The Gibson Shark Nouveau Noir

Rabs

Happened to spot this on the Gibson Custom facebook page.. Pretty interesting for them

http://i1173.photobucket.com/albums/r588/Rabs2010/2008 standard/730908444df_zps4p5uvoja.jpg

Then did a search to find out more about it and cant find much but did see these other modern shaped models

http://i1173.photobucket.com/albums/r588/Rabs2010/2008 standard/6fd14c3dc6_zpsrc7ogqyc.jpg

http://i1173.photobucket.com/albums/r588/Rabs2010/2008 standard/IMG_2746_zpsfckp298r.jpg

And found this one vid

Then while searching I also found this weird Gibson that seems to have somehow escaped my notice

http://www.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Designer/Gibson-USA/Shark-Fin.aspx

http://i1173.photobucket.com/albums/r588/Rabs2010/2008 standard/7af02cb34_zpszrcrws6j.jpg

olafgarten

Those Archtops are insane! 

tony99

olafgarten said:

Those Archtops are insane! 

They do look good, is it D'aquistos they're reminding me of? I get mixed up Olaf

webrthomson

Thats some bad ass archtops!

DulcetJones

Just when you thought it was safe to go into the music store.....I do like those archtops, if they do hit the stores they'll probably be big money I figure.

olafgarten

tony99 said:

olafgarten said:

Those Archtops are insane! 

They do look good, is it D'aquistos they're reminding me of? I get mixed up Olaf

I think they are basically just Gibson L5's with fancy f-holes, but they are really cool. 

proggy

I think that pickguard spoils them a bit, it looks clumsy to me.

Sassafras

Oh dear!
And I thought they'd gone too far with their robo-tuners.

WezV

Sassafras said:

Oh dear!
And I thought they'd gone too far with their robo-tuners.

Gibson bashing is not really appropriate in this case.   Its not a misguided attempt to give the guitar market something it doesn't want like robot tuners or built in obsolescence

The archtops show a decent amount of innovation mixed with the Gibson tradition.    They are not meant for the mainstream - This is exactly what a custom shop should be for.  

stickyfiddle

That cheapie X thing is stupid but those archtops look great. I can definitely see them selling a few. 

impmann

I doubt that the archtops would ever be much use to me as a musician, but I'd like to hear/play one.

Very interesting concept!

Sassafras

WezV said:

Sassafras said:

Oh dear!
And I thought they'd gone too far with their robo-tuners.

Gibson bashing is not really appropriate in this case.   Its not a misguided attempt to give the guitar market something it doesn't want like robot tuners or built in obsolescence

The archtops show a decent amount of innovation mixed with the Gibson tradition.    They are not meant for the mainstream - This is exactly what a custom shop should be for.  

But they look so awful.

Ravenous

Looks nice from behind, but seriously ugly in front...  (yeah I know.)

Jez6345789

Interesting they seem to be bringing more modern style porting to the Jazz box.

be a bit more interested to hear one those are some chunky sides looking at the porting.

but good to see custom shop does something more than R series les Paul's 

Corvus

Love the 2nd one down. Much as I like old guitars I like it when ideas move out of the 40s & 50s. Apparently four archtops were made, a venture with Gibson and Ishibashi. Though they're almost pure Bruce Kunkel it seems. There's threads with more pics & info of the pale one on jazzguitar.be. Interesting top, no bracing except a single spine which is carved out of the halves of the top itself.

The Shark Fin though... ((shudder)).

Rabs

Corvus said:

Love the 2nd one down. Much as I like old guitars I like it when ideas move out of the 40s & 50s. Apparently four archtops were made, a venture with Gibson and Ishibashi. Though they're almost pure Bruce Kunkel it seems. There's threads with more pics & info of the pale one on jazzguitar.be. Interesting top, no bracing except a single spine which is carved out of the halves of the top itself.

The Shark Fin though... ((shudder)).

Cheers for that info I will check it out

underdog

Those archtops are gorgeous, even if they played like crap they'd be worth having just to look at.

maltingsaudio

Wow but $30,000 ! http://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/sale/50434-psa-another-gibson-custom-crimson-l-5-shark-blue-florentine-time.html

Rabs

Theres a green one here...  only £ 13,816.17  

http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/guitarplanet/item/gibson_cs_cc_l-5_shark_4_bjk_12/

WezV

so about the right price for a high end archtop then