View other reviews for this product:
Hatsubai « LP for the modern guitarist »
Published on 07/10/11 at 19:14Gibson has recently released a more modern version of the Les Paul with a special carved neck joint. This is the guitar for people who disliked the floyd rose on the main model but still wanted that extra upper fret access the new guitar boasts. 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 with a coil split, two volumes, two tones and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
I've always had an issue with the Les Paul neck joint, and this guitar finally fixed that. I'm a lead player, and it always seems to get in my way. With the newly sculpted joint, I'm able to reach the higher frets easier without having to struggle as much. The nut was pretty good on this, and the fretwork itself was top notch, too. The guitar has a push/pull pot on it, and all the electronics were of high quality. It's something you take for granted most of the time, but once you start playing the lower end Jacksons with the push/pull pots that always break, it's the small details like those that really help make these higher end guitars stand out.
SOUNDS
The guitar sounded decent. I'm not a huge fan of the way the stock pickups sounded in this. The bridge had some bite going on, but it was also girthy. I wish it had some more power as I mainly play metal. The neck pickup is what I'm really not a huge fan of. The neck pickup had some bite, and I'm a huge fan of those super dark and powerful lead tones that something like the EMG 85 brings to the table. It just lacked the overall output and girth that I was looking for in a neck pickup, and when I turned down the tone knob, it just felt muffled.
OVERALL OPINION
The neck joint on this is to die for. It's what I've been waiting for these past 11 or so years. It's nice to see Gibson finally listening to its fan base. That said, some people say that it takes away from some of that classic tone. I didn't find that to be the case on the stoptail model, but I did find that to be the case on the floyd model.
UTILIZATION
I've always had an issue with the Les Paul neck joint, and this guitar finally fixed that. I'm a lead player, and it always seems to get in my way. With the newly sculpted joint, I'm able to reach the higher frets easier without having to struggle as much. The nut was pretty good on this, and the fretwork itself was top notch, too. The guitar has a push/pull pot on it, and all the electronics were of high quality. It's something you take for granted most of the time, but once you start playing the lower end Jacksons with the push/pull pots that always break, it's the small details like those that really help make these higher end guitars stand out.
SOUNDS
The guitar sounded decent. I'm not a huge fan of the way the stock pickups sounded in this. The bridge had some bite going on, but it was also girthy. I wish it had some more power as I mainly play metal. The neck pickup is what I'm really not a huge fan of. The neck pickup had some bite, and I'm a huge fan of those super dark and powerful lead tones that something like the EMG 85 brings to the table. It just lacked the overall output and girth that I was looking for in a neck pickup, and when I turned down the tone knob, it just felt muffled.
OVERALL OPINION
The neck joint on this is to die for. It's what I've been waiting for these past 11 or so years. It's nice to see Gibson finally listening to its fan base. That said, some people say that it takes away from some of that classic tone. I didn't find that to be the case on the stoptail model, but I did find that to be the case on the floyd model.