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Hatsubai « Old school specs »
Published on 10/23/11 at 13:50This guitar is a total throwback to the old school Les Paul days, and it happens to be a throwback to my favorite era of the Les Paul Standard -- the 1957. On top of that, it even has my favorite finish on a Les Paul -- the (cliché) Gold top. 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 pretty much perfect in ever way you could think of. The weight was the first thing I noticed. It seemed to have the absolute perfect weight for a Les Paul, as it was in the 8 lb range. I find this to be perfect as the super heavy ones tend to be back killers and don't resonate like the lighter ones do, but the super light ones seem to lack girth. The frets on this were nicely done. The ends were rounded nicely so they don't cut your hand every time you move up and down the neck. The frets were properly leveled, and I was able to get some really nice action with this. The nut was cut nicely, although I added a bit of graphite to it to help with tuning stability.
SOUNDS
These had the "old school" Gibson PAFs in them. I say old school in quotes because they're not exactly old school... they're recreations of the PAFs, and they don't sound quite as nice as the older ones do. I've never been a fan of Gibson pickups, save for a few out there. These are pretty much the same. They can deliver a very cool blues and rock tone, but considering I'm actually more of a metal player, they tend to be a bit lacking to me. I wish the neck pickup was fatter sounding as I prefer fat, warm lead tones with some great character on the wound strings. The bridge pickup doesn't have the tightness for metal, and it doesn't have the output I'm looking for, either. That's not to say I want some super high output pickup in these, but something like a JB would be nice.
OVERALL OPINION
These guitars are awesome if you're looking for that real old school Gibson look and feel. Be sure to play a few out there to find the one that really speaks to you. There are a few of these that have some issues despite coming out of the Custom Shop, and it's a bit of a shame. If you buy used, be prepared to potentially sell it, and be very careful if you buy on eBay due to all the fakes out there.
UTILIZATION
The guitar was pretty much perfect in ever way you could think of. The weight was the first thing I noticed. It seemed to have the absolute perfect weight for a Les Paul, as it was in the 8 lb range. I find this to be perfect as the super heavy ones tend to be back killers and don't resonate like the lighter ones do, but the super light ones seem to lack girth. The frets on this were nicely done. The ends were rounded nicely so they don't cut your hand every time you move up and down the neck. The frets were properly leveled, and I was able to get some really nice action with this. The nut was cut nicely, although I added a bit of graphite to it to help with tuning stability.
SOUNDS
These had the "old school" Gibson PAFs in them. I say old school in quotes because they're not exactly old school... they're recreations of the PAFs, and they don't sound quite as nice as the older ones do. I've never been a fan of Gibson pickups, save for a few out there. These are pretty much the same. They can deliver a very cool blues and rock tone, but considering I'm actually more of a metal player, they tend to be a bit lacking to me. I wish the neck pickup was fatter sounding as I prefer fat, warm lead tones with some great character on the wound strings. The bridge pickup doesn't have the tightness for metal, and it doesn't have the output I'm looking for, either. That's not to say I want some super high output pickup in these, but something like a JB would be nice.
OVERALL OPINION
These guitars are awesome if you're looking for that real old school Gibson look and feel. Be sure to play a few out there to find the one that really speaks to you. There are a few of these that have some issues despite coming out of the Custom Shop, and it's a bit of a shame. If you buy used, be prepared to potentially sell it, and be very careful if you buy on eBay due to all the fakes out there.