me this doesn't look as good:

As this! :

johnl · April 2020

roberty said:

Adamski said:

Here’s the fade in mine!

Only thing for it is to fade the rest! It would end up looking like that anyway :-) very nice grain, front and back

That looks awesome. 30 degrees here without a cloud in the sky and I'm getting tempted. Did you just leave yours in a window for a while?

Adamski · April 2020

johnl said:

roberty said:

Adamski said:

Here’s the fade in mine!

Only thing for it is to fade the rest! It would end up looking like that anyway :-) very nice grain, front and back

That looks awesome. 30 degrees here without a cloud in the sky and I'm getting tempted. Did you just leave yours in a window for a while?

It was sitting on a stand and I left the blinds open (because it was a really nice day!) you can see where the stand mark is on the neck and obviously the still red bit is where it was covered by another guitar!

I’ll let it go further naturally, I know if I TRY to fade it, I’ll do it in a very obvious way, the neck has bleed and everything, there’s red bits round the tuners, it’s like I’m accidentally Tom Murphy

Alex2678 · April 2020

My dream guitar is a plain top r8, I still remember where I was when I got an email from Peach advertising this, desperately trying to figure out what I could sell to scrape the money together. Alas, it wasn’t to be

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R8 Peach Deal

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