Gibson Blueshawk

1997, cherry red , standard features

i bought it used on ebay from a pawnshop in fLORIDA

eventually i bought the gibson hard-case for it, from musicians friend
this case FITS LIKE A GLOVE!!! dont buy a les paul case, find a nighthawk case and get a PERFECT fit.......

i cant give a great review of this, cause ive never played it through an amp!!!

acoustically, this guitar is unmatched ( as electrics go )

its not acoustic loud, but for an electric, its full and loud, but most importantly has 'THE REAL DEAL' tone

i got it used, the action was fine, fit and finish are fine too...
no complaints with the quality on this one

ive opened it up and looked at all the wiring, and the soldering is neat, and the parts looks to be of good quality, i would say this one guitar will do ya for anything, and probably last forever... ive had several gibsons, 2 from '59, numerous 70's , 80s, 90s.... they all seem solid as can be. Im depending on this to do me as my "one and only", im taking this with me to Moscow next year ( gotta travel lite)

they mailed me a wiring diagram in response to my inquiry, fast response to my email!

I love this one, ive been playing gibsons, fenders, rics, gretsches, you name it since mid seventies. I found out with a little research that these "BLUES 90" pickups are actually a completely different design than a P-90, more magnet, less wire, no pole screws, much more trebbley!! So dont buy this if you are looking for P-90 tone like an old junior. Buy it cause its a great guitar in its own right!!

incidently, the reason for the pull-switch isnt really to "by-pass' the varitone ( its by-passed in position one! ) the pull-switch is designed so you can pull it up, taking the varitone out of the circuit, but PRE-SET the varitone dial to say, position 5, and then SLAM IT DOWN for your solo, without having to click thorough all the stops....

personally, im gonna remove that function, and instead use the push-pull to switch between tone control, and black ice "passive overdrive"

Everyone has said it all before so I won't waste time on reviewing. Key features if this axe is the light weight, very resonant body which is almost acoustic in nature when not plugged in and the lightning fast neck. I think the neck is very reminisant of the 60's style SG.

Excellent sound, especially for blues...duh...I currently play thorough a Fender Blues Junior which compliments this guitar nicely. The varitone is cool to play with but really sounds best with the neck pickup on and the varitone in position one. Also, this guitar is gret to play unplugged because of the semi-hollow body.

I bought the guitar used. Guitar was an absolue mess...never cleaned, neck out of alignment and action realy messed up. After a few hours on the bench, a ton of cleaner and few adjustments, I had a brand new guitar with a fast action, big frets and a great sound. It also stays in tune really well. The only thing which I cant stan i the variton knob whcih always feels like it's one turn away from snapping off.

Built like a tank.

I traded in a Jap telecaster for this guitar and got exactly what I wanted, a light weight guitar that has a great neck, fat sound and is comfortable to play sitting down. The tele was opposite of all three. Overall, this guitar is a great buy, even new, since they do not seem to sell well. If purchased used, especially trashed, it can be a downright steal with a bit of work.

it has the varitone but it's not TOO much.

with some solid humbukers opposed to the whatever is in it now it should sound less flimsy

could definatley be improved

banged it up a bunch and has kept

it took a while to actually speak about the problem but as soon as we did it was resolved

for the money

Diddo on the other reviews. The varitone appealed to me in the store, and was one of the considerations in buying it. One reason I'm submitting this review is that I just discovered (after owning it 3 months) that the Tone knob pulls out to disable the varitone switch. In my opinion, the guitar sounds best with the varitone turned off, the pickup switch in the middle, and the tone and volume cranked. After that, it seems the varitone only takes away from the guitar's sound, and I haven't used it since!

I play all kinds of stuff, from bluegrass and country to jazz to rock. It handles all of them well. It's not real loud (i.e., hot pickups), but I don't do metal, so it suits me fine. It is capable of a very warm and full tone, evenly spread accross bass and treble. Very nice. It's also very capable of doing a super bassy sound, which is great those who like to solo in the lower realms. The strings on the lower frets have the perfect mix of thump and twang.

I haven't been hugely impressed in this department. The varitone knob was falling off in the store and I had to have them tighten it. As other reviewers have noted, the finish scratches easily (although relatively superficially), but this doesn't bother me too much. The plastic tuner knobs seem cheap to me; I'll probably replace these with good ones at some point. Finally, the pickups are very loose. I don't know if they're like this for a reason, but tightening the screws doesn't seem to help much. They bob up and down if you hit them with your hand while playing. Again, not something that impedes playing or sound (that I've noticed), but annoying nonetheless. As for playability, the guitar is excellent. It is very small and very light, which was important to me, and the action is perfect, with just the right amount of buzz (I like to go after that Jerry Garcia brand of fret buzz on the lower notes). It's also quite pretty (although the vanilla covered pickups don't help any). All said and done, this wasn't an expensive guitar to say the least, so I don't expect it to be one. It's a great deal.

Mostly issues with what I wrote above. I worry about the loose pickups, although they haven't caused any problem yet. If you need to keep a scratchless guitar, don't buy this one. Otherwise, seems sturdy and well built.

Never dealt with them, but you can't argue with the Gibson lifetime warrantee.

I'm very happy with this guitar, and think I'll own it for a long time. I play mostly acoustic, so I didn't want to invest loads of money into an electric, so this is perfect. It's an excellent bargain, sounds great, and plays great.

The six way varitone gives a wide range of sounds. The only problem was there was not a hardshell case included so on top of the $685 price tag, the case was $110.

Great variety of sounds with or without the varitone.

Contrary to other feedback on this page, my guitar was set up very well. Came clean with almost no flaws, a few minor scratches from people playing it in the store.

I've only had the guitar 2 months, but it appears it will hold up fine.....it is a gibson

never dealt with them

I've been playing for 4 years and I have always wanted a gibson. I finally bought this one after saying I would then going and buying some other brand such as Fender & Martin. I compared this guitar to my Fender American Standard Strat and my Martin auditorium model. It has a great sound and amazing feel.

OK, you guys know what it is. I really can't add anything that hasn't
already been said. Based on some of the prices I have seen listed here, it looks as if I got the best deal of all at $469.00. I bought it brand new in 1998 at the Guitar Center in Towson Maryland. It was special ordered for someone who never picked it up. It was priced at $499.00 but when I pointed out some very light scratches on the back, they knocked the price down even lower. The scratches are hardly noticable and are not all the way through the finish. These only come in black and red, and I got a black one. I noticed that the "Gibson" logo on the headstock is a decal and not an inlay. What the heck, it still looks good.

This guitar is very universal, and can produce a wide varity of sounds
ranging from an ES335 to a Strat. It suits any style of music I choose to play. Rockabilly is my first love, and Blues are my second. It can handle either one with no sweat.

This guitar was ready to play when I walked out of the store with it. No adjustments of any kind were needed. It has nice low action and plays like butter in your hands. Aside from the very light scratches on the back, this guitar is perfect.

This guitar seems very solid and should be able to withstand any kind of playing. Nothing against this guitar, but I wouldn't play any gig without a backup, anymore than I would drive across country without a spare tire. It's not often that I break a string, but it happens. I don't want to have to restring in the middle of a gig. I would just grab another guitar and keep on rockin'

Never had the occasion to deal with them. Don't know.

I have been playing a long time and own quite a collection of guitars and amps. I bought this one because I like the way it plays and sounds. The price was an offer I couldn't refuse. I've never had a problem with losing guitars. I usually remember where I put them, but if it were stolen, I would probably hunt down the thief and cut all the fingers off his left hand, and tell him not to do that again.

The features on this guitar were fairly nice. The vibratone and bridge pickup create a warm 335 sound, but you can also get many other great tones. The gig bag it comes with was ok, although it has a tendency to slip out of tune while in there. The gibson life time warranty is a feature that makes me feel safe while I sleep.

The sound is beautifly clear, but you can also get some of the richest tones I have heard from a guitar in this price range. The same day I played a Gibson 335 ES and a 175 Es and this little hum-dinger sounded remarkably close. It also swings the other direction playing amazing clear strat-like tones, great for playing acoustic stuff.

My only real complaints are in this area as many others have been. My bridge was smooth and checked out ok, but my pickups were screwd on very loose and needed to be tighted immeadately. Also the finish scratches very easliy and needs a pick guard which gibson does not offer. Alough they directed me to a custom pickguard maker it can run upwards of 50$.

Aside from minor flaws in the finish and poorly tinghtened pickups it's a sturdy guitar from what I can tell. I recently took it to music camp with me and it held up fine. Gold hardware on this puppy adds to it's sleek beauty.It does seem to slip out of tune more fequently than other guitars I've used but I think it's cause of all the bending it beckonds you to do.

The life time warrenty and help was exceptional,but nothing I wouldn't expect from a top notch company like Gibson.

For the price this guitar is a damn good deal. I looked and many other guitars in much higher price ranges and found this to be the most versitile and have excellent sound quality. It reminds me of so many different great guitars that I have heard. The uniquness of this guitar is also a great thing. So many times we have relied on things we have use for ages and this is something new that is great.

Standard Blueshawk features.

I have had lots of guitars, including a 63 SG that I sold and bought this (much lighter). This is my favorite. Most other guitars have a particular sound that you are stuck with, making it good for one type of music or chords but not leads. This is the most versitile guitar I've played. I mostly play blues and rock, but it is great for country ballads as well.

I have no complaints with mine. Plays well, nice finish, smoothly finished frets. Overall good craftsmanship.

It seems solid, well built, and ought to last

I asked for some info on the variatone, and they quickly responded. They seem responsive.

I am tired of backaches from playing Les Pauls and SG's. This guitar weighs 5.5 lbs, plays great, sounds great and is a real Gibson. The price/value ratio is phenomenal, in my opinion. This weighs less than Fenders, which I also tried; but this guitar has a set neck, not a bolt on, which I think gives it more resonance, and is of course more costly to manufacture.

This Blueshawk was made in 1998, Chicago Blue finish (which I was really attracted to), gold hardware and all the usual features, tap and selector.

What can I say about the sound that hasn't already been said, these are marvelous sounding guitars. The ability to control the sound has been maximized quite nicely.

The factory set up was not bad, the action was too high for me, but the intonation was on. Here's the rub! The finish is horrid, micro scratches in the finish abound. Inside the f-holes were splatured with rubbing compound, left there from the factory. I removed the access plate from the neck pick up and the inside was filled with compound. There was some form of red tint on the binding strip? The clear coat was obviously put on too thick, as there were raised mounds around the edges of the f-holes. I got a deal on the guitar because of this, but the more I thought about it, I decided to give Gibson a call. They advised that I sent it to them for inspection, which I decided to do. Three weeks later, the guitar came back virtually untouched. A complete waste of time! Well, I guess did get the elusive Gibson box out of it!

These guitars are small in stature, but built very well. As for reliability, time will tell.

Unbelievably poor! Apparently Gibson has let there finishing standards slip. With a suggested retail price of $1200+, it's no wonder dealers are embarrassed to ask more than $500! I would have thought that Gibson would have taken the opportunity to refinish my guitar, not just look at it and send it back.

I haven't been playing long, a few months. I love the sound and the playability of the guitar is great. I knew when I bought this guitar that the finish was not perfect, after all I only paid $515 for the thing new. I have looked at alot of these guitars since buying mine and have seen many with finishes worse than mine. In spite of the finish, I am still giving this guitar a good rating because of the sound quality. My advise, buy it for the sound, not the finish!

Features have been covered but there's one thing I must mention. This is NOT a hollowbody! I got tricked into thinking it was...just a word of caution for those of you out there who are as naive as I was. The f holes are merely decorative.

Been trying to play blues for about 2 yrs now...this one fits very nicely. It has some warm hollowbody-LIKE tones and can even do clucky strat or tele sounds, but I'd stick to a strat or tele if I wanted that kinda tone. This guitar does best in that mild overdrive favoured by BB King...even though I play through a peavey rage 158 it still sounds pretty good. I'll consider getting another amp but that'll be a lot later. It's also pretty versatile...I played Chet Atkins and whatever smatterings of jazz I know on it and it sounds great too. I don't use the varitone much in overdrive but it can help give you a range of clean tones. Kudos to Gibson for this one. There is hum sometimes but I'd attribute it more to my surroundings and amp.

Worksmanship was passable but had a few flaws...a lot of wood filler in the inlays and fret slots and buffing scratches on the finish. Not something I'd expect for Gibson. I know they can do a lot better. Then again for a low-end model, guess I can hardly complain...it was like the cheapest Gibson in the whole shop.

I don't play live much (at all actually). Hardware's pretty ok but my sweats got a lotta weird stuff in it, don't think the gold colour will last very long. Don't play with straps much. Since this is a solid body I'd expect that it can take a beating but it looks too pretty to be bashed up. At least strats and teles can still look great bashed up. I think could use this guitar without backup if I didn't need much in the way of strat tones. That's if I ever get a gig in my life.

all in all this guitar will keep me satisfied for a long time...I actually got to choose between an ES335 or this but seriously speaking I think the 335 is WAY overpriced. I would have loved to get it but I guess I can't accept the idea that I'm paying more for reputation and prestige than playability and tone. Well I settled for this baby and I'm not regretting it anytime soon.