View other reviews for this product:
MatrixClaw « Beats Paying Twice as Much for a Standard! »
Published on 04/02/11 at 18:52The BFG Features:
- Unsanded carved flame maple top
- Mahogany back
- 1950s rounded mahogany neck
- Rosewood fingerboard
- 24-3/4" scale
- 22 frets
- 1.695" nut width
- White side dot inlays
- Black chrome hardware
- Distressed stopbar
- Tune-O-Matic bridge
- Wooden volume and tone knobs
- Distressed Grover tuners
- Zebra BurstBucker 3 bridge, P-90 neck
- Kill switch toggle
- See-through wiring covers
Made in the USA
UTILIZATION
This is easily my favorite playing Les Paul of all time. The familiar feel of a standard, but with a satin finish on the neck, instead of a glossy lacquer, which allows for a much smoother neck and quicker speed along the fretboard. My only wish is that these came with 24 frets, instead of 22, because the cutaway on Les Pauls make it somewhat hard to get up to the top frets - Those extra 2 frets would mean I might actually be able to get to the 22nd fret!
The killswitch, while not all too practical for most people, is a cool feature that allows you to kill the sound of the guitar instantly. Useful for in between songs at gigs, or at home, if your amp is prone to feedback, or if you don't want to accidently hit a string and make noise (so you don't have to roll your volume back).
The neck is the 50's neck, which is fatter than the 60's slim neck, but not quite as fat as the R9's neck. However, don't let that fool you, while it's what some might consider a "baseball bat" or "boat" neck, it's really quite comfortable and the satin neck adds MUCH more speed to it than would normally be available in other Les Pauls.
SOUNDS
This guitar is amazingly versatile, and is my first experience with a P90. Unfortunately, I bought mine used, and it didn't come stock, instead, it has an EMG 81 in the bridge, and a P85 in the neck. Normally, I'm not a huge fan of EMGs, but they sound great in a big chunk of mahogany!
The tone of this guitar is only what I can explain as... Chunky. It's got a huge, thick tone to it that will make any amp sound full and crisp. The P-90 neck pickup is awesome, and is the closest I've come to achieving the tone I've been wanting out of my neck pickup for years. They are more aggressive than a normal humbucker in the position, and really cut through a mix nicely. They still retain the neck position's fatness, without sounding muddy and overly bassy, very nice!
OVERALL OPINION
Overall, I really like this guitar. It's an excellent platform for upgrades, of which I've pretty much upgraded everything on, but I'm sure it sounds and plays great in stock configuration.
For the price these guitars pop up for on the used market, it's hard to pass them up. They utterly demolish the Studios, and are easily as good as a Standard if you don't need all the bells and whistles. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone looking to pick up a Gibson that's actually worth the price it costs!
- Unsanded carved flame maple top
- Mahogany back
- 1950s rounded mahogany neck
- Rosewood fingerboard
- 24-3/4" scale
- 22 frets
- 1.695" nut width
- White side dot inlays
- Black chrome hardware
- Distressed stopbar
- Tune-O-Matic bridge
- Wooden volume and tone knobs
- Distressed Grover tuners
- Zebra BurstBucker 3 bridge, P-90 neck
- Kill switch toggle
- See-through wiring covers
Made in the USA
UTILIZATION
This is easily my favorite playing Les Paul of all time. The familiar feel of a standard, but with a satin finish on the neck, instead of a glossy lacquer, which allows for a much smoother neck and quicker speed along the fretboard. My only wish is that these came with 24 frets, instead of 22, because the cutaway on Les Pauls make it somewhat hard to get up to the top frets - Those extra 2 frets would mean I might actually be able to get to the 22nd fret!
The killswitch, while not all too practical for most people, is a cool feature that allows you to kill the sound of the guitar instantly. Useful for in between songs at gigs, or at home, if your amp is prone to feedback, or if you don't want to accidently hit a string and make noise (so you don't have to roll your volume back).
The neck is the 50's neck, which is fatter than the 60's slim neck, but not quite as fat as the R9's neck. However, don't let that fool you, while it's what some might consider a "baseball bat" or "boat" neck, it's really quite comfortable and the satin neck adds MUCH more speed to it than would normally be available in other Les Pauls.
SOUNDS
This guitar is amazingly versatile, and is my first experience with a P90. Unfortunately, I bought mine used, and it didn't come stock, instead, it has an EMG 81 in the bridge, and a P85 in the neck. Normally, I'm not a huge fan of EMGs, but they sound great in a big chunk of mahogany!
The tone of this guitar is only what I can explain as... Chunky. It's got a huge, thick tone to it that will make any amp sound full and crisp. The P-90 neck pickup is awesome, and is the closest I've come to achieving the tone I've been wanting out of my neck pickup for years. They are more aggressive than a normal humbucker in the position, and really cut through a mix nicely. They still retain the neck position's fatness, without sounding muddy and overly bassy, very nice!
OVERALL OPINION
Overall, I really like this guitar. It's an excellent platform for upgrades, of which I've pretty much upgraded everything on, but I'm sure it sounds and plays great in stock configuration.
For the price these guitars pop up for on the used market, it's hard to pass them up. They utterly demolish the Studios, and are easily as good as a Standard if you don't need all the bells and whistles. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone looking to pick up a Gibson that's actually worth the price it costs!