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Hatsubai « Good guitar but average band »
Published on 06/30/11 at 20:08Joe Perry of Aerosmith has always been a big player of Les Paul guitars. Considering how much he's played them, it was only a matter of time until he got his own model. The guitar features a mahogany body with a maple top, a mahogany set neck with a rosewood fretboard, standard trapezoid inlays, 22 frets, a tune-o-matic bridge, pickguard, two humbuckers, two volumes, two tones and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
The guitar was put together decently, and that's pretty reassuring as Gibson's QC has been a bit iffy at times. The guitar had a nicely cut nut, and that's fairly important as it determines how well you stay in tune. The frets were fairly leveled, the nubs were done correctly and they didn't slice your hand as you move up and down the neck. I was able to get some fairly low action on this guitar despite it having a 12'' radius. Access to the upper frets is just like every other Les Paul in that it's pretty awful. 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 guitar sounds like your average Les Paul. The biggest feature to note with this guitar is that there's a weird mid boost going on with the push/pull pot. It requires a battery to activate it, so be sure you have a spare 9V on hand. The bridge pickup with the mid boost on is very powerful. Without it, I find it sounds like every other Gibson pickup out there, despite it being some custom pickup. The neck pickup gives that standard '57 PAF kinda tone. It works decent for leads and cleans, but I generally like something a bit more powerful and a bit smoother.
OVERALL OPINION
The boost built into this guitar is pretty cool. I'd like to see more guitars have that kind of feature. However, the guitar is still overpriced for what it is. I'd recommend getting a normal Les Paul and saving your money. It'll be fairly similar, sound similar and be a lot cheaper in the long run.
UTILIZATION
The guitar was put together decently, and that's pretty reassuring as Gibson's QC has been a bit iffy at times. The guitar had a nicely cut nut, and that's fairly important as it determines how well you stay in tune. The frets were fairly leveled, the nubs were done correctly and they didn't slice your hand as you move up and down the neck. I was able to get some fairly low action on this guitar despite it having a 12'' radius. Access to the upper frets is just like every other Les Paul in that it's pretty awful. 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 guitar sounds like your average Les Paul. The biggest feature to note with this guitar is that there's a weird mid boost going on with the push/pull pot. It requires a battery to activate it, so be sure you have a spare 9V on hand. The bridge pickup with the mid boost on is very powerful. Without it, I find it sounds like every other Gibson pickup out there, despite it being some custom pickup. The neck pickup gives that standard '57 PAF kinda tone. It works decent for leads and cleans, but I generally like something a bit more powerful and a bit smoother.
OVERALL OPINION
The boost built into this guitar is pretty cool. I'd like to see more guitars have that kind of feature. However, the guitar is still overpriced for what it is. I'd recommend getting a normal Les Paul and saving your money. It'll be fairly similar, sound similar and be a lot cheaper in the long run.