Purchased from: Musician's Friend
Features: This guitar is very expensive compared to its other counterpart, the Standard Les Paul Jr., which I found for $800-$900 price range compared to this axe. The feature most focused on this guitar is either the special H-90 pickup, which adds more of a punch to the tone and is noise-cancelling, or the fact that it's a named-guitar from a very popular pop-punk rock band of a generation. There is only a volume knob and one tone knob, which is on any Standard Les Paul Jr. This guitar is equipped with a 60's style slim-fitting rosewood neck, 22-frets, and are each hand-made so that each of these guitars will have their own dimension to the guitar. Also built is mahogany body with an air-tight space between the neck and body, an excellently crafted bridge, and it comes in three colors: classic white, ebony, and Vintage sunburst. At the back of the headstock there is a signature from Billie Joe Armstrong artfully written. It also comes with a free case with Green Day's Lightning Man logo and a leopard finish inside. Nickel hardware. // 10
Sound: I play through a Vox Valvetronix VT30, no pedals. I play usually punk rock, a bit of classic rock, rockabilly, alternative, and a bit of blues riffing here and there. I typically just use stock overdrive and sometimes a bit of delay. This guitar fills each music category well, although chords seem to be the strength of this Les Paul Jr. This guitar can give sparkling clean tones, deep and rich bass tones, and definitely packs a punch with some good crunch tones and hardcore blues. Metal isn't really an option for this guitar, maybe so, but I've tried and it only fairs barely (the musicality and dynamics in metal with this guitar is lost in my opinion). The H-90 pick-up, I am sad to say, does not exist and is only a P-90 pick-up, which is a bit noisy but better than an average single-coil's noise. I often have to roll down the volume knob while recording so the humming doesn't interfere, but this is just a small thing. The tone knob is basic and easy to use, and I can get some nice tones from the guitar without adjusting my amp. // 9
Action, Fit & Finish: I've had this guitar for about a year, and I have to say, a year has seemed to change this guitar quite a bit. At first, the action was nice, but the neck was a bit too straight and didn't fit my hands too well (compared to a Fender). A slight buzz exists in when hitting the low E string, but that's easily fixed. The finish for classic white is easily dirtied by certain leathers, but a quick cleaning should do the trick. The pick-up was beautifully placed for that nice, punchy output, and the bridge and nickel-hardware helps with delivering nice sustain. // 8
Reliability & Durability: This guitar is a tough one. It's very heavy, and for a year I haven't had to change the strings because it maintained a bright, loud output. None of the hardware has broken yet, and I've dropped this guitar more than a lot. You may want a strap-lock, because when the straps fell off that usually led to most of the fallings of the guitar. I would definitely gig with this alone, but its emphasis on chords might lead you to bring a backup just for other songs involving more intricate playing. The finish is thick and very nicely made, and will last for a long time to come. // 9
Impression: I am very impressed with this guitar, although it did take me a good amount of time to start getting used to playing a Gibson. I've been playing for 2-3 years now, and I also own a Squier Strat with a Seymour Duncan Hot Rail SH-1 bridge pick-up and a Fender Acoustic guitar. I wish the H-90 pick-up did come with this guitar, or the noise-cancelling came with this guitar. I would definitely buy this guitar again, maybe in a Vintage sunburst finish or again in classic white. I love a lot about this guitar, mostly how long the nickel hardware I think will last. Anything else? Buy it. It will be worth it. // 10
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Incorrect the H-90 is a stacked-humbucking pickup.