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Hatsubai « Relic finish model »
Published on 09/27/11 at 07:35A lot of people like new guitars, but they dislike the brand new look they have. On top of that, they dislike the poly that gets thrown all over these new guitars. This has a lacquer finish that has been aged from teh factory. It gives the guitar some more character, and there's even a debate about tone. The guitar has the following specs:
Mahogany body with a maple top
Mahogany set-neck with a rosewood fretboard
22 frets with Gibson-style inlays
Tune-o-matic bridge
Seymour Duncan 59 in the neck and Custom in the bridge
Two volumes
Two tones
Three way switch
Relic'd finish
UTILIZATION
The relic job on this was very nicely done. I've seen some super over the top relic finishes before, and ESP is guilty of doing this on some of their guitars as well. However, this was relic'd just enough to keep things looking worn without it being too over the top and looking stupid. The frets were pretty good, and they were fairly level. I was able to get some nice action on this without too much of an issue. A quick tweak of the truss rod fixed most things. The ends were also fairly rounded, but they could have been touched up a bit better. I would have liked to see them closer to the actual ESP guitars, but for the price, it's hard to complain.
SOUNDS
The guitar has a Seymour Duncan Custom in the bridge. This happens to be my absolute favorite Duncan pickup. It's like a thicker version of the JB, I've found. It can do everything the JB does and then some. It's not quite as "organic" as the JB might be, and a lot of that has to do with the Ceramic magnet, but it's tighter and just sounds better, I think. I've used this pickup from nearly every genre from blues to fusion to even death metal. It's just a great all around pickup. The neck is a Seymour Duncan 59, and this happens to be one of my favorite pickups in the neck. It's thick enough to where you can get a great lead sound, but it's also bright enough to cut through the mix. It doesn't have any annoying treble, and super smooth tones aren't an issue at all.
OVERALL OPINION
This is probably one of my favorite Edwards models. It has my favorite pickup combination in it, and the relic finish on this was done nicely. It makes it look like it has some character to it, and I find these guitars to be more consistent than normal Gibson Les Pauls. If you're looking for a guitar that doesn't cost a fortune but can deliver tone, definitely check these guitars out. They're very solid guitars all around.
Mahogany body with a maple top
Mahogany set-neck with a rosewood fretboard
22 frets with Gibson-style inlays
Tune-o-matic bridge
Seymour Duncan 59 in the neck and Custom in the bridge
Two volumes
Two tones
Three way switch
Relic'd finish
UTILIZATION
The relic job on this was very nicely done. I've seen some super over the top relic finishes before, and ESP is guilty of doing this on some of their guitars as well. However, this was relic'd just enough to keep things looking worn without it being too over the top and looking stupid. The frets were pretty good, and they were fairly level. I was able to get some nice action on this without too much of an issue. A quick tweak of the truss rod fixed most things. The ends were also fairly rounded, but they could have been touched up a bit better. I would have liked to see them closer to the actual ESP guitars, but for the price, it's hard to complain.
SOUNDS
The guitar has a Seymour Duncan Custom in the bridge. This happens to be my absolute favorite Duncan pickup. It's like a thicker version of the JB, I've found. It can do everything the JB does and then some. It's not quite as "organic" as the JB might be, and a lot of that has to do with the Ceramic magnet, but it's tighter and just sounds better, I think. I've used this pickup from nearly every genre from blues to fusion to even death metal. It's just a great all around pickup. The neck is a Seymour Duncan 59, and this happens to be one of my favorite pickups in the neck. It's thick enough to where you can get a great lead sound, but it's also bright enough to cut through the mix. It doesn't have any annoying treble, and super smooth tones aren't an issue at all.
OVERALL OPINION
This is probably one of my favorite Edwards models. It has my favorite pickup combination in it, and the relic finish on this was done nicely. It makes it look like it has some character to it, and I find these guitars to be more consistent than normal Gibson Les Pauls. If you're looking for a guitar that doesn't cost a fortune but can deliver tone, definitely check these guitars out. They're very solid guitars all around.