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tjon901 « Yes it is a Gibson »
Published on 08/04/11 at 10:41The Gibson U2 is one of the attempts by Gibson to branch out of their comfort zone. This Gibson is a super strat. In the 80s Gibsons sales were not doing good so they decided to try and do what everyone else was doing. They decided to make a Jackson style super strat shred guitar and this is what we got. The example that I am reviewing has an all black finish with white binding. This layout makes it look a lot like a Fender Aerodyne. The body is bound but the neck isnt which is kind of strange for a Gibson. The headstock is shaped similar to an Explorer headstock but it has more of a point to it. The guitar has a basswood body with a set maple neck. The neck has a 25.5 inch scale with 24 jumbo frets on an ebony fretboard. It has an HSS pickup configuration but I do not know what pickups are in it I believe they are stock. The control layout for this guitar is cool. You have a volume knob with a push pull that can split the bridge humbucker so you can get a true single coil sound. It has on and off switches for all of the pickups which is great because you can do any combination of pickups including the tele sound which strats cant do. In the back you have a master tone knob. It has some crazy Floyd Rose rip off tremolo with a lock behind the nut.
UTILIZATION
The neck on these has a real Gibson feel to it. It may look like a Jackson but when you pick it up you can tell it isnt. The set neck construction is something that is also unusal for a guitar like this. The upper frets are kind of hard to reach. The neck goes pretty far into the body and the heel starts at around the 17th fret. If they was a 22 fret guitar it would be fine. Its kind of like they decided to put the last few frets on at the last minute. There is no inlay for the 24th fret either. The body has a flat top so it kind has a different feel to when you are playing. The Floyd Rose system also seems like an after thought. I have seen versions with tune-o-matic bridges. This one has the strange Floyd copy but it doesnt have a locking nut. It has a regular nut with the lock behind it. These do not hold tuning as well as real locking nuts because the strings bind on the real nut and the space between the real nut and the lock allow for tuning instabilities.
SOUNDS
Im surprised Gibson didnt just put two humbuckers in this guitar. The single coils are super twangy and have a good sound for that but thats not what I would expect on a shred guitar. This is almost like a country guitar in sound. The twangy sound might have been good at the time because in the mid 80s peoples racks were getting crazy and you needed a really bright sound for the guitar tone to make it through the signal. The bridge humbucker is pretty beefy but it is not super hot by todays standards. When split you get a super twangy sound that matches well with the other 2 single coils in the guitar.
OVERALL OPINION
This guitar is a strange one. A Gibson with a Jackson body that sounds like a strat. It will be interesting in the future to see if these oddball guitars ever become collectors items. Hopefully some day collectors will get bored with collecting the same old models and they will start wanting models like these that didnt sell well. Odd balls and Norlin era Gibsons. These guitars played really well and did their job but since it said Gibson on the headstock no one noticed. You can get these super cheap now because no one knows what they are and if you do you are getting a great guitar for nothing.
UTILIZATION
The neck on these has a real Gibson feel to it. It may look like a Jackson but when you pick it up you can tell it isnt. The set neck construction is something that is also unusal for a guitar like this. The upper frets are kind of hard to reach. The neck goes pretty far into the body and the heel starts at around the 17th fret. If they was a 22 fret guitar it would be fine. Its kind of like they decided to put the last few frets on at the last minute. There is no inlay for the 24th fret either. The body has a flat top so it kind has a different feel to when you are playing. The Floyd Rose system also seems like an after thought. I have seen versions with tune-o-matic bridges. This one has the strange Floyd copy but it doesnt have a locking nut. It has a regular nut with the lock behind it. These do not hold tuning as well as real locking nuts because the strings bind on the real nut and the space between the real nut and the lock allow for tuning instabilities.
SOUNDS
Im surprised Gibson didnt just put two humbuckers in this guitar. The single coils are super twangy and have a good sound for that but thats not what I would expect on a shred guitar. This is almost like a country guitar in sound. The twangy sound might have been good at the time because in the mid 80s peoples racks were getting crazy and you needed a really bright sound for the guitar tone to make it through the signal. The bridge humbucker is pretty beefy but it is not super hot by todays standards. When split you get a super twangy sound that matches well with the other 2 single coils in the guitar.
OVERALL OPINION
This guitar is a strange one. A Gibson with a Jackson body that sounds like a strat. It will be interesting in the future to see if these oddball guitars ever become collectors items. Hopefully some day collectors will get bored with collecting the same old models and they will start wanting models like these that didnt sell well. Odd balls and Norlin era Gibsons. These guitars played really well and did their job but since it said Gibson on the headstock no one noticed. You can get these super cheap now because no one knows what they are and if you do you are getting a great guitar for nothing.