Guitar of the week #75 - Gibson USA Les Paul Studio Faded T
A common complaint is that Gibson USA Les Paul guitars are too expensive. This one is actually priced very nicely.
I've been complaining for years that Gibson Les Paul guitars are too expensive. The Studio Faded T series model however has a price point that is - and I can't believe I'm saying this - reasonable.
The 2016 Studio Faded T series is the best bang-for-your-buck USA Les Paul model you can buy at the time I write this in September 2016.
Here are the quick specs:
- Tuners: Older style with plastic buttons.
- Neck profile: Les Paul '59 (as in not a SlimTaper)
- Body: Carved maple top over mahogany, weight-relieved
- Pickups: BurstBucker Pro
- Fingerboard: Rosewood
Where are the costs cut? There's no binding and the finish is "worn satin", which basically means a dulled finish. No mirror-like reflections here.
Is the '59 neck profile right for you?
If you have no idea what a '59 neck shape feels like, here's a quick rundown on Gibson Les Paul neck shapes.
While there are several Gibson neck shapes, the 3 that matter to most players are the early '50s, '59 and '60 profiles.
Early '50s feels like a tree trunk. Very chunky and thick. The '59 is less thick but still has good chunk to it. The '60 is the thinnest SlimTaper style. SlimTaper was originally marketed by Gibson as a "fast" neck.
If you've played any modern SG guitar, you are most likely already familiar with the SlimTaper feel as most SGs have a SlimTaper neck profile.
My experience with a Gibson neck profile of '59 spec is that at first, it feels weird holding more neck wood in your hand, but you do quickly get used to it. I consider it the same as when you switch from a modern Fender Strat with a "Modern C" neck to a Fender Classic Series '70s Stratocaster neck that has the U-shape. Feels odd at first because it's larger, but after a few minutes of play you warm right up to it.
Many players who prefer the Les Paul as their main guitar say the '59 neck profile is the one that feels best and can be played the longest.
Could you buy this Gibson even without ever having tried one and feel confident that the neck would agree with your fret hand? Yes. The '59 profile is well-liked among Gibson players, so you can buy with confidence even without having tried the guitar first.
Is there anything bad about this guitar?
The only thing that could stick out as a potential problem area are the tuners. They work fine but it's obvious the cheaper ones were used to keep the price of the guitar down.
If you do encounter any tuner issues, just get a set of Grover Rotomatics, a very common Les Paul upgrade. Problem solved.
You really can't do better for a new American made Gibson Les Paul
For an American built guitar from known-to-be-high-priced Gibson no less, you're getting something pretty darned good here.
The price of this Les Paul is something you would ordinarily associate with Asian-build guitars, but this one is labeled as a Gibson USA model.
And can you believe there's nitro on this guitar? There is. It may be a dull gloss worn satin finish, but there is a hand-sprayed nitrocellulose coating over it.
For a lot of Les Paul players out there, this model really does hit the sweet spot. Get yours.
The two sides of surf music (I love one and hate the other)
Surf music is a bit of a weird animal.
There are certain types of music that I absolutely cannot stand, and one of them is what I consider the bubble gum side of surf music.
Surf Music vs. Beach Music
A true surf music song is an instrumental with a very "wet" sounding electric guitar which is sometimes called a "drip" sound. Specifically, it's a Jazzmaster, Stratocaster or Jaguar that's "drowning" in spring reverb that has a liquid-like tone to it.
Some examples of surf instrumentals are:
- Let's Go Trippin' by Dick Dale and His Del-Tones
- Baja by The Astronauts
- Pipeline by The Chantays
- Perfidia by The Ventures
The other type of surf music is one with vocals in it. This is technically not surf music at all. The song is only characterized as surf because of its lyrical content. An example of one of these songs is Surf City by Jan and Dean - a song I can't stand.
Why does the song bother me? Because it's bubble gum pop music of the '60s. Surf City does nothing but talk about surfing but doesn't have the wet guitar sound whatsoever. You don't even hear it. In fact, you struggle to hear any guitars in that song at all because the vocals are booming over so loudly.
True surf music is the Jazzmaster/Strat/Jag guitar with the wet sound along with obvious Middle Eastern and Mexican guitar influence. The other bubble gum pop stuff with lyrics in it should just be renamed to beach music. This is logical because surf music literally has the wet sound and beach music literally talks about the beach. Makes sense to me.
Anyway, for the remainder of this article, when I mention surf music, I'm specifically referring to the the instrumental stuff as that's the kind of surf music I like. The other side with the bubble gum vocals I really don't like at all.
The 2.5 year run that never ended?
Surf music's peak popularity was from September 1961 to February 1964, just shy of 2.5 years.
September '61 is when the first true commercially successful surf instrumental song Let's Go Trippin' was released, and February '64 is when The Beatles happened. Technically, The Beatles were introduced to America in December '63, but February '64 is when they made their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, and that's when Beatlemania and the "British Invasion" officially began.
The funny thing however is that even after surf music was pushed out of the limelight, it never completely went away.
To this day in many TV shows and movies, whenever there's an establishing shot of a beach, you hear surf music. Or even if the beach is not seen, if the intention is to make you think "this is a beach related thing" such as packing up a car to go to the beach, surf music is heard.
Surf music also goes hand in hand with vintage '60s American muscle cars. At just about any classic car show in America, surf music will inevitably be heard.
In the end, surf music is associated with beaches and muscle cars more than anything else. But there are two other associations. Mystery/intrigue and spooky/creepy.
Mystery/intrigue
The original movie theme to James Bond has a very prominent surf guitar sound in it; this is the best example there is of this specific style of surf music.
Spooky/creepy
The American monster movie and TV era of the '60s had spooky/creepy music all over the place. The most prominent example of this is The Munsters TV show theme. Another example of this is Werewolf by The Frantics.
Modern surf bands mostly gravitate to the spooky style just because it's very fun to play and it allows you to be very cheesy in stage appearance because it totally fits the vibe.
If I'm fortunate enough to ever get in a surf band myself, I'd probably go for the spooky style just for the fun factor.
A musical genre defined by the guitar, weirdness and all
Instrumental surf music is defined by a twangy Fender guitar washed in reverb, with the most "authentic" of the surf guitars being the Jazzmaster.
You can use other guitars to get surf sound. Heck, all you really need is a cheap Bullet Strat and a decent spring reverb emulation pedal. Or if you have an amp with a real spring reverb tank in it, that obviously also works too.
Almost nothing about surf music is what anyone would consider normal and that's what makes it weird. It's almost like an anti-pop music of sorts.
The music industry tried to normalize surf music with the introduction of vocals and the whole bubble gum pop beach music thing. But the original instrumental sound is what has stood the test of time better. That is the sound you still hear in TV and movies to this day...
...because it just sounds cool.
Did you know Fender has 8 white guitar body color options?
When it comes to guitars, white is not white. In fact, it's usually anything but white.
Fender and Squier typically will not produce guitars in a stark, bright white. There are a few exceptions as I'll note below, but generally speaking you almost never see bright white Fender guitars.
The one you know is most likely the Fender American Professional Stratocaster in Olympic White. This is 1 of 8 whites Fender currently has on their color chart.
These are all 8 of the Fender white guitar body colors by name:
- White Blonde
- Olympic White
- Flat White
- Pearl White
- Olympic Pearl
- Vintage White
- Arctic White
- Antigua
Now as for the differences between each, this is how it works:
White Blonde: Semi-transparent finish. Very light yellowing with wood grain showing through.
Olympic White: Yellowed white, solid color, no transparency.
Flat White: Only seen on the Jim Root Telecaster as far as I'm aware. This is as white as a Fender gets and there is no whiter.
Arctic Pearl: Like flat white but brighter and with more gold hue to it.
Olympic Pearl: Like White Blonde but solid and with no transparency.
Vintage White: This has the most yellow of all the whites. Almost a canary yellow-like color. The Yngwie Malmsteen Strat is in this color.
Arctic White: The second whitest white Fender currently has. Very slight yellowing.
Antigua: The darkest white Fender currently has. White, but just barely because it's aged to a brown. Some love this finish while others hate it.
When Squier does white...
...they usually don't match up with the Fender versions at all.
As far as I know, Squier only offers 5 whites across their solid-body electric guitar line.
Squier Olympic White: Typically several shades whiter than Fender Olympic White. This is the whitest white Squier has.
Squier Arctic White: Much closer to Fender's Vintage White. You can easily see the yellow in this finish.
Squier Pearl White Metallic: Only offered on the Squier Deluxe Stratocaster and unique to Squier Strats as Fender doesn't even offer it. Yes, it does have metallic flake in it, but it's a mild sparkle, which in this case is a good thing. The Squier Deluxe Strat is one of the best looking Strats Squier makes.
Squier Vintage Blonde: A few shades lighter than Squier Arctic White, and like Fender White Blonde, you can see wood grain through the finish (or at least you should, depending on model of guitar). Definitely not as yellow as Fender's White Blonde.
Squier Vintage White: Basically the same color as Squier Vintage Blonde, but a solid color with no transparency.
What are the best Fender whites?
If you want the "Hendrix white", that's Olympic White. Vintage White on the Malmsteen Strat and White Blonde are also great.
What are the best Squier whites?
Arctic White and Vintage Blonde are the two best whites Squier has.
What about Fender yellows?
There are currently 10 of those:
- Vintage Blonde (Alder)
- Vintage Blonde (Ash)
- Amber
- Butterscotch Blonde
- Graffiti Yellow
- Honey Blonde
- Blackguard Blonde
- Maize Yellow
- Desert Sand
- Monaco Yellow
Several of Fender's yellows directly depend on the body wood used to bring out a specific color. This is why Vintage Blonde Alder is different than Vintage Blonde Ash. Alder will have somewhat more of a muted color while Ash will bring out something brighter in hue. Basically it's the same semi-transparent yellow applied to different a different wood to get a different final color.
Most Fender yellows are transparent. In fact, only Graffiti Yellow, Maize Yellow and Monaco Yellow are true solid yellow colors.
I mention Fender yellows because some players see an aged-to-yellow white and think the color is a yellow when it fact it's a white.
Chances are if you like the yellow (I know I do) and want it on your next guitar, what you're actually looking for is probably an aged white, such as Fender Vintage White.
On a final note, if you've never seen Fender Graffiti Yellow or Monaco Yellow, don't be surprised because most people haven't. I've only seen Fenders of those colors in person once or maybe twice. Seeing Fenders in those yellows is not an everyday thing.
Guitar of the week #74 - Bacchus "Universe" Series Guitars
I'm writing this one specifically for those that can't get access to certain guitar brands.
I live in Florida USA, so I have easy access to many different guitars. At any time, I can go buy a Fender or Squier guitar. However, in other parts of the world Fender and Squier are very difficult to come by. Either no local guitar store carries either brand, or they do but the cost is too high to import them...
...which is where Bacchus guitars come in.
The specific guitars I'm going to talk about here are more or less the equivalent of China-built Squier Vintage Modified guitars, that being the Bacchus "Universe" series axes, which are also China-built as far as I know.
Basically speaking, if you live somewhere where you can't get access to Fender or Squier guitars, you most likely can get access to Bacchus guitars for a reasonable (if not cheap) price.
There are three models, all patterned after Fender designs, in many color options.
First up is the the BST, a Strat clone.
Next up is the BTE or BTC (I honestly do not know the difference between the two models), a Tele clone.
Last up is the BMS model, a sorta/kinda Mustang clone. I say "sorta/kinda" because the bridge is obviously from a Strat and not a Mustang. But this is actually a plus and not a minus because many players don't care too much for the Mustang bridge.
The basics of a Bacchus Universe Series guitar
A Bacchus Universe Series guitar will have a poplar body, maple neck, sealed tuners and standard electronics. Nothing fancy. These are really not all that different from Squier Vintage Modified Series guitars. In fact, one could say the Bacchus guitars are arguably built a little better.
Does Bacchus only make inexpensive stuff?
Only for the Universe series guitars. There are three other series of guitars Bacchus makes aside from Universe, that being Handmade, Craft and Global.
A Bacchus Craft series example is the BST-100 model. This is a significant upgrade over a Universe series. Alder body, Gotoh tuners, bone nut, specialized Bacchus SV-A5 pickups, and even comes stock with Elixir Nanoweb strings.
I mention this guitar because if you buy Bacchus and like the brand, you can stick with it and buy a better model later on.
So again, if you can't get access to Fender or Squier where you live, there is Bacchus. And Bacchus does make genuinely good guitars.
Good Strat, bad Tele and other guitars
Over the weekend I went to Guitar Center to try out some guitars. Here's my report on what I tried and what they were like.
Squier Vintage Modified '72 Tele Thinline
One of these was actually in stock, and it wasn't too bad.
The thing to know about this particular Telecaster is that the "Wide Range" humbuckers sound a whole lot different than the usual Tele single-coil pickups. The sound isn't bad. Just different.
Other than the different sound compared to a regular Tele, I noticed the neck has some chunk to it in a good way. The specs list the neck as a "C" shape, but to my hand it felt thicker than a Classic Vibe.
This is also one of those "looks way better in person than in photos" guitars. In photos, this guitar looks boring, but in person this is a nice looker.
Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar
This is not my first time trying a Squier Jag. Every time I try one however, I'm left with the same thought. "I wish this was a Jazzmaster". This is ultimately the reason I've not bought one and probably never will.
And yeah, I know I just talked about maybe getting a Jag. I guess I had to play one again to remind me why I don't own one.
I'm not saying the guitar is bad, because it isn't. In fact, the one I played was quite nice. But it's no Jazzmaster.
This is another one of those "looks awful in photos but beautiful in person" guitars.
The J Mascis Jazzmaster is not just some Vintage Modified JM with a different color scheme. This guitar is way different. Different pickups, different bridge, different tremolo system.
Better than a Vintage Modified? Yes. You can tell just by the feel of it. The sound takes a little getting used to, but it's otherwise a very nice Jazzmaster.
The worst part about this guitar is that nobody can seem to take a genuinely good photo of one. You really have to see it in person to appreciate the creamy white body color and gold pick guard.
Squier Classic Vibe '60s Stratocaster in Burgundy Mist
This Strat was a treat to play. I saw this in the store, grabbed it immediately to try it out, and wow. If I had the money I probably would have bought it.
I've played some CV Strats before. The last one I played was a model in Sherwood Green, and it was terrible. The gloss finish on the neck felt sticky and the guitar was too heavy.
This one however... perfect. Well, almost perfect. The action could have been lowered just a hair. But other than that, the weight was correct, the neck correct, the controls correct, the sound correct... everything was right on this guitar.
This purple Strat was absolutely one of the good ones, and I guarantee the only reason it hasn't sold is because of the color.
Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster '50s
This is the best Telecaster Squier makes. But wow, what a bad example of one this was.
The sound of this Tele was spot-on, but the rest of it was in bad shape. The pickup switch tip was missing (probably stolen), and the output jack was loose.
Oh, and one more thing. This was as heavy as a boat anchor. Probably at or over 9 pounds.
As crazy-good as the CV Strat was, this CV Tele was crazy-bad.
Fender Classic Player Jazzmaster Special
This was my second time trying one of these out, and this one was not-so good.
The first time I tried one of these, the guitar was darned near perfect. This time around, the guitar just didn't feel right.
There was nothing wrong with this guitar at all, but it just didn't really have the magic, so to speak.
Verdict
The purple Strat was the winner out of the bunch, no question about it. That guitar just had everything going for it... even with pickups of mismatched height (the neck pickup was almost flush to the pick guard). With just only minimal setup, it would have been a perfect Strat.
Second best was the J Mascis Jazzmaster. Very nice looker. Needed some setup, but still nice overall. I could see myself owning one of these.