Reverend Gil Parris Signature

The Reverend Gil Parris is an amazingly versatile 'do anything' guitar that can sound anywhere betwen a Tele, Strat and Les Paul. The the pickup setup is quite unique as it has two Reverend Humbuckers (neck and bridge) along with a Lace Sensor in the middle with a 5 position switch that lets you move from the more formal tone of the humbuckers to the 'quack' of a good Strat in positions 2 and 4. However, in the middle position, you get the lace Sensor all on its own which is great for rythmn and those Tele styled chickin pickin leads. The big differentiator is the addition of the bass countour control which allows you to thin out the bas/middle tones of the pups which really provides for a broad range of tones. With the bass contour wound right off, you have a Tele and Strat in the one guitar and with an instant change to a Les Paul as wind the bass back on. Wow! Mine has the gold finish and maple neck which looks beautiful - the gold actually changes colour under stage lights changing form almost pearl white to dark brown. Like all Reverend guitars, you have the option of adding on the Les Trem which comes with a roller bridge and adds in just the right amount of vibrato (but not enough to do deep dives or other extreme Steve Vai tricks). The good thing is that like all reverends, it never goes out of tune.

Becuase of the three pups and the bass contour control, you can sound like anything you want. I play hard rock, covers and blues and right now, my Strats, Teles and Les Pauls are all fast asleep in their cases because I just don't need them anymore. I also have a Reverend Flatroc which is another amazing guitar (see my review) and with both of these axes at my side, I shall want no more!
The one thing you have to know about the Gil Parris is that because of the type of fusion music Gil plays, this signature model has a little resistor wired across the hot and earth tangs of the output jack - - this resistor takes a lot of the top end out of the guitar so some of these tend to sound a bit flat. So when you get yours, take out the input jack and snip off the little resistor and hey presto, your guitar wil come to life big time.

Perfect, perfect, perfect. This guitar's finish is simply stunning and the set up was spot on - - I didn't have to do anything which to me is a little strange. The truss rod was perfect, action and intonation spot on and not even the tiniest imperfection anywhere. The frets are the perfect compromise between vintage and medium jumbo, just shallow enough so you can feel that beautiful maple under your fingers.

I've been giging with this guitar for quite some time now and she just gets up there and boogies all night - - like most Reverends, it doesn't even break a string so reliablity is definitely 100%. I take both my Gil Parris and my Flatroc and depending on my mood, will pick one guitar or the other but really, I should do this before I go out because there's never been one occasion that I've had to change mid bracket!

Joe Naylor and his crew are becoming a legend. Simply put, you don't get better!

Like I said in my review of the Flatroc, Reverend guitars have set a new standard, along with a new product line that really upsets the apple cart. I am so happy I found these guitars - - after 30 years of playing non stop, I think I've found some guitars that truly do it all at a ridiculously low price. I once said to Joe Naylor that if he charged three time the price, I'd still buy them - -they're that good!

Korean made semiacoustic (no holes) from 2007. Fender style neck (a bit wider and with a more moderate radius), tele style body, spruce (!) top on some kind of chambered mahagony. Wilkinson self locking tuners that stay in tune perfectly, but make changing strings a bit cumbersome. Tunamatic bridge and stop tail piece. Two humbuckers and a Lace sensor in the middle. Vol and tone control plus a very nice bass control. There is a tremolo available as an option. Mine does not have it.

Warm sound with a lot of bass (that you can roll of with a separate control). The resonance frequencies of the p/us are more dampened as on other guitars. This gives kind of a "HiFi"-Sound that is very versatile and can be used for many styles.
Neck humbucker is fairly low power and great for blues and jazz. It's combination with the middle pu does not sound as much different than it does on a strat. If you roll off the bass in this position, however, you get an almost acoustic sound, even on a normal guitar amp. Great for rhythm work. Middle pu itself sounds a bit strange, kind of LoFi with a narrow frequ. band. Sometimes exactly what you need. In combination with the bridge humbucker you finally get a telecaster like sound that you would expect from the looks of the guitar. The bridge pu alone is a great rocker. The bass control is great to go from "rhythm" to "solo" as it also changes the volume. You then have a thinner rhythm sound, that keeps the band sound clean and for the solo you get the extra push. Works fine with your amp clean or distorted.No noise in any position.
Difficult to give a rating for the sound because it is different to the "standard" sounds. If you want a Tele, Strat, Les Paul, .... sound from it you will be dissapointed. If you can use it's own special voice for your music, this might be just the one.
Let's give it a try:
A 5 if you are into "standard" guitar sounds
A 10 if you like it and
A 12 if you look at the price tag ;-)

Everything was perfect from the beginning, as with all Reverends I played so far. Great look and feel out of the box.

Great tuning stability. The best I encountered except for floyd rose trems. Although it is black gloss lacquered you see almost no scratches after 6 months of live use. Frets seem to wear heavily. Maybe this is because it has become my main live guitar and it gets played a lot.
I often use it without a backup. If you use it professionally and want to be absolutely safe, just buy a second one. They are cheap.
If switch and pots are the same quality as on the old American models they will have to be replaced after a few years.

Great company, quick answers. Very good local dealer. After 6 years of live use they replaced hardware parts on the bridge of my Rverend Slingshot at no charge!

Been playing for more than 35 years now. Own (or have owned) a lot of different gear. The Korean Reverends do not have the "voodoo" that the American ones had. But... they are even better quality (sorry you guys at Reverend), their price/performance ratio is unbelievable. You get professional instruments for 500 bucks. This guitar looks great, feels great, has tons of tone, stays in tune when you need it, is very lightweight and is fun to play.
This special model has a tone of it's own. You have to find out if you like it or not. It will stand back behind your playing, it does not have a signature sound like a Tele or Strat. The audience will hear you and not as much the guitar.
Anyway, if this is not a 10 in price/performance I don't know ...