That’s what I’m talking about

Yeap. I judged them too soon. Sorry. Not really. Not until you give me what I want. J/k. Over the weeks after my previous post, I saw that Gibson USA put more and more models on their website. And now it’s my time to comment on these models. OK. I’m not a pro guitarist or a luthier or a guitar tech, whatsoever. I’m just a consumer. So, save your nasty comments (if any).

Gibson USA brought back on their site many of the models they had on their previous site. I never had something bad to say about the non-custom guitars. It’s a great line, and there’s a guitar for almost everyone. 

They also did a great job with the “Guitar Of The Month” models. At last. Kahler Vibrato Systems on Gibsons. That’s the part I liked the most. Although the EMGs kinda ruined it for me, and the fact that there will be only Flying Vs and Explorers fitted with Kahler systems. I really wanted an SG with a Kahler.

But let’s start from the beginning and comment on all of the guitars of the month.

February & December 2008: SG Diablo: Both nice and classy guitars, I’m really not fond of the Metallic Silver model. Nothing really special about these guitars, except for the 24-fret necks, which were previously found on the SG Supreme models.

March 2008 & October 2008 : 50-Year Commemorative Flying V & Explorer: Excellent work. Amazing finish and very good woodwork with the beveled body edges. I think that these guitars are a perfect example for what I call a “modern-vintage guitar”.

April 2008: LP-295 Goldtop: Except for the pointy cut-away, I don’t think that there’s anything different from other LPs. I’m not really an LP guy, so I just think that this guitar isn’t something special.

May 2008: Les Paul Push-Tone: Resembles a Les Paul Studio, but with different electronics, locking tuners and the ability to change your pickups in minutes without soldering and stuff… Plus you get an extra pickup set. There’s something…

June & August 2008: Shred X & Shred V: Aaaah…I just love how good Kahler systems look on guitars. Especially Gibsons. As I said, the EMGs just ruined it for me. But then again, I can just throw them out and put some DiMarzio humbuckers on, …right?

July & November 2008: Longhorn Double Cut: If not exactly the same, they look pretty much like the Double Cutaway LPs. Fitted with EMGs (ew), again it’s a guitar I would never give money for.

September 2008: Reverse Explorer: Weird guitar. I like it though. They did the Reverse Flying V, I guess I should have seen something like this coming. Apart from the weird headstock and pickguard, I see nothing really special about this guitar. I like it though.

January 2009: The Holy V: Holy crap. Now this is what I call work of art. Very very very beautiful guitar. I just love the woodwork (and the 24-fret neck). When I look at the picture, it kinda gives me the feel that it’s some sort of an ancient alien guitar. Really cool.

 

That’s all for now. I’m still pissed off at the fact that they don’t produce the SG Special Faded 3PU anymore (although I’m definitively getting one in about a month) and that they don’t have an SG fitted with a Kahler Vibrato System. 

Only 18 models in the Gibson USA page?

This morning, I checked the Gibson Guitar Corp. site to see if there were any details or news, whatsoever, on the new Gibson Les Paul Axcess. But, as I was looking forward to seeing new models from Gibson, all I saw was just fewer models. And I don’t think that this is one of these “Less is more” situations. I think it’s one of the situations that you really want to bang your head on the screen of your computer, because you see that your favorite guitar is not longer in production. So, I just took a quick look at the new website, which is atrocious. It’s like there’s a mini-site for each model. IIISHK! I really couldn’t believe my eyes. There’s really nothing to say here, so I’m just going to list the guitars I didn’t see on the page today: Les Paul:

• Les Paul Supreme now comes only in Heritage Cherry Sunburst
• Les Paul Classic Premium Plus
• Les Paul Standard comes only in Heritage Cherry Sunburst, Light Burst, Honey Burst, Ice Tea and Manhattan Midnight finishes (the last was only available in the Les Paul Standard Limited Edition, which was also discontinued months ago)
• Les Paul Swamp Ash Studio
• Les Paul Studio Premium Plus
• Les Paul Vixen
• Les Paul Double-Cut Pro
• Les Paul Goddess
• Les Paul GT
• Les Paul Menace
• Les Paul New Century
• Les Paul Double-Cut Faded

SG:

• SG Special & SG Special Faded now come with 2 Gibson ‘57 Classic Humbuckers
• SG Special Faded 3-Pickups
• SG Goddess
• SG Menace
• SG Select
• SG Supreme
• SG New Century

Flying V:

• Flying V Faded
• Flying V Faded 3-Pickups
• Flying V Natural finish
• Flying V New Century

Explorer:

• Explorer New Century
• Explorer Pro

Also, Vegas Series line seems to be missing from the site, only the Firebird Studio model and only 2 basses are available. I’m not really sure if all these models are discontinued or they just have not been added yet to the site, but it’s really a shame to see that a legendary guitar manufacturer like Gibson, has only 18 non Custom Shop models. There are more signature models than regular production models.

 

It also seems that “The Guitar Of The Week”, became “Guitar Of The Month”, with February’s guitar being the SG Diablo.

 

Right now, I’m very disappointed, because I expected to see more new models. Will there be other new, cooler, more sophisticated and more beautiful guitars coming our way, or are we stuck with the few good old classics? 

Shopping Mania & The Tremolo Incident

So I was playing with my Squier Strat, doing stuff, and suddenly I feel that the tremolo arm is kinda…too bendy. I unscrew it, take a look at it, nothing seemed wrong. I screw it back in, and then, after some time, less than a minute, I find myself holding the guitar neck with my left hand and the tremolo arm with my right hand. Lucky me, the screw-resembling part of the tremolo arm was stuck inside the bridge. Tried to glue it back together so that I can screw it off the guitar body. No luck. So instead of going to the hardware store and buying a drill bit to remove the broken part from inside the bridge, I decided, as a classic lazy-ass, to visit the Wammi World Online Store and buy a new tremolo bridge. No. Not a synchronized/vintage/Strat type tremolo. Instead of just replacing a part on my guitar, I decided to go a bit further and experiment with my luthier skills. Yeah right! I always liked the Floyd Rose units. But they are trouble. Changing the strings can take some time, the route on the guitar body is terribly big, causing loss of tone and sustain. I know they are considered to be the BEST tremolo units out there, and of course the most popular ones, but I decided to go for something easier to install and maintain. So I ordered a Kahler Hybrid 7300 Double-Locking Tremolo. And since I would spent some of the money I was saving to get my Gibson SG Special, I thought it would a nice idea to customize my Strat with some visual-only mods. So, I went to that guitar store near my house and ordered a black Fender Stratocaster Accessory Kit and make my guitar a bit more Blackmore-like.

What else is new? The Apple iMac (20″ 2.4GHz) that I ordered from Thomann and will be receiving it within the next 2 days. Yes, I am way too impatient to wait for Apple to announce a date for Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). But I AM going to buy the new OS from Amazon UK and install on my iMac G5 as well.

That’s all for now, I will post pictures of me unpacking my new iMac, the new tremolo unit, as well as the installing procedure of the tremolo unit and the accessory kit on my Flickr! page (which is now empty).

Gibson Guitars went nuts!

OK! Every Tuesday I check Gibson Guitar’s website to see the new Guitar Of The Week. Yesterday I was kinda surprised not to see the new Guitar Of The Week. I checked again today, and the guys posted not only the new Guitar Of The Week, but also the guitars for the next 11 weeks! That kinda spoiled my fun and stuff for checking the website every week to see what’s new, but they’ve got some crazy guitars in there!

Go check them: Gibson Guitar Of The Week

Bittersweet feelings

It’s awesome! I got into university! After the second time I took the exams, I managed to get into the University Of Tripoli, in the sector of informatics. Hopefully, near November I will do my papers, so that I can get transferred to the University Of Athens!
As much exciting as this is for me, I can’t say I really enjoy it. Despite the fact that I lost a month of my summer vacation, due to my acne problem, I feel terrible about what’s going on in Greece. It’s terrible what people can do. It’s like seeing a handicapped person destroying his/her wheelchair. Tourism was one of the few things that Greece had serious income from, and now that’s all gone. Just because some people like to build houses in the woods or play political games. I really don’t care why they did what they did. I just feel disgusted for being a part of this society. I really am. I was a little bit before that incident, but now… I just don’t feel I belong here anymore. Call me a sadist or whatever you want, but I believe that the ones who did all this (and I don’t mean only the ones that set the fires, but the ones above them), I believe that they should first watch their family and property burn down, and then just torture them for the rest of their lives. Seriously.

LAME

Things/Situations/Whatsoever that I find lame (in an extremely random order):

1. Racism.
2. Having to pay 10 euros for a jambon-pepperoni medium-sized pizza from Pizza Hut.
3. Having to pay 4.75 euros for a Venti Caramel Frappuccino from Starbucks.
4. Having to pay 3 euros for a pack of Camel Lights cigarettes.
5. The design of the Camel cigarettes pack in Europe.
6. Religions – bedtime stories are cool, but science is way cooler.
7. The fact that Steve Morse makes a living by playing Ritchie Blackmore’s riffs.
8. The fact that Thommy Thayer makes a living by playing Ace Frehley’s riffs.
9. No Apple Stores in Greece (not even an Apple Hellas).
10. Gibson guitars in Greece are way expensive.
11. Not being able to find a damn single colored T-shirt and a cabana-70’s style pair of pants.
12. The fact that I’m going to miss out so many cool concerts this summer (for no particular reason).
13. Boredom.
14. The Sims 2. Love the game, but it’s a time waster.
15. People not using deodorant (can be very disturbing, especially on a hot day in the bus).
16. Lists always start with the number 1 instead of 0.
17. Taking life seriously.
18. Insecure people.
19. Sneaky people that steal your stuff at the beach.
20. Spoiled children.
21. Spoiled teenagers.
22. Spoiled adults.
23. There’s only one FNAC store in Greece, and it’s like an hour away from my house (using public transportation).
24. Football.
25. Stupid people that have long hair, wear black clothes and smoke, just because they think that these things make them ROCKERS.
26. Not having infinite money.
27. Microsoft (ew! I can’t believe I actually wrote this word….).
28. People that don’t recycle.
29. Reality shows.
30. The fact that things in real life are way different from how we imagine them.

Add yours in the comments.

The Gold Bug

I just wanted to create a blog. It can be fun sharing your interests/worries/thoughts with people you don’t know. The name “The Gold Bug” is nothing more than a song by The Alan Parsons Project from the album “A Turn Of A Friendly Card” which talks about a guy who loses everything in gambling…poor guy…

Anyway, have fun reading my articles, if you feel like writing a comment feel free to do so.