Low
action, a fast neck, high output Burstbucker pickups, trapezoidal
inlays, a curved maple top over a chambered mahogany body...meet Jodie,
my Joe Bonamassa Les Paul Studio. She's my first made-in-America guitar,
and the heaviest of my collection, both in weight and in tone.
Joe
Bonamassa is a recent discovery for me. He belongs to the generation of
American virtuosic guitarists born in the '70s and grew up on English
Blues, hence possessing a unique tone that is a curious concoction of
modern and traditional. While his tone is nearly impossible to replicate
(he makes no apologies for using no less than four different amplifiers
in various combinations), his guitar possesses some features I couldn't
pass up on.
The neck is a cross between a '57 and a '59, not too
chunky yet not too slim, giving a meaty feel when gripped. While it
takes a little getting used to, it quickly becomes a comfortable
platform to pull off long, extended passages. It's awakening the
long-dormant shredder in me from his slumber.
The pickups are a
stock configuration of Burstbucker 2 in the bridge and Burstbucker 3 in
the neck, which on first glance appear to be completely normal and
unassuming. Closer inspection reveals that the pickups are actually
closer to the strings than on a stock Les Paul, giving the guitar a
hotter output with less dynamic sensitivity. While this may cause the
clean tone to suffer (unless '80s-style-overly-compressed clean tones
are your thing), crunch and solo tones have an incredible depth to their
character.
To add to the quirkiness of this guitar, the volume and tone knobs are different for each pickup. This was done because Joe has admitted to forgetting what each of the knobs did, and which pickup they referred to. In this case, the silver-faced knobs are labelled and refer to the bridge pickup, while the traditional translucent knobs refer to the neck pickup.
My only qualm with this guitar so far is its weight. I'm used to carrying around guitars and practicing for hours on end, especially on my Off weekends where I typically clock a good 6 hours on the guitar at least. This guitar has got me putting it down at least once every hour. I'd imagine that if I were to hold it longer, there'll be a groove in my shoulder from the strap pressure!
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