Gordon Smith Gypsy

The guitar I am reviewing is a Gypsy 1.5 Double Cut-away
Made in 2008
1 Coil Tapped Humbucker
1 Single Coil
Adjustable bridge
22 Fets, joining at the 19th Fret
One Volume Pot, One tone adjustment
Finished in Wine Red.

My style of music is indie rock, this guitar gives a big les paul type sound that suits my music very well.

I am using this in combination with a Marshall DSL 100 watt head.

I find the humbucker a little harsh compared to the standard hardware on my 25 year old gibson les paul, so have to peg it back a little but nothing unusual, better to have the option to peg it back than have it full on and still not giving enough power like some of the guitars I have tried recently.

Using different configurations of pickups, coil tap, volume and tone you can get a fair mix of sounds.

Put this guitar through a Fender and IMHO the overall sound and tone of this guitar are superb, Fender and GS are perfectly matched. If thats the sort of thing you want. Not that I am saying that this guitar is not well matched to the Marshall, it is, but the sounds are more limited compared to the Les Paul.

The factory set up was nearly correct but not quite, I had to raise the bridge about half a turn, but other than that perfect.

I bought a Gordon Smith for the action and not for the look. This is a second guitar for me, I always use the Gibson for gigs, but want a backup that I can 'play' and feels like the Gibson.

The neck is wide, the action is low, and the weight of body to neck just perfect. The accessibility to the fets is outstanding, and I can run up and down the frets nearly as effortlessly as the Gibson.

The finish is good but nothing fancy but thats fine - I would always have playability over looks. Buy something more expensive in the range if you want the look I guess.

There were a couple of flaws on the neck but I paid a lot lot less than the RRP for this guitar so no complaints.

This guitar feels like it is built to last but I'll put a review on here in 25 years time for this guitar and give a hones appraisal.

1 year Warranty - Never dealt with Gordon Smith.

As already said I wanted a second guitar that felt and Sounded like the Gibson without having to shell-out the money. This was it and I am complete satisfied with the choice.

Its nothing fancy but simply does its job well.

Been playing 20 years, currently playing in a Alt rock band, mostly using a Gibson LP in combination with a Marshall Head.

Made around 1980 (right here in the U.K.) so the 25 year warranty must have nearly expired (as if you would need it!) 22 frets. This is a Gypsy 1 model so I hope that this is the correct category in which to review it because some of the guitars reviewed under this category do not agree with my definition of what constitutes a Gypsy 1. Single coiltap humbucker (made in house).Mahogany slab double cutaway body and set neck with rosewood fingerboard. Wrap over fixed string intonation-step bridge. Plastic body Grovers. Slinky thin and wide neck with fat and low frets. Was supplied in a "flight case" which I had not ordered and subsequently returned. I have to give it only 6 because it sets out to be low on features and high on playability / sound, and this it achieves without question so how can you mark it any higher?

It doesn't really suit my music style, it very rarely gets played but then I just prefer Fender type instruments, I always have done. Lovely rich, fat Gibson type tone and feel (if that's your poison). Low on noise. A bit restricted on the sounds that it makes but the controls are very effective given the single pick up configuration (ie they actually work!) There is nothing to dislike in this instrument (being objective)

I have never found a single flaw despite close scrutiny. It was well set up to suit me with a 10 thou' set straight from the factory.It is beautiful in construction and appearance.

These instruments are built to withstand a Chernoble disaster. Gig with no back up -no problem but I'd change the tuners for Sperzel self lockers for any instrument that I would consider using live.

I emailed Gordon Smith last year with an enquiry via their website and received no reply. I was not surprised.
When I purchased this guitar following glowing reviews in the late seventies magazine, "International Musician and Recording World" on two of their products (written by Stephen Delft) I experienced problems. They were touted as being available to custom order, built however you wanted them (within the model definition of course) I ordered a single white P90 pick up, stainless steel nut, Schaller machine heads, ebony fretboard, "Fender" style frets, white/black/white scratch plate, NO case and (subjectively) a translucent orangey finish because I had seen such a finish on a Hagstrom guitar and loved it.
After an extended wait while the serial numbers edged up and up, I received a guitar with a single black humbucker, brass nut, plastic bodied Grover machine heads, rosewood fingerboard with fat low frets, black/white/black scatchplate, a "flight" case and a dark red (probably self colour) highly polished deep lacquer finish. Serial number 00317.
Was it actually the guitar that I had ordered? I was horrified but I took note of the serial number and the overall perceived quality and decided that pragmatically, I would run with it. I tried to dig my heels in over the stainless nut but the suppliers were not having any of it. I run into the reviewer, Stephen Delft, at that years Olympia music show (not by accident!)and chewed his ear off. He chewed some body's ears off and the nut was duly replaced.
In fairness to messrs. Gordon and Smith, I am convinced that had the suppliers spent less time pandering to the likes of Mark Knopfler and so on to further their high profile customer base then they may have taken more notice of my order criteria. That would have explained their unwillingness to get it all rectified. Unfortunately, I can only guess where the blame lay and so they must share the responsibilty with the retail outlet. Looking back, I built three other guitars using the services of this retail supplier and the lash ups that I remember are too numerous and outside of the scope of this review.

Been playing for 35 years, I have a 1974 Strat,two home made Fender Strats, one Homemade Fender "Esquire" with a '50's Fender pick up. A
Gordon and Smith Gypsy One, A Yamaha Pacifica 904, A Gretsch Committee bass Mk 1, A Takamine "Lawsuit" dreadnaught, A Yamaha
LS400VT, an Aria mastertone copy 5 string banjo, A Romanian bouzouki, A Fylde sgnature octavious mandolin, a Yamaha G100 112 amp,
a Session 15/30 valve combo, a Session Rockette 20 amp, a Roland Micro Cube, a Yamaha AA5 "amp"(no comment!) a Yamaha DG Stomp and
matching FC7 wah/vol pedal, a Tech 21 Sansamp Triac, an old old CryBaby in it's original vinyl tote bag, an MXR DynaComp, a Rangemaster treble booster and I am running out of living space fast! I would not buy this instrument again but I would not rule out any other products from this manufacturer due to their exceptional quality of construction.

Mine is a early 90's Single cut-away Gypsy in a cherry burst type finish with 1 GSG humbucker at the bridge. Serial number is in the high 4000s. Basicaly looks the same as a Les Paul junior.

Made from 1 3/4" thich two piece mohogany with 1 piece glued in mohogany neck and rosewood fretboard. Wrap arouund bridge and huge fat frets.

Not huge on features, but hey thats the point!

Awesome sounding guitar. Kicks the arse of any Les Paul I have ever played. Sounds slightly brighter than most Pauls which is probably something to do with the pickup used. Be interested to know the difference with a PAF or P90 installed although I wouldn't want to change it.

The pickup has a very high output which makes it great for overdriving valve amps. I use mine with a Marshall superlead mk2 which sounds amazing and a Fender Vibrochamp. I play mostly bluesy rock and the guitar is perfect for this. Great for lead guitar with massive sustain.

Coil tap gives an impressive range of sounds. With the tap on you can get a thinner strat(ish) sound.

Played like dream since I had it from new. Havn't done anything other than changed the strings in 10 years.

Lacquer around the neck joint is a bit thick, but thats just being picky.

It is cut from the same mold as a Les Paul Junior - What can possibly go wrong? Built to last, these are future classics.

Never had the need to contact them and I havn't a clue about the warranty. I've heard good things about their level of customer support though. If you phone up, odds are you will be speaking to one of the three people who made your guitar. It isn't comparing like with like, but you wouln't get that with a Gibson.

I actually straight swapped a Ibanez RG-550 for this guitar after borrowing a GS-1 from a recording studio where my brother worked. The GS-1 blew me away, but the gypsy is even better.

Do I regret getting rid of the Ibanez? NO WAY, and I was 16 at the time and into heavy metal!

Late 70's - think it's 78 serial number is low 3000's, dual tappable humbuckers with a three way switch, double cutaway Les Paul body - semi acoustic with a pair of f-holes. GS's own all-in-one tail piece, sunburst finish (which I normally detest but looks great on this), neat screw-on brass nut, nice fat flattened frets, black-white-black plastic scratch guard, 23 frets -In reality it hasn't got many bells and whistles, but is REALLY versatile.

I like 60's inspired guitar music, indie, 70's punk, but also some stax/motown, I'm finding it really hard to describe the sound bvecause I've just changed amps (little Vox Cambridge) which the single coil (tapped humbucker) sounds incredible with, I used to run a 70's Vox Leader with it and couldn't get a bad sound out of that combination. I've never found distortion on a modern amp (not in my price bracket anyhow) that I've like - but I run a Boss Fuzz pedal through the clean channel and that sounds really thick and dirty. If you buy one of these you will go through more amps than guitars!

It's 20+ years old and has just started getting scratchy on the pickup selector, otherwise superb.

This is the guitars strong suit - they are hand built by craftsmen for less money (in the uk) than a standard American strat or tele, but the quality of finish is in the 1000 pounds mark.

It is over 20 years old and looks and plays immaculately, the condition of my nephew's 6 month old BC Rich Warlock looks like shit in comparison.

Never had to use it, but considering getting one built to my own spec (they do semi custom builds) guess I'll find out then.

I've had shit loads of guitars, cheap 'uns and dear ones, I sold the GS when I was getting into my Gibson phase, and it is the only guitar I've really missed when it went, and I had to wait for 2 years for it to turn up in Creightons again. In the UK they are relatively unknown and second hand can go for stupidly cheap money - they are an absolute bargain - I've seen them many times in various guises for less than #250 (even #200) which is criminal - let the big name snobs (been there and done that myself) buy big name guitars, just get yourself the bargain of the century. Also, I've got fairly small hands (big palms, short fingers) but the neck and fretboard are a delight, My Riccy 330 was better for my small hands but tonally was way too limited - hence the return to the GS. One extra thing - this is quite a light guitar, after an hours gigging you'll always appreciate that!