Gibson CS, R8/R9, VOS questions.

[RenoRattler]

I have just recently picked up my fourth Gibson, and my first LP Standard. I've owned a couple of BFG's, and still own a Double Cut Standard Plus that I absolutely love.

I really love the Standard, but I find myself wanting more. Like many others, my Holy Grail guitar is the '59 Les Paul. I have a few guitars that I can move out, and probably come up with a budget of around 3k for my new guitar.

I know I should be able to pick up an R8 for around that, but I'm curios as to the differences between the R8's and R9's. Regular, and VOS's as well. Is an R9 worth the extra money? And the VOS?


And for the record, I prefer my necks on the small side as opposed to the big, and I prefer players to lookers. That being said, I think that an R8 VOS seems to be more up my alley than an R9, right?

 

[Mike60]

if you prefer a small neck,an R9 doesn't have one...

 

[Boshizzle]

R8 biggest neck, then R9, then R0. I like larger necks like what a lot of R9's have. Give it a try for about a month. Many people grow to prefer larger necks. If the neck is an issue, you could look for an R0 or a Guitar Center G0 which has a pretty small neck for a historic and GC has them on sale nowdays for under $3K. There is a pretty nice R9 in the classified section for around $3300.00. I thought about buying it myself.

 

[RenoRattler]

My Standard is a 50's neck, and my Double Cut is a slim 60's. I like both of them.

 

[Boshizzle]

The historics will have a larger neck than the 50's neck Standard. The guitar with a neck closest to the Standard would be a Guitar Center G0, which is a pretty good guitar. It's a historic made in the Custom Shop along with the R8s, R9's, and R0's and has the same features, construction, and pickups.