JMB1984
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- Feb 26, 2011
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I meant to post this thread a while ago, but I have been so busy with work that I havent had enough time to do it justice. Back in May I contacted Curt at House of Guitars to see the latest Historic inventory. As always, Curt wasted no time in sending me pictures of everything he had available. He was also patient in taking additional pictures of the ones that caught my eye and neck measurements. I know HOG is regularly praised here on MLP, but I cant say enough great things about my experiences with them. For a Gibson dealer that can't post their stock online, Curt more than makes up for it with the pictures he takes and the overall customer service.
I decided to take another road trip from Maryland to Rochester to try out the guitars I was interested in (I was there back in March for an R9 Handpicked top, posted in an older NGD thread). Once again the experience was awesome. Since I showed up in the morning they were cool enough to give me coffee/donuts to get me going, and some great local pizza in the afternoon to keep me going (I spent a good part of the day there). I tried out several guitars (i.e. R9s, R7, ES series), but the guys never grew tired of pulling them out of the warehouse so I could find the right one to take home.
Ultimately I came home with the Gloss R9 Tobacco pictured below. Gloss Tobacco R9s are hard to find in gloss without a pick guard. Typically Im the pick guard on type, but Im not sure that I want to go through with drilling it. It's also my only one without it installed, I figure why not keep it different? What do you guys say? As for tone, I have been putting the guitar to test over the past few weeks and it holds up superbly next to my others in terms of sound and playability. The Custom shop has been consistently pumping out some great guitars lately.
Curt also gave me some cool HOG Swag (T-Shirt, Strings, Picks), and set me up with a set of pickups that I have been wanting for a while, but are no longer in production. Curt has actually set me up in some big ways this year so I owe him a big thank you! For anyone in the market, I just got the HOG monthly email the other day and the latest inventory is looking killer!
Here are some intial pictures until I can get out in the sunlight this weekend:
I decided to take another road trip from Maryland to Rochester to try out the guitars I was interested in (I was there back in March for an R9 Handpicked top, posted in an older NGD thread). Once again the experience was awesome. Since I showed up in the morning they were cool enough to give me coffee/donuts to get me going, and some great local pizza in the afternoon to keep me going (I spent a good part of the day there). I tried out several guitars (i.e. R9s, R7, ES series), but the guys never grew tired of pulling them out of the warehouse so I could find the right one to take home.
Ultimately I came home with the Gloss R9 Tobacco pictured below. Gloss Tobacco R9s are hard to find in gloss without a pick guard. Typically Im the pick guard on type, but Im not sure that I want to go through with drilling it. It's also my only one without it installed, I figure why not keep it different? What do you guys say? As for tone, I have been putting the guitar to test over the past few weeks and it holds up superbly next to my others in terms of sound and playability. The Custom shop has been consistently pumping out some great guitars lately.
Curt also gave me some cool HOG Swag (T-Shirt, Strings, Picks), and set me up with a set of pickups that I have been wanting for a while, but are no longer in production. Curt has actually set me up in some big ways this year so I owe him a big thank you! For anyone in the market, I just got the HOG monthly email the other day and the latest inventory is looking killer!
Here are some intial pictures until I can get out in the sunlight this weekend:
Beautiful! 
Very beautiful guitar there.
