Epiphone: Nighthawk

I played this yesterday; it was there, it was ready so I just had to hear it in action.

The first thing that got to me was its weight- it's light. Coupled with that smaller-than-Les Paul body, it gives good playability. However, do take note that this guitar, despite its Gibson bearings, sports a Strat scale length (25.5"). This has every implication to tone- it sounds snappier, less of that boomy Les Paul growl but that's quite achievable if your amp is up to it. It would also mean that the middle single coil there isn't a pretentious feature; it gives off a pleasant voicing. In fact, the Nighthawk's coil split switch allows you to manifest some Strat-type single coil voicings from both the neck & bridge humbuckers, in combination with that middle pickup. Neat. But in full humbucking mode, the neck's mini humbucker might throw some of us off with that raspier than standard neck tone. But all's good in terms of clarity. Slim tapered D-profile neck on this one so it's a very playable guitar indeed.

The nighthawk is a nice alternative to both a Les Paul & SG design. It's another singlecut guitar out there but it's a valid existence in terms of variation. Recommended for players who aren't too particular about owning a semi-quirky guitar with a touch of class.

Epiphone: Nighthawk

List: $559

Availability: Swee Lee Co (BB branch)

The Nighthawk once more

Gibson's Nighthawk returned to production last year as a limited run selection: CLICK

Subsequently, Epiphone featured the Nighthawk as regular production units earlier this year: CLICK

But come summer 2011, the Gibson Nighthawk is here to stay. For how long? I've no idea whatsoever. But the Nighthawk is one of those memorable Gibsons in my books because it features a single coil pickup, something which is not a Gibson staple. Well, the manufacturer dared to consider this inclusion because the Nighthawk is 25.5"; it's the most appealing scale length for that unmistakable single coil snap. Now you know why Fender keeps it within this scale length- it's done for a reason.

EPIhawk

The good people of Epiphone are now offering us the Nighthawk in the Epiphone manifestation. This is new (2011) so all updates on availability & prices to be doine here in time to come. I still find the slanted bridge humbucker disturbing; say you dislike the tone, which other off-the-shelf pickup comes in a slanted format? Nevertheless, the guitar is still worth checking out.

Return of the hawk

The good news: Gibson's Nighthawk is back with a very tempting lipstick singlecoil pickup in the mix, as seen above...

The not-so-good news: It's a limited run *sigh*

Is the Nighthawk an affordable take on the immortal Les Paul? No, it sounds more SG-seque but I've always wanted to try a Gibson without the tune-o-matic bridge...