Gibson Custom Shop Joe Bonamassa Les Paul - Antique Gold

This is very similar to the normal Les Pauls out there, but the knobs are different to help distinguish between neck/bridge, and there are a few other smaller features such as the wrap around way of stringing vs the normal method. The guitar features a mahogany body with a maple top, mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets, trapezoid inlays, pickguard, binding, hard tail bridge, two humbuckers, two volumes, two tones and a three way switch.

UTILIZATION

Joe is a sick player, so it's only natural that he'd have a pretty sick signature model guitar. The guitar was put together fairly nicely. There were no issues with the nut. The best way to tell is to simply play it. If you keep noticing you're going out of tune and it "pings" when you tune, that means the nut is cut improperly. The fretwork was also pretty good on this. I was able to achieve relatively low action without any real issues. The binding work looked nice, and the gold hardware didn't have any tarnish on it.

SOUNDS

The guitar sounded pretty good stock. I'm not a huge fan of the Gibson pickups that come in this thing, so keep that in mind. The bridge is high output ceramic pickup, sounds thick and gives that standard Les Paul kind of vibe. The neck is a bit too bright for my liking, but it does the job. I like adding a JB/59 combo in these guitars. It's a bit cliché, but the combo really works well. With the JB in the bridge, you get that high output kind of vibe that really pushes the front end. The 59 in the neck is super fat and smooth. It allows for crazy legato while still remaining clear.

OVERALL OPINION

Joe's a killer guitar player, and this is a killer guitar. It sounds pretty solid, and to be honest, it's not that much different from any other Les Paul out there. There are a few other minor differences, but you can really just buy a normal Les Paul and get his tone. It's much more so in the playing style and amp choice than the actual guitar he's using.