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Hatsubai « Huge tone in this »
Published on 10/05/11 at 16:50This is one of the newer Customs, and you'll get some varying opinions as to whether these are good or not. I personally tend to prefer these guitars over a lot of the other eras as they tend to be a bit more consistent, but they still don't hold a candle to the old maple neck mid 70s models out there. The guitar features a mahogany body with a maple top, mahogany neck with an ebony fretboard, 22 frets, trapezoid inlays, pickguard, binding, hard tail bridge, two humbuckers, two volumes, two tones and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
These models are put together very well. The first thing you notice is that the finish itself was pretty much flawless. I couldn't find any drips or any issues where the binding meets the paint. The nut itself was cut perfectly, so there were no tuning problems to worry about. The frets on this were nicely leveled, and I was able to get some nice action going. The ends were also not sharp, so it didn't hurt your hand every time you went up and down the neck.
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 search long enough, you can find a good deal on these. However, you'll want to be vary wary of fakes. Ebay is flooded with fakes made overseas, and if you don't know any better, you could be suckered into buying a guitar that sounds like crap and plays even worse. If you're going to buy used, which I recommend you do, be sure to check out the different forums that regularly sell Gibsons and other higher end guitars. You'll be less likely to be burned that way, although you're still taking a bit of a risk when you do that.
UTILIZATION
These models are put together very well. The first thing you notice is that the finish itself was pretty much flawless. I couldn't find any drips or any issues where the binding meets the paint. The nut itself was cut perfectly, so there were no tuning problems to worry about. The frets on this were nicely leveled, and I was able to get some nice action going. The ends were also not sharp, so it didn't hurt your hand every time you went up and down the neck.
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 search long enough, you can find a good deal on these. However, you'll want to be vary wary of fakes. Ebay is flooded with fakes made overseas, and if you don't know any better, you could be suckered into buying a guitar that sounds like crap and plays even worse. If you're going to buy used, which I recommend you do, be sure to check out the different forums that regularly sell Gibsons and other higher end guitars. You'll be less likely to be burned that way, although you're still taking a bit of a risk when you do that.