By now, everyone who follows guitar culture has no doubt seen stories and pictures about the new Gibson Dusk Tiger Les Paul guitar. The Dusk Tiger follows in the footsteps of the Gibson Dark Fire Les Paul offering players a ton of electronic options for controlling and modifying their guitar sound. There are magnetic and piezo pickups with four-band parametric EQ systems, a switchable LP-Z High Definition Impedance Circuit feeding a Neutrik jack with both ¼-inch and XLR outputs, third-generation Robot Tuning technology that provides 18 alternate tunings that players can program, and it all comes wrapped up in a body of South American Marblewood and Ebony. Gibson is hoping that the Gibson Dusk Tiger Les Paul becomes a force for innovation in the electric guitar marketplace and gives the company a new and modern product to add to their line.
These innovations are all well and good, but Gibson forgot to ask themselves the most important question: does anybody really want them? If one takes the time to go online and read the opinions of players posting on many of the guitar forums, it seems the popular vote is about 10-to-1 against the Dusk Tiger.
Gibson seems a bit confused about what their customers actually want to play and purchase and is more concerned with giving them what they think they need. Coming on the heels of the Hendrix guitar disaster of a few months ago, the Dusk Tiger (and many other recent Gibson models) really makes very little sense. Hey Gibson: try making better Les Pauls, SGs, and 335s that don’t come with warped necks and huge yearly price increases and you will find a lot more players who want to buy one of your products.
While there will always be a small contingent that likes the high-tech features of a guitar like this, most players simply want a great-sounding guitar that comes in at a reasonable price. Consider how many Les Paul Standards have been sold compared to Les Paul Recordings and the picture should paint itself. While the Dusk Tiger is a noble effort, it seems to many to be one more symptom of a company in chaos and, worse yet, a company that is totally out of touch with what its customer base wants and needs. It will be interesting to see where decisions and products like this take Gibson in the near future but, odds are, wherever the company winds up, it won’t be anyplace good.
Why would anybody bother spending money on a Gibson? I mean, I’ve seen guitars that were over a grand and the headstock was starting to fall apart literally from the neck, the wood was all chipped and so on. If I’going to spend that kind of money on an axe, construction should come first before anything else, or otherwise I’ll just move on to another brand. Dean, Jackson, Ibanez, Schecter, and even the guys at Maldon make tough axes. Gibson is nothing more than an expensive ripoff, like Victoria Amps.
I can see no practical reason for the Dusk Tiger,$4000 for a guitar that can do different tunings?For $4000 I could show up at a gig with several good guitars in different tunings and have money left for a real good multi-effects unit.I can imagine there would be a lot of problems with something that relies on computers for instance if your computer crashes you’re done for and even more importantly,when the warranty is up repair costs could be prohibitive.I dare say that techs who are skilled and knowledgeable about the Dusk Tiger will be few and far between so you would be Tigerless while your $4000 guitar makes(probably many)a trip to the Gibson factory.
This is more of a review of Gibson itself than the Dusk Tiger, but it’s very true. Gibsons are simply too expansive for 99/100 guitarists. Plus, half the axes they try to sell are piles of crap, worth closer to $250 than $2500. It astounds me that Gibson is stupid enough to spend money/time developing guitars like this when they could spend it on their quality control. How are they not bankrupt?
You would have to have literally no penis at all to buy something that ugly.
All this technology except for the auto-tuning is already available outside of the guitar. And this is how I want it to be – a good sounding guitar and all the tone shaping devices apart from it. Who needs auto-tuning anyway, aren’t musicians supposed to know how to tune their guitars by ear.
Well , i kinda like this guitar ,but the metal plate ruins it.It’s worth the cash , but im going to stick to Ibanez 🙂
I agree that it is an overpriced asset. Guitslinger is also right.. Id rather carry 3 to four guitar set up and tuned if I need too which you can definitely find for lower prices.. As for studio work.. current interfaces for my fender start allow me to hook up to production software where I can shape the tone, retune, and do whatever I want to my sound. As for tone shaping for $150 I got a tone shaper for the fender start which at least allows me to solderlessly reconfigure some tone capability and pickup settings on my three pickup strat.
As for ROBOTUNING.. I bet someone will come up with a pedal that can perform this task at a price range of $80-$120 bucks (BOSS seems to be cooking up something)…There is already software that can change pitch of analog signal.. as long as your pickups can pick the signal of each individual string.. I dont see how in the future this is not possible at the effects pedal market which will surely kill the Dark Tiger…
It’s actually a visual design failure. The chrome is tacky and doesn’t even follow the guitar’s curves which is something I would never expect to see from a guitar manufacturer like Gibson or even someone with a third of their reputation.
The electronics are definitely not for me. I’m sure they’re great for some people so I won’t judge that. I’m also sure it plays fine but coming from a design/manufacturing background this is a disaster just like most of the new things Gibson keeps putting out.
Visual diarrhea.
Saying this is “arguably more refined than anything Gibson Guitars has ever produced” is an insult to the great designers that came up with the classic shapes. Just look at that chrome, it looks like it was cut by someone who has just been introduced to design/manufacturing/everything.
ugh
CRAP. JUST PLAIN CRAP. DUSK TIGER, DARK FIRE (DIM BULB) ROBOTIC TUNING, BELLS AND WHISTLES. “A FOOL AND HIS MONEY………” I WOULDN’T TAKE A FREE ONE. HENRY J NEEDS A HIGH COLONIC AND A 20 MILE HIKE. IMPROVE THE QUALITY ON YOUR OVER PRICED LINEUP AND QUIT FARTING AROUND WITH WHIZ-BANG, TOM SLICK, ROBOT GUITARS. HANK, GET THE PRICE OF YOUR STANDARDS DOWN WITH YOUR STUDIO LINE AND UP TO THE QUALITY OF EPIPHONE, AND MAYBE I”LL START SHOPPING FOR GIBSONS AGAIN!
You guys are high! This is the coolest looking guitar on the market other than Breedlove. I would be honored to own and play this new guitar from Gibson. So please pull your head out and think outs side the old boring bodies