Long post but very interesting story, maybe you guys can help me out- especially guitar dealers out there. Days ago, I contacted Gibson to find out when they started to introduce and discontinue the Epiphone Les Paul ES model because I heard it was very short lived, and owning one myself, I just felt that I gotta find some info about my Epiphone Les Paul ES. I was pretty excited and I wanted to know if my guitar was one of the last ones they made being made in 2002- based from what a Roger Ball from Gibson customer service told me, by looking at my guitar's serial number. To my amazement and shock, the guy from Gibson customer service said that the Epiphone Les Paul ES was first introduced in 1999 and was immediately discontinued in the year 2000! I mailed him back and said it can't be! If the Epiphone Les Paul ES was already discontinued in 2000, how can my guitar be made in 2002 because mine is a 2002 Epiphone Les Paul ES. He told me that my Les Paul ES could have been a run ordered by a specific dealer or dealers because The Les Paul ES wasn't on the price list in 2002. He said that dealers can order guitars to certain specs, so there's always a chance that a guitar that may not be a production guitar any longer may show up in a store. Isn't this amazing? This means, that even if a guitar is no longer in production, it can still show
up in stores! Now my questions to you guitar dealers is this: When it comes to resale value or collectibility, what's the difference if there's any between production guitars and guitars made that are no longer in production
of the same model? Surely the guitar model that was made after it was no longer in production is not a recopy of the production made guitar. I asked the guys at Gibson customer service my Epiphone ES is a copy of the production line Epiphone ES, but they said its not a copy. They said its a real actual Epiphone Les Paul ES- only its not a production line anymore. I'm still pretty confused over the whole thing. Can you guys help me out?