Gibson Nighthawk Special (2 Pickup model)

As other reviews. Bought mine new in , I think, '94. Bought it because I wanted a light guitar. Wasn't into Gibsons, but the guy in the music store said I should try this one. It was light! and sounded ok. At the time I played noise, so the specific sound options were not very interesting for me.

The reason I'm writing this review: I started playing other types of music, and discovered that the nighthawk had a very nasty squeling, piercing tone in the high strings when played clean. Last year I bought a very good Ibanez 335-type guitar, which sounded much better, but... the nighthawk sounded as good as the Ibanez when played unplugged. To make a long story short, the reason for the high squeling sound was due to the bridge saddles. There is another review for a 3 pickup model where some guy had the same problem. He changed the bridge saddles and solved the problem. I did the same. I made new saddles out of hard wood(!) for the 3 high strings. It Worked! No more squeling, the sound got a bit warmer but not too much. I think there is a bit less sustain, but there's enough left. I'm now very happy with this guitar, I only wished I had done /known this ten years ago... This guitar is great for all kinds of music; I love to play rithm guitar on it. With some eq tweaking on the amp u can use every pickup setting, clean or distorted. A 10 for sound, after my change of bridge saddles. Before is was a 6.

Can't remember. I set up my guitars myself. It's quite easy to st this one up. Change bridge hight now and then - makes it sound a bit different. Bridge: see above. I'm not sure if I had bad luck or every nighthawk might have the same problem. There are some compliants of very bright, harsh sounding nighthawks... Hardwware is oxidizing, I don't mind.

Played live with it a lot. It fell down on stage a couple of times, it survived the back of a tour bus. I always play with a back up guitar, i ncase strings break.

Never dealt with Gibson

Been playing 33 years... Had a couple of guitars, most of them not very good. I had a washburn falcon which was ok, but extremely heavy. Had a fender bullet, an epiphone (kind of Brian May guitar lookalike). I have now an Ibanez AS 193 (ES 335 model, but brighter sounding) Very good guitar! I made my own guitar out of an old hagstrom body with GFS-pickups. Strange souding guitar, lots of twangy bass. Th Nighthawk is my 'studio'guitar. Amps: Music man RD 65, vox pathfinder. If I had to buy a new guitar I would definitely look for another light guitar; might very well be a nighthawk, but there are many good guitars on the market these days... Most of them cheaper, as nighthawks are selling second hand for the price I paid new back in the nineties.

94 or 95 model. Gibson US. 5-way selector switches from neck mini-humbucker to coil split neck humbucker to coil split neck and bridge humbucker to slanted (strat style) bridge humbucker to coil split bridge humbucker. And that's from just 2 humbuckers!

Mahogany body with maple cap. Les Paulish shape, thinner lighter with body contours. String-through bridge. Gold hardware. Tulip style tuners.

Strat style neck scale. Mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard Slightly thin C neck design. Medium frets. 22 medium sized frets.

Built with the blues player in mind but it works great with anything rock. This guitar lends itself to a lot of "soulful" playing. It has a lot of sustain, clarity and definition. It was advertized to be the Brightest Gibson Ever Played. And they're right, you can get anything from a classic buttery LP sound to a bright twangy strat. You have to hear to believe.

It would be unfair to judge the action, fit and finish since I bought this just a year ago and it had been sitting in store for 8 to 10 years!

When I bought it, the hardware had corroded, the neck had bowed slightly, it had a few dings and scratches and it buzzed in all the wrong places-in spite of the high action. But it sounded great and I've always wanted a nighthawk.

I had just finished working on the set up (with a little fret dressing and neck adjustment) and was able to lessen the corrosion as well. So now it looks nearly new-but it plays great.

Was never a fan of the Gibson finish-which is light and can get sticky and is quite delicate.

I'm not a live player so I wouldn't know but I suppose it would stand up to anything you dish out. The bridge seems to be a more solid design than the Les Paul bridge. Strap buttons are regular Gibson-not that great.

The finish looks like it wears off easilly. But I guess a "worn" guitar adds to the appeal doesn't it?

Good dealer support. Non-existent Gibson support in the Philippines though.

Been playing for ten years although more often these days. Have an epi elite lp custom (damn good guitar), Gibson SG Special, American Standard Strat, Taylor 110-E. After putting in all the work to get this playing great, I'll hunt the guy who stole it down.

I love the shape, sounds, how comfortable it is to play. Love the price as well.

Wish it had a more durable finish.

In a nutshell, this guitar solos like it has a lot of "soul" to it and I can't find anything as versatile for rhythm duties.

1995, 22 frets, string thru body bridge, mahogany neck, rosewood finger board with parallelogram inlays, mahogany body, quilted maple top, bound neck and body, beautiful sunburst with gold hardware - it looks devine. The body is light and modern in shape. Although only an inch shorter than a Les Paul, it looks very small. Mini humbucker at the neck, big slanted humbucker at bridge, 5 way switch yielding a versatile palette of sounds.

These were made from about 1993 to 1998. I guess the instrument didn't catch on, which is puzzling as the sounds are varied and all are gorgeous. It's lightweight and very playable. Strong output from both humbuckers - warm at the neck, big and tight but not sharp, at the bridge. The single coil sounds makes this two guitars in one. The neck single is similar to a Strat. The bridge is bright and clear but again not sharp, and with more tone than a Strat. The neck and bridge singles together have an accoustic flavour on a clean channel, but are also tasty with some Marshall overdrive.

The fretboard has a beautiful touch, so good that I traded my USA Strat for it the moment I first held it in my hands. Strats are nice, but not as versatile as this Gibson, which has both grunt and sparkle. I found that I needed a big amp to drive a Strat. Not so the Nighthawk.

The slim, short scale neck, however, is not suited to those with big hands, like me.

The guitar is well made and finished, the quilted maple sunburst and gold hardware giving it much class. The standard gloss black headstock, however, looks a bit agricultural on such a sophisticated unit. My tusq nut replacement makes a subtle improvement in tone over the standard plastic.

I have used it continuously for three years as a semi-professional and have not needed anything else.

N/A

Playing for thirty years. Semi-professional for last ten years, the first seven with Tele and Strat. The Nighthawk is a well made, versatile guitar with extremely good tone. It delivers that warm, strong Gibson sound, as well as enough single coil options for me to make a Fender superfluous. I use it for 60s, 70s, rock/pop/party music, blues and slide.

1995 , with two pickups. made in usa. i own a fender fat strat , a gibson lespaul standard, a flying v , an ibanez art core, and this nighthawk sounds better then all of them. I play it threw a visual sounds jekle and hyde ,and a dunlop crybaby into a fender princeton 65. the makes the clean sound a little bit muddy so ii unplugg the wah and clean souns amazing. I love the pickups becaus they have such a range in sonds. honestly i just bougt the guitar because it was cheap and it was a gibson. but when i plugged it in i was blown away.

I play funk rock,blues ,and classic rock (influenced by jimi ,beck, led zep and the chili peppers. sounds great clean and it handles my distortion perfectly. it suits my style of playing. great for rock ,alt,funk,blues,jazz,country,. the pickups can hadle almost any levle of distotion be fore sounding bad. has amazing sustain. best soud under 2k

great neck realy fast, light weigt a little less than a strat. les pauls are rediculisly heavy. i guese the wood is mahagony with a maple top. i cant tell because min is ebony finsh.

will gig withougt back up. the gold hardware fades fast. the finish will last forever. strap buttons are a litlle small

havent had to

buy this guitar if u see one. better than les paul and cheaper.
its a shame they were discontinued

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This is a followup to my earlier review. Where I usually play blues/jazz/Eagles-like rock, I have been experimenting with a heavier sound lately for a recording project. Using a Digitech preamp (-32db mids, +32db bass/treble, both tube and solid state circuits in parallel at 100% gain), the pickups handle the punishing distortions better than the Ibanez JS100, Gibson LP, or PRS Custom 22 I tried with the same setup, and fuller, warmer, smoother resonse.

The sound is HUGE...excellent bass, and while the bridge humbucker was good, the middle position (bridge and neck single coils) were even more clear and powerful without any additional noise. The tone was best at about 7...a higher setting got squeally, and a lower setting was too nu-metal for me, but both were usuable for their own seperate styles.

The pickups are very powerful...for the ultra-high gain, I need a solid state rectifier: dual 5V4 rectifiers couldn't handle the input with that preamp setting.

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Gibson have become a bunch of bastards policy-wise, but I haven't dealt with them yet...still rock-solid!

The more I play it, the more I like it...truly the best guitar for heavy rock and metal, even though they're not really my thing! You can't find a better tone for less than $2K.

Nighthawk Special in ebony finish, with gold hardware, an M-series mini-humbucker in the neck, and an M-series slanted full-sized humbucker in the bridge. One volume and one tone knob, and a 5-way blade switch.

Not really sure what to put for this category...I sought out this exact guitar with these features because they were 100% what I wanted. However, it doesn't have a AAAAA quilted top or artistic gemstone fretboard inlay, so I'll give it an 8.

Exactly what I wanted, but it doesn't have the artistry of a $10K+ axe either.

Blues-rock, jazz, and alternative rock for 8 years. I run my guitars pretty much straight into a BadCat Black Cat Reverb 30watt combo (1x12?), with a Visual Sound Rt.66 pedal in front for compression, and on rare occasion I patch in a Digitech floor processor to horse around with effects.

My other electric for recording and performance alike (not counting my Ovation Celebrity quilt-top), is a Gibson Blueshawk, and these two guitars are a perfect compliment. Where the Blueshawk is low-output semi-hollowbody and does sweet clean and light-crunch tones and rhythms very well, this guitar is a solidbody and VERY high-output, and loves to sing on leads and gets balls-thru-the-wall aggressive on chords. Not only does it sound very different from a Les Paul, but despite its solid construction, it resonates very well unplugged.

What a thick, aggressive tone! Warm and focused, this guitar cleans up fairly well, although there?s not a lot of headroom with some amps. It can do a very warm, well-defined clean tone?bright in coil tap and fat in humbucking mode?but comes alive in the vicinity of medium-crunch, and heats up from there. On the neck pickup, I can get some buttery smooth cleans in coil-tap position, and with both coils engaged in the neck mini-hb, there are loads of warm, crunchy rhythm tones to be found. The great thing is that the string-definition is preserved and accentuated even with a fair amount of overdrive, which is uncommon on any neck pickup.

Mid position has some thick tele tones (mid position is tapped), and those have some application for me; there?s some quack, but it?s not extreme, which I find a plus??quack? is not a tone I look for. Rather it sounds much like the old Fender teles that had the humbucker in the neck and s/c in the bridge?some bright cutting tone with a warm, bassy background.

The bridge pickup is very nice, as it is not too bright, but rather warm with a full midrange and a solid, tight bass and can REALLY push my amp?s front end to its limits. Very thick, but again, string-definition is preserved. Even with a lot of overdrive, I can still hear each string ring individually in a chord, which is something I don?t get on Les Pauls. It does saturated leads very well, and can do the modern ?wall of sound? overdrive, but musically, because you can hear every note in the chord while the sound is blasting you against the wall. Never harsh or shrill, which is the important thing here?with a good amp, you can get as heavy as you want and play as high on the board as you want without tinny, shrill, or harsh frequencies popping out.

When recording at home, I use the Blueshawk for semi-acoustic clean or slightly dirty rhythms and effects, but this guitar I always run straight to the amp, because it shines when there is nothing making the tone except it and the amp tubes. The more I play this guitar, the more I realize that the fundamental sound of this guitar is so outstanding that any effects or additional EQ just get in the way of what cannot be easily-if-at-all improved upon.

Great neck (thick but fast), and fantastic low action without buzz after some minor tweaking. Finish is very nice as well?nothing exceptional, but nice. I got it with 0.11?s, but had it set up with 0.12?s by the local guitar guy for thick tone and heavy sustain?plays like a dream.

This is the solidbody brother of the Blueshawk, and as the Blueshawk has held up well for me, this can only be even more exceptional.

Feels solid as any telecaster ever did.

A hell of a lot more guitar than an LP Standard or LP Studio, at between half and a quarter of the price. Great Gibson features, but better feel, weight, and tone.

I needed a second guitar to fill the bill in the studio, as the Blueshawk just can?t do rock, and I was looking at either this guitar (which is now hard to find), or an Ibanez JS100 which I knew I?d have to replace the pickups on immediately. I?m glad that I made the choice I did?both guitars have great (though very different) necks, but this has a warmth and string-definition that I doubt that I?d have gotten otherwise (at least without $250 in Tom Anderson pickup replacements). And because of the non-tremolo, string-thru design of the Nighthawk, I got far more sustain than the Ibanez has, all without the Les Paul crappy feel and cliche tone I was worried I?d get in a humbucker-equipped Gibson with the same body woods. And this will probably appreciate in value over the years if I maintain it in mint condition?I abuse the hell out of the strings, but am careful with the guitar itself.

Mahoghany body with maple top, string thru body, mahoghany set neck, rosewood fingerboard, mini M series neck humbucker, bridge humbucker, volume/tone, 5 way switch. Abalone Gibson headstock logo and dot inlays.

This nighthawk special that I own sounds killer! Neck humbucker is Fat and Warm but also has plenty of bite with the tone knob turned up. The bridge pickup has good bite and thickness. Other positions range from sounds similar to les paul and strat. Can be very twangy to clear glass like sound. I love this guitar. They were made between 1993 and 1999 only. Grab one when you have the chance!

I purchased mine used so don't know how the original setup was. I had to do a setup and intonation adjustment on mine and it plays effortlessly. Finish is great but the gold harware tends to fade somewhat easily. I have owned several Nighthawks and have seen this gold fading on all of them. Also, the Kluson tuners can go out of tune somewhat if you do alot of string bends.

It's a Gibson....Will last a lifetime!

Haven't dealt with them.

I highly recommend the Nighthawk! Grab one when you have the chance. You be happy you did.

1992-3
Looks like some chicks guitar but when you play it puts other guitars to shame.lighter that les paul.

I had a fat strat,a JEM ,a 72 SG and a dc 127 before.but after pluging this guitar to cheap crate 15w amp in a store ,I was like what the f*ck!I couldn't believe my ears.the sound is detailed and clean with punch and power,higher register doesnt fart ,22 frent is still sweet and powerful.output is freaking loud too.4 and 5 positions you can get a les paul or much better than best Saymor Duncun oe EMG equipped Jackson or Ibanez 1500$+ models,3rd position is usable tele mixed strat sound without weakness,1 st and 2 nd is more gary moore like,or ES 3** wanna be great tone.The pickups are unbelievible for a passive catagory. this baby can swallow distortion with ease without any noise.

strap buttons are too small.vol controls are small too.I changed them.

I would use it without backup.

This is the only Gtr you might take on -country-pop-rock-hardrock-metal gig.shame that they discontinued them.
2 pk special was in retail for 1799 US $
I saw a brand new 3 pk model for 2300 US$(said to be a Joe Walsh"s favirate)
if you can get it just grab it and hear it and you'll thank me.

My NightHawk is a pretty early one- a '93 if I'm correct. It's the black with white binding version, with a rosewood board. One mini-bucker and one slanted full-size. It's a pretty simply built instrument, but what with the coil-tapping it's pretty versatile!
I like how it is a mix of Les Paul and Strat... It has a Les Paul body shape (basically) and a thick neck, but has what is essentially a strat bridge and a Strat scale-length. As well, the 5-way switch and single volume and tone are strat-like.

This guitar sounds fantastic... The middle pickup selection and the coil-tapped bridge aren't too useful, but all of the other selections are amazing. The neck mini-bucker is very smooth and jazzy, and when it is coil-tapped it produces a very strat-like funk tone. The bridge humbucker is _loud_!! Far louder than any other position, it is full of mid-range and very thick. It is excellent for classic rock.
I couldn't really ask for any more sounds on this guitar. It is very versatile, and sounds far more expensive than it is.

I can't really say how it was set up. I bought this guitar second hand in the first place, and it was already very beat up. Then I sold it, forgot it for two years, and then found it on-line and bought it again!! =) But everything seems to be solid except the neck humbucker, which is very loose (I hear this is caused by loose washers inside- I'm going to have a look). Also, the volume and tone pots feel pretty cheap.

This guitar is a trooper. I would worry about the overly complicated pickup selection, but the finish and construction are rock solid. It feels more like a Fender than a Gibson... The strap buttons are a little but small and badly placed, however.

I doubt Gibson would give me support on a ten-year-old third-hand guitar, but I asked them some questions about one of my other Gibsons and they answered _very_ quickly, and were very polite and helpful.

I've been playing for about five years now, I guess, and own ten other electric guitars, some basses, and an accoustic. This certainly isn't the nicest of them (in fact, it's definately the beater), but sound-wise it really holds its own with the top few. Only the allmighty Howard Roberts Fusion sounds better consistantly =) If it were stolen and I came across another for the price I paid (which is close to $200 American <g>) then yes, of course I would buy another.

Basically, if you ever find a NightHawk, buy it. Don't let its girlish looks put you off =) It is a hard-rocking tone machine!

Mid-90s Heritage Cherry model with 22 frets on rosewood. Covered neck H, slanted bridge H. You can read all about what this guitar looks like and what it can do. It's like the Les Paul's evil younger sibling.

I got it used on eBay, and although there are a couple of minor dings/scratches on the finish and some wear on the metal of the covered humbucker and tuners, it's in great shape. The case it came with has seen better days, but I don't mind having a case that looks like it went through a war. Promotes that rock image.

I only give it this rating because its actual features are not unlike those of your average guitar. It has the tone knob, the volume knob, and the 5-way pickup selector. Solid design but nothing fancy or groundbreaking here.

This is where this guitar can really shine. It takes the best qualities of a Strat and LP and rolls them into one awesome package. Position 1 is bright, but not as nasal as a Strat can get. Just slamming and in your face. Very powerful tone, but obviously not a lot of bass. Position 2 boosts the midrange a lot, and it's my only complaint about this guitar - this particular pickup setting isn't really good for anything other than atmospherics. For rhythm and lead, there are better settings to choose from. 3 is jangly and soothing, 4 is a bit fuller (still with a bit of jangle), and 5 gets you that jazzy LP variety sound. Coupled with a nice slight tremolo, there's just no beating the warmth it gives off.

I generally only use 1, 3, and 5. Never could figure out what to do with 4, and 2 is just too high in the midrange, muddying the other registers. I just haven't taken the time to play with my amp settings to see if I can get it to sound decent. However, the overall sound is absolutely to die for.

I play 2 rather unrelated styles: Country-ish folk rock and British-inspired dream pop. How else could Whiskeytown and the Cure be two of my all-time favorite bands? Anyway, I've found that this guitar is a perfect match for both genres. I use Line delay, distortion, and modulation modelers and the Tech 21 SansAmp GT2 through Tech 21 Trademark 60 1x12 and Fender Princeton Super Chorus 2x12 amps. It can definitely hold its own in the basement jam session or when gigging, and sounds outstanding from both tube and solid state amps (obviously, one is slightly better than the other, but I'm not going to argue).

I can't grade the factory setup since I wasn't the original owner, but I will say that it was pretty bad when I received it. Intonation was out of whack, there was a break in the headstock, and the action was too high (and I'm not a metal soloist or anything). The electronics were also noisy and the fretboard was badly in need of oil treatment. So I took it to my friend Ray, who set it up for me and repaired the headstock. After that, dare I say it was perfect? Well, like in calculus, you can never reach infinity, but you can approach it just like this guitar does to perfection.

It's held up very well under some obvious abuse conditions from its previous owner. Like I mentioned, there is some wear on the metal humbucker cover and the tuners, but that's simply a cosmetic issue with the gold finish and doesn't affect performance. I think it's a really well-built guitar that I expect to still be able to play many years from now.

As I mentioned, I use Tech 21 Trademark 60 1x12 and Fender Princeton SuperChorus 2x12 amps, and my effects loop is: SansAmp GT2, Line 6 DL4/DM4/MM4, Boss TR-7/DD-5, Tube Screamer. I also play a Godin LGX-SA. I own a mid-priced Takamine A/E guitar as well, and when I play bass, it's usually with a Fender Jazz Bass through a Gallien-Krueger 700RB combo. (I primarily play guitar, but sometimes you gotta suck it up and handle the bottom end when the need is there.) I've been playing guitar and bass for about 12 years, and at the time of this review, I'm 23 years old. I have previously owned a Les Paul Standard, several Strats, a '52 Tele RI, an Ibanez Talmon, an old Seagull acoustic, and several really crappy lo-end basses made by Aria. This is one of the best instruments I've ever played for the money and time I've spent on it.