yngwie308 wrote:fillmore are you still the owner of the JW Tribute or did you sell it?
I am sorry to hear of your diaapointment with the guitar. I really don't enjoy being negative about guitars and amps, they're what I love, but these days, there is outright deception and f***kery with all this replica guitars and amps.
yngwie308
Yes, I still have it. Im dissapointed as far as what that guitar SHOULD be, as opposed to what it is. The pickups really piss me off in a big way. If (as rumor has it) Gibson only made 100 JW tribute guitars, they could have made some "historically accurate" pickups for it. The pickups are relic'd standard USA issue, high output, screwdriver-in-the-ear FB pickups... inexcusable on this "no detail overlooked painstaking recreation". What a load of crap.
Even if they made 1000 JW FB's, they STILL could have at least contracted out the pickups if they didnt want to retool to make accurate FB pickups. Other than that, the fact that I had to sink hours of my time to correct Gibsons oversights, lack of quality control and "we dont give a shit" way of sending out a guitar pisses me off too. I dont really MIND doing work like that, but on a guitar with an 11K+ list, I shouldnt have to.
electricskychurch wrote:so, how accurate are the ri's ? LOL
i suppose the pu's are far from the original ones (as it seems a habit ! LOL) , i'd be curious to know if somebody is making some real decent firebird pu's clones ?
Reissue FB's have nothing to do with older '63-mid '65 FB's. I've owned quite a few of both, and there is a HUGE difference in every aspect. The JW FB would be the closest I've seen,
IF you change the pickups. Second closest are the historic reissue FB series (I, III, V and VII), but there are things afoul there too, such as chrome plated tuners on a guitar with otherwise nickel plated hardware (On the I, III and V). The pickups are also not historically accurate... just regular USA high output FB pickups.
When I asked him, Edwin Wilson (
MISTER Gibson Custom Shop) told me directly that they used chrome tuners on the historic guitars "cause they had too many laying around, and didnt think it would be worth it to have them nickel plated"!!!! These are on guitars as "historically accurate as possible"!!
(BTW-the FB VII has gold hardware. Under any gold plated metal is... NICKEL!! Why couldnt they just NOT gold plate some VII tuners and put 'em on the I's III's and V's???????)
This is typical Gibson policy. I've posted this before, but to get an understanding of how they operate, when the Historic FB's were out for a little while, I inquired about simply getting a FB III WITHOUT the shorty trem--just dont drill the 3 holes, and leave the trem off, using the
already existing wraptail only.
They wanted $900.00 to NOT drill 3 holes, and NOT give me the trem!!!!!! Pardon my French, but thats
FUCKED UP.
As far as FB pickup clones, either Duncan Antiquities or maybe Lollars (never tried Lollars, but I know he does make good pickups).
The Antiquities are really nice, and very close to the originals, MUCH closer than Duncans standard SM-1, 2 or 3. IMO, those standard Duncan FB pickups are lifeless, stiff and very dead sounding. No "throat" or "woodiness" to them at all, unlike the Antiquities, which DO have all those qualities.
Well, thats my Gibson rant... for now.
) tells me that the guitar he's playing IS his old original guitar. It just looks different than any other JW FB I've seen.
