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It was the usual routine for 8:00 at my place, supper had been eaten, dishes were clean and put away, fire was going, and now it was time to sit down at the computer and let the endless digital information of guitars and AC/DC wash over me. I started at my usual forums, ACDC.com and everythingSG.com, nothing exciting had been posted on either so I go on over to Gibson.com.
 I had not been on the Gibson site for a while. I find they don’t update their pages often enough to justify it more than once or twice a month. But this time I realized I may have left it too long. As soon as the Gibson front page comes up there is a picture of a very well known instrument to me, right down to bitter details.
I don’t know why, but I kind of space out for a minute trying to figure out why this epic guitar is splattered all over there page like Cancer Warning's on my grandma's cigarette packs. I figured they must have an article or something of that liking on it. I click the link and to my surprise I am taken to a glorious page describing each highly detailed piece. It still hasn’t set in that this guitar is for sale.
I spent quite a few minutes reading down the page, and then my brain finally kicks on. Is this damn thing for sale or what?! I scroll up working my way to the top of the page until I am greeted with a dollar sign. A BIG dollar sign! A $6100 dollar sign. Puke!
Despite the enormous price tag I figured a way to come up with the dough and now I just needed to find one to purchase (and hopefully with a nice low number). Here is the purchasing experience I had to get my dream guitar in my hands.
First off, Sweetwater was an absolute dream to deal with! I am from Canada, and had no way of purchasing one of these guitars in my country. Why... I have no idea. Gibson told me they sent 6 to Canada. That's right, 6! So I imagine those were gobbled up by some music store owners that never even put them on their inventory. Who knows.
Anyway, with no other way of purchasing one in Canada, I had to start to look at another way to get one into Canada. With a quick call and some price comparing, Sweetwater was the way to go. For one, they would ship it to me; apparently US dealers were not authorized/allowed to ship these guitars out of there designated Country of sale. So they put their head on the block I suppose a bit for me, and for that I am grateful. On top of that, they still gave me free shipping, and knocked a few nickels off the price. All said and done it still cost me $500 more than if I found one in Canada, but hey.... I got the damn thing in the end didn't I?
Note: I am not a "Hot Shot"! Nor do I have $500 dollars to throw away at customs, but I just couldn't let this beauty slip away for good.
Long story short with Sweetwater, I swipe the Credit Card - They ship the guitar. Three days later it shows up at my door in Canada. Hell YA!!!
 Crack open the box, and at first look I am not exactly jumping up in the air like I thought I would. Maybe it's because I am a grown man, but still think I will act like a kid in certain situations (then don't). Maybe it was something else that day, couldn't tell ya.
Pull the baby from her Coffin and wrap my hands around her cold "Fed-Ex'ed" neck, and it was magic. She felt at home the second our skins rubbed. It has a really, really smooth neck; in all sense of the meanings. It is physically smooth, it is supper narrow, incredible taper that almost makes your hand ease up the neck with no effort, and then just fall right back down to the cord graveyard. It really is something I have not felt in another guitar.
So... I start getting some weird looks from fellow coworkers as they walk pass my office and see me playing guitar; feet up on the desk, pick in my mouth, and a "sheep eating thistles smile". So I decide it's time to head home a wee bit early, after all, it is coming up lunch time.
A painstaking 2 hour drive from the office to my house in the sticks, all the time sweating at the palms to get that piece of heaven back in my sights. Speeding up my gravel driveway, but no E-Brake on the hairpin today. We have precious cargo. In the house, straight to the amp, and then.... Damnit! I have to let this damn guitar warm up to the house temp.... TIC.. TOC.. TIC.. TOC..... Well, I had enough of that. I creep the case open and wait to see if she fogs up. Nope, I am all good.
I take a rest on my favorite stool and rest my newborn on my knee, soon she will take her first steps. Next I turn on the amp and listen to the tubes hum as they warm up, as I bend down and plug in the patch cord that will soon become the umbilical cord to the amp as she rams tasteful notes and bends at mind altering speeds.
The first few seconds were like a car crash. I didn't really know what was going on, it was all slow motion. At one point I was facing the wrong way, and at the end I could still feel my adrenalin pumping!
 This thing sounds incredible! That's my opinion only (I have spoken to a few people who liked it, but were not blown away: to each their own). I will hopefully post a few sound clips for you guys early next week. Until then, please enjoy these pictures and make any comments you like in the Forum. Constructive criticism is always welcome, points of view are welcome.
Cheers, till next time.
Heath (aka - pancake81)
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