Gibson Nighthawk Special (2 Pickup model)

Gibson Nighthawk Special (two pickups) - not sure of the year (as far as I know, Gibson only made these guitars for a few years in the early Nineties). Single cutaway mahogany body, set/glued mahogany neck w/rosewood fretboard, Gibson "tulip" tuners, 22 frets, fixed string-thru-body bridge, binding on the body, black finish. Passive electronics - slanted uncovered humbucker in the bridge position, covered "mini-humbucker" in the neck. One volume knob, one tone knob, 5-way switch w/regular and coil tap selections. Bought used, so included leather gig bag.

This is a very versatile guitar. This was the first guitar I bought about two years ago, after learning on a friend's loaner - the Eighties "Epiphone by Gibson" Strat knockoff with the banana headstock, I'm sure many of you know the one. A real piece of junk, that one, so when I went to buy a guitar I was naturally playing everything in the store in my $500ish price range. At the time, I wasn't as aware of what to look for in a guitar in terms of playability, so I was basing my descision more on sound. The sound of this guitar jumped out at me right away - full and rich. I noticed particularly in the 1, 2 and 5 positions (which are still the ones I primarily use) that the guitar had a very nice singing tone, and sounded expressive even with my, at the time, limited skills.
The Nighthawk is a surprisingly loud guitar, louder than my Strat's single coils (not really a surprise) and my Carvin's humbuckers, and turning down the volume pot does not destroy the quality of the sound or change the EQ drastically like a Fender. The tone pot is also very even, and has a generous sweep - turning it back and forth rapidly gives you a definite "wah" sound. I play with Ernie Ball 10-46 strings, and I'll take just a second to repeat what I've heard many others say: I've broken strings before, but never with my green Ernies.
Overall it is dark and full of character in the 2 and 5 positions, which I assume are the bridge HB and neck HB settings. 2 is fat and bright - not biting bright, but singing bright. 5 gives you a very full, deep, mellow sound, but with more than enough definition. Position 1 produces a very bright, semi-Tele-like bridge sound, very useable and crisp, which I assume to be the bridge coil-tap setting. Position 3 sounds like a mix of tapped bridge and tapped neck, and 4 sounds like the tapped neck. In these two positions the volume drops off enough to warrant readjusting your settings a little if you want to stay to the front of the mix, however both of these settings have more subtle thin vibes, similar in feeling to 3 and 4 on a Strat, and in my opinion not as distinctive and big as the 1, 2, and 5 settings.
When using overdrive or distortion, I almost exclusively use 1, 2 and 5. Sound perfectionists take note: I run a Snarling Dogs Whine-O Super Bawl Wah, Tech 21 Comptortion, Danelectro Cool Cat (chorus) and Danelectro Dan-Echo through the effects loop of a Rogue 30W amp. The Comptortion produces a thick, smooth, singing distortion, and the Rogue's built-in "overdrive" is the typical crappy ear-splitting raunch expected of a small solid-state amp. I typically use the Comptortion for subtle or medium smooth distortion, and mix in just a touch of the amp's overdrive if I want it to bite. Anyway, with distortion, setting 1 is biting and retains a lot of definition even as you push the gain, setting 2 really screams with more midrange and is a definitive lead tone, and setting 5 is lower-midrange, with a bit less definition and big - we're even approaching Zepplin-big if the amp's settings still let the highs be voiced. Rolling off the volume allows for different distorted sounds - very useful - and with the proper settings you can use the volume knob to do the clean-to-distorted trick very easily. The guitar can get noisy when turned up to "11" and may feed back easily but controllably, although this has a lot to do with the Comptortion's ability to make anything feed back on its higher settings. I swear, that thing could make a rusty fork feed back if you soldered a lead cable to it and plugged it on.
Overall, it complements my music style very nicely - lots of classic rock, with a dose of funk and a smattering of punk (and if I'm feeling creative, both at the same time), and the occasional Gilmour/Vai-ish solo-type excursion, because dammit, it's fun to play.

The action in the store was low, which I like. After bringing it home, I discovered that the low E string buzzed against the frets when plucked with any great force, so I brought it back in and had an "adjustment" done. The guitar came back with even better action, but that damn E string still buzzed. I recently tried raising the saddle a bit, but that didn't solve it. I've grown to ignore it, even when it does occasionally come through the pickups, but since I haven't adjusted the truss rod since I bought it, I'm sure that I could fix it if I wanted to. By now, the A string is starting to do the same thing, but again - it hasn't been set up for two years, so I'm not complaining.
In terms of playability, it's great. I've never been one for minding the difference between a vintage Fender 9.5 radius and my Carvin's 15 radius - as long as it's not friggin' flat, it feels good to me. String bending is easy on this, probably due to the shorter scale of the Gibson neck. Even though this is a fixed bridge, I still dust the nut slots with pencil graphite every time I restring to keep the strings from sticking on bends. The G string will go out of tune if I push it past a slightly flat whole step, but this is a problem common to many guitars. I can very slightly feel the grain on the rosewood fretboard, but it doesn't interfere with my playing. The neck has some substance to it - it's certainly no baseball bat, but it's satisfying in the hand and gives you something to dig into on bends. The highest frets are not very useful, but it's not the single cutaway but rather the heel that impedes using them, combined with the somewhat tall frets this high up - presumably still tall because they don't get used, as the majority of the frets have that broken-in flat crown that I like so much.
The guitar was dinged quite a bit when I bought it, but remarkably with no chips out of the finish. I'm sure it was glossy black at one time, but this particular finish turns dull at any contact point relatively quickly, even with frequent polishing. The tarnished look doesn't really bother me, and I don't mind the buildup except on the back of the neck, which will slow me down a bit during long slides unless it's been recently wiped down and polished.
The binding is still excellent. The bridge is oxidizing green a bit, but then again as far as I know it hasn't been cleaned since the day it was manufactured. I know I haven't cleaned it yet, and I should. Lazy me. The tone knob falls off the peg fairly regularly, but again, I haven't done anything about it, so there you go. Based on how it has aged, and keeping in mind my reticence to take care of it, I'll give it a 7.

This guitar would and has withstood live playing, no problem. The hardware is close to ten years old by now and in good shape considering the lack of care - the 5 way is still quite crisp and the knobs roll with no problem. The finish was good enough to withstand the forest of dings that the previous owner gave it without cracking anywhere, so that's a pretty good indicator. It's been slung to and from jam sessions and gigs in a gig bag and come out just fine - I've been kind to it, but it hasn't exactly been babied. The strap buttons are very solid, and since I don't bounce around like a jackalope I wouldn't worry about it falling off. No-one should ever gig without a backup, because Murphy plays onstage with you every night, but if someone held a gun to your head and forced you, you could feel safe gigging with just this in terms of reliability as well as versatility.

I bought it used - never dealt with Gibson.

I have been playing, self-taught, for between 4 and 5 years now. I also own a Mexican Standard Stratocaster, which are very good for the money (but as with all Fenders and Gibsons, only if you play them all and pick the one that stands out), and a Carvin DC127 (a singularly awesome guitar, from the unsung heroes of guitar makers), both also used. If it were lost or stolen, I would probably get a Gibson SG first, just because it's next humbucker guitar on my wish list after a Fender '69 Tele Thinline, then save up the money for another Nighthawk. I love its tone, big for its size and big for its price - and hell, just big overall. It's not a Les Paul or an SG, but it has tones that you would expect to come from one or the other if you weren't looking. Overall it's a useful guitar with a wide range of very pleasing tones, it has its own distinct sound, and hardly anyone plays them since they're something of a rarity. I might sell mine for the right price, but if I take good care of it, it'll be worth a hell of a lot in the not-too-distant future.

My Gibson Nighthawk was made in USA in 1996. It has 22 frets, solid top, 1 volume selector, 1 tone selector, 5-way PU selector, a mini humbucker (neck) and a regular humbucker (bridge). The finish is black. Gig bag included. For any other details check Gibson's site.

I use this guitar for various music styles - From Metal and Heavy Rock (Metallica, Soundgarden) to classic rock like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Aerosmith and even jazz. This guitar suits all my needs - there is a sound for everything. The only problem is jazz - the guitar's sound isn't full enough - but that wasn't my goal when I buyed the guitar. I've played it trough various amplifiers - my practice amp is not really good, but it still sounds fine, w/Marshall 75W it sounds just GREAT! I've also played it using Sansamp GT-2 and it sounded really good!

The guitar was well adjusted - low action, VERY comfortable for playing, no flaws.

I've played this guitar on many opportunities, it has hit MANY walls (I wasn't to careful) and some sharp objects. However the guitar is in pretty good condition. The only problem is that several times the guitar got out of tuning while I was playing.

Never used it.

I've been playing guitar for only 2.5 years, but I've beein playing a violin for 10 yrs. In this 2.5 years a played quite a lot, and had many performances, and I always enjoyed the guitar... If it were stolen/lost I would definitely buy it again. I've played several guitars, and I like mine the best! The only thing I'd like to try is the 3 pickup model, maybe it's even better... I highly recommend buying this guitar!

I purchased my Heritage Cherry Nighthawk Special around '95 or '96. This guitar has been a workhorse for me. It is now the ONLY guitar I play. It features a mini-Humbucker at the neck and a unique slanted full size Humbucker at the bridge. I think all nighthawks feature the M-seris pickups, and mine does too. It also features a 5-way switch. This guitar looks like a toy - seriously - It has a tiny body and makes the neck look fatter than it is. I think a Les paul has a wider neck. It is soo light you can play this from dawn to daylight and only the tips of your fingers will hurt. A brilliantly unique guitar.

I'll be honest and say that this guitar's tones has probably shaped / created / influenced my style which is mainly never ending solos like Pearl Jam, Niel Young(GOD), Soundgarden...So on (No Nirvana - I wouldn't insult this guitar that way). Anyway this guitar spanks every monkey out there. Hard rock, jazz, blues, anything. My FX line up is -> CrybabyWah, TubeScreamer 808, Delay DD-5, Distortion DS-1, Phaser PH1r, Stereo Chorus CE-3 - Now all these effects sound great on this guitar and into my Sovtek Mig100. You can't go wrong with this guitar - I tend to play the Slanted Humbucker the most for rock. The single coil/Full options are unique and very useful. The mini-humbucker's single coil mode seems to simply be quieter than the full humbucker sound(which is so deep, so warm). For NeilYoung solos I go from the single coil to the full humbucker on the slanted bridge PU,and tapp in some delay - TOO GOOD! - This guitar ROCKS, and just for that it the only guitar thats beutiful and moody when being played quitely and then clear, but abusive on overdrive time.

I had been playing a cheap guitar that my guitar teacher did up for me. It therefore had an insane low-action. Therefore I've been a low-action kinda guy and the nighthawk was one of the only guitars that I pickup up off the shelf and felt great! - Even though I was going from a flat neck to a slightly round neck the nighthawk screamed play me. Unfortunetly Im going to have to bitch in this section. My lacquer job is worse than neil youngs. I either got a fault lacquer or I shouldn't have used a silicon based polish when i gave her the first going over. Anywhere my arm rests or touches the guitar consistantly no longer shines, until I polish it with Martin wax based polish, but you can then still see it. A guitar tech got rid of it for a while by using some sort of polish that I haven't got my hands on yet. There is some mess around frets, but im not going to complain - this is a cheap guitar that has the same PU's as a Custom model. The lacquer was probably my fault so just ignore i said that Ok.

As I said before the finish will probably not last another 5 years. Thats if my lacquer, in areas, isn't already gone. I would and have to use this guitar without a backup, im on a budget. And this is the best guitar. No not just becuase I have one...I could have brought a Les paul and said it was the best like every other Wa%k$r out there, but NOOO - some Individuality was at hand. I don't care if this guitar sounds like a strat of a gibson. It sounds great FULLSTOP!

They blamed me for the lacquer problem so - what am i ment to do? Its only a lacquer anyway. When I brought the guitar I wasn't concerned on how it looks. The gibson ppl in Australia are pretty nice, but.

I've been doing the guitar masterbation thing for about four years now. Now I would have put 10 in every column if - My guitar was the 3-pickup model, and if I hadn't stuffed up the already thin lacquer. If my nighthawk was stolen - I would become a serial killer and then buy it again and with enough money start a whole collection including the arhhhhhhh CUSTOM NIGHTHAWK 3-PU model. I have been told to buy a strat by many ppl. I haven't touched one yet that can deliver 5-tones that are so clear, defined and abusive when neccessary -