Page 81 - FLIPMAG.NET
P. 81
REVIEWS
GORDON SMITH It may be a bit of an indulgence at £250
GS DELUXE SEMI SOLID but we love the cloudy hue of that Gotoh
X Chrome hardware finish. This has been
WORDS RICHARD PURVIS applied to everything from the tuners to
the pickup covers and the bridge, which
You may associate Gordon Smith with stripped-down punk is Gotoh’s 510FB tune-o-matic type – a
axes but this chambered charmer suggests the UK maker solid chunk of metal with grub screws
locking the saddles in place. The one bit of
can compete at the classier end of the market too
metal that looks distinctly un-cloudy is the
gleaming brass nut, which stands out like a
ounded in Manchester in 1974, In conception, the GS Deluxe Semi ginger-haired fifth Beatle.
Gordon Smith upped sticks to the Solid is a flat-topped semi-hollow guitar It’s not unfair to say that Gordon Smith
sleepy Northamptonshire market with Gibson-style construction; unless you has struggled with the consistency of its
F town of Higham Ferrers after being specify otherwise, the body is mahogany build quality over the years – but you
bought by Auden Guitars in 2015. It’s with a bound maple cap, while the set wouldn’t know it from this guitar. The
still taking on the Asian factories with neck is mahogany with a bound rosewood binding is tidy, the neck join is flawless and
no-nonsense instruments for less than a fretboard. How hollow is semi-hollow? In there’s nothing ‘garden-shed project’ about
grand, but the Deluxe Semi Solid shows this case, there’s a chamber in the lower the way it’s been put together. Only some
Gordon Smith is out to prove that it has part of the body to match the one you stray flecks of metallic paint on the cream
more to offer than the affordable LP Junior can see behind the f-hole, but everything binding detract from the impression of
alternatives that made its name. between the waist and the neck join is high-end professionalism.
Before we go into detail on the specs of solid. It certainly sounds more open and
our review instrument, it’s worth pointing clangy than a Les Paul when strummed IN USE
out that Gordon Smith guitars are built acoustically but you might argue that it’s Because of its compact form and limited
to order, and practically all their parts are not a true semi-acoustic. chambering, we’re inclined to think of
customisable. This model is available with Gordon Smith’s in-house humbuckers this guitar as an LP type with some wood
a choice of pickups, woods, bridge types, have ceramic magnets and are wax-potted. scooped out rather than an ES-335 type
tuners, neck thicknesses, fretwire materials They also benefit from a nice bonus that with some air filled in. Tonally, however,
and more, including just about any colour you don’t have to pay extra for: they’re there’s a lively looseness to its amplified
your over-stimulated mind can think of. independently coil-splittable. The master voice that feels distinctly semi-acoustic.
Some of these options inevitably bump volume knob pulls up to turn the neck In pure EQ terms, there’s no doubt
up the price but there’s nothing essential ’bucker into a single-coil, while the tone we’ve landed right in the middle of Gibson
missing from the base model. Our guitar has knob does the same for the bridge unit. This territory. The neck humbucker is bold
three non-standard options – metallic paint brings the total number of pickup settings and chunky, fluffing up nicely with some
(£100), Gotoh 21:1 ratio tuners (£100) and to eight, including the two mismatched tweed-like overdrive, while the bridge
Gotoh X Chrome hardware (£250) – but options, and means you can instantly flick pickup offers lots of bark but isn’t as bright
while they’re all nice additions, we don’t between a slimmed-down rhythm sound as our reference Les Paul – partly, perhaps,
think it would be underdressed for the and something more chunky when it’s time because it’s about 3mm further away from
prom without them. to launch into your dog-startling solo. the saddles.
GUITAR MAGAZINE 81
