Gibson Kirk Hammett 'Greeny' Les Paul Demo

Reviewed in Guitarist Magazine 499

Click ‘Subscribe’ for more great video content

[jburdsinfuse]

I love those pickups…especially with some drive and gain. Really unique. And the AAA flame with satin finish…that’s a great guitar.

[sigrove]

Got to say that the jury seems to be out on this guitar, have Gibson done a lame job of using the "Greeny" name on a Les Paul but not really given us enough of a "Greeny" for the money. Well i've have one of these "Greeny's" and i've got to say that i'm in no way disappointed with the guitar, build quality is excellent, the AAA top is beautiful, it feels great and the tone, well to me it's as much Greeny as it's going to need to be, so i'm extremely happy with mine, especially through my Victory V40 Deluxe. As i said, i'm not disappointed in the guitar, but i'm disappointed that Gibson didn't add a little something in the case to give it some provenance to Peter, Gary or Kirk, in fact in the case there's nothing to say what this actually is, not even on the warranty card, just a code, so come on Gibson, a little booklet or something would have been nice. Anyway, like it or loathe it, it's sold out and that speaks volumes :) Love the review Guitarist and this months cover feature, well done !!

[barrycole]

What is important with these guitars, is not the material and appearance but the actual miles of experience from the players. This is when the natural aging of the parts, reveal the true tone profile of what survives over time. Time is the filter that reveals the instruments true maturity.

[steveengleman]

Great demo! You really put your feelings into playing the blues! LOVE the sound of the Greeny!

[daviemcf]

A guy who knows how to play a Greeny guitar with some lovely blues. 🎸🎸🙏

[ae]

This is the only YouTube demo of the Greeny Standard with playing actually skilled and tasteful enough to demonstrate what this niche instrument is good at.

[Johnjingleheimerschmidtt]

All the negative comments from people who have never seen or played one 😂 ohhh YouTube… crank alert 🚨

I bought one and it’s absolutely fantastic. It turns heads from guys who shelled out for R9s and better. The finish is excellent, tone is great, feels wonderful in the hand for a guy who prefers 50s necks.

Inflation is inflation. Prices aren’t what they were in the 2000s. Just quit your bitching and accept that. If you don’t want to buy one, don’t buy one.

[JohnGalt]

Wonderful guitar, Gibson never disappoints me, out of 4 LP’s including this one that I purchased through the years Gibson has been the most consistent and outright perfect guitars, this particular one was absolutely perfect from set up to flamed top to an amazing tone, great price too, considering that low grade half imported PRS S2 are sold for 2k this days, and a basic American Strat is around 2k as well, there is so much more to making an LP with book matched aaa flamed top.

[boatingforbeginners]

Love the satin finish and a good simple review too. Thanks

[adamwatson]

It's only 200 dollars more then the regular les Paul standard 50s and for that 200 dollars you get a higher grade flame top grover tuners but more importantly you get upgraded pickups. These are the same pickups as in the 50 000 dollars version so that alone makes it worth the 200 dollars. They sound quite different then other gibson pickups and ate nicer sounding then Burstbuckers or 57 classics BB pros 490s Etc .

[quietinterlude]

I took a set of 57 classics, with the bridge being the slightly hotter classic +, and i swapped each screw coil. Both pickups ended up being about the same DC resistance but with alternated mismatched coils between the two. I changed the bridge magnet to an A5 and put a reversed A3 in the neck. They sounded very much the same as these, so i wonder if theres some of that going on with these, specifically the unbalanced coils. Seemed to make the pickups more quacky and vocal, with the middle position sounding pretty thick still even with the volumes cranked. Many PAFs were mismatched, sometimes quite a bit. Not to mention, Green had his neck pickup repaired and likely partially rewound. I always felt his neck pickup had quite a bit different tone compared to most other 59s. Also, rotating the pickup 180° does not change the phase but bu moving the slug coil closest to the fretboard, the pickup responds differently. Almost like a fat single coil or P90

[nicfabrizio]

Played one at Sweetwater and it’s got the sauce in it

[oTYLR]

Couldn't get over the satin finish so i took a Honey Amber Les Paul Standard 60s and got the 50s knobs and greeny pickups and im much happier with it

[TcheddyG]

Nice playing, cat! Finally someone demoing the guitar as it should be demoed.

[tomczako]

Yea...umm...I think most of us are still recovering from the shock after watching Kirk at the Jeff Beck Tribute concert the other night & how didn't know (on 2 separate performances) how he was totally out of key trying to play that solo 😵‍💫 ... The lesson here folks is that even Greeny won't help you if you're unable to follow the simple key a freakin song is in! 😅

[robertbarnaba]

Very cool guitar. Amazing tone.
I may have to sell a kidney and purchase one..

[NotAnotherDrop]

Don't forget to give it the 50s wiring treatment along with the drilled into wood abr1 post.

[adamwatson]

These pickups are not based on Burstbuckers. They are an all new pickup created by Jarrod Brandom from Brandon wound pickups who now works for gibson Kirk Hammett was involved in their creation. They are cloned from the Pafs in the actual Greeny les Paul' . Jarrod Brandon said he developed several different sets which he kept sending to Kirk . He kept making proto types and sending them to Kirk uitill Kirk felt he had them right.
I have many sets of Burstbuckers and custombuckers and these are quite different from any of them .

[marmadukewinterbotham]

I can't afford that one, so I'm waiting for the Epiphone one that KH said (in his Guitarist interview) was coming!

[RobinBassett]

Would love to see the Gary Moore BFG (H/P90) Les Paul again.