* new vintage taste cherry and darkburst. * 40th Anniversary '59 RI - Painted and aged by Murphy (100 made?) * Special 60 1997-up (when they discontinued the Special 58, they incoporated the SC into the Special 60) * Pickguard blueprinted and caused a gap, revealing improper placement of the bridge pickup * Brighter transparent orangy cherry sunburst. * Brass bridge saddles instead of steel bridge saddles. * 'Flametop' R8 introduced in Buttersctch and Vintage Red finishes * 1995-2002 both Eastern and Western Maple used for tops

*'Historic collection' decal still on the back of the headstock. * First 200 of 1994 painted By Tom Murphy * Darker transparent orangy cherry sunburst. * Regular gibson usa white pearloid inlay. * Historic parts only pickguard, pickup rings, trussrod cover. * Cherry sunburst and heritage darkburst' * Regular early 90s style cherry sunburst. *'Historic collection' decal on the back of the headstock. * First 25 Sunburst and first 15 Goldtops were painted by Tom Murphy. Models include '54 Black Beauty, '56 Goldtop, '57 Custom Black Beauty/3 Pickup, '57 Goldtop, '57 Custom Black Beauty/2 Pickup, '57 Custom Black Beauty with optional Bigsby Tailpiece, '59 Flametop, '60 Flametop

I'll get things started with a few pieces of information that I know and then I'll rely on the group to help fill in the blanks. Bear in mind that often times the changes occur mid-year, so there may be some overlap.

This chronical will only be as good as the information submitted, so try to be accurate with your information. Sometimes it may be a day or so before I get around to updating the chart with the latest posts, but I'll try to keep up on it.

To contribute, just reply to the thread with whatever information you have and I will paste that data into post #2. I am going to maintain a chronological history in post #2 of this thread with milestones for each year. Once the list is complete, it can be organized into a single chart and posted on the web or possibly posted as a sticky in the Historic District. I thought it would be a good idea to try to collect the history of all changes into one thread. I'm sure the information is scattered about amongst numerous threads here on the forum, but finding it can be a chore. A forum member had asked in another thread if there was a definitive list of the year-to-year changes to the Historic line.

1958 les paul jr serial numbers