Gaskell Classic PRO

Gaskell is a left handed guitar company out of Australia. Their most popular model is the "classic", which is based on the Gibson Explorer and comes in a variety of configurations. The regular Classic has a pickgaurd on the body, while the Classic II has no pickgaurd. There are reviews for both of these models on this website, so I recommend reading them as well.

The guitar I am reviewing, The Clasic Pro, can be ordered in either configuration with added upgrades such as body and neck binding, gold hardware, Dimarzio pickups, and other little bells and whistles. My particular instrument is a natural finish Classic II with gold hardware, binding on the neck and body, and block inlays. If you would like to see the guitar, there is a picture of the same instrument on Gaskell's website on the Classic Pro page. If it is not my exact instrument, it must be an identical production because it looks exactly the same.

The body is basswood and the set neck is maple. The fingerboard is rosewood and there are 22 frets, 24.75" scale. 1 master volume, 2 tone controls, 2 humbucking pickups. Tune-o-matic bridge. Pretty much standard solid body rock guitar specifications. The guitar shipped in a Gaskell hardshell case. I will mention that the tuners don't seem to be of any name brand, although they work fine and hold tune without problems. The stock pickups are Korean made and sounded decent enough for the time I used them.

Nothing else could be expected in this category. Other than the no-name tuners and pickups the guitar ships with, there is nothing I would change.

This guitar sounded good at first with the stock pickups, but I installed a Dimarzio Tone Zone in the bridge and an Air Classic in the neck, and now the Gaskell just blows me away. The sound is full and warm with just the right amount of bite and attack. I think that the maple neck really helps in this category, whereas standard Gibsons always have warmer Mahogany necks.

I'm currently running directly through a Peavey XXL half-stack, no effects or extras aside from reverb for my cleans and solos. My personal style would probably be best defined as progressive metal, and I enjoy jamming out some Metallica, Megadeth, Arch Enemy etc. With the Dimarzio pickups, this Gaskell sounds powerful. The riffs are thick but retain clarity, and sustain is good. It has a quality rock/metal sound, and I am completely satisfied. The only thing I would like is to be able to whip out single-coil clean tones, but who ever heard of single coils on an explorer? Thats what Strats are for!

Overall the finish is great. The binding is nice and clean and the guitars is absolutely beautiful. The moment I opened the case for the first time, I new this instrument was going to be good.

However, there was one key problem out of the box. A few of the frets were actually set a little too high. At first I didn't notice it, but after re-stringing the guitar with new 10-52 strings, a few notes would die when I would bend the strings a full step. My local guitar tech fixed this in a routine set-up while also dropping the tuning a half step to E flat.

Now the guitar is absolutely flawless and performs above all of my expectations, but the fret issue was surprising, considering that the guitar was already set up before shipping to me. In other respects it was fine: intonation was good and it shipped in tune. And like I said, the body finish and binding is beautiful. I'll give it a 7 for the inconvinience of having the frets filed down out of the box, but everything else was good to go.

This guitar was built to last. No doubt about it as far as I'm concerned. I've been playing extreme-shaped guitars for years (Flying V's, Dean MLs etc). This Gaskell has a good weight to it and I'm not afraid to sling it on and play with confidence. I've had a few guitars over the years that felt like they could dent or chip easily, but this isn't one of them. All of the hardware is solid. I would definitely gig with it, but not without a backup of course.

This is the real deal maker here. The guitar is great in it's own way, but so far the customer support has been fantastic. Very polite, personal emails with next-day replies to questions and comments. This is the benefit of a small company - more time to spend on the customer. I would never expect this type of support from Gibson or another big name guitar brand. I've emailed Gibson before, but unfortunately it was to clarify that they have, in fact, ceased all left handed production.

I believe the warrenty is for 1 year. The warrenty may have covered the fret issue I had, but like I said that was taken care of in a routine set-up at no extra cost, so no big deal.

Ordering this guitar was one of the friendliest and trouble-free ordeals I've had. A+ customer service gets a 10 without question. The company was also patient while my pay pal account was having techinical difficulties for a few days before payment. Thanks go out to Peter Scott at Gaskell U.S. distribution.

I've been playing about 10 years, and have used guitars from Dean, Ibanez, B.C. Rich, Agile, and more. Being left handed is extremely difficult and I've been constantly looking for the right guitar brand that meets my needs without breaking my bank account. I had always joked with my friends that I would one day start a guitar company that ONLY makes left handed instruments. Well, somebody beat me to it, and I couldn't be happier about it. From what I understand, both Kevin Gaskell and Peter Scott are left handed players (why else would somebody start a company like this?).

It is very inspiring to know that the guitar I play is from a company who actually understands my needs. I love my Classic Pro and I will be buying from Gaskell again soon.