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Hatsubai « Thinner neck'd LP »
Published on 07/15/11 at 18:14Where as the 50's one has the thicker, baseball bat neck, the 60's has the smaller neck. Even though I say smaller, this is still a very "medium" neck. It's no Ibanez Wizard by any means. The guitar features a mahogany body with a 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
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
I wasn't a huge fan of the stock pickups in this thing. Then again, I'm not the biggest fan of Gibson pickups to begin with. The bridge was powerful, but it lacked what I usually look for in a bridge pickup. I like the pickup to be clear and tight, but it seemed to be voiced more towards the vintage side of things. The neck sounded decent, but I'd like it to be more powerful and smoother sounding. I'm a sucker for those ultra smooth guitar tones for leads, but that's probably because I use them as a bit of a crutch for lead playing.
OVERALL OPINION
If you've always complained about the neck size on the Gibson guitars, check out this model. It has a much more medium "player friendly" neck than the 50s and other models out there. Still, it's a medium sized neck that some might not like. Personally, the biggest thing that annoys me is the finish on these as they can get sticky. Some 0000 wool helps fix that, but I find it comes back after a few weeks.
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
I wasn't a huge fan of the stock pickups in this thing. Then again, I'm not the biggest fan of Gibson pickups to begin with. The bridge was powerful, but it lacked what I usually look for in a bridge pickup. I like the pickup to be clear and tight, but it seemed to be voiced more towards the vintage side of things. The neck sounded decent, but I'd like it to be more powerful and smoother sounding. I'm a sucker for those ultra smooth guitar tones for leads, but that's probably because I use them as a bit of a crutch for lead playing.
OVERALL OPINION
If you've always complained about the neck size on the Gibson guitars, check out this model. It has a much more medium "player friendly" neck than the 50s and other models out there. Still, it's a medium sized neck that some might not like. Personally, the biggest thing that annoys me is the finish on these as they can get sticky. Some 0000 wool helps fix that, but I find it comes back after a few weeks.