GAS fever has spiked and blown the top of the thermometer clear out of the room The end result are 2 new guitars.

First, the Gibson Axcess.

I've had issues with LPs for decades and was just about ready to give up on the model until I caught Neal Schon's signature LP. The guitar sports a double lock down Floyd Rose, new sculpted neck heal, coil taps, Fernandes Sustainer and a belly cut. That new found hope quickly turned into deep depression for 2 reasons, price and extremely limited number produced.

Fortunately, someone at Gibson decided to continue with Schon's ideas and put into regular production what is called the Custom Shop Les Paul Axcess. I believe introduced in '08, it sports all of Schon's ideas except for the Fernandes sustainer.

The selling points for me on this guitar are two fold..the Floyd and more importantly, the sculpted heal. Getting rid of that excessively heavy neck joint on a LP has opened up the higher registers for significantly easier access.





The guitar comes equiped with Burstbuckers. The coil taps happen when the bridge tone control is pulled up.

The guitar sounds amazing. The Axcess being a wee bit thinner than a standard LP giving tone a bit less girth keeping the tone clear and unmudded (is that a word?) at high gain settings. Neck access is about as good as a single cut away can get. I'm not fighting the guitar when moving around the top 5 frets. It's already been to an outdoor gig and our sound engineer came up to me and told me not the put the LP down, so it's doing what it's suppose to.

The only complaint I have on the guitar is the coil taps. When the selector switch has both PU's activated they are not hum cancelling. It would not have been dificult for the wiring scheme to activate the opposite coils (N/S coils) of each PU. Dimarzio has such a wiring diagram on their website.

Will I mod the guitar? Probably not. Coil taps aren't my thing, so I don't/won't use that feature, so I won't take the time to re-wire the coils used in the taps. There is only a 25% chance of me adding the Sustainiac to the guitar. The guitar tone is top notch and really don't want to take out one of the Burstbuckers to run the system, but the jury is still out.

I found the guitar new at the local Guitar Center for several hundred less than the MF website listing...so...after getting them to restring the guitar with .010's (comes with .009's) and a quick set up, it literally went to the stage that night. It's the first Gibson to have a permanent place in my stage case.

Second, the Parker Fly Mojo

I've wanted one of these for years. I owned an original Fly Deluxe years ago, but the electronics were the nemisis of the physical guitar. The PU selector switch was an industrial switch that took your thumb and first finger to move...and on the way to the toggle switch you rolled the volume of the guitar off 'cause there was no way to get to the switch without hitting the volume knob. The pot of the volume knob had absolutely no resistence. A stiff wind would turn the knob...just kidding, but you get my point. All electronics on the original Deluxe were part of a circuit board and no replacement of parts was remotely possible.

Those days are gone...and so are the original DiMarzio's. Step in with Seymour Duncan's Jazz and JB PU's, my ultimate favs, complete electronic makeover which now uses Gibson style toggle switches and pots placed in better positions with better feel.

Keep in mind that the fly is so thin, any installed PU has to be custom made by the manufacturer. Standard pickups are deeper than the guitar is thick. DiMarzio was the first to custom make a set for Parker and were the original installed PU's. Now Seymour has made a set and the guitar is nothing short of phenominal. (Hence the name "Mojo")

The Fishman piezo's in this guitar are the industry standard and sound amazing on stage. Compared to the LP above the tone is as round but a tad thinner. It is clear and articulate. There is almost no mass to the Fly. Neck access is totally uninhibited. 24 frets all yours for the taking. This guitar will get it's stage debut this weekend at 2 weddings.

When Parker says "Nother plays like a Parker"...that is the rock solid truth....Nothing...and I mean nothing from Tyler, Suhr, Anderson, Gibson, Carvin, Fender and fill in the blank with what ever you want...nothing plays like a Parker. Silky smooth playablility is an understatement with stainless frets and a carbon fiber neck that is like a solid "liquid".

Price...well, I wouldn't own one if MF didn't offer an amazing deal. I ordered some cables from MF (through this forum site) and in the box with the cables was a sale flyer. I gave it a quick look over....$100 here, $50 there...came across the Fly Mojo listed and the sale price was $1799, down $1200 from MF's normal pricing...Couldn't believe it. Pulled up the sight, plugged in the numbers and no great price. Thought, yeah, too good to be true. Thought 'bout it for about 30 minutes, and decided to call. The sales rep almost laughed when I told him what the flyer listed. Gave him the sale code and the next word from him was sh**. A week later it's ready to go on stage this Saturday and Sunday.

Thanks for all that great info, Sky. Much appreciated!

I'd heard about the Axcess........and the Schoen.........I'm not a big trem guy, so I never bit. But, if I was a trem guy the Axcess or Schoen, or an Anderson with a Floyd would be the trick, I'd think.

I'll have to find an Axcess to try.........

Parker guitars have been interesting............cool that you got such a great deal. Let us know how it fairs at the gig.

There are some really amazing deals out there on top notch quality guitars. If you are patient, and preservere in the search, now is a decent time to find deals, if you've got the scratch to spend..............

Well, at least the axcess is an indication that Gibson is moving towards new ideas that are actually GOOD!!! (see: reverse flying V )

I have to admit, it does seem appealing and I have watched a lot of videos that further that perspective. Even the contoured heel is a nice change for the LP design. I remember I had an Epi LP100 and I hated going past the 12th fret (hence my love of the SG). And having seen Alex Lifeson playing a floyd LP in concert I can maintain that it will catch on.

For some reason though, Floyd's don't appeal to me much, I never liked the idea of locking down the nut (I like ease of access) and even for the sake of tuning stability; probably because I can find a cheap way to do everything

Enjoy the expulsion of GAS

Floyd trems don't "Have" to come with locking nuts. I have a couple guitars that don't.

I will concede that Floyds aren't the most attractive pieces of hardware out there...just a tad bit more esthetic than the Bigsby, but it's the only trem that can handle extreme motion and extreme use and still come back to dead on tuning.

A wooden block can be installed in the trem cavity to allow "down only" use and a lot of guys including myself do that. It keeps hard hit strings from "fluttering" and allows for use of things like the "D-tuna" for alternate tunings without having to retune. Products like the "Trem-setter" are also available for any floating trem to aid in stability. Blocking the trem gives the same result as those trems like the vintage styles that sit on the face of the guitar.

Too many heavily influential players use some sort of tremolo from Hendrix, to Schoen, Lukather, Vai, Satriani, Seltzer, Beck, Van Halen, and the list would be endless. Discounting their use is akin to removing a huge junk of musical vocabulary from ones playing.

Gibson has always been competing with Fender's trem system...the ancestor to the Floyd. The Lyre and the Bigsby are their 2 main contenders, along with the occasional Kahler. The Lyre is the crowned king of esthetics and I love the look. You can't use any kind of floating "in body" trem on SG thickness type guitars....they are way too thin to accommodate the block. A nice subtle graceful tremolo, the Lyre graces an SG and Firebird of mine. But the Lyre is extremely limited in range.

There have been LPs that have appeared with Floyds over the years. Even Epiphone introduced a version with a Floyd. These never seem to stay in production very long. I would guess the market drive dictates the status quo of the LP. Hopefully, in conjunction with the new neck heal on the Axcess, this guitar or one with these improvements will stay in the Gibson line up and hopefully keep the LP modernized.

Now if they would only change the angle of neck to body.....he he he heh

Sky

I WANT YOUR PARKER.

i want the LP!! sweet

No Kidding.. DAMN!!!!! That is Super Gorgeous!!!!! Dont' know how I missed this post!

I'd love to hear more feedback from Sky about his LP Axcess.

I PM'ed him, and hope he's available to visit us!! I miss him!!!