Les Paul Historic Collection Chronicle

1993

Historic Collection introduced Models include:

• ’54 Black Beauty
• '56 Goldtop
• '57 Custom Black Beauty/2 and 3 Pickup
• '57 Goldtop
• '57 Custom Black Beauty with optional Bigsby Tailpiece
• '59 flame top
• '60 flame top

The first 25 Sunburst and first 15 gold tops were painted by Tom Murphy

• Deep neck joint
• Thin Holly head veneer
• Silk screened les paul logo
• Correct pickup routing
• Les Paul classic aged inlay
• 57 Classic pickups
• Kluson replica tuners
• Vintage letter styled serial number
• ‘Historic Collection’ decal on the back of the headstock
• Indian rosewood fingerboard
• AAAA grade soft maple top
• Regular Gibson USA brown case
• Regular early 90s style cherry sunburst
• Cherry sunburst and heritage darkburst
• Some models lack pickguard

1994

• Historic parts; only pickguard, pickup rings, truss-rod cover
• Regular Gibson USA white pearloid inlay
• "AAAA" grade soft maple top
• Darker transparent orangey cherry sunburst (1994-1996)
• First year for the R8
• First 200 of 1994 painted By Tom Murphy
• ‘Historic Collection’ decal still on the back of the headstock
• 1995-2002 both Eastern and Western Maple used for tops
• Custom Shop decal disappears from back of neck (1994?)

1995

1996

• Flame top R8 introduced in Butterscotch and Vintage Red finishes
• R4 1996 onwards

1997

• ID micro chip in the neck joint
• Brass bridge saddles instead of steel bridge saddles
• "AAAAA" grade soft maple top
• Brighter transparent orangey cherry sunburst (1997-1999)
• Pickguard blueprinted and caused a gap, revealing improper placement of the bridge pickup
• Brighter back cherry colour
• Junior 57 from 1997
• Junior 58 from 1997
• Special 58 1997-2000(?) 
• Special 60 1997-onwards (when they discontinued the Special 58, they incorporated the SC into the Special 60)

1998

• R2 1998-2003
• No pointers on knobs?

1999

• 
  40th Anniversary '59 RI - Painted and aged by Murphy (about 100 made)
  
• No R8 this year
• COA began
• Thin body binding
• Thin lacquer finish
• "AAA" hard maple top
• new vintage styles cherry and darkburst
• Vintage style back red filler colour
• Refined parts positions and neck shape
• Bridge pickup moved to its proper place
• R9 Plaintop 1999-2000
• Gibson Stops flame enhancing
• Limited quantity of "Killer Top" R9s, "AAAAA" tops, stamped R9K in cavity
• Gibson Stops flame enhancing
• Pickup spacing corrected around 1999
• Changed serial number font

2000

• Certificate of Authenticity appears around 2000
• No R8 this year
• Vintage Lifton style brown case for R9/R0
• Lemon Burst, Tri Burst
• Black Custom Art Historic case (TKL)
• No COA
• No faux turtle shell side markers
• Rounded fretboard inlays
• Heavyweight tailpiece
• '57 Classic PUP's
• Thick jack plate
• Thick switch plate/washer
• Fine-knurl switch nut
• Amber knobs
• Gibson label potentiometers
• ‘Orange drop’ capacitors

2001

• 
  R9 production limited to 500 units US, 1000 worldwide due to "parts constraints"
• Custom Authentic models introduced (broken-in finish, aged hardware, Grovers)
• Dickie Betts '57 Goldtop introduced (limited edition of 114)
• R8 returns with a flame top
• Thin neck binding
• New round edged pearloid inlay (2001-2002 only)
• Vintage style mid jumbo size frets
• New thick jack plate (2001-2002 only)
• Aluminium tailpiece
• Faux turtle shell side markers
• Very bright red sunburst
• Faded Tobacco, Iced Tea, Washed Cherry
• Lifton case is standard for R9/R0
• COA standard
• Limited run of Brazilian board R9's given to award dealers About 50 guitars in the 9 1203 to 9 1250 range all but 6 of them aged by Tom Murphy
• 38 Official Brazilian R9’s
• No-wire ABR bridge - only for a short period (2001?)
• 59's where not limited (But they where suppose be ) 
• The new Jack plate became standard
• Custom Authentic’s were only 3 models R7 Goldtop, R8 Standard, and the Black Beauty Custom (not sure of the year replicated)
• Also, BurstBucker #2 and #3 were standard on these 2001 Authentic’s (2002 was not the first year for these pickups)
• Of 4 3001-4 3150 35 of these were R4 Custom Black Beauties=115 BRW R4s
• Of 7 3001-7 3707 220 of these were R7 Customs, 4 GTs were 02 specs, 28 were Juniors=455 BRW R7s
• Of 8 3001-8 3256 31 of these were Juniors=225 BRW R8s
• Of 0 3001-0 3163 50 were G0s, 20 were Specials=93 BRW R0s
• R9 production limited to 500 units US, 1000 worldwide due to "parts constraints"
• Custom Authentic models introduced (broken-in finish, aged hardware, Grovers)

2002

• Genuine Kluson tuners for the early units
  
• Improved tuner bushings
• More accurately shaped fingerboard inlays
• Non-wire ABR-1 bridge for the early units
• Amber top hat knobs
• CTS pots
• Owners Card (listing name, serial number and the dealership), Certificate of Authenticity, Reissue Strap, an Embroidered Les Paul Swatch and a Custom Care Kit 
  
• Burstbucker type 2 & 3
• Inlay material changed to swirly plastic, corners sharpened (only R9/R0, later for all models)
• Vintage style thin jack plate (only R9/0, later for all models)
• Vintage style thin toggle switch washer (only R9/0, later for all models)
• Vintage colour toggle switch knob (only R9/0, later for all models)
• Vintage style CTS pots and oil caps not bumblebee (only R9/0, later all models)
• Dark deep cherry sunburst
• R7 gets Burstbuckers
• Left handed Historics get side dots added to the underside of the neck
• Custom Authentic loses Grovers
• 8 Official Brazilian R9's
• 5 Guitar Center R0 models built (listed as "LPR0PTKBNH1 LP 60 Plaintop”)
• Burstbuckers replace Classic '57s (2002?
• Lightweight stop-tail replaces zinc (2002-2003?)
• Inlays changed to swirly plastic with sharp points (in know the 2003s had this, but I'm think this actually started in 2002)
• 59's where limited 
• Murphy's extremely limited
• Same Tuners as before but better Bushings 
• No BB's yet in 59's 
• No Oil Caps. There the Black Beauty caps without the Black Beauty casing on them  
• Genuine Kluson tuners for the early units
• Improved tuner bushings

2003

Brazilian boards installed from January through May as follows:

• of 4 3001-4 3150 35 of these were R4 Custom Black Beauties = 115 BRW R4s
• of 7 3001-7 3707 220 of these were R7 Customs, 4 gold tops were 02 specs, 28 were Juniors = 455 BRW R7s
• of 8 3001-8 3256 31 of these were Juniors = 225 BRW R8s
• of 0 3001-0 3163 50 were G0s, 20 were Specials = 93 BRW R0s
• R6s and R9s Do not share with other models, so all 148 R6s and all 674 R9s are BRW
• 674 Official Brazilian R9's
• 2001 limited run of Brazilian board R9's given to award dealers
• About 50 guitars in the 9 1203 to 9 1250 range all but 6 of them aged by Tom Murphy

Other features:

• Price drop on R8s and R9s
• Truss rod cover moved away from nut
• Headstock shape changed
• Tuners arranged to be inline
• Vintage style CTS pots
• Bumblebee Caps
• Return to wired ABR 
• Madagascar rosewood fingerboard
• Eastern hard maple top
• "AA" grade eastern hard maple top
• R9 flame top becomes less flashy due to increased use of Eastern Maple
• R8 returns with a plain top
• Burstbucker type 1 & 2
• Gold knobs instead of previous vintage amber knobs
• Tuner positions corrected "l l" way to "V" pattern
• Transparent orange to regular red cherry sunburst
• "i"dot on Gibson logo moved to the correct position 
• Refined parts positions and neck shape
• Inlays changed to swirly plastic, sharp corners on remaining models
• Special run of "Stinger Series" guitars Music Machine "Stingers" have Brazilian Rosewood fretboards
• 50 Guitar Center R0 models built
• Plastic colour changes from pinkish cream to ivory cream colour (2003)?
• Neck binding thinned out (2003)?
• Head Stock Shape fixed

2004

• Cloud 9 chambered models introduced in limited quantities
• Jimmy Page signature model introduced; 25 Murphy aged guitars signed by JP, 150 Murphy aged unsigned models, 870 Custom Authentic non-Murphy aged guitars produced, run complete in 2007
• New custom shop black case
• "AAA" eastern hard maple top
• Silk screened logo moved to the correct location
• Short Truss Rod Screws the right size
• limited number of R9's with exposed double cream Dimarzio’s
• The line historic chambered began in 2004 (Under a very interesting blog about the story of the chambered and also a bit of the history of Gibson)

2005

• TR screws return to the wrong size

2006

• VOS finish with aged hardware introduced
• CS begins using Plek machine used for dressing frets and cutting nut slots
• Real vintage looking maple top grains/figures

2007

• Brighter back red filler colour
• Real Honduran mahogany
• 50th Anniversary Goldtop (Ewwww) 157 built
• Jimmy Page Signature Custom Authentic Model build ends with 870 total JPP CA's built

2009

• Top Carve: Reports have it that the top carve is much better
• Neck Profile: I’ve also heard that this is much closer to a ’59 neck profile
• Bindings: Rolled (supposedly)
• Burst Color: From all accounts, it’s beautiful
• Bridge: Non-wire ABR
• Nut: Correct nut material
• Switch Nut: Correct number of ridges; much closer to vintage specs
• Poker Chip: Thin, and much closer to vintage
• Pots: Upgraded
• Back Control & Switch Plates: Proper material
• Back Control Plate: Correct location/orientation
• TRC: Period correct Truss rod cover is that what I heard?
• Tailpiece & Knob Positions: It appears that they probably left the tailpiece in place, but moved the knobs a bit…obviously an area of much debate
• Overall body thickness is the same, but mahogany is slightly thicker and maple is slightly thinner
• Fingerboard thickness is more accurate (thinner than it was previously)
• The radius on the edge of the body backside is sharper
• Pickguard shape more accurate
• Maple "window" in cutaway is smaller
• The jack input is now 1" diameter (was smaller)
• The overall body shape is more accurate

2011

• Steel Studs

2012

• 2-piece fingerboards, different inlays?
• In 2012 (some, not all) Custom Shop guitars had a 2 piece layered fretboard
• Some guitars have 2-piece rosewood fingerboards

2013

• Kluson Deluxe machine heads Green Key (most of hIstoric reissue models)
• Custom Bucker Pickups
• Historic Truss Rod Assembly no tubing
• Cellulose Inlay
• Hot Hide Glue Neck Fit
• Long Stud & Insert
• Aniline Dye
• New colour fingerboard & body binding
• Gold Top (R4, R6, R7 only)
• 2013 hide glue neck joint added
• Nylon nut
• Aniline dye on sides and back
• Alnico 3 ‘Custombucker’ debut
• Hide glue construction
• Truss rod tubing removed
• 1-piece rosewood fingerboard
• Lifton-style case

2014

• Custom Shop starts using hide glue for finger board
• 2014 hide glue fretboard added
• Chambered Reissue (Cloud) models re-released (CRxxxx serials)

2015

• True Historic Spec released CS7,8,9 released featuring short tenon
• "True Historic" Plastics
• New Pickup Covers
• Double-Carved and hand-sanded Top
• Double-Carved and hand-sanded Neck
• "Broken" Peg-head Edges, Smoother Edges Throughout
• Original, Thinner Holly Peg-head Veneer
• A Complete Finish Overhaul [new process, dry and wet sanding by hand to create a thinner, "vintage-style" finish]
• Playability ["True Historic Les Pauls feature updates to the fret and fingerboard dressing process"; hand filled rolled fingerboard binding]
• Scraping Process [no scraping line on the neck, "deeper" scraping line on the body]
• Hide Glue Top Construction
• True Historic spec continues
• Standard Historic returns to ‘14 spec and long tenon
• CS7,8,9 discontinued

2016

• Historic, Long Neck Tenon

2017

• The Carmelita top carve profile
• All 54, 56, 57, and 58 Historic Reissues have 59 neck profiles
• All hide-glue construction and nitrocellulose lacquer finishes with aniline dye
• True Historic parts including pick-guard, pickup rings, switch washer, tip, knobs, pickup covers, and jack plate
• Historic accurate serial numbers (no R at the beginning of the serial)
• Rolled Fretboard Binding
• Solid Indian rosewood fretboard
• Solid one-piece mahogany neck with Historic long neck tenon
• Holly Headstock Veneer
• Custombucker Pickups

2018

• Hide glue maple cap added
• Some 2018 with Brazilian Fretboards
• All historic reissues now feature TH spec except hand sanded tops
• Thinner (accurate) fret wire for R7, R8
• Updated neck profiles: slimmer, with less shoulder
• Some guitars have 6-digit serial #s

2019

• Henry’s gone!
• Real PIO caps replace fake bumblebees

Questions

~~~~~~~~~

When was the Top carve changed (?)

When was R9 shipped with brown Lifton case (?)