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so, i was in the studio recording tracks for my band's new song. i ran through almost all of my guitars and i wasn't getting the "tone" i was after. i tried multiple amps, too. after doing this for a couple hours, i realized i just needed a new guitar!!
i needed to get a guitar that gave me a "rawer" tone than my current guitars. one thing about my jackson, charvel, PRS, hamer, and ibanez guitars is that they sound rather "refined". the tone is focused and precise. now, my fender strats, teles and my epiphone les paul jr. can give a "rawer" tone, but they are loaded with single coils and the sound wasn't quite right.
so i popped on over to the dreaded GC with my rivera m100 combo and began trying different guitars that could give me that "raw" sound i was desiring. i tried some fender tele customs (with that huge, weird looking humbucker) and it was close. i tried a gretsch duo-jet w/ a bigsby (it was fucking AMAZING!!!). then i tried an epiphone les paul (it was AWESOME, too).
now, i wanted to stay in the under $500 range, because this was going to be a niche-purchase - a guitar only to be used for a certain type of sound. i also played a 1975 les paul deluxe with min-buckers that was ouright orgasmic, but after doing a listening test (i let a friend of mine that is a great blues player) between the epi, gretsch, and LP deluxe. i was surprised to hear how close the tone between the gretsch and LP deluxe was. considering the price difference, it put the deluxe out of the running.
long story shorter.....it came down the the gretsch and the epi. another go around between those two, through different amps (a marshall 1987, a two-rock, and an SLO - all used at my GC) made it clear that the epi was the winner. the feel of the guitar was better the longer i played it. the neck shape was comfy and the weight was good. the gretsch got fatiguing....it was heavy and the neck cramped my hand when i had to "dig in" more.
at the counter i was given quite a good deal. the epi i wanted was on clearance and had been sitting high on the wall for almost 2 years!!! toss in a couple of gold covered SD '59s and i have a real winner....all for WAY under $500!!!!!
now for the pics:
i needed to get a guitar that gave me a "rawer" tone than my current guitars. one thing about my jackson, charvel, PRS, hamer, and ibanez guitars is that they sound rather "refined". the tone is focused and precise. now, my fender strats, teles and my epiphone les paul jr. can give a "rawer" tone, but they are loaded with single coils and the sound wasn't quite right.
so i popped on over to the dreaded GC with my rivera m100 combo and began trying different guitars that could give me that "raw" sound i was desiring. i tried some fender tele customs (with that huge, weird looking humbucker) and it was close. i tried a gretsch duo-jet w/ a bigsby (it was fucking AMAZING!!!). then i tried an epiphone les paul (it was AWESOME, too).
now, i wanted to stay in the under $500 range, because this was going to be a niche-purchase - a guitar only to be used for a certain type of sound. i also played a 1975 les paul deluxe with min-buckers that was ouright orgasmic, but after doing a listening test (i let a friend of mine that is a great blues player) between the epi, gretsch, and LP deluxe. i was surprised to hear how close the tone between the gretsch and LP deluxe was. considering the price difference, it put the deluxe out of the running.
long story shorter.....it came down the the gretsch and the epi. another go around between those two, through different amps (a marshall 1987, a two-rock, and an SLO - all used at my GC) made it clear that the epi was the winner. the feel of the guitar was better the longer i played it. the neck shape was comfy and the weight was good. the gretsch got fatiguing....it was heavy and the neck cramped my hand when i had to "dig in" more.
at the counter i was given quite a good deal. the epi i wanted was on clearance and had been sitting high on the wall for almost 2 years!!! toss in a couple of gold covered SD '59s and i have a real winner....all for WAY under $500!!!!!
now for the pics:
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