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tjon901 « The real Paul Gilbert signature »
Published on 09/03/11 at 10:47Paul Gilbert is a shredders shredder. He has put out a ton of stuff and his playing gets better and getter and it was already great 20 years ago. He is an unusual shredder because he prefers a hardtail bridge on his guitar. Most shred players cant go 30 secconds without a divebomb. Paul prefers the hardtail bridge for the tuning stability and simplicity. This is his signature model with the hard tail bridge. This model was introduced in the early 90s. Other than the finish and the controls this model is a pretty basic RG. This guitar has a basswood body with an original wizard neck which is still the thinnest. The neck is 1 piece of maple with a maple fretboard. The neck has 24 jumbo frets. The pickup configuration is an HSH configuration. The pickups are Dimarzios in every position. The neck and bridge pickups are PAF Pros while the middle pickup is a JEM single coil. The controls are simple. There is a single volume knob hidden within the painted on F-holes and there is a 5 way blade switch to switch between the pickups. The switch is also hidden in the fake F-holes
UTILIZATION
If someone like Paul Gilbert is going to play your guitars they better play very well and this guitar does. It has the old school Wizard neck which is even thinner than most of the necks they put out now. The neck is super thin and playable. The flat radius fretboard lets you slam the action pretty low. You dont get many maple fretboard shred guitars so this was the only one you could get for a long time. The hardtail bridge means you get super tuning stability and simplicity. You can easily change tunings and tune down whenever you want without having to worry about spring tension.
SOUNDS
Paul Gilbert has been using the same Dimarzios forever. He has been a loyal Dimarzio user for a long time. The guitar is an HSH configuration which gives you great versatility. The PAF pro is a classic Dimarzio pickup. Like its name says it is directly based on the Gibson PAF. The pickup has a super over the top tone that really cuts through the mix. The low notes have a boxey vocal quality that makes it sound like an old school pickup. It works well great in each position. In the neck it has a clear sharp sound that can really sing with your solos. In the bridge it has a very open sound that is not super compressed.
OVERALL OPINION
If you want the true Paul Gilbert experiance this is the guitar. You get no frills with this one. No tremolo, no tone knobs its just your skill. This guitar is all you. It doesnt cover up your playing for you. What you see is what you get with this guitar. It is a stripped down bare bones shred machine. If you are a Paul Gilbert fan or dont mind playing a guitar with painted on F-holes this guitar is a great player.
UTILIZATION
If someone like Paul Gilbert is going to play your guitars they better play very well and this guitar does. It has the old school Wizard neck which is even thinner than most of the necks they put out now. The neck is super thin and playable. The flat radius fretboard lets you slam the action pretty low. You dont get many maple fretboard shred guitars so this was the only one you could get for a long time. The hardtail bridge means you get super tuning stability and simplicity. You can easily change tunings and tune down whenever you want without having to worry about spring tension.
SOUNDS
Paul Gilbert has been using the same Dimarzios forever. He has been a loyal Dimarzio user for a long time. The guitar is an HSH configuration which gives you great versatility. The PAF pro is a classic Dimarzio pickup. Like its name says it is directly based on the Gibson PAF. The pickup has a super over the top tone that really cuts through the mix. The low notes have a boxey vocal quality that makes it sound like an old school pickup. It works well great in each position. In the neck it has a clear sharp sound that can really sing with your solos. In the bridge it has a very open sound that is not super compressed.
OVERALL OPINION
If you want the true Paul Gilbert experiance this is the guitar. You get no frills with this one. No tremolo, no tone knobs its just your skill. This guitar is all you. It doesnt cover up your playing for you. What you see is what you get with this guitar. It is a stripped down bare bones shred machine. If you are a Paul Gilbert fan or dont mind playing a guitar with painted on F-holes this guitar is a great player.