Gibson Modern Double Cut Standard

This is really expensive, but looks fantastic.

Usually whenever Gibson tries something new, different or reimagined, they fail and fail hard. That's not the case here. The limited run Modern Double Cut Standard, while expensive, is something new that actually might be great.

This guitar comes in several finishes, but it's the Bullion Gold that caught my eye (I'm a sucker for a goldtop Gibson).

The Modern Double Cut Standard has a solid mahogany body with 2-piece maple top, nitro lacquer finish, medium jumbo frets, 24.75" scale length, rosewood fingerboard with 12" radius, pearloid trapezoid inlays (I'm also a sucker for those on a Gibson)...

...which is all good, except for one thing I don't like. The guitar has 24 frets. On a 24.75" scale, that's pretty much useless. If you want to know what that feels like, play an Epiphone Tony Iommi SG. That guitar also has 24 frets on a 24.75" scale. You run out of room real fast after the 21st fret. Once you experience that, you'll understand why it is an absolute requirement that if you have a guitar with 24 frets on it, it must be at least a 25.5" scale for that extra space up there.

Am I saying the Modern Double Cut Standard would have been better as a 22-fret? Yes. I've no issue with the styling of the guitar as it looks fantastic, but 2 frets need to go away because not even soloists would be able to get along with it.

My only other complaint? Price tag. Way too expensive.

Keep your fingers crossed that an Epiphone version of this guitar is released. I could see this thing selling real fast if a version of it came out for the same price as the Tony Iommi SG.

Published 2017 Jun 7