c.2012 Gibson TV "Split Pea" Doublecut Les Paul Junior

April 18, 2014

c.2012 Gibson TV "Split Pea" Doublecut Les Paul Junior

The clip above is my little 2W tube amp through a mic -- just jamming a bit in open D tuning. Anyhow, this guitar came to me in a trade and is actually a "Billie Joe Armstrong" model LP doublecut Junior based on said player's '58 TV yellow model. It's got a produced-date of 2012 and the finish is actually more of a "split pea soup" green rather than a traditional TV yellow color but that's "all plus" to me. I like "different."

The signature "skull" decal that should be on the pickguard is now long gone, as well, because the Mr. who I got this from had put an automotive-style bumper sticker over it and half the skull came off while getting that gunk off. No worries there, though... it looks better (more "vintage") without it and now it has a vaguely "brushed" bakelite-looking finish.

Otherwise the guitar is quite clean and near-new but there are a couple of nick/finish chip-outs on the side lower bout of the guitar opposite the jack.

So, what do I think? I think it's awesome. The construction is good, the finish is fun and the components are nice. I have no idea why Gibson still uses uncompensated tail/bridges on these guys but that was easily remedied by filing a couple of barely-visible notches under the unwound G&B strings.

The frets feel nice and "vintagey" and the neck is stable and extremely comfortable. It's "just big enough" to feel like an older guitar and "just small enough" to get you playing really fast. I've never owned a doublecut, set-neck guit like this one so the superb fret access all the way up the neck is kinda exciting for me.

Sound-wise, the H-90 "stacked single coil" pickup sounds great. It's far warmer and fuller than I expected it to be -- even with the bridge location of the pup. Mixed with my affinity for low-watt tube amps, this means that I can simply control my tone pretty much all from the volume and tone knob on the guitar.