Gibson Blueshawk

The varitone is nice, although there isn't much difference between nearby settings, i.e. 1 isn't much different from 2, or 5 from 6, but you can get a great variety of tones from it! The P-90 pickups do a good job. The thing LOOKS fantastic, which is a little important- you don't want to spend $$ on something that looks like crap.

I play blues, and this is a great guitar for it- you can get thick warm sounds for rhythm, and some real wail for those Chicago solos! No noise at all on mine.

Well set up- one of the pickups was loose, but this was easily fixed with a few turns of the screwdriver.

This is a rock. Only had it for 6 months or so, but it is solid.

This is a great guitar! Nice size, good neck, and the varitone allows you to really get a good variety of sounds from it. If it were stolen or lost, I would weep bitterly and then get another one. I kind of wish that I had sprung for the model with the maestro tremolo, though.

The varitone is a nice touch, plus the P-90's are always dependable. I never really liked the neck on this thing until recently when I replaced the frets. I had low, flat Gibson frets installed to give it an early `70's Les Paul Custom feel. Granted it was an expensive modification, but worth every penny. It plays beautifully now...

The sound is strong and powerful, but it almost wasn't necessary to make it semi hollow body. Yes, the "f" holes look cool, but they would be better served if it were solid body. I suppose, however, that the semi-hollow body design does give it a little more bottom end warmth.

Factory set up is terrible. I spent $300 on the neck and made it beautiful, so there's a lot to work with, but plan on spending money to make it into a professional instrument. If Gibson cranked the list price up by $150 and did better neck work this guitar would sell a lot better.

Solid.

Never needed any.

I've played for 13 years. I own American made Fender's, Les Pauls, an Ibanez and a PRS, and this holds its own. My favorite feature is the pickups and now the neck. I wish it was made with better, harder wood.

Made in USA in 1998. Colour is red. Varitone switch. Volume/Tone control. P-90 pickups with hum-cancelling dummy-coil.

If you see it in a store you think 'What the heck is this'. Looks kind of strange with this f-wholes. Small and innocent, but watch-out. This guitar is one bad motherfucker. You can play everything with it. Blues, Country, Metal, Jazz, you name it. This guitar has a fast attack, good sustain, a crisp and transparent sound and is so light that you can play all night long without the slightest problem.

The action, fit and finish was perfect. Big fat one-piece mahagony neck with good playability. Gibson, take off that 'Blues Hawk' logo on the body.

No problems at all. Hardware seems to be of good qualitiy.

No need.

This guitar offers tremendous bang for the buck. If you see one check it out. If it were stolen I would buy it again in a heartbeat.

See the other reviews. This one's the typical non-tremelo model. Semi-transparent Chicago Blue. 2 Blues 90 pick ups, truss rod wrench and gig bag. Gibson should allow a credit for the bag for those people wanting a hard case instead. Another minor gripe is that they should provide more documentation for the varitone selector, but at least that was availible online at www.gibson.com.

Very nice variety of sounds for classic rock and blues(of course). With the gain turned down and the neck pick up only, it even gets some warm, jazzy, almost acoustic tones. Plenty of sustain. I just play at home through a small Marshall with a little reverb and chorus. I was struck by the dynamic range of the guitar compared to others I have tried. It actually has a nice sound unplugged!

Action was perfect(for me) right out of the box. This guitar just begs you to bend notes. No fret buzz. Silent pickups at any selector setting. If you look at the Blueshawk, check the finishing of the frets carefully. Some I looked at were quite sharp as you run your hand along the neck, but mine is nice and smooth. Hey Gibson, if your reading this, please drug test the person adjusting the pick ups because mine were quite loose. Another reviewer had the same problem. Eventually I'll have this fixed but it doesn't affect the sound. Near perfect finish. Mine was ordered for me so it didn't get abused on display.

I've only had this 2 weeks.

Gibson responded to my email question about the loose pickups within 24 hours. I haven't had a chance to get them adjusted yet. Life time warranty for original purchaser.

I haven't been playing a year yet, so this is my second guitar after moving up from a Squier Strat. I'm no expert, but I tried a lot of different guitars before getting this. I am very impressed with how much more musically complex the sound is. The other appealing feature is how light and comfortable it is to play. It just felt right when I picked one up.(Very subjective of course) Its no museum piece, but overall nicely made. The key word here is value. Seemed like a good deal for the sound and features and quality.

This is a new one, only been in the store for two weeks at Wichitaband.com I won't go into features others have already mentioned, but mine has the Maestro tailpiece tremolo. None of the others have mentioned that so far, so I'll say that it's a very nice addition to the guitar. Others may not like gold..I think it goes great on the transparent Chicago Blue guitar.

I play mostly blues in varying styles and the BH can go from a jazzy rucg blues to a tinny or bright sound in a flick of a switch. I like the Variotone, but I leave it on 2 most of the time. The versatility is great. With variotone off completely it's a great sound too, very rich, without too much base.

Factory setup stunk. The bridge pickup was almost out of the guitar, touching the strings when it arrived. ( I ordered from an online dealer). Neck pickup was fine. Everything else was setu fine, including strings. They're lower than any Gibson I've seen and I like them great right there. When viewed by tilting in good light, the back of the guitar had a ton of small finish microscratches and the top had spots all over it that looked like a tech had setup the guitar with glue on his fingers. I used 4 different Mequiers polish compounds and I still missed a few. But, the finish is deep and thick..or appears so. Very beatuiful andn lustrous. Once I got it rubbed out it looks great. The case appears slightly too small for the maestro tail piece. The trem bar has to be swung back clockwise but it appears a tad too long to fit right in the very tight case I got with it.

No way to tell, it appears sturdy all the way. Finish, as I said, appears thick and the binding should help with protecting the top. The back however is not bound, though the shape probably would prohibit one from being put on.

I've been playing since 68, so that's let me see...uhm...a long time. I have 7 other guitars, including one other gibson, two strats, one strat custom built, a custom built lucille and a chinese acoustic..(yea..go figure..I bought it in Prague.)

'97 Blueshawk, 22 frets, diamond shaped inlays, 1 Vol, 1 Tone, 3-way Tele style switch, vari-tone, 2 "Blues 90" pickups, low profile bridge with string through body design, gold hardware. Really cheap looking "Blueshawk" script decal above fretboard on body - something I would expect from Epiphone, but on a Gibson? Fender scale (25 1/2") neck and a Fender size nut (1 5/8" - Gibson usually uses 1 11/16") and a thick "boat" shaped neck remsembling a cross between an old 50's Fender neck, and a Gibson '59 LP profile. This guitar has more features than normal for Gibson, and it capable of many sounds. I'm not sure how practical some of them are, but they are there if you want to play around with it.

I play alot of blues and blues rock which is why I wanted to try this guitar in the first place. The guitar sounds like a solidbody with tone chambers, not a semi-hollow - it's just too small. Thats not necessarily bad, just dont expect it to sound like a 335. The "Blues 90" setup seems to me to be just a marketing gimmick with the "3rd dummy coil" taking up space in the body - why not just put P-100's in it to begin with to cancel hum and make the tone chambers larger? The Vari-tone can produce a wide range of sounds, but I really only use just a couple of them. Personally I'm not very impressed with it's sound - it's kinda "blah" sounding - not bad, but nothing that really stands out, either. The body being made from Poplar has a lot to do with it, I think. I've played several newer Les Paul Specials (P-100's w/mahogany bodies) that really blow the blueshawk away.

Setup was pretty good for a lower end Gibson, I did'nt have to adjust the truss rod at all - just minor bridge saddle adjustments. Overall fit and finish were very satisfactory - no complaints here. Of course, the gold hardware sucks and looks cheesy, why they continue to use it is beyond me. Action is pretty good too. I also like the diamond shaped inlays - different, yet subtle. No problems with the cherry finish or body bindings, but the stupid "blueshawk" decal still gripes me, though. Another thing I dont like is that the body is just too small - it's tiny, looks like a toy. I'm 5'11" 150 lbs and it looks too small on me in the mirror. I can't imagine a 6'2" 220 lb guy playing one. Strap one on and look at yourself in a mirror - you'll see what I mean.

Sturdy and dependable guitar, although I don't really ever use it because even with all of the sonic possibilities from the vari-tone, I still can't get a good sound from it. I know some of the reviews below talk about the sound being in the person not the instrument, But then how come my SG and my Explorer and my Flying V can produce sounds that are absoultely stunning and the Blueshawk just sounds mediocre at best?

Never dealt with them (never had a reason to)

I've been playing 15+ years, and own too many guitars to list. In my opinion, this is a guitar with an identity crisis - it's not sure if it's a Gibson or a Fender or hollow or a solidbody. It's Gibson-like features inlcude a set neck, P-90s, angled headstock, and mahagony neck. Fender-like features include Fender scale and nut size, Tele-style string through body low profile bridge, and poplar body. I'm usually a big fan of Gibsons (read my Explorer and Flying V reviews) but the Blueshawk is really just out in left field somewhere. If it were lost or stolen, I wouldn't really lose any sleep over it.
As I stated earlier, If you want a Gibson single coil sound, A Les Paul Special sounds better, is in the same price range as the blueshawk, and has a heck of a lot better re-sale value.

This guitar seems pretty versatile. Just the one volume and one tone control but the 6-way varitone switch adds a lot of variety. Poplar, maple, mahogany, yeah, yeah, yeah. A couple of "f" holes, strings go through the body...what else? Kluson tuners and apparently a Gibson original...two Blues 90 pickups with a third dummy for hum cancelling.

I play blues mostly and, as you might guess, this guitar is well suited to the style. I play straight into a small Fender amp and it sounds great to me. The overa\ll tone/sound/feel is something like an ES335...or is it more like an LP Special...or sometimes a strat-like sound? (I said it was versatile.) I understand that virtually everyone submitting opinions gets into these long, detailed and very subjective evaluations of sound and though I can appreciate that on the one hand, I think it's important to remember that the music isn't "in" the instrument as much as it is "in" the musician. I'm reminded of a Mississippi Delta farm boy playing a single broom wire nailed to the side of the house with a rock tied to the bottom for tension and a broken bottleneck for a slide. No doubt he played with great soul. No, I didn't play two million guitars and compare and evaluate them all before buying. I new and trusted the Gibson name and figured they wouldn't name it the Blueshawk if it wern't designrd to produce some good blues tones. When I played it I wasn't disappointed. I gave it a 9 because nobody's perfect.

After playing it for a few weeks, I promptly voided the (lifetime) warranty by having it set up (including a light fret dress) by a good guy I know. I also had him stiffen up the pickups which seemed to be floating on air. The finish looked good but I'm not sure the paint was completely cured. It came straight from the factory to to me through the dealer in about a week's time. So it got a little smudged. I was thinking about denting it to get that out of the way too. Everything seems to work great except for the mounting of the bridge pickup which is such that when I mute with my right palm, the damn thing raises up and touches the high E string. This will never do. Minus one, Gibby.

The guitar has a rather light and, well I don't want to say fragile feel, but I'm not sure how much abuse it would take. If for no other reason than the above mentioned pick up problem, I would want a backup. It's nice to have that high E string respond when you reach for it, Know whut I mean, Vern?

Have not dealt with the company

I've been playing for a couple of decades and I also own an Ibanez acoustic electric nylon, an old acoustic Kay f-hole, and a six string acoustic Takamine. As you may have gathered, I view perfectionism as more of a psychological problem than a fine quality of the arteest. I think it's a good guitar for the money but I don't want to rely too much on the equipment to make music...that's my job. There's a million guitars out there in this price range and I don't think any of them is going to make me or break me as a musician. I like the looks of this guitar, I like the sounds "I" make through it but if it were lost or stolen I'd probably try something else next. Not that I don't like it...I do, but again, it's not the guitar, the amp, the pedals, etc. that make the music, it's me.

I bought the US-made Blueshawk when it first came out, I believe, in 1996. Along with the 3-way blade switch for the "Blues 90's", it has a 6-way Variatone switch with a pull-pot by-pass on the tone knob. Having this many tonal options is definately what interested me in the Blueshawk; you can go from a deep jazz/blues tone, to a thin punk or metal tone. The body comes in black or red (I bought black)and has two f-holes to accent the semi-hollow appearance. I would have bought blue if it was available. It has sort of a pinched shrunken Les Paul shape. One thing that really struck me about this guitar is how incredibly LIGHT it is.

I've been playing almost nothing but rock with this guitar. At first I was playing it through a Carvin X-100A, which sounded lush and great. That is, until I bought a MESA/Boogie Dual Recifier Solo head, which makes any amp sound weak. However, with both amps, the Blueshawk sounds great. Probably the most versatile guitar I've played, even more than the strats I've had in the past. The two Blues 90s have single-coil bite with humbucker noise reduction and warmth. In the studio when I needed a different guitar tone for an add'l guitar sound, all I needed to do was to flip a switch and play. The only drawback was when I first bought it. There was a bit of a ground-pop when I touched the guitar. I went back to the place I purchased it from, and they fixed it.

I have no complaints about the way it came from the factory. I put a heavier gauge of strings on it, and now the action needs to be lowered. All of the components have been quality parts; no complaints.

I've dropped, scratched, banged, and bled all over this guitar. Looking up close, I noticed thousands of scratches all over the finish, so I think I've diminished any sort of resale value. It doesn't matter, I'd never get rid of it. The only thing that I can think of that would be considered negative is pretty much my fault. I play pretty aggresively, and the body isn't cut-away. The binding can rub your arm raw if you sweat and play hard. I can remember a practice where my arm that once hurt felt rather squishy (yuck!). My bandmates watched in horror as I soldiered on through the song with blood covering my arm. The only time I need a back-up, is when I haven't changed the strings in a while, and I break them. My friends tell me I shouldn't play so rough, but hey, screw that! I like having blisters and scabs on my fingers from last night's gig!!

I know it has a lifetime warranty, but I don't know what good it's for. I need to have a fret replaced, and it's not covered because it's wear and tear.

Over all, this guitar is my perfect axe. I've been playing for about 6 years now, and I've had countless guitars. This is the only one I've really wanted to keep forever. Yes, if it were stolen, I'd buy another. I wish it had a cut-away, that's about it. The price is right, and the playability is excellent.

This guitar is a 1997 model though it seemed to sit in the showroom for years. I saw it in the shop and played it. I returned many times to play it. When it was broken in I finally bought at a nice discount. It seems no one else would give it a home. At first view, different is the adjective that comes to mind. Cute in an ugly sort of way might also describe the Blueshawk but I didn't buy it for its looks. I bought it because it has a ton of unique features for the price. It has a compact f-holed semi-hollow body of poplar with a maple top. The neck is mahogony with a rosewood fingerboard, pretty interesting combinations. It is finished in a nice cherry red with cream colored P90 pickups and body binding. The "Blueshawk" logo screened on the body near the top of the neck is kind of cheesy but I've learned to live with it. There is a "dummy" pickup between the two single coil P90s that does a good job of cancelling hum. The Blueshawk has 1 volume control and 1 tone control with a 3 way switch and then there's the added "vari-switch". This switch has 6 tone modeling presets. Somewhere in there you can get almost Strat-like tones, almost. It's pretty neat if your too lazy to switch to the Strat (or only own one guitar). The Blueshawk has a through the body, individual string adjustment bridge just like a modern Fender Telecaster. The string spacing is extra wide especially between the 1st/6th strings and the edge of the finger board to facilitate string bending mania. Gibson skimped on the fret wire with a medium gage that does not take full advantage of this guitar's string bending capabilities. Oh well, that can be changed later. The Blueshawk comes with those Kluson-style tuners that many players hate but the idea behind this guitar is a throwback to the 50's. I think it's best appreciated as such.

P90's make me think of Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. This guitar was made for road house blues. You can get sort of fat Tele sounds and sort of Strat sounds out of it but to my ear the Blueshawk shines when played in mild overdrive with the vari-switch off. Think Rollin' Stone and Boogie Chillin'. If you want that sound and can't afford a 52' Les Paul or want something more versitile than a Les Paul Special then the Blueshawk is a good compromise. I play this guitar through a Fender De Ville amp and am pleased with the results. Oh, by the way, this guitar can get some suprisingly good Rage and Korn sounds with a tune down and a little "coaxing". My son loves it!

I reset the string height as I always do with new guitars. The pickups were set spot on. The fit and finish are very good. It's funny, for some reason this guitar reminds me of a cheap old Harmony but much better executed.

This guitar does not seem as bomb proof as an old Tele or a Les Paul but with proper handling I expect years of good service.

I've been playing for 35 years. I also own a vintage 52 Tele, a Mike Lull Custom Tele, a Lone Star Strat, a Les Paul Studio and a Les Paul Classic. I Like the Blueshawk and recommend it as a vintage blues guitar substitute. My only question is why, after all these years, can't Gibson design a guitar that is comfortable to play sitting down (like Fender Teles and Strats)? I guess Gibson thought the Blueshawk's imbalance would enhance the "vintage" feel of the guitar.

Read the other reviews for the details. Suffice it to say that the variator switch and the P-90's give you a bunch of options for tones.

Sounds really great for the blues tones. (and its called a Blueshawk?? I wonder why) The pick-ups are a bit noisy. I've never had anything with P-90's before so I don't know if it's inherent in the pick-up or what. It's really easy to play and do bends.

Set up pretty well. Kinda buzzy though...a little truss rod adjustment fixed that problem. Intonation was spot on.

I've only had it about a month. Don't anticipate any problems...I'm not too hard on my instruments.

I sent an email inquiring about my Les Paul and got a reply pretty quickly with lots of information. I can't imagine needing to talk to them for anything else.

Overall a really nice guitar. It plays really well, sounds good especially for blues and cleaner stuff. I'm thinking about putting some different pick-ups in it. I'm worried about the size of the new pick-ups though. I think Dimarzio makes some, if anybody knows if they're the same size email me please. I don't want to route anything or do anything radical.