Tobias Unknown

this guitar is a tobias made by gibson in the late nineties 1999?it is 25 1/2 scale fretboard.this particular model is purpleheart top on swampash body. i have seen others that are zebrawood on mahogony or curly maple on mapleetc.all i have seen seem to be different.same with pickups i have seen gibson humbuckers and various styles of bartolinis this one has three single coil active bartolinis and can produce a litany of different sounds.all the necks seem to be the same combonation of woods,five piece maple purpleheart maple purpleheart maple and is acemetrical thicker on the bass end or low e and thinner on the high e side with two truss rods .some early models made by michael tobias had a les paul jr shaped body.the later models made by gibson all seem to have a kind of stretch stratocaster shape.string through body bridge,24k gold plated sperzal locking tuners,made in canada hard case with tobias logo.

sounds are anything from crystal clear, to glass breaking,ear piercing ,shrills depending on the active knob position( in or out)and various other settings.its a little on the gainey side even on the cleanest setting,but overall very versital and unique.

action was so high it was like stepping in mud trying to play fast riffs,but with the right allen wrench a few minutes later i was running on dry ground with 200 dollar track shoes.only one problem the middle pickup wasnt routed deep enough to accomodate my new found low action(oops)it has made wear marks on the pickup cover but doesnt affect the sound or playability enough to warrent correcting.other than that glitch,id say craftsmanship is superb the neck is a bolt on type but truly as good or better design than any.

i have not played live for years and not with this one at all,but i would have to say it is very heavy and durable enough to drive railroad spikes if you didnt mind a few deep scratches.if i were playing out and it werent for the enevitability of a broken super slinky high e string i would use it without a backup,no problem.

i have never had a reason to contact gibson for reasons concerning this guitar but i have prieviously for other guitars and found them to be at least somewhat if not very friendly and helpful.

i haye been playing since 1973 and if i said how many guitars i have owned you would think that i am making it up.between 100 and 200 i used to buy and sell alot,back when you didnt have to be rich to buy an american made guitar and quality japanese guitars were available for well under 100 dollars.there werent many of these nashville boutique guitars made I believe 150 or so and one of only a half a dozen or so hand made electric guitars i have ever owned and although i didnt manage to keep any of the others ive had i believe this ones here to stay.i dont know if thats a testament to this ones high quality or just apparent scarcity of good guitars in general or both but its found its place near if not at the top of my choice of players among mostly japanese electrics.