Gibson Blueshawk

1997 model in black. 22 frets, semi-hollow bodied with pickup selector tone, volume and the FANTASTIC Varitone. Twin Gibson P90s rosewood fretboard, minging Gibson tuners. Came in a well fitting Epiphone case!

If this was a woman it would be the 'The thinking man's total babe' - sorry to be sexist, but petite, good looking - in an individuaistic way - and capable of a huge range of tones and styles. I've had it 3 months and the love affair keeps growing.

You can't quite get the full mellow softness of a humbucker but you can get close. The amazing thing about this guitar is the range of tone that the Varitone brings - including the delightful Strat neck pickup sound. It does the whole range of rock - from heavy thrash through to mellow and, of course, ius ace for blues - it will sing it will howl it - its flexibility is superb.

There's little I dislike. My SG has a push-push switch on the tone pot - this is a pull out - push-push is much easier to use. And those tuners - yeuch - its a Gison gripe - they should stop making them and use 3rd party ones on ALL their guitars.

Its a Gibson. Its well made and by 97 quality control was excellent. It took a bit of tweaking to get the action and pickup height right - because somebody incompetent had been at it prior to me. But Ginson provides easy means of adjustment

Solid as a rock. Talk to any gigging pub musician who has one - they're ultra reliable

Great web site and they were -eventually - helpful when I asked for details of how to check the Varitone they pointed me to an excellent 3rd party web site

This is a guitar I intend to hold on to. I have an SG - and a Les Paul - the SG's gonna go because the Blueshawk does all it can do and more and is much sturdier.

Anything I wish it had? Well it would be nice to open the back plates and find them stuffed full of gold coins or an invite from Santa to name whatever I want - price and quantity no object. However as a guitar it's great. Are they still making them? You see ocassional new ones in the UK and advertised on US web sites?

I bought my 'Blueshawk' new ..my first Gibson ; the shape its a kind of light and small 'Les paul' but with 2 F holes , the color is 'chicago blue' which is really nice , 2 P90 blues PU , varitone , push pull to cut the varitone , vintage style tuners ,rather thin neck (for a Gibson) and very playable (good for bending) came with a de luxe Gibson gig bag

I have this guitar since 10 days so I am still discovering the different tones you can have with the Varitone , it's suits my style which is blues/heavy blues ; I can only compare with another guitar I have which is loaded with a Gibson p94 , for the moment I prefer the p94 given you more versality for hard rock for example. sometimes I play some AC DC songs and my blueshawk is not very good for that ; but you can have a kind of 'strat' sound on varitone position 5 which I like the best for the moment..good for soloing

The guitar was very well set up , no problem

the tuners are a bit 'cheap' , i would prefer others..I don't play live , so no opinion

I like my blueshawk but I wish there were p94 Gibson PU instead of P90 blues (in fact I will put P94 on every guitars LOL so)I forgot to tell you that I am a woman and this guitar suits me very well

I'll admit, I'm a sucker for knobs and switches. But the Blueshawk seems to have just enough to hold its own. The Variton knob is a blast. I hesitate to add electronics to it. It's simple, but very versatile. I wish I had the new model with the bigsby style trem.

Lately I've been playing mostly jazz. The BH shines in this area with heavy flatwound strings installed and the action adjusted slightly higher than normal. Electronics are clear and noise-free. This guitar has led me on a musical journey from punk rock to alternative to funk to broadway-style show tunes to classic jazz. If you tweak it right and use an old solid state combo amp (I prefer a Yamaha) It has one of the most beautiful jazz tones I've ever heard in a guitar.

Factory setup was a disappointment. I had to re-adjust everything, but that's what you expect when you pay less than a grand for an electric guitar, right? Intonation was an absolute mess. Finish is gorgeous and the fit perfect for smaller players. (I'm 5'7" and it fits me like a glove.)

Since I bought the instrument in 1998 the only repair I've had to make was to replace a tuning machine that bent in a freak accident. Finish is solid. Those inevitable Headstock-Cymbal accidents chip away very little finish. Construction is extremely solid. This guitar has survived countless shows and rehearsals, 5 changes of address and an international tour without any signs of internal wear and tear. Body & neck respond well to changes in temperature and humidity.

Gibson sent me a new tuning machine for free, no-questions-asked. It fit perfectly. I don't remember how long the warranty was. Honestly, after playing the guitar a bit I wasn't concerned with whether or not it would last.

I own 5 electric guitars and have played on scores of different models, and the blueshawk is my favorite for its style. I definitelty would prefer an Emperor to play jazz on, but the blueshawk takes the cake in versatility and feel. Size is a plus.

Writing again: had the pickups adjusted (loose connection inside, but I bought it used, so hey).

Okay, like I said, I had it worked on.

Sound: from the neck pickup, I can get those lovely Fender neck tones from the 70's tele that had the humbucker. Just nails it! The best rhythm pickup tone in my book! Thick and fat and mellooooow!!!

The high-e drop off was fixed, and now I can wail on it. Basically, this is like all the best qualities of a strat/tele/335 rolled into one. Depending on the varitone setting, I can get downright strat tones from the bridge, albeit a bit thicker/fuller, but not quite as rich/clear as the stacked Anderson strat pickups. The in-between is nice, and some tone in-between tele and ES335 can be pulled off, very dimensional. The neck pickup shines for rhythm now, what was useless before--talk about the perfect pickup for jazz or even mellow rock solo!!!

The only thing missing is a hard-rock sound, but hey, it's not a hard rock guitar. I will have to buy a strat w. an SD Cool Rails in the bridge to get a Nirvana/Pumpkins' Siamese Dream sound. But as for psychedelic jazz-rock, mellow rock, jazz and blues, this is THE guitar for me.

The bridge pickup (unlike true P90s) actually handles heavy-sustain fuzz (ala early Clapton woman-tone) quite well on the bridge pickup.

My setup consists of a Carvin Quad X-amp preamp (9 12AX7s) and Carvin T100 power amp (2 12AX7s, 4 EL34s), with a wah, little ART tube compressor, and flanger. Like I said, my sound crosses lots of territory: mellow jazz and jazz-rock, Gish-type psychedelia, Delta blues, and early 90s alternative. This guitar will do all but the last of those, VERY WELL.

Still good...no fret problems, just sloppy finish in the F-holes. The initial pickup thing is now fixed, but it was BAD.

Now that the pickup thing is fixed, I hope it will be very reliable. I see no reason for it not to be.

Never called Gibson, just took it to a local repair place (T.G. Music in Goshen, IN). The guy there fixed my problem for free in exchange for a few minutes of playing it afterward.

It was a good guitar for the money, now it's a great guitar for the money. Will do everything I need it to except heavy distortion humbucker stuff (which it doesn't have and wasn't designed for)./

The ultimate jazz/blues guitar!

This is the standard BluesHawk, not the Little Lucille. If you are reading this you already know what features it comes with. Being female I really like the light weight. I was looking for a semi-hollow body, I sure didn't want the weight of a Strat or a Les Paul hanging around my neck. Also, since I have small hands I really like the neck. This is the most playable neck I have ever had on any guitar I have ever owned and that includes my Ovation. (Just so you guys know, that's why women typically like Ovations. Small neck for small hands.)

I play mostly blues and this guitar is perfect for what I play. You can get just about any kind of sound out of it but really, I found a couple of settings I like and that is what I stick with most of the time anyway. If you are wanting to change pots or change pick-ups maybe this guitar isn't what you are looking for in the first place. I play through a Fender Champ 110 because that it the only amp I own. When I get a few more bucks I probably will try it out with some other types of amps.

Pretty much everything else you have read in the other reviews is true. The finish is not the best. The factory set-up was awful. The pick-ups were all but falling off. Read my comments later, if you are willing to put in a little extra after you buy this guitar you will be rewarded with one heck of a nice little guitar that you don't have to spend $2000 for.

I haven't really had my BluesHawk long enough to speak about long-term reliability but in my hands I can't see that I would have a problem. I tend to baby my guitars and treat them gently so I have never had a problem with reliability anyway. I can see how someone who is more vigorous with their guitars might want some beefier knobs but I like the ones it came with.

The guitar came with loose pick-ups, they would not tighten down. I contacted customer service, they immediately wrote back and told me to contact an authorized service center. I telephoned the nearest one and he was able to describe the problem to me over the telephone. The problem is the pick-ups mount to these little round nuts which are just pressed into holes in the guitar body and the mounting nuts pop out. I took both pick-ups off, replaced the mounting nuts that had popped loose (two out of four) and added a little epoxy glue to keep them in place. I have not had any more trouble with the pick-ups. If you don't want to have to repair your brand new guitar you can always take it to a service center but this really is something you can do yourself.

The important thing to realize,if you are going to buy a BluesHawk,is to think of it more as a work in progress than a finished product. You WILL want to change the tuning machines, I put Grover's on mine. You probably will want to put on a set of strap locks. It will need a good set-up, whether you feel comfortable doing this yourself or whether you take it to the best luthier you know. Then there are those dreaded pick-up mounting nuts, see my comments above. Once you get past all this you will have a really great guitar. Oh, and buy the Gibson hard case (the NightHawk case). There is nothing quite like putting her away and covering her with her own little satin blankie.

OK, this USA Blueshawk guitar is the Limited Edition BB King "Little Lucille" version,(DOB 2002) Black, creme binding on the Rosewood neck and body and gold holdware ...real sharp and quite the classy looker,with pearl diamond inlays on the rosewood neck and a gold cover on the headstock etch-signed BBKing also the Gibson logo is a multicolor pearl shell type inlay. Rather costly from MusiciansFriend...$1199, shipped.
It has the Varitone circuit which is terrific for getting into some other cool distinctive sounds, eg. kind of Fender-ish sounds, and with the Little Lucille, the Varitone is mounted on a gold numbered backing plate which allows you to actually replicate the sounds knowing what Varitone setting number the dial is on (on the std blueshawk there is no way of knowing what number of Varitone is in play)
Varitone selector is a cool chicken-head type.
Blues-90 creme colored pickups which are SCREAMERS!!! Unreal.
3way PU blade switch, one volume and one tone w/push-pull selector that engages the Varitone. pickups are virtually noiseless due to the dummy coil that was thoughtfully added to cancel hum.
It has all the same woods as the regular blueshawk, but the tail piece is a TP6 tune-o-matic, very nice and easy to work with for intonation and string height etc...it is NOT a string-thru like the regular blueshawks. came with a very nice BBKing signed custom made plushy-lined hardshell case. instead of the "blueshawk" name along side of the neck on the body which everyone seems to despise, this one says Little Lucille in a nice cursive gold lettered font which does look real nice against the black body. Oh did I mention that this guitar weighs like 7 lbs, what I delight for those all nighters.
This guitar was made to BB Kings own personal specifications.

'lil Lucy suits my styles just fine and then some.
Variety is the key word here.This has a ton of usable sounds with the varitone 1 thru 6 settings X 3 different settings of pickup combinations and thats like 18 different sounds without even using the tone which will take you into different hues and colors of those 18 settings. then you can use it without the varitone for that awesome Gibson Riproaring scream. so thats 21 different settings in all. thats gotta be a record! ya think?!

OK, Heres where things go south. the Gibson people have got to be the most irresponsible,lazy f'ers out there and quality control sucks. the cap to the pickup selector was missing and the pickups were so loose that one of them was ready to fall off...for 1199 I demand a PU selector cap. I called Musicians friend and they were very helpful and made sure I was happy, they offered to exchange it for another LittleLucille, now after much hassle back and forth over the phone for two days I'm getting a replacement. thats overkill...giving me a replacement. All because the Gibson people are stoned when putting these things together!!

The one big thing that is a must for any owner of a Blueshawk is to change to strap-locks because this guitar as cool as it is will fall off of the stock ones and your gonna be pretty pissed off when you have a nice big crack in this beautiful guitar...the lack of thought that went into the placement of the strap pegs is status-quo for the stoners at Gibson, but overall, other than that, this is one killer guitar, seems dependable and durable, no backup required.(although I always bring along a Telecaster)

Great!! When I called them, Gibson got right on the phone and it was a "real person" un-fu@#-in beleivable. they told me this guitar has a lifetime warranty.thats a nice thing.

This BBKing Blueshawk is my newest best guitar.
I love this guitar, really everything I want in a nice package.
I've been playing about 10 years and aside from Lil Lucy, I have a Vintage 74 Tele Thinline , a 90's USA Tele Thinline, a MIJ 50th Anniversary Tele Thinline, a Fender Deluxe Fat Strat, a 64 Silvertone w/amp in case and a Silvertone U2,(silvertones have the dual lipstick pickups which I really enjoy)and an Ovation 12 string.* If Lucy were stolen or lost, I'd definitly get another as soon as I located another $1199.00 ahggggh!!!!
A little steep but for how it sounds, how it feels, and how it looks which is Utterly Cat, it all makes for a nice gitbox.

Black with solid bridge... everything else has been covered. Previos owner installed Gibson locking tuners that work well but are not as easy to use as Sperzels (you need a screwdriver with the Gibsons)

Is there a way to date these things by serial number?

Cool story... Traded my VS265 Marchall Amp for a US Strat in North Dakota and a week later traded the Strat for the Blueshawk in Louisiana. All on HC Classifieds.

I love it. I'm a displaced Austinite. Love the SRV KWS EJ tone. This is different... It's my first Gibson and the tone is mondo cool. I've used it on a couple gigs and have loved the sounds I'm getting. It took me a year to find out I could pull the tone knob to disble the Varitone. I like position 3 with both pickups... sounds like position 2 on a Strat. I get a great mimic of BB. Very quiet on all settings.

I may change to Rio Grandes, or I may not... I'm pretty happy with it the way it is.

Yikes... I thought Gibson was "creme dela creme". I guess this is their version of an entry level model. The paint has orange peel to it that really look bad on the headstock. There is some checking going on around the F holes. It's not ugly (I actually like the Blueshawk logo along the neck) and from 5 feet away the flaws are not noticable at all. Controls and all seem fine and nothing takes away from it's playability.

I had to replace the upper strap button with a locking kind. It was poorly placed and my strap slipped off alot.

Gigged great. The case is cool with it's little purple blanky. Lot's 'o protection.

Never needed it, never will... web site was cool with varitone info and MP3's.

20+ years playing. 10 guitars currently.

I checked on this guitar alot before getting one. No regrets. I like it mainly because it is different. It gets attention and sound great.

No complaint here.

Sound is why I bought this guitar. I pondered over this thing for probably 5 years before finally buying it. For awhile the over-all appearance was not appealling. Like others have said, I do not want to have what everybody else has. This guitar is not mainstream.

The "vintage" (aka ... junk) tuners were crap. I replaced them with Grover sealed machines and have no more problems with staying in tune. The store performed a very good initial setup.

Once I replaced the tuners it is great for the live playing I do. I do not play hard so I expect that it should hold up well.

I requested info on the Varitone and warranty registration from Gibson and they responded quickly.

I play in a contemporary Gospel/Christian band at our church every three weeks. At home I run it through my Fender Acoustasonic Jr on the 2nd channel. Effects are Digitech RP200. At church it is run through direct box into the house system. Depending upon who is running sound determines how it sounds through my monitor. Generally I like the sound and do not have to use effects very much. I prefer the Varitone on position 4 using any pick-up. I like the punchy tone the Blues 90's give.

As covered below.

I'm submitting this review about 2 years plus after sending in my first..I like to think of it as a more detailed write up after having played this gutiar through and through.
I've been playing mostly blues on this guitar and I've got to say that it's grown on me over 2 yrs...I play it at home through a Fender Pro Junior and so far during jamming and a few gigs I've played through a Fender Hotrod Deville and a Line 6 Flextone among some of the more memorable amps. It sounds great through these amps...not exactly 335 tone but it's bright and punchy yet warm enough to give you that BB King feel(apparently he's a big fan of the Blueshawk too) on the neck pickup. Tone control comes in handy for alternating between rhythm and lead playing...on the bridge it's got a really raw sounding growl that sounds like it came straight out of a Muddy Waters record. Put both pickups together and you get one helluva biting sound for blistering lead. I don't use the varitone very much except for two of the positions...one gives me a passable strat-ish tone for funk rhythm and the other when I want to get the "acoustic guitar fitted with electric pickup" sound that reminds me of Elmore James. I give it a 10 as it fits in perfectly with what I play.

Quality-wise it's below par. Inlays had very obvious wood filling to make up for defects, finish could be scratched permanently with your fingernails but most importantly, playability is unaffected. Perhaps not what you'd expect from an admittedly lower end Gibson model but the tone and feel more than make up for it. The electronics are fine too...decent soldering, no obvious defects. Also another thing I really like about it is that it's really light. I can play for about 1 hr or so without feeling any strain on my shoulders even with a normal guitar strap. The neck plays better than a Mexican Strat that I have and those bigger frets really help with the bending.
However there is one major design flaw I have to point out. The string angle at the saddle is rather sharp and as a result I always break strings at the saddle. Of course given that I play with extensive vibrato and bending using 11's and that my sweat is rather corrosive but still I think the design team at Gibson could have done better. It's not uncommon for me to break 2 strings in one jam session now but I guess you could say the silver lining in the dark cloud is that it forces me to adapt my playing when I'm short of a string. 7 for this one.

I've jammed in a pub and gigged with this one and it's one tough baby. Gold hardware tarnishes but that doesn't affect me. Pick scratches, dents, dings abound all over the guitar but it can't really be helped given the fragile finish. Strap buttons don't look like they'll be giving way anytime soon but I would still use a backup for future gigs due to my tendency to break strings on this guitar. In all it's great for playing but don't expect to keep it in pristine condition unless you're gonna hang it up in a glass case.

Never dealt with them. No comment.

I have 2 modded Mexican Strats but the Blueshawk is the one that gets the most mileage. If someone stole it I'd be real upset because I don't think the one and only Gibson dealer in this country is gonna bother bringing in another one when mine was already sitting in the shop for so long. I chose this one because I didn't want to pay an over-inflated price for an ES335 and I couldn't find any Epiphone Dots.

Features of others:
I REALLY liked the choice of woods. Poplar has really been given its dues as a tonewood. It has a very resonant, warm quality to it without being dark, with a snappy very high upper midrange, while being light in weight.

As far as features go, it's very good. Useful. No elaborate flame or quilt top, etc, but good. Better tuners would have made it even better.

Hmmmmmm...

The tone reminds me of my '96 MIM strat in all the best ways. Bright but backed with a warm resonance. That's partly because of the sound chambers, which add dimensionality and complex overtones, but not to the degree of a 355. The bridge pickup is great, but the neck pickup is mud--I think because of a bad connection inside.

Varitone is nice. The scale legth does go a long way toward copping a strat tone. The pickups (or at least the bridge) are great for P90s, noiseless and thick with punch and clarity.

Getting big signal dropoff on the high e-string. Balanced on the others.

Can only rate the bridge pickup right now, and will give it a 9, considering the price. Will post again when I find out the story with the neck pu.

Action was great. Finish was a bit rough on the insides of the f-holes, great elsewhere. Fit is excellent.

For the price I paid, a great axe. Closest thing out there to a Gibson strat in my book. I play jazz rock and blues rock, on the philosophy that a person should buy a decent guitar and put all their money into the greatest amp they can find. The Blues-90s are the next best thing to the mystery-shrouded Reverend P-90s. Small body, light weight, good tone with a semi-hollow thing going on. Nice warmth and resonance with good brightness and clarity, and good heat.