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Hatsubai « Very nice top on these »
Published on 07/15/11 at 18:26The premium plus' biggest thing was that it had a very nice, pretty top. Aside from that, it's really pretty much the same as any other Gibson out there on the market. The guitar features a mahogany body with a figured 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
They're generally solid figured tops, 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
The guitar sounds pretty good, but they're stock Gibson pickups. I'm not totally crazy about these. The sound average, in my opinion. The bridge is medium output, and it sounds fat. However, it doesn't overdrive the amp like I like my pickups to. The neck is a bit too bright for my tastes, but you can calm it down with the tone pot. The coolest thing is the coil split feature. This allows you to split the pickups to get that almost single coil sound. It makes this guitar crazy versatile.
OVERALL OPINION
The tops on these are pretty nice, but don't go expecting anything like a totally crazy PRS top unless you get lucky. Suhr and Anderson are also ahead of this in terms of figured tops. That said, they look good, sound pretty good, and play nice. Be sure to pay attention to any potential QC issues that may occur, but they're generally lower on these higher end models.
UTILIZATION
They're generally solid figured tops, 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
The guitar sounds pretty good, but they're stock Gibson pickups. I'm not totally crazy about these. The sound average, in my opinion. The bridge is medium output, and it sounds fat. However, it doesn't overdrive the amp like I like my pickups to. The neck is a bit too bright for my tastes, but you can calm it down with the tone pot. The coolest thing is the coil split feature. This allows you to split the pickups to get that almost single coil sound. It makes this guitar crazy versatile.
OVERALL OPINION
The tops on these are pretty nice, but don't go expecting anything like a totally crazy PRS top unless you get lucky. Suhr and Anderson are also ahead of this in terms of figured tops. That said, they look good, sound pretty good, and play nice. Be sure to pay attention to any potential QC issues that may occur, but they're generally lower on these higher end models.