Gibson "good wood" era [1990 to early 2000's] fact of fiction ?

[VonBonfire]

Back in Nov of 08 I believe, I walked into a guitar center on a sunday morning minutes after they opened.. They had a faded flying V sitting on a stand on the counter, with a $300 tag on it.. brought in the night before right before closing, I snatched it up and had the few employees in the building following me and asking where I found it, and I remember them waiting to see if I was going to set it down.. I didnt and it needed a lot of cleaning when I got home, but its probably one of the best "deals" I have found... still have it to this day.

You are a smarter man than me! I picked up one of the hard to find faded V's with the ebony board and single crescent moon inlay at the 12th fret in about '05 for $350 used at a local guitar shop and foolishly let it go a few years later. I never got along with V's at home since I like to play on the couch so I've had a few different ones and wound up selling them all. But that one, I should've kept. They were an amazing deal for a Gibson in the mid 2000's and something it doesn't look like we'll ever see again at twice the price.

 

[psychodave]

My R8 is from 2003 (bought in 2004). Has a nice piece of Braz rosewood fretboard too. Bought it and was done. Paid $2,300 for it.

 

[GreatRedDragon]

Wood was better back in the 90s. What is considered a 10 top these days is lame.

But more than anything, the paint during that era at Gibson was excellent. I think I read Tom Murphy was painting most of the good stuff back then from 89-95 or so. But really it was the colors. Honey Burst and Tobacco burst were done right. Some double stains on the higher end Les Pauls.

I don't know what the hell happened to Gibson's finishes. The honeyburst used to be a nice golden brown, now it's a washed out pinkish orange? And the last time I saw a run of Nashville lemonbursts I wanted to puke: clear coat with a yellow burst. The fuck?

Gibson saves their nice finishes for the Custom Shop. It's something they like to do, make the (already high priced) USA model intentionally a little shittier for no practical reason.