Gordon Smith MHM Machinehead Music 25th Anniversary

Numbered 2 out of a run of 6. This is basically a Graduate Slimline (double cutaway Les Paul but somehow prettier) with some added extras.
The Body & Neck are beautifully cut & shaped, with a pronounced archtop & very smooth glued neck joint. Mahogany body I believe with a Tiger-flame veneer on body & headstock all finished in a burgundy wine colour.
Chromed hardware is very solid: Tune-o-matic bridge with stop tailpiece, chromed cover Gordon Smith Humbuckers with coil taps, Brass nut and locking Gordon Smith tuners.
Volume & tone for both pickups.
It came with a plush Hiscox hardcase with the 'Machinehaed' logo on the side too (worth around ??70).

I'm mostly playing a range of Metal styles & currently have it tuned B to B. I use a Laney GH100S with a couple of pedals overdriving the 'Lo' input.
This Guitar really covers every sound you could want. It's natural tone is like a Gibson Les Paul but brighter. However the wide tonal sweep of the tone knobs & coil taps give everything from Tele-Twang to Sabbath muscle. Rolling the tone off brings out a sumptuous warmth without losing definition & it wails sweetly on solos.
Minimal routing for electrics really pays off in terms of tone & sustain. Also, the pickups give a hot, high output. Perhaps not as hot as some pickups designed specifically for Metal but the note clarity is perfect & I like a more classic tone anyway.

Gordon Smiths are handmade & always careully set up at the factory. Routing is so careful that no extra wood is removed & everything is very tight and solid. The Neck to Body fit is second to none & the brass nut is flawlessly aligned to the fretboard. The finish on the laminates is glass-like with not a blemish in sight & the satin finish everywhere else is smooth & even with no flaws.
The Neck is a bit broader than a LP but slim too, so it's easy to wrap my hand around.
The only tiny niggles are that 2 dots on the fretboard are slightly misaligned & the selector switch seems to need a little switch cleaner every couple of months. Otherwise I'd have given 10/10.

Built in 1998 & has a couple of dings from the previous owner but the finish shows no sign of lifting off where the damage is. The laquer is hard & has no scratches from plectrums & the back appears to be resistant to buckle-rash too. I've gigged with it plenty & recorded too & not needed a backup. it gets hammered quite hard live & everything is as tight as new.

Friendly & quick response to the 1 e-mail I sent enquiring about the guitar's age. i got exact dates & specifications.

I've been playing for over 10 years & finally decided to get a top class guitar. I'd been saving up for a Gibson & played various instruments before trying a Gordon Smith Graduate in a local shop which had a couple in stock. The sound & quality really amazed me & I can confidently say that the Gordon Smith's I've tried are way better than every new Gibson I compared them to. It just feels more refined & really fast to play & the sound is a real standard setter.
When I first bought this guitar I couldn't put it down or take my eyes off it. I grinned ear to ear for weeks. It was cheap but I'd happily pay three or four times as much to get another if this was stolen or destroyed. Actually, I'd probably get a new one built to my own spec. Handmade, custom guitars made in England for less than a grand! I had ??1500 to spend, but when I found this, I realised that I didn't need to. I cannot reccommend Gordon Smith Guitars enough.

Considering that the hardcase would cost about ??70 new, this Guitar only cost me ??260!!