R7 vs Gibson Artisan question

[samdjr74]

Hi All,

I have my eye on a 2000 Gibson CS R7 custom but at the same time I'm debating on getting a Gibson Artisan instead. My questions are, for playability, what would be considered the better choice? I'm not going to be able to play either guitar before purchasing it and the Artisan is going to cost a little more. I have an idea of what the Artisan will be like but I'm not up to speed on the R7 as far as build quality and playability, any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Sam

 

[bettset]

don't know what you did, but i have artisans, & you can't beat that old wood. plus the pickups were only for the artisan--not any other gibson. the artisan's weigh a good 10+ pounds, but worth it. i have a 2004 standard--it's nice, but the artisan is far better. mine fret perfectly--real singers. the artisan's i have are built very well--77 & 78's. that middle pickup gets tones you can't get on a 2 pickup les paul. it's my holy grail. & they record very good

 

[samdjr74]

don't know what you did, but i have artisans, & you can't beat that old wood. plus the pickups were only for the artisan--not any other gibson. the artisan's weigh a good 10+ pounds, but worth it. i have a 2004 standard--it's nice, but the artisan is far better. mine fret perfectly--real singers. the artisan's i have are built very well--77 & 78's. that middle pickup gets tones you can't get on a 2 pickup les paul. it's my holy grail. & they record very good

I actually eneded up with a LP custom in washed cherry with 3 humbuckers. Nice guitar and sounds great but I still wouldn't mind getting an artisan down the road if one pops up at a good price or trade out the custom for it.

 

[bettset]

if it's one of those washed cherry customs from 99-02 or so, they are not bad. kinda look a bit walnut under lights. i think they were a 1957 model re-issue or something. keep up the lookout--they do show up once in awhile. just make sure somebody has not gone thru the pots & stuff & replaced them--then sell it as all original. jerks do this. the best years in my opinion are 77-78. gibson did some different stuff in a cost sense after that. they were expensive to make. but the quality is outstanding for the most part--especially during a time when gibson was not making guitars all that well. they will not make them like this again. i'm waiting for prices to jump over the next 10 years as they approach 40. i'll part with a couple then. your washed cherry probably beats the mid decade gibson models if it's what i think it is. 1987 to early 2000's gibsons were pretty good.

 

[samdjr74]

if it's one of those washed cherry customs from 99-02 or so, they are not bad. kinda look a bit walnut under lights. i think they were a 1957 model re-issue or something. keep up the lookout--they do show up once in awhile. just make sure somebody has not gone thru the pots & stuff & replaced them--then sell it as all original. jerks do this. the best years in my opinion are 77-78. gibson did some different stuff in a cost sense after that. they were expensive to make. but the quality is outstanding for the most part--especially during a time when gibson was not making guitars all that well. they will not make them like this again. i'm waiting for prices to jump over the next 10 years as they approach 40. i'll part with a couple then. your washed cherry probably beats the mid decade gibson models if it's what i think it is. 1987 to early 2000's gibsons were pretty good.

The custom I bought is a R7 made in 2000, no CS logo but according to a few sources they didn't put the CS logo on them until 01 or something. I keep looking for a artisan but the prices are really getting out of my price range at this point. I saw a few go for well over $4K which is too rich for my blood. Then I've seen a few sell for half that so go figure with this crazy market.

Here's a pic of my R7

 

[bettset]

nice guitar. looks like the 57 washed from the same time period. be careful looking for the artisan--the market is nuts. just saw a perfect one never played--tags & all--plastic on the pickguard & back. put away right after it was sold in 1977. the guy wants over $5000.00. those for $2000.00 & up don't have the chainsaw case, & may have changed parts, re-fretted, & just other things going on. i lucked out many years back when they were selling for under $1200.00. the pickups they have is the biggest difference--gibson at least should have kept making the pickups. just sweet. i'll bet yours plays nice. i turned the middle pickup on one of my customs too--brightened it up just enough. i'm not computer literate enough to put up pictures--or even how to phrase other's comments within mine. maybe someday

 

[samdjr74]

nice guitar. looks like the 57 washed from the same time period. be careful looking for the artisan--the market is nuts. just saw a perfect one never played--tags & all--plastic on the pickguard & back. put away right after it was sold in 1977. the guy wants over $5000.00. those for $2000.00 & up don't have the chainsaw case, & may have changed parts, re-fretted, & just other things going on. i lucked out many years back when they were selling for under $1200.00. the pickups they have is the biggest difference--gibson at least should have kept making the pickups. just sweet. i'll bet yours plays nice. i turned the middle pickup on one of my customs too--brightened it up just enough. i'm not computer literate enough to put up pictures--or even how to phrase other's comments within mine. maybe someday

Thanks, I really dig this guitar, it doesn't have a huge neck but it's not super skinny either, very nice feel. When I got the guitar the previous owner tried to rearrange the wiring and just screwed it all up, for some reason the middle pick-up was wired to a tone control with the cap removed, I can only assume that the owner thought he could use a tone control as a volume control. First thing I did was order new pots and caps from RS wiring. The controls are still different then stock but now they are all correct and work. I have it set up with a master tone and each pick up has it's own volume control. The middle pickup is completely independant of the other 2 pickups so I can blend it in nicely. I find that with the middle pickup at full volume it actuall cuts out some of the highs so this way I can keep i around 3/4 volume and it sounds great with either of the other 2.

I've seen a couple artisans that are going for little cash but like you said all the parts have been replaced, the only good thing is most of those still have the original pickups.

 

[tnvol]

What does R7 mean?

 

[samdjr74]

What does R7 mean?

R= reissue
7 = 1957

R7 = Reissue 1957

 

[tnvol]

R= reissue
7 = 1957

R7 = Reissue 1957

Ahh. Thanks. I thought it might be a quality rating on the top or something.