Gibson Blueshawk

Just played my neighbors, and I'm going to save up for this guy. 22 frets, Maple Top, Poplar Back, Semi Hollow. The unique Vari-tone control is great. P-90's with dummy coils. This guitar is great. I would buy it just for the P-90's and the varitone. You can get any sound except for that real heavy metal sound out of this thanks to the varitone. Frets could be a bit bigger, but thats a personal preference. Everything you need to play the blues and jazz.

I play the blues and blues/rock. This guitar, paired up with the right amplipier can make any sound you want, except for that tinny heavy metal sound. My favorite tone is with the varitone set for its bassiest setting, playing through the neck pickup. Usually I play through the bridge pickup with my presence set all treble, but the warm buttery sound pushed through my Epiphone valve Special is great! I'm sure it could work as a decent jazz guitar, but as the name implies, this thing was designed for the blues. For that warm, smooth as butter overdrive, this guitar does a great job.

Playing this through both my Epiphone Valve Special, and my neighbors Fender, I must say this thing is sweet. And it can adjust to play pretty much anything. My neighbor plays the blues as well, but he's into the clean stuff. Personally I'm into smooth and buttery overdrive. No matter what you play you will love this guitar. The one question I have is for Gibson, and that is WHY DID YOU STOP MAKING THIS GUITAR...

I got this one on eBay. I was intigued by the morping of the Gibson/Fender factors in this guitar. Fender scale and hardtail style bridge. Gibson P90's (with a dummy p'up for humbucking) and odd Tele/LP dual"f" hole body. Poplar with a maple top? What's up with that? Also, one volume, one tone and the (in?)famous "Varitone." It has all the "features" I was interested in.

Buying this "blind" I didn't know quite what to expect. What I got was a fun guitar with tremendous tonal range. The fundemental sound is of a very woody and acoustic electric guitar. Think 335 with a bit more of an acoustic guitar attack/sustain profile. I love it. I'm mostly into blues and what's now known as classic rock and it suits these most of these styles/feels well. Know however, this little axe has its own sound - it doesn't sound like a Tele or an LP but like something in between. This guitar is really light which I think contributes to the acoustic guitar sounding qualities - attack and decay characteristics. The only 10 in this category belongs to a friend's 1958 Stratocaster - IMHO the best guitar I've ever heard or played.

This guitar is just fine. 9 out of 10. With some minor tweezing it could be better.

100% durable given the typical Gibson neck/headstock issues (don't frickin' drop this guitar on its head!).

Wouldn't know. That's why I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt and giving them a 10.

I've been playing guitar since 1961 and have owned (and played) many of the "special" guitars ( '62 Strat, '61 SG/Les Paul, '67 335, '78 USA made Dean "Z"). Lately I've been building my own Fender "vintage" style Strats and Teles from parts and having a great time; the only abberation was a Tele with P90s. For me, the "Night Hawk" is a very cool guitar to be playing. I had forgotten how nice a very acoustic, woody sounding guitar with high output single coil pickups could be. I love it. In fact, it has inspiried my next project guitar - dual "f" hole Alder hollow body Tele w/TV Jones Filtertrons.

Mine was made in 1997.
It's black.
Pretty good shape..
Bought used over Ebay..
Pretty much the same features that everyone else has talked about on this thread.

I kind of got the yearning for that P90 sound after playing a Les Paul Special equipped with them. I own about 9 guitars but none with P90's. The Les Paul special I was looking at blew me away. Fortunately for me the seller wouldn't come off of his price, so I went out looking for other models with P90's. That's when I discovered the Blueshawk. What an outstanding variety of tones you get out of this thing. Tel-like and then with a twist of the varitone you sound like a 335. I have owned this axe for about 3 months and since I have bought it my ES175, Les Paul and all my other axes are collecting dust. Sounds so good. Running it through a Peavey Vintage with 6 10's for blues and a Roland Jazz Chorus for a really sweet jazz sound.

Bought the axe used and had to spend about 3 hours cleaning, setting intonation, adjusting action, etc.. After that it's just an awesome player. With the deep cut away you can absolutely play the WHOLE neck. Guitar just gleams and plays great. Haven't had any problems with the tuners.
The finish is somewhat disappointing. Used some Jim Dunlop fingerboard cleaner on the fretboard and everywhere this stuff touched the finish it became tacky so beware. This is definitely some sort of poly NOT nitro-cellulose finish. With Carnuba was it does shine up nicely and the Carnuba does protect the finish. The fret board markers could have been put in a little more professionally. Wood filler is visible if you look closely. For these reasons I'm giving it a 7 in this area overall. I does play great though..

Mine came with strap locks and I would think this would be a good investment. Not as sturdy as my Paul, but on the other hand I don't believe the headstock will break if it falls either due to it being so light-weight. You can play all night with this thing on a strap and never feel it. It's so light.
Seems to be exceptionally sturdy as well. Doesn't seem to be near as delicate as my ES175. I never gig without a backup.

Owned Gibson guitars for 40 years and have never, ever, had a problem with ANY that I have bought. NEW or USED.

I'm 52 at the time of this review and have been playing since I was 8. I own 9 other guitars, 6 amps, 2 PA's, GNX4, Guitar synths, etc. This little axe, (at the present time at least) gets played more than anything else I got.
If you're looking for that vintage P90 sound and don't want to spend a lot of dough this is the axe for you. As a bonus you get so many sounds out of this thing it's just incredible. This is definitely not a one trick pony guitar..

Made in Nashville, '95 & '97, I've got two! 22 frets, semi hollow body with very small cavities. 3 way P/U switch with a vari-tone switch(pull tone knob to put out of circuit) Single coils w/dummy coil on back. They call the pick-ups blues-90's, very nice sounding if you have a hot amp. Mahogany neck w/maple topped poplar body,and rosewood finger board. 25.5 in. scale makes for easy bending, I've got a cherry & an ebony both w/fixed bridges, extemeley sweet playing and very lightweight, sweet!!! Both have hardshell cases.

Sweet blues sound! suitable for rock, etc. Typical single coil type sound, which means you need a hot amp, but the vari-tone circuit boosts a variety of frequenceys for a killer lead tone, nice!! One of the best guitars I've ever played, I love these guitars!!!

I don't know? I bought both of them used on E-bay, I had to have both of them adjused by a guitar tech.,but other than that they are smokin'.

As with any Gibson w/mahogany neck they won't withstand a fall, but with proper care there is no problem. A very solid, sweet guitar, I can't say enough about the quality of these guitars.

Never talked with them, dunno?

35 years, on and off. I've got lots of guitars, and these are as good as it gets. I would kill for one of these!!

poplar body with maple top
maple neck
25 1/2 scale
rosewood fingerboard
22 medium frets
bigsby style vibrato system
two Blues 90 pickups
varitone switch
black
made in 1998

In my Band (60s Soul, 70s Funk, some Pop/Rock-Songs (let me entertain you by Robbie Williams for example) I play the Blueshawk mainly through a Fender Hot Rod Amp. I don't use extra distortion pedals or boosters, and normally I also use no other effects. So I can describe the pure sound of this guitar in combination with the amp.

OK, let's start: Although it has a poplar body and single coil pickups, it still sounds much more like a Gibson than like a fender. Compared to my Les Paul, it sounds a bit more thin, more fresh and some kind of ?airy? (due to the thinline character) (but some of my band mates cannot hear the difference!) . In my opinion this is a real advantage, because the les Paul can get a bit muddy (depending on the location where you play and where you place your amp) whereas the blueshawk stays clear all the time. Due to this, the hawk seems to be louder because I simple hear it better in Band situations (although the Paulas Humbuckers are hotter).
In general, all three pick up settings may can be described as a mixture of les paul and Gibson ES 355 with a little Fender attitude. In my opinion one of the best sounding guitars ever.

What I like nearly the most about it is the crunch sound. Although the Blues 90s pu's are often described as less rough compared to P 90s it reminds me to Pete Townshends SG (do you know the Who's Woodstock gig?) But again, there is a Semi-acoustic touch in it.

In general, the guitar can be used for many styles with the exception of metal and maybe country (but that's of course always a question of the personal taste).

I cannot say much about the Varitone switch - I never use it. When I bought the guitar I experimented some minutes with it but didn't like the sounds. So I never touched it again.

Many people mention the good strat-sound they can get from the Blueshawk. But I think that (despite it's tonal versatility) the BH has a own character and cannot imitate any other guitar very satisfying. If you want to buy one you have to consider this. But if you do, you will get a guitar that enables you to develop your own sound.

due to the scale length, the tension of the strings is higher than on other gibsons. But I love the feel of this. The cutaway is deeper than a les pul ones, and on the neck joint, the body is thinner so access to high frets is easier

Never had problems with it.

It looks and sounds fantastic and is really inspiring. If it was stolen I would want to get a new.

With 50+ reviews here, I don't think it's necessary to go into the features. Mine's a 1997 cherry-red job. Personally that's the color that sounds best ;>

Mine's all original, I haven't changed a thing and I've had it about a year. The varitone (which is basically a notch filter) is very cool, once you've played out with it for a few weeks you begin to understand how each setting sounds. I have to score it high in features for that, for the very usable vol and tone pots (as usual Gibson beats Fender in this category, even if it often fails elsewhere). Nice to have the dummy coil to bring hum way down, so throw in another point for that, another for the cool diamond inlays. Take away one for the tuners, which are not as bad as some folks claim (maybe I was lucky) but they are a little hard to tune.

Up another point for the Fender scale neck, which gives it more twang ...

The neck is very playable. Have to give this axe lots of cred for its light weight. I can play a solid 90 minutes without falling over, not so with any of my other gits (3 strats, 3 teles, 1 jazzmaster).

I play a lot of different styles but I use this guitar, strangely enough, for classic hard rock, eg, The Who, Stones, even Hendrix. For blues and pop I use a Tele. I think this guitar has an unbelievably good rock sound. To me it's like an SG with a bit more clarity.

It's pretty versatile and I can get by just using the Blueshawk on nights when I'm lazy to bring more than one axe. If I only brought one of my Teles I'd miss the crunch of the Blueshawk on songs like Shakin' All Over.

With the right setup it even mimics a strat pretty well. My favorite Varitone settings are bypass (no Varitone), notch 3 (dark and jazzy sound and notch 4 (strat/tele sound). I don't use the other settings much.

Love the feedback. It's not a semi-hollow, despite the F-holes, so I never get unwanted feedback, just lots of wonton feedback, when I need it.

Mine was pretty well made. I bought it used, but it arrived in mint condition, like the original owner never played it.

The finish is peeling bad on the upper bout so I guess the finish can be criticised. Otherwise the setup was great (maybe the first owner set it up, dunno). Pups are set at just the right level too. Neck is straight, action just right.

This guitar seems to play and sound best strung with 10s. On my teles and strats I use nothing but 11s but they just don't feel or sound right on the Blueshawk. It may also be that I'm able to get plenty of thick tone on this guitar even with 10s. I need 11s on the Fenders to get the juice I crave.

So far it's taken plenty of beating from me. It arrived nearly mint and within a month I had it looking like it was 10 years older than it is. Action and neck have stayed solid, not easy in the humid clime in which I live. Like all GIbsons, though, I wouldn't want to drop it as the angled headstock would mean an instant crack in the neck no doubt. Nothing beats a Fender for toughness but this is pretty tough for a Gibson. The fact that it's light means it's less likely to suffer severe damage if it falls off a guitar stand. When a Led Paul - excuse me, Les Paul - falls over the mass really packs a wallop.

NA

I've been playing 30+ years, gig three nights a week in a hard rock bar band. This guitar is great for classic rock and the thing I like most is that I can wear it all night long without getting tired. Or at least much less tired than with any other guitar I've played. In fact what first drew me to the Blueshawk was the light weight. I half expected not to like the tone but I love it. Likewise being used to Fenders I worried I wouldn't like the neck feel, but I suppose the Fender neck scale on this takes care of that. I'm really pleased with this guitar. If something happened to it I'd be at a loss. I'd get another one but would worry it didn't have the mojo this one seems to have.

For value I don't think there's anything else that comes close. $500 for a USA Gibson that looks good, plays good and sounds good? Fab value.

USA made, Late 90's. 22 frets. Solid-body with f holes, etc, etc

Overall fairly happy with the features. Although some people change the tuners, I think they are OK. The overall quality of the build is fairly high. One think that strikes you about this guitar is how light it is - mainly down to the choice of wood used and the construction.
The guitar is very easy to play, and is one of my favourites.
The varitone gives lots of options for different sounds.

The sound is what really sets this guitar apart. Gibson attempted to mimic Fender sounds with the Blueshawk. I have had the guitar for a number of years now and have struggled to get a good sound out it. The main problem is that it is far too bright. The worst position for this is with the bridge and neck pickups combined. In this position the guitar becomes very jangly and almost unusable. Even with just the neck pickup the sound is still exceedingly bright. After our last practise I got fed up with the sound and did some scouting around the Internet for some advice on this and came up with a solution. I fitted a small wire jumper lead across the capacitor/resistor unit on the volume pot (very easy soldering job).
Now the sound is much better. Much warmer without the annoying bright highs of before. Also the combined neck/bridge position now gives a nice mellow, more Gibson-like sound (more 335 ish). I'm very pleased with this mod, and would recommed it to other owners.
You still get the versatility of the variotone switch to alter the tone, which still allows you to switch from a Gibson-like to more Fender-like tones as needed.
Giving this a low score because of these original problems.

From new the guitar was setup OK.
I have adjusted the intonation. The action is on the high-side but this suits me.

Very light construction so won't take too many knocks.
Overall good quality parts used.
Would always take a back-up for a gig.

Never dealt with the company. There is a good unofficial Blueshawk site on the web.

Been playing guitar for 30 years. Own a Gretscg Synchromatic, Squier Silver Series Stat, Dearmond M77T,and a Fender Nashville Tele. Use a Marshall JTM30 with very few pedals.
If it was lost or stolen I'm not sure I would get another. I think a Fender Tele does a much better job for the type of sounds you get from this guitar.

The Blueshawk is full of features. Really has a lot of selectable tones. Mine is black (terrible finish, as others have noted, peeled in two places and cracked by one of the pots ((not just the finish, all the way through the wood!))) with pearly tuners that I bent one of terribly, so will replace with grover rotomatics. I want to change the nut, to either brass or graphite, but I keep reading it uses a Fender sized nut, but the mearsurements don't match, so I dunno. I love the Blues 90 pu's. they really regulate. If you're trying to make loud rock, which I am, you'll need some extra gain to overcome their quietness, but once you've got the proper amounts of OD at your disposal, these pu's will sing through it with a variety of interesting tones. Semi hollowbody, which also helps with the feeback and sustain...The bridge is fender-like, individual saddle heights, ho hum...nice diamond shaped inlays on the INCREDIBLE NECK THAT I LOVE! That's what I have to say about that. I bought it in '98 used, in perfect condition for $440. I was like "Yes!!!" Then I kinda fucked it up over the years, but its not all my fault. Gibson's quality control is jack crap. Really, no matter whether its 40 years old or straight from the factory, you've GOT to have a guitar tech that you know and trust, and just bring the guitar in to get set up after you get it. You'll be disappointed otherwise unless you're incredibly lucky. A Gibson just needs to be set up. Once it is, then evaluate it.

Well I just described the sound some, but I'll say a little more. It has adjustable push/pull tone pot for boost, 3 way pu selector and varitone control - which is fun to play with, different sounds from it appeal to different people. There's only two that I use, really. It can you all kinds of sounds, its a great, great guitar for leads, and a very adaptable guitar for rhythm as well. I've got 3 guitars, and one of them is technically better than the Blueshawk, its an SG, and one is worse, Epi Les Paul Jr., but I love this guitar, Its totally underrated, despite its flaws. It sounds so good, and its really fun to play. Can't say enough about its neck, somehow really narrow and yet very sturdy at the same time. I play psych / garage / pop and rock ish stuff with some atonal shit thrown in here and there. Guitar is overall bright, adjustable, adaptalbe. Well thought out sound system.

Yeah, again, you should have a guitar tech that you know and trust, have all new Gibsons checked out just to set the intonation properly - it most likely won't come correct from the factory. The finish, again, blows. Terrible. I'm fixing its crack though, and where it was just peeling, I used some black nail polish and laquer and that put an end to it. I'm replacing the tuners with solid gold looking grove rotomatics, I'm replacing the cream colored pu covers with black, and I'm going to change the nut once I find someone selling them in the proper dimensions. I will be quite happy to leave the rest of it alone, though.

Well, I'm giving it a hard time for the finish and cracking in the wood, but come on, that shit sucks. I could have stored the guitar in an airtight container or some shit, but I wasn't that bad to it! Lots of switch off breaking, but other than that its been pretty solid. The most important stuff has remained operative.

??? not under warranty when purchased.

I've played for 16 years. Almost half of that now, since I've owned it, the hawk has been the primary guitar I've played. Its cool and weird, but its also a workhorse, in a certain way. If it were lost, I'd investigate a nighthawk 12 string, maybe. I doubt another Blueshawk would hold the immediate sentimental value for me that this guitar does. I wish maybe that there was some kinda switch on the guitar to cancel the dummy coil hum cancelling thing for temporary boosts while both pus are selected. That's kind of a stretch though. Its pretty f-in' good overall.

This is a follow up to my last Blueshawk review. I have since changed the tuners to gold grover rotomatics. The grovers fit perfectly and do a marvelous job compared to the stock Gibson tuners. I believe the stock ones are made in Korea and leave a lot to be desired. The Little Lucille comes with Grover Rotomatics..what does that tell you?In addition, I had the frets leveled and changed out the plastic nut to a slipstone. Intonation is dead on, tone, Maestro trem (Bigsby B-5) works better, and guitar stays intune. I am rating the guitar a 10 now because it all works much better.

Sound is wonderful. The "Blues"p-90's with dummy coil works just fine.
I am getter a very please clean tone with my Fender DR, Vibrolux, Super Reverb, and Twin Reverb. In addition, the fulltone O.C.D., and FDII sound wonderful, with a fulltone fatboost. I am really enjoying the P-90 sounds in addition to to strats with Bill Lawrence L-280-290's and my LP's with Fralins.

I will give the guitar a 10 in the playing condition its in now. I am using Curt Mangan strings, 9-42..they feel and sound absolutley great and last a long time! The BH action now lower and the neck taper is comfortable. Keep in mind than my #1 guitar is my 74 strat with tall frets and a smaller custom neck taper that fits my hand perfectly. I was a bit skeptical about the BH neck. Now it works just fine for me.

I would expect the BH to last several lifetimes!

The gibson folks have been very helpful.

I really enjoy the light weightness and the body fit of the BH. I continue to receive many compliments on the overall look in Chicago Blue with gold trim. I am really enjoying the feature set: No hum P-90's; chambered body with f holes, varitone, and Maestro Trem. I would highly recommend the Blues Hawk providing you have patience and desire to make a few upgrades: A hardshell case...you can get the Little Lucille case..from sweetwater.com, around $135.00, a new set of gold grover rotomatics, around $50.00, a better nut, your choice,
change out the caps to your choice of mallory or sprague or SOZO. The Blues Hawk clearly has its own voice and its a sweet one! The Blues Hawk is one of those guitars that is affordable and sounds wonderful.

What year was it made? 1999 Where was is made? USA
How many frets? 22
Solid-Top? Laminated top? solid maple top
Which controls are given (volume, tone, 3-way selector, Varitone with on-off push-pull
Pickup configuration? 2 Gibson Blues P-90's
Make and model of pickups? Gibson
Active or Passive electronics? Passive
Body: Poplar; neck woods: Mahogany
The main feature set attraction of the Blues Hawk to me
Finish: Chicago Blue
Body style: single cutaway, thinline with body contour cut, F holes with chamber sides, maple block in the center
Bridge style: Gibson Tune-O-Matic with Gold Maestro version of Bigsby B-5
Tuners: Gibson Deluxe tulip style
Neck/Scale: Gibson "silght V", 25.5", medium jumbo frets, rosewood finger board.
Any included accessories: gig bag. I purchased a Gibson Little Lucille case for the Blues Hawk.
The main feature set which attracts me to the Blues Hawk are:
P-90s'(hum cancelling!),back body conture,very light weight poplar body, F holes, 2 chambered sides, solid maple block in the middle, bigsby style trem, 3 way crl type switch, and varitone.

How does it suit your music style: Yes it does. I play at least 2 nights a week. We play a huge varity of music: Rock, reggae, Blues, 70's and 80's dance stuff, etc. The BH has a large enough tonal palate to choose from.
What amps and effects are you using it with? I have a '73 Fender DR, 73 Vibrolux; 71 Super Reverb; and 72 Fender Twin. All my amps have been totaly restored both electrically and cosmeticaly to 64 specs as well replacing all the coupling caps with SOZO caps. Most venues, I use the Fender Deluxe reverb. In addition, the amp now has all SOZO coupling caps, as well as a Weber 12F150 with a weber beam blocker.
For effects, my pedal board consists of Boss TU-2 tuner>Fulltone Clyde Wha>Fulltone FDII>Fulltone OCD>Fulltone Fat Boost> Barber Tone Press Compressor>Fulltone Supatrem> Fulltone Choralflange>H&K rotosphere>H&K replex. I use Bill Lawrence Cable from my AKG guitar bug, through all the effect pedals and back to the amp.
Is it noisy? The guitar has a slight ground problem and is eliminated wht my hands are on the strings.
Rich/Full sound? Most definitly! Bright sound? I would say a very clear and distinct sound in all positions
What kind of sounds can the guitar make? 18 How much variety? 18
Likes and dislikes? So far just likes.
I am planning on rewiring the hawk with a 5 way switch and keep the varitone. Gibson uses a 300k ohm linear volum pot. I am planning on changing it to an audio taper pot possibly using a 500k ohm. I also replaced the cheap ceramic 500pf tone bleed cap with a 100pf Silver mica cap..much better!

How well was the guitar set-up at the factory? I purchased the guitar used. I changed the strings to a set of Curt Mangan 9-42, lowered the bridge height, intonated the bridge using a peterson strobe tuner, and re-adjusted the pickups. This is where the fun began.
As pointed out by several other reviews, the pickup installation leaves a bit to be desired. I needed to raise the bridge pickup pretty high to match the neck pickup output. The pickups are secured into the body via two screws in the center of the pickup cover, with two springs, then screwd in the the body hardware. The pickups mounting becomes weak when you raise them because you lose spring tension. So, at first, I removed the bridge pickup, then placed a few styrofoam peanuts in the pickup cavity. That works ok, however, if you press on the side of the pickup cover you can hear the sound of styrofoam, lovely. Latter, at the gig after one set, I noticed the bridge pickup was now hitting the strings. When I got home I check out the pickup and sure enough the knurled nut had come out of the body. I followed one of the reviewer's advice and glued the nut back into the body using 3M Super strength adhesive. Worked perfectly! I then replaced those cheap, garbage, no tension springs with surgical tubing, same stuff used on strats and teles. Voila! Now the pickups are secured perfectly as well as height and side to side string volume balance adjustment. In addition, the tubing helps eliminate feedback on the bridge pickup.
Did the guitar contain any flaws? Again, I bought the Hawk used and one fret needs work.
The tuners so far are doing ok, still too early to tell. I will most likely replace with either Schaller or Grovers. Just depends on which will be the best O.E. fit.
The finish is a knockput. I received many complements. The Blues Hawk in the Chicago Blue finish with the Gold trem is very classy.

Will this guitar withstand live playing? Yes it will
Does the hardware seem like it will last? Yes,
Is the finish good enough to last, or does it seem thin and easy to wear off with lots of playing? So far so good, way too early to tell.
Are the strap buttons solid? I am not having any problems here.
Can you depend on it?Would you use it on a gig without a backup?
I always have backup guitars on stage. Stuff always happens!

Gibson customer support has always been very good for me. I haven't purchased a new gibson in many years so I haven't played the warranty game with Gibson.

How long have you been playing? 41 years
What other gear do you own? 74 Strat with Bill Lawrence L-280-290; 76 Strat with Bill Lawrence L-280-290 ; 52 Tele RIwith Bill Lawrence T280-T290; 65 Jazzmaster; 75 LP standard with Fralins; 68 ES-345; 89 LP Standard with Fralins; Ric 350V63 with ric buckers; ric 660-12.
Is there something you wish you had asked before buying this guitar? No, the reviews at HC have been very helpful and I thank each and everyone for their input!
If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else? If I could find another I would replace the Blues Hawk with another Blues Hawk.

What do you love about it? The Fit; size; weight, whole feature set. What do you hate? Nothing about the Blues Hawk.

Did you compare it to other guitars? Yes, the NightHawk.
Why did you choose this one? P-90's, F holes, varitone, Bigsby trem
Anything you wish it had? A slightly smaller neck taper.
Anything else you'd like to share? I would to see a full Les Paul size body with Blues Hawk feature set from Gibson. The Blues Hawk is an incredible value. If you can find one for a reasonable $ amount..compared to whats out there at todays prices..I think the Hawk will increase in value in a very short period of time as well. Get one!