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Hatsubai
« Limited edition Deluxe »
Published on 11/20/11 at 16:28Gibson is pretty famous for releasing limited edition guitars with very few changes, and this is really no different. This guitar is the limited edition version of the famous Les Paul Deluxe, but it's really not too different from the others I've played. 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 P90s, two volumes, two tones and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
The guitar was put together nicely, and that's a good thing for Gibson as their QC has been a bit iffy at times. The guitar had a properly cut nut, and as everyone knows, that's rule #1 for staying in tune. The frets were nicely leveled, the nubs were done correctly and they weren't sharp at all. I was able to get some pretty low action on this guitar despite it having a 12'' radius. Access to the upper frets is the same as every other Les Paul in that it sucks pretty hard. 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 sounded pretty good. The pickups aren't really my thing, to be honest. The pickups are standard Gibson pickups, but they seem to work for most. The bridge pickup has some nice bite to it, and it has some decent output. I find they lack the character for heavy metal, but they can work for 80s metal. The neck is a bit too bright for me. I like a thick, fat sounding neck tone, and these generally have a bit too much bite for me. However, they're clean sounding, and that works awesome for clean tones.
OVERALL OPINION
Finding these at a good price can be a bit of a pain at times thanks to them being "limited edition" guitars, so I tend to recommend people just find the standard version and not worry too much about the finishes. If you happen to love this, however, it would be worth searching it out at your local Guitar Center or other guitar store that you might know of.
UTILIZATION
The guitar was put together nicely, and that's a good thing for Gibson as their QC has been a bit iffy at times. The guitar had a properly cut nut, and as everyone knows, that's rule #1 for staying in tune. The frets were nicely leveled, the nubs were done correctly and they weren't sharp at all. I was able to get some pretty low action on this guitar despite it having a 12'' radius. Access to the upper frets is the same as every other Les Paul in that it sucks pretty hard. 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 sounded pretty good. The pickups aren't really my thing, to be honest. The pickups are standard Gibson pickups, but they seem to work for most. The bridge pickup has some nice bite to it, and it has some decent output. I find they lack the character for heavy metal, but they can work for 80s metal. The neck is a bit too bright for me. I like a thick, fat sounding neck tone, and these generally have a bit too much bite for me. However, they're clean sounding, and that works awesome for clean tones.
OVERALL OPINION
Finding these at a good price can be a bit of a pain at times thanks to them being "limited edition" guitars, so I tend to recommend people just find the standard version and not worry too much about the finishes. If you happen to love this, however, it would be worth searching it out at your local Guitar Center or other guitar store that you might know of.