It's maybe 1/4th the way between an SG and a Les Paul. It is noticably heavier, but certainly not 'Les Paul' heavy or anything. ISoto: I was surprised that it wasn't that much heavier - I was expecting it to weight a ton. It's weird - I'm not a rocker, but I have a love affair with SG's. So, I find that I play my electrics and my acoustic in the same style - fingerstyle with the occasional pick. No, I guess I'm defining folk lightly - I love the whole range from really folksy stuff like Nick Drake, to weird stuff like Jandek (I'm not a huge fan of him, I just appreciate the idea of what he does),to current Indie folk (David Bazan, Damien Jurado) to folk-rock like the Byrds or Dylan (hence, the electrics). Change isn't always bad - if Gibson didn't experiment with their guitars, the Les Paul would never have been shaped into an SG in the first place.īarbas23: If Gibson paid me to talk about (or own) their guitars, I would be really happy. I think that many people have formed opinions without trying it out in the first place. It seems just fantastic, and all of that bad publicity that it seems to be getting seems unwarranted. I really didn't have time to play it longer, but I am really excited to get to know it better. It is very expressive and the muddiness that usually plagues humbuckers is just not there. Yet the wood and the pickups interact in a way that somehow feels different from every other SG I have played. The '57 reissue pickups combined with the maple make it pretty bright (but not annoyingly so) - it actually sounded pretty similar to my other SG (a faded special with P-94's). The maple fretboard is very smooth and the whole neck feels quicker than any other Gibson I have tried, though I am admittedly a slow (folk, mostly) player. It almost has the same feel as one of those new Fender Telecasters that have been 'aged.' The nitro paint will probaly age well itself. There is a lack of info on the internet about this new guitar, so I thought I'd share my twenty minutes worth of 'expertise,' in case anyone else is considering it.Īt first impression, it feels like a glorified special faded - the finish is very thin and is not glossy at all. Gibson are recommending a retail of US $1,664, Keep your eyes and ears peeled.I'm the king lurker on this board - like, 5 posts even though I'm on here almost every day.īut, anyway, I just bought a Raw Power SG and picked it up on my lunch break. I’m looking forward to hearing one of these in the mapley flesh. The clean sound samples on Gibson’s site are pretty tasty – clearing some of that slight muddiness that can sometimes beset Gibson’s babies. However, coupled to the inherent warmth of the ’57 Classic pickups, this pairing seems quite promising. All-maple guitars in the past have sometimes been a little too ‘in your face’. One of the issues with maple as a tone-wood, is a tendency towards brightness (a big part of why your Les Paul has a maple top is to brighten and focus the tone). A tune-o-matic bridge and stop-tailpiece (both chrome-plated Zamak) complete the SG picture. Controls are standard fare – a couple of volumes and tones with a three-way toggle. These use Alnico II magnets and are made to the same specs as the original PAFs. As you’d expect, it’s glued in.Ī couple of ’57 Classic pickups provide the noise. Headstock angle is regulation 17 degrees. A maple fingerboard – radiused to 12″ and carrying 22 frets – sits on top. The Raw Power’s neck is a three-ply sandwich of maple with a chunky ’50s neck profile. It’s nice to see some stretching outside the traditional finishes over at the Big-G. They look quite nice and more than a little non-Gibson. All in satin nitrocellulose, you can treat yourself to gold, yellow, white, platinum, blue/platinum, ebony, olive-green, or aquamarine. Alternatively, you can have one of the, rather fetching, coloured finishes. If you’re maple-crazy, you can opt for this clear finish to show off your wood. That’s a first.Īs you can see, the body, neck and fingerboard are all maple. Oh sure, the guys at Gibson have dallied with maple tops and whatnot, but an SG made entirely of maple (granted, this SG does have a maple top but it’s stuck on a maple body). Maple’s worth as a tone wood isn’t in doubt and nobody can dispute the handsomeness of a nicely figured example but, this is the first all-maple SG. Gibson announced these a few weeks back and, no, your eyes aren’t deceiving you – that really is a maple SG. The SG Special Raw Power… Hmmm, something’s not quite right here.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |