Well, here it is. The actual guitar is a great example. Beautiful finish with a real feel of quality. The first guitar I ever played was a friends dad's Suzuki which has still got a great tone all these years later. This Hummingbird "copy" is extremely close in quality to their Gibson counter parts having compared it with my "late" Gibson JC-180 I can honestly say that the build quality and finish is definitely on par with the Gibson. Although I'm not sure about the inlays. Are they pearl, like the Gibson or are they plastic. I am leaning towards the latter. The tuners also seem a little cheap. Perhaps they are not original but feel like they belong on one of those Cort abominations. Apart from that everything looks sweet. Binding is very good and bridge design looks excellent. No major fading or belt rash on the body just a bit of sticky substance near the bottom strap hook. Beautiful sunburst finish that does look a little brighter (Cheaper) than the Gibson counterpart.

So what is wrong with the guitar? Well,,,,, not all that much. The body is fine and with the old stretched strings on, intonation seemed very good. Tone also seemed to be very nice. Fretbuzz is the problem with a quite apparent flat/back bow to the neck. It buzzes around th 12th fret but all good round the 1st - 6th. Action is obviously a little low. My logic is telling me that some new strings would increase the tension on the neck and perhaps promote a little more front bow. So I dont want to look at any truss rod adjustments until I have a better idea of string tension after restringing. If the guitar gods are looking down on me, its all this beaut is going to need. But as Murphy is one of my best friends, I seriously doubt that. The thing is, If there is some neck adjustments needed, who do I take it to? I can do most things, but a bowed neck is something for a pro to look at. Problem is, here is South Africa a guitar pro is a very difficult thing to come by, there are loads of idiots pretending to be pro's who actually end up screwing your guitar up. (It happened to a Takamine I took to the local guitar shop for bridge repairs. They really screwed it up!)

----------------------------- UPDATE!-------------------------------------------------

Ha ! I was just informed that Gibson also use plastic for their inlays! Next time I'm in the market for a $3500 Les Paul I will look with suspicion. It better sound bloody good! 

A colleague of mine recently brought in his Kiso-Suzuki W65A Acoustic guitar for me to have a look at and possibly get it running a little better. Its a beautiful example of Japans quest for imitation perfection during the 1970's. There were many companies including Ibanez that were spending great quantities of time painstakingly replicating classic guitars. The Suzuki W65A is a replication of the Gibson Hummingbird acoustic guitar which was famously played by Elvis. This "copy" is so accurate that it features perfectly shaped Gibson headstock and inlays. In fact some of these copies where so close that Japanese guitar manufacturers face legal proceedings from western guitar companies. There are even people out there that insist that some of the Japanese knockoffs of the time are better than the originals. 

So what is wrong with the guitar? Well, the Finnish is fine, the frets and neck are in great condition, the bridge and nut have plenty of life left in them. So whats the problem I hear you ask? This guitar suffers from some serious action issues and some major fretbuzz. Clearly a truss rod issue, there is some noticeable back bow. Thing is, I know I'm not a pro guitar tech, so I am very concerned about the idea of adjusting the truss rod myself. I did attempt it (After watching a youtube video on how), but I found that it was so stiff that it would have taken force to adjust it. A wize decision to leave it alone. 

I've been looking at getting a new amp. The fact of the matter is I sold my 70's Fender Bassman a couple years back. I was leaving the country and diddnt think I would miss it as much as I do. I am beginning to consider a new approach to my amplifier setup. My days of jamming on stage are over and the idea of dragging a big ass stack everywhere to impress the crowd just seems stupid to me now. I am not interested in Marshall stacks anymore. I want a recording solution.  I do have quite a lot of experience with recording guitars and generally find that the best sounds come out of a single 12 or 10 inch driver, specifically a Celestion G12 Greenback. So, wouldn't it be a good idea to buy a single 1X12 cab and then buy a selection of relatively low watt heads for some tonal variation.

It seems that low watt valve amps are becoming more popular these days. With Fenders Champion 600 combo and the Vox AC4TVH head. Huge Amps are not needed in the studio and with a lower wattage I can drive my amp a little without blowing the room off my live room. For me it provides a more controlled and focused sound. And a small head/Cab combo kit would be fantastic for some quality tones in the studio and bedroom. Small valve heads have received a lot of interest lately with the release of the Orange Tiny Terror and the Vox Night Train series. The AC4 is a 4 Watt RMS option that is a bit cheaper than the Night Train series and Boasts single 12AX7 on the pre stage and an EL84 on the power stage.

Its been quite a while since I visited the Gibson site to have a look see at their latest offerings. And I got the feeling that I've been asleep for the past few years. When did Gibson go all Hi-Tech? My god! What doesn't this guitar do? Hex Piezo pickup system, Acoustic guitar patches, Low impedance active output, Over 2000 pickup models and combinations and a "Pure Analogue" Audio engine. But none of this would be complete without the very impressive Robo-tuners and God awful grand dads favorite chair wood Finnish.