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Hatsubai « P90 Custom with an old school bridge »
Published on 07/21/11 at 19:45The black beauty versions of these are probably some of my favorite thanks to their ebony fretboard. I'm a big fan of ebony in both looks and feel, so I was right at home with this thing. The guitar features a mahogany body with a maple top, mahogany neck with an ebony fretboard, 22 frets, trapezoid inlays, pickguard, binding, hard tail bridge, two P90s, two volumes, two tones and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
The guitar was put together nicely, and that's a good thing for Gibson as their QC has been a bit iffy at times. The guitar had a properly cut nut, and as everyone knows, that's rule #1 for staying in tune. The frets were nicely leveled, the nubs were done correctly and they weren't sharp at all. I was able to get some pretty low action on this guitar despite it having a 12'' radius. Access to the upper frets is the same as every other Les Paul in that it sucks pretty hard. The neck joint gets in the way, but you learn to live with it as that joint is an important aspect in tone.
SOUNDS
The P90s are usually pretty fat, and that's a good thing. However, the ebony fretboard on this added some really cool treble that allows you to cut through the mix better. I plugged this thing into a cranked Marshall, and it was just tone for days. However, I wasn't able to get anything past that classic rock sound. With a normal Les Paul Custom, you can get basically any genre of tone due to them being so popular. The P90s kinda fall on their face once you start doing some faster riffing on the lower register. They work great for solos, but just be sure you're used to those lower output pickups.
OVERALL OPINION
These guitars look great, despite them being a bit boring overall. The ebony felt great, the bridge was nice, the P90s sounded solid and it just oozed with old school mojo. However, I questioned whether it was worth the money that Gibson was asking for it.
UTILIZATION
The guitar was put together nicely, and that's a good thing for Gibson as their QC has been a bit iffy at times. The guitar had a properly cut nut, and as everyone knows, that's rule #1 for staying in tune. The frets were nicely leveled, the nubs were done correctly and they weren't sharp at all. I was able to get some pretty low action on this guitar despite it having a 12'' radius. Access to the upper frets is the same as every other Les Paul in that it sucks pretty hard. The neck joint gets in the way, but you learn to live with it as that joint is an important aspect in tone.
SOUNDS
The P90s are usually pretty fat, and that's a good thing. However, the ebony fretboard on this added some really cool treble that allows you to cut through the mix better. I plugged this thing into a cranked Marshall, and it was just tone for days. However, I wasn't able to get anything past that classic rock sound. With a normal Les Paul Custom, you can get basically any genre of tone due to them being so popular. The P90s kinda fall on their face once you start doing some faster riffing on the lower register. They work great for solos, but just be sure you're used to those lower output pickups.
OVERALL OPINION
These guitars look great, despite them being a bit boring overall. The ebony felt great, the bridge was nice, the P90s sounded solid and it just oozed with old school mojo. However, I questioned whether it was worth the money that Gibson was asking for it.