Category Archives: Guitar Reviews

Gibson Les Paul Standard 60s

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The Gibson Les Paul Standard – is there anything more iconic? Sure, plenty of other guitars are iconic (Stratocaster, Telecaster, etc.) but the term “standard” here is not to say that this is a base model. Nope, this is the flagship model of the Gibson brand- it has that magical blend of features (maple top, mahogany back and neck, dual hum buckers, etc.) that makes this the standard that all other guitars are measured by.

This particular model is from 2019, the year that Gibson was bought out and revamped their lineup. They brought things back to a simpler time, a time without robotic tuners and other modern improvements. The body isn’t weight-relieved (that’s on the list!) and that’s okay! Mine is in the amazing iced tea finish- and just look at that unique flamed maple top (on the list!) with those streaks of dark and light in the wood that you don’t usually see.

Join me as we dive into one of my “signature” guitars here on the Guitar Bucket List!

J Fusco Guitars “Partscaster”

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Hello everyone! I’m back after a holidays-related absence (it gets busy this time of year!) to bring you the next installment of the Guitar Bucket List. In this episode (6) we look at the guitar I made, a “Partscaster” (a Fender Stratocaster copy that’s made from various parts). My brother bought me the guitar body as a gift (in that amazing green sparkle) and then I added the wenge wood neck, the locking tuners, the moto pick guard, the chrome hardware, and the Fishman Fluency active single coil pickups. And let me tell you, these things sound great! You have to watch the video to appreciate all of the usable sounds on this guitar – if it doesn’t make you want to get a set of these pickups, I don’t know what will.

I hope you enjoy this episode- we’ll be back to the big name brands soon enough, but who knows- with how great this guitar came out, maybe “J Fusco Guitars” will become a big name someday, too!

Gibson Explorer

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The Gibson Explorer is an iconic guitar. After flopping with its 1958 release, this guitar gained notoriety decades later with the metal movement. However, I don’t play metal (as mentioned with the Epiphone Prophecy SG video), so why did I need to have this in my collection? Well, with the Explorer was created, it wasn’t meant for metal- it was meant for rock’n’roll! And it came in a very plain package- just some korina mahogany and an unbound fretboard.

Fast-forward years later and we have the regular mahogany version finished in “antique natural”. This guitar looks the part of a vintage instrument and the nitro finish feels great. The guitar is so easy to play- the slim neck is what does it for me. And the sound from the BurstBucker 2 and 3 pickups? Unreal. It’s one of those guitars that makes you a better player when you pick it up. It just exudes cool…even when I play it!

Check out the video for all the details to see what this checked off the guitar bucket list!

Epiphone Prophecy SG

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Here on episode 4 of The Guitar Bucket List, we discuss my Epiphone Prophecy SG. This guitar’s greatness comes down to two main things: its looks (I mean, is there a nicer color?) and its pickups! We’ll get into all of that here.

The guitar features a beautiful feeling satin finish. But it doesn’t fell “unfinished” by any means. It just feels great- everything is so smooth and it’s easy to play. It feels like the same “aged” effect that Epiphone was going for on my 59 Les Paul.

It has a slim neck but also a little beef on one side, which is supposed to contour to the hand better. It has these HUGE jumbo frets that I’m not a big fan of. If the frets were lower, I think this might be the perfect guitar.

Aside from the color, the flamed maple veneer, the dyed abalone inlays, and (my favorite) the Les Paul Custom headstock design, the best feature of this guitar has to be the pickups, which are the Fishman Fluence set. These things ROCK. They have a hot humbucker setting, a PAF style setting for old school humbucker sounds, and a voicing that’s supposed to sound more like a Stratocaster. It has so many usable sounds and is such a great recording guitar due to the fact that it has no noise or buzz whatsoever. I can’t say enough about these pickups.

But I sure do try to say enough in the video! Check it out: