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Hatsubai « SG with P90 goodness »
Published on 01/28/12 at 00:52The 60s were a pretty awesome era for music gear, and it was also an interesting point in time for Gibson as a company. The 60s and 70s are actually the guitars you mainly hear in recordings, but since everyone gets all bent up over the whole Norlin thing, Gibson decided to do a 60s reissue instead of the 70s, I guess. The guitar features a mahogany body, a mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard, 22 medium frets, dot inlays, a hard tail bridge, two P90s, two volumes, two tones and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
The frets on this were actually pretty good. Gibson isn't exactly the best company when it comes to fretjobs, but these were very solid. I was able to get some nice action without any fretting out. Granted, I had to tweak the guitar a bit to make it play the way I wanted, but it came out pretty good. The nut could have been cut better as it was kinda binding on the G string, but I was able to temporarily fix that with some nut sauce. The guitar had the standard neck dive issue that SGs normally have. It's almost as if every single SG has this issue. In fact, I dont' think I've personally come across one that played normally.
SOUNDS
The P90s in this were very good sounding. The bridge was aggressive, but it wasn't over the top. If you've never played a P90 before, it's like a thicker single coil sound. You can get a really cool blues tone with this, especially once you start adding some gain. I plugged this thing in a JCM800 2203, threw a tubescreamer in front, and it was tonal heaven. I was able to get everything from BB King stuff to Zakk Wylde. The P90s actually did a pretty good job when it came to getting hard rock/metal tones, but they can't really get much past the old school 80s metal. Don't expect these to do death metal, although some guys out there are actually making them work.
OVERALL OPINION
The guitar is a very cool guitar, and it happens to be one of my personal favorites when it comes to SGs. The P90s are great, but I know they'll turn off a lot of people from this guitar. If you're unsure about P90s, I would urge you to at least try them to see what they're like. You may be pleasantly surprised. I know I was when I first picked up a P90 guitar way back when.
UTILIZATION
The frets on this were actually pretty good. Gibson isn't exactly the best company when it comes to fretjobs, but these were very solid. I was able to get some nice action without any fretting out. Granted, I had to tweak the guitar a bit to make it play the way I wanted, but it came out pretty good. The nut could have been cut better as it was kinda binding on the G string, but I was able to temporarily fix that with some nut sauce. The guitar had the standard neck dive issue that SGs normally have. It's almost as if every single SG has this issue. In fact, I dont' think I've personally come across one that played normally.
SOUNDS
The P90s in this were very good sounding. The bridge was aggressive, but it wasn't over the top. If you've never played a P90 before, it's like a thicker single coil sound. You can get a really cool blues tone with this, especially once you start adding some gain. I plugged this thing in a JCM800 2203, threw a tubescreamer in front, and it was tonal heaven. I was able to get everything from BB King stuff to Zakk Wylde. The P90s actually did a pretty good job when it came to getting hard rock/metal tones, but they can't really get much past the old school 80s metal. Don't expect these to do death metal, although some guys out there are actually making them work.
OVERALL OPINION
The guitar is a very cool guitar, and it happens to be one of my personal favorites when it comes to SGs. The P90s are great, but I know they'll turn off a lot of people from this guitar. If you're unsure about P90s, I would urge you to at least try them to see what they're like. You may be pleasantly surprised. I know I was when I first picked up a P90 guitar way back when.