Latest hot kit at Gibson

We dropped by Gibson’s UK HQ to check out their latest guitars. From a 12-string Les Paul to the new Firebird ’70s Tribute and a Grace Potter Signature Flying V, there was loads to investigate, including some guitar furniture! We’ll be back at Gibson soon for some filming.

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There’s a dazzling display of iconic guitars at the artists’ room at Gibson, together with set lists from legendary gigs. We were there to get a feel for some new arrivals and first on our must-see list was a new 12-string Les Paul.

Gibson have designed it to be super-powerful and the guitar features a ‘57 Classic and a ‘57 Classic Plus pickup. It’s mahogany with a carved maple top and maple neck.

The Grace Potter Signature Flying V is a real head-turner. It features BurstBucker Pro Rhythm and BurstBucker Pro Lead pickups designed to recreate the sound of vintage humbuckers, but with extra feedback protection. It’s made from mahogany and has a slim carved neck and vintage styling.

We looked round the Firebird Studio ’70s Tribute. A new version of the rock classic, with a neck that starts thin and gets chunkier for fast soloing plus two Dual Blade Alnico Mini Humbuckers, designed for vintage tones with modern versatility. Features are kept to the essentials to make it a more affordable guitar.

It has a mahogany body and maple neck.

While we were there we got a feel for the Firebird X Limited Edition which marries Gibson sounds and futuristic technology with a special finish. It’s got onboard effects, Robo-Tuners, computer interface and an analog audio engine. We’ll be bringing you a full Kitmonsters report soon, but here are some of the features. Get to your presets with this tone-pot.

You can even take it from electric to acoustic. The Firebird’s “tog-pots” let you move from unprocessed to processed sounds or select your combination. A third tog-pot blends acoustic sounds from the piezo pickup along with the electric pickups, or even acoustic sounds only. It’s got three mini-humbucker pickups that can be switched in many different ways including to single coil.

Alex Pyper from hotly-tipped alt-rock band Whales in Cubicles tried it for size.

There’s a new SG Special ’70s Tribute too - also with a thin to thick neck and two Dual Blade Alnico Mini Humbuckers.

While we were there we couldn’t resist checking out a pair of Dobro Hound Dog Resonators.

One of our favourite pieces wasn’t even a guitar! The Gibson HQ coffee table was a sure-fire hit with the Kitmonsters team.

There’s more detailed info on the guitars (but not the coffee table!) at Gibson.