Presenting The New Inspired By Robby Krieger SG from Gibson Custom

Great guitarists play what they feel. They play what their hearts tell them to and they leave everything else for other people to worry about. That kind of connection to an instrument doesn’t happen very often, but it’s one that comes natural for Robby Krieger, who made history as lead songwriter and guitarist for The Doors. From 1965 to 1971, Krieger and The Doors created a body of music that redefined American rock and roll at its core. Today, their songs remain some of the most influential and original ever written. Much of that writing happened with Krieger’s legendary Gibson SG, which was along for every stop along the Doors’ exhilarating ride to the top. Read more

Presenting the Epiphone Custom Historic USA 1962 Wilshire Reissue in White

In cooperation with the Gibson Custom Shop, Epiphone is proud to announce the second in the series of “Epiphone Custom Historic USA” guitars — the 1962 Wilshire Reissue in White. Made in Nashville, Tenn., and limited to only 100 instruments worldwide, it combines impeccable attention to detail and historic accuracy. The first in the series — the 1962 Wilshire in Cherry — sold out immediately so if you’d like to get your hands on not only a one-of-a-kind collectible but also an exquisite guitar with unique tone, appearance and attention to detail, you’d better hurry. Read more

Hot New Models Coming This Fall!

You ask, we listen. You’ve been asking us for new ESP models. Well, ESP fans, today is your day. Get out your pens and paper, because it’s time to make your wish list.

The Total Eclipse
We’ve added a couple of new Eclipses to the ESP line. First, check out the Eclipse-II Vibrato. This is an instant classic. It’s everything you want in a classic rock guitar. The vintage black finish, the Bigsby B7 vibrato, Seymour Duncan JB and 59 pickups, Gotoh tuners and bridge, all gold hardware, and awesome body/headstock binding give this guitar the look and feel of a collector’s model from the day you take it home.

Need a little more modern Eclipse? Jump into the new Eclipse-II FR! Yes, FR stands for Floyd Rose. This is your classic single cutaway guitar with a black finish, black nickel hardware, EMG pickups and, of course, loaded with a Floyd Rose locking trem. Read more

Ibanez RGT320Z Prestige Guitar

Guitars bearing the Team J-Craft stamp are built by Ibanez master luthiers in Japan. While Ibanez doesn’t specifically offer “custom shop” products, these guitars are certainly the best of what they have to offer in an already excellent product line, and the new RGT320Z sits at the top of the RG series.

The beauty of the RGT320Z’s hot red flamed top with racing stripes floored us, and we loved its modern hardware appointments such as the new Edge Zero Bridge with ZPS3 spring system — the finest double-locking tremolo we’ve ever experienced.

The RGT320Z delivered a wide range of tones suited to a broad range of players. Equipped with medium-gain DiMarzio IBZ pickups, this guitar makes a great option for players who typically play less “exciting” looking instruments but who secretly yearn to rock out a little bit. It also features one of the best (if not the best) double-locking tremolo units we’ve ever used. Read more

Introducing the Gibson Dusk Tiger

You have a rare wealth of creative potential lurking deep within, but until now no guitar has had the power to fully tap into it. Enter the Dusk Tiger, simply the most astounding innovation in the history of the guitar. In the wake of Gibson’s groundbreaking Dark Fire, the new Dusk Tiger offers an unprecedented wealth of features to expand your sonic horizons exponentially, yet it brings them to you with greatly increased levels of performance and ease of use, and all at a more affordable price. And not only does Dusk Tiger offer an awe-inspiring versatility of tone and playability, it also captures a stunning new look that is arguably more refined than anything Gibson has ever produced. It retains the general Les Paul-inspired body lines, but presents them in a guitar with a flat top made from an exotic hardwood beaming with golden, amber, and dark chocolate hues. This top is coupled with a tone-chambered back, and a unique new pickguard and control layout. Under the hood, the Dusk Tiger reveals countless new features that give it even more power, along with considerable upgrades and improvements of existing electronics and control systems, and an unlimited number of sound possibilities. New to the Dusk Tiger are: Read more

Gibson Introduces All New Angus Young SGs From Gibson Custom and Gibson USA

The Angus Young SG Standard from Gibson Custom

For more than 35 years, AC/DC has represented the archetypal “big rock” guitar sound, setting the standards for countless bands to follow. In particular, Angus Young’s incendiary lead tone and mammoth rhythm crunch have inspired wave after wave of rock guitar heroes, and he has done it all on a Gibson SG Standard. The SG replaced the underappreciated Les Paul Standard in 1961, and while the Les Paul would surface later in the decade as a rock and blues classic, the new SG (originally named Les Paul/SG) was an instant hit in its own right. Its simple yet inspired ingredients of thin, all-mahogany body and neck and two Gibson humbucking pickups gave it a snappy attack with a muscular punch, and its slim, fast neck yielded unprecedented playability. Now the Gibson Custom Shop offers its reproduction of one of the world’s most renowned SGs in the form of the Angus Young SG, a Limited Edition that captures the tone, look, and feel of this rare specimen among a classic breed, but which updates this legendary guitar with custom modifications requested by Angus himself. Read more

Gibson: The Home of Innovation

Gibson Guitar has revolutionized the face of the music industry, whose quality, prestige and innovation have earned the loyalty and admiration of musicians the world over. Through extraordinary innovative efforts in recent years, Gibson introduced groundbreaking technology with its premier of the Gibson HD.6X-PRO Digital Guitar, the Gibson Robot Guitar, and the Gibson Dark Fire, creating some of the biggest advances in electric guitar technology and design in over 70 years.

When Gibson launched the HD.6X-PRO Digital Guitar in 2006, it coupled its long-standing legacy with a completely digital setup, allowing the isolation of individual strings and a direct connection to your computer. In the following year Gibson continued to explore new ways to bring novel features to its guitars. The Gibson Robot Guitar was the first ever integration of an analog guitar with a physical self-tuning system, becoming the electric guitar that sold faster than any other in history and revolutionized the industry. Read more

Gibson Teams With Marker Völkl For Custom Guitars

Skiers have another reason to celebrate the opening of this season. The Gibson Guitar Corporation has teamed with Marker Völkl USA to produce a series of unique electric guitars reflecting the feel, graphic elements and quality performance of the distributor of Völkl skis and Marker bindings.

Völkl’s newly redesigned Gotama ski model serves as the inspiration for a black Les Paul Custom, while Marker’s “Rule The Mountain” slogan blazes across the Flying V model.

“We’re incredibly proud to be associated with Gibson,” said Chris Adams, Marker Völkl’s promotions director. “Their craftsmanship has always set the benchmark in quality, so to partner with them on one-of-a-kind instruments is really exciting, especially because the guitars will ultimately help some good causes.” Read more

Swing Like a Pro with the NEW Epiphone Swingster!

Swing Like a Pro with the NEW Epiphone Swingster! World famous for making some of the best and most innovative hollow-body guitars, Epiphone conjures up some of it’s past with the NEW Emperor Swingster. Starting with the same body and neck as used on their Emperor-II guitar and made famous by the jazz master himself, Joe Pass, Epiphone swings into action and turns it into a serious twangin’, rock-a-billy slingin’, country flingin’ machine!

Classic Construction with SwingBucker Pickups! With it’s hand-scalloped arched Spruce top combined with a laminated arched-back Maple body and glued-in 3-piece Hard Maple neck, the Swingster has what it takes to satisfy any professional’s demand for great tone. At the heart of the guitar are Epiphone’s NEW SwingBucker(tm) pickups and a series/parallel electronics switching package that outperforms all others in it’s class. Specially designed for the Swingster, the humbuckers offer no hum performance and feature classic Alnico-V magnets, enamel wire and over-wound coils for the perfect combination of warmth and bite. Read more

The Most Desirable Custom Shop Guitars

Signature model guitars have a special allure: the aura of a certain artist’s musical magic. But which are the most alluring?

Judging by the reactions of players at trade shows, festivals, auto races, and other events visited by the Gibson Custom Shop’s traveling 40-foot exhibit trailer, the five six-string Signature mojo machines that draw the most interest are:

Zakk Wylde Les Paul Bullseye

This Bullseye beauty is a hard-core rock guitar with active pickups, an EMG-81 and an EMG-85, and an unfinished maple neck — Wylde’s variation on the Les Paul Custom. Since it was first issued in 1999 the guitar’s been a magnet for Ozzy and Zakk influenced shredders.

B.B. King Lucille

B.B. personally oversaw the development of this refined take on the classic ES-345, including the elimination of f-holes to reduce uncontrolled feedback, a TP-6 fine-tuning tailpiece, and ebony good looks. Typically these guitars are plucked off their display mounts by older players who grew up on blues, but lately the genre’s been reaching a younger audience — and so have Lucille models. This guitar sports its name on its headstock and has stereo/mono jacks. And of course there’s the Vari-Tone, a six-position midrange notch filter. The Lucille is a larger bodied guitar, yet its lighter weight and burnished tone make her loveable for fans of Les Pauls and SGs.

Johnny A. with Bigsby

This guitar is a real attention getter on its own terms and offers some fairly unique characteristics. The fully hollow body is one-piece mahogany and the inside is flat in the back to increase natural projection. The Bigsy vibrato tailpiece that A. uses is optional, but not so the guitar’s distinctive 25-inches long scale neck abetted by double cutaway horns. And the neck’s profile, at A.’s insistence, is slightly flatted in the back for easy playability. When the guitar’s on display jazz, blues and rock players all relate to its blend of tone, feel, and light weight. And this six-string, birthed in 2003, is often described as “art deco” for the modern-yet-classic look of its crown shaped inlays, angular pick guard and singularly shaped f-holes.

Slash Les Paul

Although there are several Slash Les Paul models available, the granddaddy — and big draw in the Custom Shop’s traveling display — is the dark tobacco burst model introduced in 2004. Slash, of course, was almost single-handedly responsible for the skyrocketing popularity of Les Pauls in the ’80s. But this is a distinctive beast, with a pair of Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro pickups and a Fishman Power Bridge to provide an optional acoustic guitar sound. A mini three-way switch between the rear two pots — one a third volume control, for the level of the acoustic setting — allows toggling between acoustic and electric settings. But most players who pick up the Slash model wanna blast — and often the classic intro to “Sweet Child o’ Mine.”

Peter Frampton Les Paul Custom

When players pick up this baby, it really comes alive. The Frampton Paul has three humbuckers and a chambered, lightweight body. And it’s unusually wired to get that distinctive out-of-phase style Frampton sound. The middle pickup is always on, but has a dedicated master volume knob so it can be dialed in or out. That tone should theoretically appeal more to players influenced by classic rock, but the variety of tones this black beauty produces captures the ears of just about anybody who hears or plays it.

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