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Hi guys. Here's my recently-arrived Pawnshop Deluxe. This is my first GMP, so go easy on me. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] First some pics, then a review…
What an amazingly smokin’ guitar! Given past reviews, I had high expectations going into this. And, I must admit, the Pawnshop’s quality exceeded them all.
Now, I’m definitely a superstrat guy, through and through. So I’ve probably never played a Les Paul that I truly loved. (…I’m ducking from what you’re about to throw at me for that statement. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] ) But this Pawnshop handles all my dislikes about Paulies. Short-scale? Never liked it – makes me feel like my elbow is jabbing at my ribs. But, nope - 25.5 scale here. Shoddy Gibson build quality, and cheap hardware? Nope - top quality all around. This Pawnshop puts ‘em all to bed.
Like all Deluxes, it’s got a mahogany body and neck. I was told this one has a chambered body, but I’m not sure how to confirm that. (…Suggestions?) A very resonant and toneful body to be sure. It doesn’t feel significantly lighter to me, though.
I’m not a big fan of black guitars. But if I had to buy one with a black finish, this is exactly how I’d do the other specs. Fully bound - body, neck, and head. And very classy abalone dot & diamond inlays. And the inlay figuring is unreal. Doing the GMP logo like that is a seriously classy touch. Heck, even the SIDE DOTS are abalone, too! (See pic.) And the binding is all cream. Yes, you heard me - CREAM, not ivory. (Is this GMP’s standard binding color?) Another seriously classy touch.
The neck carve is great for a single cut body. Relating it to J/Cs, not as thin as a Charvel pointy or Soloist, not as thick as a PC1. Definitely more towards the latter, though. I’m no expert on Gibsons, but I imagine this is similar to their ‘50s rounded carve.
I’m also a dedicated Floyd guy. Over the years, it’s made me a stickler for tuning stability. So I was pleasantly surprised by how well this Pawnshop holds tune. The graphite nut, Sperzels, and straight string-pull headstock design all do their job incredibly well.
After cleaning and restringing her, I discovered a couple of things that make me wonder if this was a custom-ordered piece. There’s some non-standard hardware and wiring here:
- the bridge and stoptail are both Gotohs, not TonePros.
- the pickups are Dimarzios. The bridge is a PAF Pro. The neck does not have a model number but is an exact match, so likely a PAF Pro too. (…Great tone, BTW. A nice match with the mahogany.)
- the knobs are not wired for the standard VVTT. In fact, I can’t figure out what the tone knobs are doing. I was told they’re coil splitters, but they don’t seem to get SC tone like the splitters on my other axes. I think maybe they’re doing phase-in/out or series/parallel?
I suppose these could all be mods. But they’re all high quality parts and – although I’m no expert - the wiring looks original to me. So it makes me wonder if it might all be original, and custom ordered. (…Any way to check this, guys?)
Bottom line: a very high quality piece that plays and sounds quite sweet. Definitely the best LP I’ve never played. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Not sure it’s “a keeper”, though. I’m pretty set in my superstrat ways, so I’ll have to live with it for a few weeks before deciding.
What an amazingly smokin’ guitar! Given past reviews, I had high expectations going into this. And, I must admit, the Pawnshop’s quality exceeded them all.
Now, I’m definitely a superstrat guy, through and through. So I’ve probably never played a Les Paul that I truly loved. (…I’m ducking from what you’re about to throw at me for that statement. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] ) But this Pawnshop handles all my dislikes about Paulies. Short-scale? Never liked it – makes me feel like my elbow is jabbing at my ribs. But, nope - 25.5 scale here. Shoddy Gibson build quality, and cheap hardware? Nope - top quality all around. This Pawnshop puts ‘em all to bed.
Like all Deluxes, it’s got a mahogany body and neck. I was told this one has a chambered body, but I’m not sure how to confirm that. (…Suggestions?) A very resonant and toneful body to be sure. It doesn’t feel significantly lighter to me, though.
I’m not a big fan of black guitars. But if I had to buy one with a black finish, this is exactly how I’d do the other specs. Fully bound - body, neck, and head. And very classy abalone dot & diamond inlays. And the inlay figuring is unreal. Doing the GMP logo like that is a seriously classy touch. Heck, even the SIDE DOTS are abalone, too! (See pic.) And the binding is all cream. Yes, you heard me - CREAM, not ivory. (Is this GMP’s standard binding color?) Another seriously classy touch.
The neck carve is great for a single cut body. Relating it to J/Cs, not as thin as a Charvel pointy or Soloist, not as thick as a PC1. Definitely more towards the latter, though. I’m no expert on Gibsons, but I imagine this is similar to their ‘50s rounded carve.
I’m also a dedicated Floyd guy. Over the years, it’s made me a stickler for tuning stability. So I was pleasantly surprised by how well this Pawnshop holds tune. The graphite nut, Sperzels, and straight string-pull headstock design all do their job incredibly well.
After cleaning and restringing her, I discovered a couple of things that make me wonder if this was a custom-ordered piece. There’s some non-standard hardware and wiring here:
- the bridge and stoptail are both Gotohs, not TonePros.
- the pickups are Dimarzios. The bridge is a PAF Pro. The neck does not have a model number but is an exact match, so likely a PAF Pro too. (…Great tone, BTW. A nice match with the mahogany.)
- the knobs are not wired for the standard VVTT. In fact, I can’t figure out what the tone knobs are doing. I was told they’re coil splitters, but they don’t seem to get SC tone like the splitters on my other axes. I think maybe they’re doing phase-in/out or series/parallel?
I suppose these could all be mods. But they’re all high quality parts and – although I’m no expert - the wiring looks original to me. So it makes me wonder if it might all be original, and custom ordered. (…Any way to check this, guys?)
Bottom line: a very high quality piece that plays and sounds quite sweet. Definitely the best LP I’ve never played. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Not sure it’s “a keeper”, though. I’m pretty set in my superstrat ways, so I’ll have to live with it for a few weeks before deciding.
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