The Gibson Les Paul Dusk Tiger
Where to start...I received a Dusk Tiger for review. Looks are subjective, so I won't even go there except to say that it really comes into its own under stage lighting. What interests me the most are the capabilities. I certainly respect traditional guitars, but this is an electronic guitar and either you're interested in that sort of thing or not. If not, then just buy a conventional guitar but to say something like Dusk Tiger shouldn't be made is a real disservice to those who do want to take the guitar to different places. The individual outputs in particular provide exceptional options. I run different strings through different processors and get a sound that's almost symphonic in size - lower three strings through octave dividers, all strings through chorus, magnetic pickups through straight ahead amp sounds. This totally beats something like MIDI guitar for me because the sound is organic and real, there are no tracking issues because you're working with audio, and the responsiveness is the same as a traditional guitar. The Robot tuning isn't for "lazy guitarists,:" but for anyone for whom time is money. I don't care how well you can tune a guitar, you can't tune all six strings at once. I never used alternate tunings because of the hassle, but the Robot thing makes alternate tunings insanely practical. The Chameleon Tone Editor software is exceptional in terms of being able to customize the sound - I can get just about any tone I want, and I haven't even explored all the possibilities yet. This guitar, and this type of technology, isn't for everyone. But I am extremely thankful that it's available for those of us who really want to pursue new sonic directions, especially within the context of a REAL guitar instead of something based on synthetic sound. I applaud Gibson for making these types of instruments available, even though they're clearly targeted toward a minority of players. The stinging criticisms seem to be coming mostly from those who don't see any need for an "electronic" as opposed to "electric" guitar. That's fine, you can do amazing things with even the simplest guitars. But basically, this all seems like a replay of what piano players said about synthesizers when they first appeared - yet now synthesizers are fully accepted as "just another instrument."
