Were doing a lot of pissing and moaning about what Gibson didnt get right. I thought Id throw in my $.02 about what they did get right (from what we know to date), what they didn't, and what they changed. Reports have it that 20 changes were made in all, so I obviously dont have them all, but here goes:
Top Carve: Reports have it that the top carve is much better.
Neck Profile: Ive also heard that this is much closer to a 59 neck profile.
Bindings: Rolled (supposedly)
Burst Color: From all accounts, its 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. I contend that they did what they did as a compromise between the 59 and 60 specs. From a manufacturing standpoint, this probably makes sense so that all R9 and R0 bodies are interchangeable, and you dont have to worry about producing historically accurate bodies for each year.
Things that werent corrected/changed: well, Im no expert in vintage LPs, so I cant comment on everything but
Fingerboard: It isnt a surprise to anyone that Braz wasnt used, considering everything stated and publicized by Henry and Gibson to date.
Glue, truss rod & truss rod condom: Probably no change. And I would bet that there are significant manufacturing considerations in deciding not to make any changes here.
Inlays: No change, but also manufacturing considerations come into play here (highly flammable).
Tuner Buttons: No change
ok, no excuse here.
Plastic: No apparent changes in the pickup rings, pickguard, etc, as far as we know.
Pickups: ?????
Pickup Covers: No apparent change.
Im sure Im forgetting and/or omitting several things. But in my opinion, Gibson did a lot this year, and Im generally pleased. And whats interesting to me, is that with the exception of the fingerboard, truss rod and condom, the major things left unchanged were exactly those things we normally love to change out around here anyway (mainly because Gibson didnt get them right to begin with). But still, these are parts that are easily changed
the tougher things like the body carve and neck profile may finally be right.
And who knows, some of these other features that were not yet changed may still show up later in the year, or my appear in one or two of the signature series guitars (why arent they showing the front of the JP #2?).
Frank
