View other reviews for this product:
Hatsubai « Nice flame on this »
Published on 07/10/11 at 19:11Flame tops back during this time were pretty rare, and Gibson was in the forefront when they started adding them to their own guitars. Considering their guitars already had a maple top, it wasn't too hard of a decision to make for them. The guitar features a mahogany body with a flamed maple top, mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets, trapezoid inlays, pickguard, binding, hard tail bridge, two humbuckers, two volumes, two tones and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
It should be noted that, despite the price of these guitars, they don't have the most intense flame out there. They're generally solid flames, but I've seen PRS and other guitars with better ones. Even Jackson can have more intricate flames. Then again, it all depends on what you're going for. The nut on this was cut properly, and I had no issues with tuning. The frets were dead on, and the edges felt great. I really dug how this guitar played, and it had a nearly perfect weight, weighing somewhere around 8 to 9 lbs.
SOUNDS
This guitar actually had some swapped pickups in it, and I was surprised considering how expensive these are. The pickups were a JB/59 combo. The JB in the bridge is a pretty iconic pickup as it's known as that hot rodded high output heavy metal pickup that was prominent in the 80s. Just like then, the pickup was high output enough to where it can do metal, but it can also back off nicely to do some great blues or fusion. The 59 in the neck gave an awesome warmth with a small amount of treble bite to help cut through a mix without any issues.
OVERALL OPINION
The flame on this was decent, but it had that "cooking grill" effect going on. Some may or may not like that, so be sure you choose one that you think looks good. Aside from that, the guitar was pretty much the same as any other Gibson out there, except maybe with a touch more bite. Try to buy used as these are crazy expensive.
UTILIZATION
It should be noted that, despite the price of these guitars, they don't have the most intense flame out there. They're generally solid flames, but I've seen PRS and other guitars with better ones. Even Jackson can have more intricate flames. Then again, it all depends on what you're going for. The nut on this was cut properly, and I had no issues with tuning. The frets were dead on, and the edges felt great. I really dug how this guitar played, and it had a nearly perfect weight, weighing somewhere around 8 to 9 lbs.
SOUNDS
This guitar actually had some swapped pickups in it, and I was surprised considering how expensive these are. The pickups were a JB/59 combo. The JB in the bridge is a pretty iconic pickup as it's known as that hot rodded high output heavy metal pickup that was prominent in the 80s. Just like then, the pickup was high output enough to where it can do metal, but it can also back off nicely to do some great blues or fusion. The 59 in the neck gave an awesome warmth with a small amount of treble bite to help cut through a mix without any issues.
OVERALL OPINION
The flame on this was decent, but it had that "cooking grill" effect going on. Some may or may not like that, so be sure you choose one that you think looks good. Aside from that, the guitar was pretty much the same as any other Gibson out there, except maybe with a touch more bite. Try to buy used as these are crazy expensive.