Gibson Nighthawk 10 pos switch!!

[jgcable]

I really like my 94' Nighthawk Standard. It has a mini hum/single/hum config with a 10 pos switch.
The switch is a really great idea.
With the tone knob pressed down the 5 pos switch is basically the same as a typical Les Paul and sound just like one but with 2 added positions that are out of phase combo's of various pickups. The added 2 positions are very Telecaster sounding. When the tone knob is pulled up the 5 pos switch turns exactly into a Stratocaster configuration. All the pickups coil tap and basically you are now playing a strat. It is absolutely the most versatile sounding guitar I have ever played. The switching system is outstanding and I wonder why other manufacturers didn't copy it? [img]graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

[toejam]

Re: Gibson Nighthawk 10 pos switch!!

Wow, I remember those guitars, but never realized the switching was like that! That configuration sounds awesome and makes for a very versatile guitar. [img]graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

[jgcable]

Re: Gibson Nighthawk 10 pos switch!!

Everytime I play it I spend more time switching pickups than I do actually playing it. Here is an example of what it sounds like:
Pull pot down
pos 1-3 is Les Paul dead on
Pos 4 sounds exactly like the guitar on Robert Plants "Ship of Fools"
Pos 5 sounds exactly like Alex Lifeson's tone on Moving Pictures.
Pull pot up
Basically it is a strat complete with strat quack in positions 2 and 4. Position 4 does a great Stevie Ray Vaughan with distortion and Mark Knopler when it is clean with reverb.
In position 5 (neck) the mini tapped hum sounds remarkably like a Malmsteen Dimarzio YJM.

[toejam]

Re: Gibson Nighthawk 10 pos switch!!

Sweet! My Fender Double Fat Strat has two humuckers (Pearly Gates Plus and '59) and five-way switch. Positions 1, 3, 5 are your typical humbucker sounds, 2 is the two inner coils (think John Petrucci clean sound, almost acoustic sounding), 5 is the top coil of neck for true single coil sound (including 60 cycle hum). My Ibanez 7-string has two custom DiMarzios with five-way, the wiring is similar, but I think position 4 is like series/parallel or something.
Maybe I'll have to track down one of those Nighthawks for some extra fun! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[j2379]

Re: Gibson Nighthawk 10 pos switch!!

thats alot like the rotary switch on the older PRSs, & JG try a BCRich with full actives. so many tones its silly, plus a varitone & pre-amp boost

[jgcable]

Re: Gibson Nighthawk 10 pos switch!!

I had one. A Bich with the full boogie preamp and varitone. It had a 2 stage preamp that was fully adjustable via 2 knobs, coil taps, phase switches and a 5 or 6 pos varitone switch, stereo out. It was a crazy guitar that of course I sold back in the very early 80's (idiot move for sure). I will tell you this IMHO, if I had only one guitar to use in the studio or live I would have to choose the Nighthawk because with the pickup config and the 10 pos switch it really can sound like "every guitar". Here is a link to a pic of it. It is featured on the Gibson Blueshawk website. http://www.blueshawk.info/your_nighthawk.htm
It looks nice in the pics and 10 times better in person. Absolutely has the lowest action straight from the factory of any guitar I have ever played. I had to raise it up considerably because I like fairly high action. There is really no weak points to this guitar if you can get over the "quirky" body style.