Alden Les Paul Nightshade Special

I bought this guitar because I liked the look (yes I am that shallow) and thought I'd never be able to afford the real thing. However I was lucky enough to pick up a second hand worn yellow Gibson Junior DC (twin P-90s) in faded yellow last week so I thought I'd do a review that gives some comparision between the real one and the copy.

I Pretty much agree with previous reviewer, first thing you notice (apart from the mass of yellow) is the tuners, they look like the ones on my 6 year olds toy guitar, but they work fine and the guitar stays in tune pretty well so it's an aesthetic criticism rather than a functional one. I Don't believe it's a copy of the Johnny Thunders guitar, the Thunders Junior was a single pick up 1954, this has double pick ups and looks a helluva lot like the much newer model Gibson DC I just bought apart from the volume and tone controls which are placed differently. It's also very shiny and plasticy looking in comparison.

I guess this is the most important one. I'm gonna hate myself for this but the Alden doesn't sound a whole lot different to the Gibson. Now I've not had the chance to give them both a proper blast, I've played the Alden thru a Marshall AVT 150 stack at volume and it sounded raw and punky, just as it should, but as yet I've only played the Gibson at home and in the shop. So does the Gibson sound three hundred pounds better ? Probably not. If I broke a string on the Gibson at a gig and switched to the Alden would anyone notice the sound difference ? I'd say it's unlikely. The Adens pickups are called E-90s not P-90s and I'd say they are a pretty faithful copy of the P-90s both in sound and look.

The Alden leapt out of the box ready to rock. It's really nice and easy to play and as the previous reviw says it's already set up nicely. I was recently loaned a Gordon Smith which wasn't nearly as much fun to play as this guitar. I had a slight hum on the bottom E when brand new, which vanished after a couple of weeks of thrashing. The neck is a nice size and would suit smaller hands (not childrens hands tho) On close inspection there are some blemishes/streaks in the yellow and the lacquer gives it an almost plastic/resin look. It's not, it's wood and weighs about the same as the Gibson.

This is a warrior of a guitar. It feels like you could swing it around, thrash the hell out of it, chuck it in the van, play tenis with it, slay zombies with it and it'd still be reliable for your next gig (once you've picked the zombie goo out of the fret board). This is one of those guitars that will improve with age, chips and blemishes will look like war wounds and give the guitar character.

Can't say as I've not had any problems with it

Overall I'd recomend this guitar, it's a good Les Paul junior copy and it's very reasonably priced. You could use it for gigs, recording etc and it'd serve you well. Ok I'll be honest. If I where stranded on a glacier and had to burn the Alden or the Gibson to survive then I'd burn the Alden but my decision would be based on good old capitalist values ie the Gibson cost me more and is therefore worth more. If I where blindfolded and made to choose which guitar to burn based on sound, I could well end up burning the wrong guitar.

This guitar is finished in TV Yellow and is basically a copy of johhny Thunders guitar (New York Dolls, Heartbreakers), or a les paul double cut / les paul special depending which era you choose. The bridge is a wrap around design, the tuners have nasty, very cheap looking plastic keys, you get two (black) E90 pickups a three way toggle switch and (black) tone and volume pots for each pickup. It has a 22 fret neck, black scratch plate and there is craem plastic binding around the finger board on the neck which actually looks pretty good.

This guitar suits me down to the ground, it is equiped with some P90 alikes called E90's and i have to say they are pretty good. They have the same raw character of traditional P90 pickups and will happily feedback at very high gains but will sing with harmonics at slightly less extreme settings. The sound is bright without being overly harsh and trebley. Even the bridge pickup on its own has a nice balanced sound without too much zing and the neck pickup is capable of that creamy tone so often heard with neck humbuckers, together there is a very nice rhythem sound which is not too aggresive but you def.know it is there. This guitar is suited for indie/punk/surf/garage rock. I don't think it will suit many hair metalers or jazzers out there but then P90 type pickups never will.

Okay, the first thing to say is that this is quite a cheap guitar as guitars go. The finish is not great, there were all sorts of blemishes with the varnish around the curves of the body and where the neck joins the body. That said the colour is uniform and the overall appearance is fairly attractive. The tuners are nasty cheap plastic key things, the look of them does not inspire confidence, that said i have not experienced any tuning problems so far. The overall set up is actually really good, no adjustment to the action was required. The only real problem was around the pickups where the body was routed out, there is a bit of a gap and the cut is, well, it isn't straight. If you are up close it does look shoddy. Overall it is a well set up but poorly finished guitar.

Not yet taken this one out for a gig. Though shortly it will be. The hardware seems to be fine though as mentioned in the fit and finish section the tuners are not confidence inspiring but i have not had any trouble with them so far. I think this guitar is one of the more suitible from throwing around, it's just that sort of guitar. I will gig it because it really does produce a good sound.

No problems so far. The people at Cranes music seem like a good bunch though.

I've been playing for about 12 years and have a variety of cheaper guitars (squiers, epiphone etc.) and some more expensive (fender, washburn) it compares favourabley to the others in my collection. The sound from this is really good, it suits the styles that i play the only things that bother me about it is the shoddy routing on the body for the pickups and the cheap tuners, but that said i am glad i bought it because it does sound great for what i want it for. I think the tuners will be fine, though i may replace them because they just look tacky. Overall this is a great guitar for the money.