Vintage #4 - 'V100GT'

Yay a Goldtop. Even though I discovered how wonderful P90s sound with my first Indie I've not bought anything else with P90s fitted. I made the BFI because I wanted a Gibson BFG but didn't want to pay the £500-600 they change hands for and I've stuck humbucker sized P90s in a couple of other weird projects but picked up nothing else with 'real' P90s.

I've hankered after a Goldtop for a bit as it's the obvious choice if you're looking for P90 loveliness but not really been looking for one with any degree of diligence. When a friend bought a reliced Gibson one recently it made me start looking more seriously and this came up pretty quickly.

It's a Vintage V100GT and is a fairly straight take on the Goldtop Les Paul formula. My previous experience with Vintage guitars has been disappointing, they've been quite nicely made lumps of wood but somehow didn't float my boat.

The AV6 seemed kind of cheaply finished and niggly things like the way the 'aged' pickup covers didn't match the pristine white scratchplate irritated me. Fixable but when I bought an Indie S type the AV6S got sold on.

The AV3 was better but I didn't like the pickups. A lovely lump of shiny red stuff but very flat pickups to my ear. Again fixable but I really wanted an Indie Two Tone so I bought one and sold on the AV3.

So why the V100GT? Well most brands don't do a 'proper' Goldtop Les Paul copy, i.e. one with soapbar P90s and I hate Epiphone Les Paul headstocks. I nearly bought an Indie Goldtop and stuck some humbucker sized P90s in but didn't.

The Vintage ones have come to my attention on eBay a couple of times but I've always been put off by the thought of the stacked humbucking P90s and to be honest the previous Vintage experience.

This particular example is in with a better chance as the previous owner has sympathetically upgraded it with Bareknuckle BKP91s and CTS pots. That I got it for not much more than what these parts would have cost was a bonus. It comes with all the original parts so if like the other Vintage guitars it doesn't float my boat I'll simply put them back in and sell it on.

Initial impressions are good, it's nicely enough put together and makes solid P90 kind of noises. In the unlikely event any tonehounds out there are reading and wonder why I'm not waxing lyrical about the boutique handwound nature of the pickups it's because I've not played it much yet but also because I'm a tone philistine. Oh well, more on this guitar later.