WTB Gibson Les Paul R8/R7

alexisgt

Looking to buy an R8 or R7 Goldtop Gibson Les Paul.

Have a budget of up to £1700.

Ossyrocks

I think you need to up your budget, but by only £200-£300.

2013 & 14 guitars will be more than that though. 

Rob

clarkydaz

I noticed this selling my R8. People want custom shop guitars, at standard prices

Brize

I disagree - ballpark for a pre-2013 R8 is £1,750, up to £2k for a 2013 or 2014 model. The OP's there or thereabouts.

Ossyrocks

Brize said:

I disagree - ballpark for a pre-2013 R8 is £1,750, up to £2k for a 2013 or 2014 model. The OP's there or thereabouts.

I will buy every 2014 R8 you can find at that price.

I sold my 2014 plaintop R0 this year for £2600 and I think the buyer got a decent deal.

Gibson Custom prices are about to jump too, I have heard rumours of 20%.

Rob

BloodEagle

I sold an R7 for £1700 a few months back - it's not unrealistic at all

Brize

Ossyrocks said:

I sold my 2014 plaintop R0 this year for £2600 and I think the buyer got a decent deal.

I think you got the better end of that deal. I recently bought a used 2014 R9 for £2,850 - a guitar that would have been about £1,500 more expensive than your plain-top R0 new.

black

Brize said:

Ossyrocks said:

I sold my 2014 plaintop R0 this year for £2600 and I think the buyer got a decent deal.

I think you got the better end of that deal. I recently bought a used 2014 R9 for £2,850 - a guitar that would have been about £1,500 more expensive than your plain-top R0 new.

Agreed. I think 2,6 for a plaintop R0 is a good deal - for the seller. 

Brize

Ossyrocks said:

I sold my 2014 plaintop R0 this year for £2600 and I think the buyer got a decent deal.

Out of interest, what did you pay new for that R0 - £3.2k?

The tried and tested formula for used guitars in good nick is two-thirds of the new price, so unless you paid £4k new your buyer over-paid.

That run of R0s were a bit of an anomaly. R0s were always priced at the same level as R9s, but Gibson did a run of 2014 R0s with v2 necks that were priced in line with R8s. They were supposed to be plain-tops but a lot of them were anything but.

fretfinder

BloodEagle said:

I sold an R7 for £1700 a few months back - it's not unrealistic at all

Me too for exactly the same price, a 2008 model in my case. I'd be interested in buying another R7 or an R8 and I'd pay a few hundred more for a good one from 2013 or later.

Ossyrocks

Brize said:

Ossyrocks said:

I sold my 2014 plaintop R0 this year for £2600 and I think the buyer got a decent deal.

Out of interest, what did you pay new for that R0 - £3.2k?

The tried and tested formula for used guitars in good nick is two-thirds of the new price, so unless you paid £4k new your buyer over-paid.

That run of R0s were a bit of an anomaly. R0s were always priced at the same level as R9s, but Gibson did a run of 2014 R0s with v2 necks that were priced in line with R8s. They were supposed to be plain-tops but a lot of them were anything but.

I paid £2.9k, but the retail was £3449 I think at the time. Yes, mine was one of those anomalies, V2 neck, just under 9 lbs, and if you caught it right in the light the flame lit up like a Christmas tree, but most of the time it did look plain. It also had Sheptone zebra PAFs in it. It was a truly great guitar and the buyer chose it out four others on his mission around the country trying out lesters.

Ok, I agree you can pick up an R7 or R8 occasionally for £1800 ish, but not very often, and from the earlier period.

No disrespect to owners of earlier reissues, but I really think the guitars after 2013 are superior, and I think the general feeling is that they command a higher price as a result. I do think 2014 is a watershed year, before all the 2015 shenanigans (CS9 vs TH etc). Ok, Gibson did ultimately see sense in 2016 and brought back the "Standard Historic", but for some reason they saw fit to change the serial format. A very small detail I know, but there you go.

So, good luck to the OP, there is hope.

Rob

Brize

Ossyrocks said:

No disrespect to owners of earlier reissues, but I really think the guitars after 2013 are superior, and I think the general feeling is that they command a higher price as a result.

In my experience, the only thing that's better about the 2013/14 guitars is the Custom Buckers. It's amusing that you removed these and still got 90% of what you paid new - that has to be the deal of the century from a seller's point of view.

Although the 2013/14 guitars have better specs, I've noticed that a lot of the fretboards are dry and streaky, which is unacceptable for guitars that cost so much. Gibson should be using premium-grade rosewood for £5k guitars.

Ossyrocks

What I paid doesn't really have any bearing on the selling price. I got a deal which was not available to anyone else. So, at £2600 it was a significant reduction from the retail price, and as the guitar was in as new condition, it was a good deal.

For me the major improvement in 2013/14 was the truss rod. The new vintage correct one allows vibration to be more readily transferred throughout the guitar, you can feel it in your hands.

The Custombuckers are probably the best pickups they have put out yet, but still not to my taste. Alnico II is a bit weak, squishy and compressed to my ears. Alnico IV is where it's at for me.

As for the boards, yes they are variable. My R0 had a very dark and tight grained board, and was probably one of the best I have seen on a reissue.

Rob

Brize

@Ossyrocks said:

What I paid doesn't really have any bearing on the selling price. I got a deal which was not available to anyone else. 

I also bought one of those R0s and paid £2,900 for it, so it was a deal available to someone else.

@Ossyrocks said:

For me the major improvement in 2013/14 was the truss rod. The new vintage correct one allows vibration to be more readily transferred throughout the guitar, you can feel it in your hands.

That will depend on the individual guitar. I have 2011 R0 that is marginally better than my 2014 R9.

@Ossyrocks said:

The Custombuckers are probably the best pickups they have put out yet, but still not to my taste. Alnico II is a bit weak, squishy and compressed to my ears. Alnico IV is where it's at for me.

Custom Buckers are Alnico III.