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tonmazz « This Les Paul does not dissapoint! »
Published on 07/31/12 at 22:08The Gibson Zakk Wylde Les Paul Custom Shop is one of the finest Les Pauls Gibson has ever put out of their USA Custom Shop. With a Mahogany body and unfinished maple neck, this thing is as "Wylde" as it gets. It comes with the Zakk Wylde EMG set which consists of an 81 and 85. With the signature Zakk Wylde Bullseye design and decorated in gold hardware, it looks as great as it plays. Special touches like the gold truss rod cover, Zakk graphic on the back of the headstock and the beautiful unfinished maple neck make this guitar truly special.
UTILIZATION
This guitar is heavy, especially compared to the newer Les Pauls that I own. It's weight and mahogany body contribute to the overall chunky tones you can get from it. The active pickup configuration roars and is perfect if you are playing today's modern music. Grabbing a harmonic or generating massive downtuned tones comes easy with this Les Paul. The unfinished neck allows for very fast movement up and down the fretboard.
SOUNDS
This is the perfect match for an old Marshall JCM800 or JMP. Getting that 80s old school tone or ramping up to modern tones is no problem as this guitar can run with vintage and modern amps. I have played this through deizel, Bogner, Marshall, Fender and many other amps and never questioned its ability to get heavy tones on all of them. EMGs seem to lose tonality and warmth with cleaner playing which would be my only sound complaint.
OVERALL OPINION
Although this is an expensive Les Paul, it is well worth the money. Unlike some Custom Shop models, I really feel that they spared no expense when producing this guitar. The unfinished neck is by far my favorite feature of this guitar. It not only looks unique but also improves the playability of it. The appearance is also stunning with the gold hardware and custom paint scheme. Unlike some others that have played it, I like the weightiness of it and think it adds to the thick tonal quality.
The only downside is the use of EMGs. Although it allows the guitar to rip and emulate the heavy tones of Zakk Wylde, every now and then it's nice to play something with a bit more tone. I find EMGs very sterile for this purpose. Once I swapped out the EMGs for a set of passive humbuckers, this became the perfect guitar. I would absolutely reccomend this guitar to anyone looking for a quality guitar.
UTILIZATION
This guitar is heavy, especially compared to the newer Les Pauls that I own. It's weight and mahogany body contribute to the overall chunky tones you can get from it. The active pickup configuration roars and is perfect if you are playing today's modern music. Grabbing a harmonic or generating massive downtuned tones comes easy with this Les Paul. The unfinished neck allows for very fast movement up and down the fretboard.
SOUNDS
This is the perfect match for an old Marshall JCM800 or JMP. Getting that 80s old school tone or ramping up to modern tones is no problem as this guitar can run with vintage and modern amps. I have played this through deizel, Bogner, Marshall, Fender and many other amps and never questioned its ability to get heavy tones on all of them. EMGs seem to lose tonality and warmth with cleaner playing which would be my only sound complaint.
OVERALL OPINION
Although this is an expensive Les Paul, it is well worth the money. Unlike some Custom Shop models, I really feel that they spared no expense when producing this guitar. The unfinished neck is by far my favorite feature of this guitar. It not only looks unique but also improves the playability of it. The appearance is also stunning with the gold hardware and custom paint scheme. Unlike some others that have played it, I like the weightiness of it and think it adds to the thick tonal quality.
The only downside is the use of EMGs. Although it allows the guitar to rip and emulate the heavy tones of Zakk Wylde, every now and then it's nice to play something with a bit more tone. I find EMGs very sterile for this purpose. Once I swapped out the EMGs for a set of passive humbuckers, this became the perfect guitar. I would absolutely reccomend this guitar to anyone looking for a quality guitar.