Born for the Blues
Someone recently, first of all who loves the Gibson brand, will have been able to try a guitar of the Nighthawk Series. This Series is characterized for its flexibility, characteristic that marked from the beginning the original idea of its planners. Now Gibson, with the Blueshawk model follows the inverse road: specialization.
Shape and characteristics
It owns the body dimensions of a Les Paul, with two S that permit to see the inside of the body. The instrument is therefore light and manageable and the bridge is equipped with mobile saddles, fixed like in the Fender style. The mechanics are those classic of the Gibson guitars and the keyboard is comfortable and fluent.
Pickups
2 Blues 90. They derive directly from the Gibson P90. The appearance is the same, but the Blues 90s are deeply modified. Let's see the main differences.
Magnets
An Alnico 5 magnet, instead of ceramic or steel magnet, like in the P90. Alnico is a good material for pole pieces. It is made with Aluminium, Nickel and Cobalt.
Windings
It is equipped with fewer windings than the P90.
Non adjustable pole pieces
In the Blues 90 pole pieces are all at the same height, and they are not adjustable.
Wax potted
If you open the Blues 90 you can note some traces of wax on the bobbins. Wax potting is an intelligent solution to avoid the microphonic effect.
Variable height
The height can be adjusted thanks to 2 screws between pole pieces.
Magnetic poles orientation
The two pickups are differently oriented, so to cancel hum when they are selected together.
The Vari-Tone Control
I was very surprised, looking at the back of the body, from a small panel. With my great pleasure, I discovered, inside this panel, an additional coil that allows, in conjunction with the others, to cancel the typical hum of the single-coil.
The switch to three positions is accompanied also from another control, called Vari-Tone, that allows to modify the tone through one or more condensers, a patent of 50s.
The Sound
The first surprising thing is the absolute silence, once connected to the amplifier, sign that the famous coil about which we have spoken previously works perfectly. The sound is much defined and owns also a good response of the lows, particularly with the neck pickup.
The signal is powerful and allows a natural distortion, rich of harmonics and much brilliant, on the first three strings, perfect for Blues. It has a strong and very precise personality. Obviously it will be difficult to see it in a Metal context, but like i said previously, the objective of the planners in this case was the specialization in a musical genre.
Final considerations
If you love Blues, it is an excellent choice.