Gibson Les Paul BFG

I've been playing guitar for five years and decided i need a guitar to suit my ability. I play in two bands, which are both rock/metal as well as recording my own stuff.

I bought the Les Paul BFG for £700 (around $800?) in a coda music (Hertfordshire, England). I bought the guitar as it was the best guitar i've probably ever played. Also, it was also the only Les Paul i've played that i like and that suits me style of music.

Firstly, the unfinished finish is great. The gold unfinished feel of the wood is just to die for and it looks great just hanging from my wall. Also, the combination of the P90 and Burstbucker make a great teram when playing anything from clean blues, to full out metal. The action of the neck is also incredibly low and easy to play. There is no truss rod cover on this model, but it's deliberate to give it that unfinished, raw feel, which gives the axe it's own personality and character.

The strap buttons were quite small, but they were shortlived as I replaced them with straplocks. Otherwise, i have no peroblems with this guitar.

The construction, although unfinished, is well built with no signs of bad assembly or poor craftmenship. The guitar is made in the USA and goes to show the guitar is very well buiit.

This guitar is amazing and well worth the money I payed for it. It's probably one the best Under £1000 ($1100?) Les Pauls i've ever played. I'd recommend it anyone who wants an axe which is both flawless and affordable.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The Gibson BFG was introduced by Gibson to bring a more affordable and bare bones guitar to the line of admittedly very flashy, classy and expensive Les Pauls. It has no binding, no inlays and an extremely rough cut maple top... no pristine flame maple here folks! It features a mahogany body and neck, the rough cut flamed maple top, a rosewood fretboard with 22 frets, Kluson tuners, tune-o-matic bridge and a unique pickup/electronics layout that combines a P90 in the neck position with a Gibson Burstbucker in the bridge. Each pickup has its own volume control, there is a master tone, and as well the guitar contains a kill switch. Pretty stripped down guitar, but the feel is still pure Les Paul all the way.

UTILIZATION

The BFG is a fairly medium weight guitar that sits on the body a little better than some of the heavier LPs, such as my Traditional Plus. The design of the Les Paul in general isn't what I'd call ergonomic at all, but this one seems MORE ergonomic then many of them. Not really a plus, but I mean if you're playing a Les Paul you should expect to feel that hog on your shoulder at all times. The upper fret access is not great but it's not horrible... you can get the high notes when it matters but it isn't going to be effortless.

Getting a good sound out of this guitar is not difficult. They have a pretty bare bones sort of sound... very raw and honest. The P90 does its thing, the humbucker does something else. It won't tell you what you want to hear... it'll tell you what you sound like. You can throw a bunch of effects on it to drown the guitar in wetness... but why would you want to?

SOUNDS

I've tried this guitar through a few different rigs. It's a pretty simplistic guitar and sounds best through a similar amp. Single channel Fender, Dr. Z, even something like a Mesa Electra Dyne will work. The cleans are not pristine, but rather they have a really rough hewn quality to them that adds a little bit of natural breakup to the sound. The P90 gets some of those smokey jazz/blues tones and the humbucker will take you into the rock and funk arena.

Kicking in some overdrive yields a raw and vicious assault that echos the punk and grunge etho of loud, aggressive and ready to knock over anyone who gets in the way. The P90 howls with a sincere sustain that can only be achieved with the LP design and the humbucker just gives off a killer raunchy tone that drives any amp into oblivion with harmonic overtones and saturation. It's not a super high output sounding guitar but it has that certain something that works for the over the top vibe really well.

OVERALL OPINION

All in all I think the Gibson BFG is a cool guitar for anyone who wants a really stripped down and simple Les Paul that trades in class for a raw power that just embodies the very spirit of rock n' roll. They're now discontinued but you can still find them used for about $800 which isn't a bad deal. You aren't getting much in the features department, but the tone is more than enough to cover you. Try one out for sure.

Gibson released the BFG model for those who want to have a humbucker and P90 guitar in one, along with those who don't need a bunch of the fancy options that some of the other Les Pauls offer. The guitar features a mahogany body with a maple top, mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets, no inlays, pickguard, binding, hard tail bridge, two humbuckers, two volumes, one tone, one kill switch and a three way switch.

UTILIZATION

The guitar was pretty solid overall. The frets themselves were nicely crowned, although the could have been leveled a touch better. I'm not sure if there was a slight hump in the neck or if it was the frets themselves not being perfectly level, but I was having some issues in the middle of the fretboard that the truss rod couldn't dial out. The nut on this was cut nicely, so no issues there. Upper fret access is the same as every other Les Paul out there in that it's nothing to write home about.

SOUNDS

This pickup combination is a really cool marriage of pickups. In the one corner, you have the humbucker. It delivers that fat sound with tons of overdriven bite to it. I actually find that these don't have enough output and clarity for me, but I've never been a real huge fan of stock Gibson pickups to begin with, so take that with a grain of salt. The P90 in the neck is awesome for those fat, bubbly lead tones that absolutely scream. It's like a really fat single coil, and it just rips.

OVERALL OPINION

These are real cool guitars, and they're probably better buys than the Gary Moore models simply because they tend to be cheaper. However, the Gary Moore models are more consistent and tend to sound better, so it's a trade off between the two. Either way, see if you can try some out and see if you like the P90.

The BFG Features:

- Unsanded carved flame maple top
- Mahogany back
- 1950s rounded mahogany neck
- Rosewood fingerboard
- 24-3/4" scale
- 22 frets
- 1.695" nut width
- White side dot inlays
- Black chrome hardware
- Distressed stopbar
- Tune-O-Matic bridge
- Wooden volume and tone knobs
- Distressed Grover tuners
- Zebra BurstBucker 3 bridge, P-90 neck
- Kill switch toggle
- See-through wiring covers

Made in the USA

UTILIZATION

This is easily my favorite playing Les Paul of all time. The familiar feel of a standard, but with a satin finish on the neck, instead of a glossy lacquer, which allows for a much smoother neck and quicker speed along the fretboard. My only wish is that these came with 24 frets, instead of 22, because the cutaway on Les Pauls make it somewhat hard to get up to the top frets - Those extra 2 frets would mean I might actually be able to get to the 22nd fret!

The killswitch, while not all too practical for most people, is a cool feature that allows you to kill the sound of the guitar instantly. Useful for in between songs at gigs, or at home, if your amp is prone to feedback, or if you don't want to accidently hit a string and make noise (so you don't have to roll your volume back).

The neck is the 50's neck, which is fatter than the 60's slim neck, but not quite as fat as the R9's neck. However, don't let that fool you, while it's what some might consider a "baseball bat" or "boat" neck, it's really quite comfortable and the satin neck adds MUCH more speed to it than would normally be available in other Les Pauls.

SOUNDS

This guitar is amazingly versatile, and is my first experience with a P90. Unfortunately, I bought mine used, and it didn't come stock, instead, it has an EMG 81 in the bridge, and a P85 in the neck. Normally, I'm not a huge fan of EMGs, but they sound great in a big chunk of mahogany!

The tone of this guitar is only what I can explain as... Chunky. It's got a huge, thick tone to it that will make any amp sound full and crisp. The P-90 neck pickup is awesome, and is the closest I've come to achieving the tone I've been wanting out of my neck pickup for years. They are more aggressive than a normal humbucker in the position, and really cut through a mix nicely. They still retain the neck position's fatness, without sounding muddy and overly bassy, very nice!

OVERALL OPINION

Overall, I really like this guitar. It's an excellent platform for upgrades, of which I've pretty much upgraded everything on, but I'm sure it sounds and plays great in stock configuration.

For the price these guitars pop up for on the used market, it's hard to pass them up. They utterly demolish the Studios, and are easily as good as a Standard if you don't need all the bells and whistles. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone looking to pick up a Gibson that's actually worth the price it costs!