My Guitars are    Gibson 2000 Les Paul Standard

                           Orville, by Gibson, 58, Les Paul Custom. Reissue. ( 3 Pickups )

My main guitar is a 2000 Les Paul Standard, Tobacco Sunburst with a lightly stained natural back. I,ve swapped the original Les Paul Pick ups for a pair of Bare Knuckles and the stainless steel stop tail-piece for a vintage style aluminum one. The Les Paul is quite light in weight and acoustically it has a bright ringing tone, but. with that charataristic midrange thunk. Almost like a Fender in some respects!  Amplified the guitar has a very authentic early 50's-60's tone. Think, early Keith Richards, Bloomfield, or Clapton. The sound is helped by the BareKnuckle pickups!! The bridge pickup was custom made for me to replicate the sound of a typical low to medium output vintage PAF and the neck pickup is a Geoff Whitehorn signature humbucker. True vintage tone but slightly hotter. They are a superb combination!!  To here them in action.

CLICK ON MP3 JUKEBOX and select any of the  OV8 titles  or KnuckleBridge, KnuckleNeck,  KnuckleB+N  or Samsthing,  Deltablues or  Hookersblues.

 To contact Bareknuckle Pickups go to   www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk

MORE ABOUT the Bareknuckle pickups. The bridge pickup was custom made for me to my own requirements. I spoke to Tim at Bareknuckle explaining that I wanted an authentic vintage PAF design that would give me a true 60's vintage tone. I quoted the classic Mike Bloomfield and early Clapton type of tone. The pickup duly arrived and when fitted I was knocked out by the feel and tone of the pickup. EXACTLY what I wanted, great vintage tone heaven!!! It's very player sensitive and you can really dig into the strings to get more gain.

The Neck pickup is a Geoff Whitehorn-"Crawler" signature. Again the pickup sounds like an authentic vintage PAF but is slightly hotter in output. Turn it down slightly and it sounds like a conventional PAF, but  increase the volume and it produces a fatter tone. But, it never gets woolly or fluffy. Sounds really sweet and perfectly balanced!!

To contact Bareknuckly go to   www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk

  Bridge Pickup.

 Neck Pickup

MY SECOND guitar is an Orville by Gibson, Les Paul, 57 reissue, Custom 3 Pickup.

The guitar was built in Japan, I think around 1992. The Orville by Gibson brand was approved and authorized by Gibson. My Orville is a reissue of the Les Paul, 57 Black Beauty 3 Pickup. These guitars are highly regarded and were as good as the equivalent Gibson reissues of the time. I always wanted a 3 Pickup Custom but never had three to four grand lying around!! I paid £750 for it and I haven't been disappointed!! The guitar has a cellulose finish, three glorious, Gibson USA, 57 Classic Pickups and a long tenon neck joint!! I,ve compared it to a new Gibson reissue and there's nothing in it. OK, the new Gibson's are now more accurate in details, but there's no outstanding difference in build quality. In my opinion. The guitar sounds darker than my standard but still has a sweet treble and better sustain. Probably due to the long tenon neck joint, bigger headstock and all that lovely multiple body binding.

Please go to MY GUITARS 2 for pictures.

To here the Orville by Gibson. Click on the MP3JukeBox ( top of page) and select titles.

Chicago...Magicslims...Shuffle...Chicagoblues2...Zepblues