I asked him how he knew so much about Gibson LP's, and he said he was 66 years old and had worked at both the Kalamazoo and Nashville shops in Manufacturing and Quality Control. He indicated that the 90's Classic, quality wise, due to its carved maple top and unchambered solid body, is a much more superior instrument than subsequent Classic models. They came with five numbers on back of the head stock, with the first digit being separated from the subsequent digits by two spaces, and the first digit being indicative of the year of manufacture, with the remaining three being the lot number of the item. These pre 1999's didn't have veneered maple tops and actually had carved maple tops like all Standards and Traditionals. The one's sold as STDs and Trads had Classic Alnico '57s, and the Classic LP's had 496R's and 500T' ceramics pups, and except for the neck were actually the very same heavy, unchambered guitar, and much more superior to the later chambered and weight relieved Classics manufactured after 1998. They also said that the only difference between the Classics, Standards and Traditionals from the '90's to '98, were the 1960's thin neck and the pickups.
I was told that all the classics manufactured during the 1990s-1998 were actually unchambered Traditionals and Standards, left over from earlier years with plain rather than flamed tops, that had been overstocked and unsold as Standards or Traditionals due to the plain tops. The serial number is printed on the rear of the head stock and then covered by a nitrocellulose coat without a "made in usa" on the head stock at all. Alarmed by the more than reasonable price ($1,300.00) prior to purchasing, I alerted the Gibson 24 hour tech service and customer support and inquired about this item. I just purchased a beautiful 1998 Gibson Heritage Cherry Burst Les Paul, serial number 8 0249. So ,if in doubt, email the S/N to Gibson. I wasn't sure about the S/N sequencing either so I emailed Gibson customer service and they confirmed that it was indeed a 1999.
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