Gibson Limited Run Les Paul BFG Gator Electric Guitar 

Comments about Gibson Limited Run Les Paul BFG Gator Electric Guitar:

AFTER SPENDING LONG HOURS AND DAYS LOOKING FOR A NEW GUITAR I DECIDED ON THE GATOR I LIKED THE LOOK AND AND PICK UPS PROMISED A KILLER TONE ALONG WITH A DIFFERENT LOOK.
BOY WAS I WRONG AS SOON AS OPENED THE GIG BAG (FOR A 1000US GUITAR??)..THE BRIDGE PICK UP WAS GRINDING AGAINST THE STRINGS THE FINISH WAS NOT RUSTIC IT WAS JUST BAD AND POORLY CONSTRUCTED THE PAINT JOB WAS SO POORLY DONE IT LOOKED LIKE MY 4 YEAR OLD HAD PAINTED IT WITH A GREEN CRAYON
PRICE=OVERPRICED BIG TIME
SOUND=TERRIBLE
PAINT=AWFUL
CONSTRUCTION=WORSE THAN THE 3 FACTS ABOVE
DO I NEED SAY MORE...DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY AND TIME.

Comments about Gibson Limited Run Les Paul BFG Gator Electric Guitar:

I've had my BFG with trem for over two years now. It's unique unfinished body(what looks like finish is the rough cut wood) is well balanced and produces the undeniable Gibson sound. I prefer the dual humbucker models so I would recommend the LP Studio 50"s Tribute with Satin Finish. It's finished and it's less money for a better buy in my opinion. If you like the rough cut look and feel and a P90, this is your guitar..

Comments about Gibson Limited Run Les Paul BFG Gator Electric Guitar:

I am 50 years old and have been playing forever. I have had more guitars than I can honestly remember, this one stands out as the most versatile. Plays and sounds great. The previous reviewer must have got a lemon. Mine is wonderful!!

Comments about Gibson Limited Run Les Paul BFG Gator Electric Guitar:

Great guitar for just about all players. No hard case is a bummer tho..........
I think that the pickups could use some housing. They wobble around and pick up a little more noise that they are not in housing. I am a fan of no covers tho. I do like the kill switch but i would leave four knobs on the guitar and put the kill switch somewhere else.
Super low action and the gibson electronics.......thats all that needs to be said.
A no frills gibson les paul for a little over a thousand.

Comments about Gibson Limited Run Les Paul BFG Gator Electric Guitar:

9 for the gig bag deal. I have other similar priced guitars and this one definitely plays like it! It's my only LP
The P 90 + the zebra humbucker have a lot of power and thick tone. I put Gibson V.R. 11's on it to even it out. The pure nickel smoothes it out nicely. I play mostly rhythm anyway.
I got mine as a condition 2 - used and it's just fine.The satin finish looks great. I think it was sent back by someone who was expecting a mirror finish neon green guitar and were looking for any reason to get their money back. This is a southern rock swamp thing! Looks and feels like gator hide. It is really cool in your hands and shows bright green in sunlight or flash but lays back in the weeds in low light.
I give value a 9 due to the gig bag instead of a hard case for a high dollar guitar.

Comments about Gibson Limited Run Les Paul BFG Gator Electric Guitar:

Back in February of 2012 Sweetwater was blowing out their 2011 stock of Gibson BFG's for $750 and I thought I had missed the boat. Then a few months later I see them pop up on Musicians Friend so I go ahead and pre-order one. Last week the guitar arrived and I was horrified by what was sent! Wood burrs in the finish...I'm talking areas on the body that felt like rough sawn timber! The humbucker barely screwed in and pressing against the strings. How did this guitar make it out of the Gibson factory?!? Some of you might be thinking "hey dude, BFG does stand for barely finished guitar", but I am telling you, I have seen and played these guitars in stores and all of them were on par for Les Paul Studio quality fit and finish...If you put this guitar next to the cheapest epiphone Les Paul you would think the epi was a $4000 guitar. I promptly let the Musicians Friend know about the problem and asked that the next one be overnighted to me and that they look at it to ensure I did not get another turd! Musicians Friend were apologetic and seemed to really want to correct this mistake, but rather than overnight me a new guitar they used 2nd day air which ended up taking just as long as ground service. When I finally got the replacement guitar I was greeted with another sub-par instrument with a new and unique set of problems. This one had a real nice scratch in the fret board and a dent in the fret board next to the fret where somebody missed the mark or glanced off. The neck pocket was routed out so sloppily that it left 1/8" wide grooves on both sides where the neck meets the body. All of the BFG's I have seen at stores were 2011 and previous and my advice to you is find a good used one because this 2012 run is horrible. I have lots of guitars...from Indonesian LTD's to American Fender and Gibsons and I can tell you this guitar... from a fit, finish and overall quality standpoint, could not stand up to a First Act that you would get your 5 year old at Walmart. So disappointing that Gibson would let these go out of their factory for people to waste their hard earned cash on. But just as disappointing is Musicans Friend for not even trying to salvage the sale...sure, they were plenty apologetic and didn't give me any hassles about the returns, but they didn't do what I asked and they sure didn't try to get me other options with some deep discounts attached to compensate me for the terrible experience and the frustrating waste of time I endured with this order.

I will be keeping an eye on the reviews here to see if anyone scores a decent one, but my guess is that if two in a row were garbage then most of this run will have lots of QA issues and I suspect eventually gibson will have to send these to the woodchipper or start blowing them out for $300!
The only notable feature of this guitar is its ability to excel at being awful!

If you are looking for quality, buy an $800 1950's or 1960's Les Paul reissue...this guitar, however, is the opposite of the word quality.
There is no VALUE in an American made instrument from a long established manufacturer that clearly does not VALUE its customers by letting instruments like this out into the world.

Comments about Gibson Limited Run Les Paul BFG Gator Electric Guitar:

The limited run line of Gibsons are nothing short of cool! I love the stripped down design of this guitar, more power, less flash = good playing value. With the sound (minus the grounding hum), feel, playability, and looks, I give it a 9/1. However, the clear lack of Gibson's ability to finish building a guitar and thoroughly check it before it leaves the factory means I have to give it a 5. The gig bag is no help on score either, although its a nice bag.
First, I will say that I absolutely love the Gator. It has incredible tone, sustain, and it will shred! The problem is build quality...
Straight out of the box the guitar had some serious grounding issues. The buzz/hum was so loud, it could be heard over the sounds of the chords when palm muting. I took it to a repair shop (i'm not dealing with the waiting, even though MF will pay for shipping back if the guitar doesn't arrive in quality condition etc...) and the tech discovered that the grounding wires were not conducting fully to the strings. The fix was simple; grinding/polishing the connecting posts (or something like that). Apparently that little "check off" card they send you with the guitar showing that they went over the guitar to make sure it functions properly before it leaves the factory is a joke. I could understand if a wire came loose or something due to shipping, but this was ridiculous COME ON GIBSON! In addition, my Zoot Suit SG (another limited run which I bought from musicians friend) has had its bridge pick-up fail and only after owning the axe for 13 months; pathetic. And while we are at it, my SG special that I picked up 8 years ago brand new arrived without being fully setup, while the intonation problems were slight, it was noticeable (again, the check off card said otherwise lol).
Considering the price tag ($1600 msrp on Gibson's website), the guitar should've included a hardcase. To compare, the similarly priced american std strat comes with a very nice hardcase.

Comments about Gibson Limited Run Les Paul BFG Gator Electric Guitar:

Based on the green pictures and the Les Paul defacto status, I jumped for joy when I found my wife had purchased this off my wish list as a Christmas present. I opened the box and unzipped the gig bag (should be a hardshell) and promplty tilted my head to the side and let out a, "huh..." upon first glance.

What you get is a thick squared-edge, meaty and raw, matte black hunk of Les Paul with swamp green highlights. The top is carved reminiscent of scales and it has the green highlights applied with a dry-brushed looking effect minimally on the body. There will be pits/antiqueing on the surface in some areas and that is intentional. This thing looks dark and ominous. Consider it a black guitar when purchasing.

So I was not sold on the look when I opened it. I actually thought about returning it because I wanted that brilliant green looking reptillian thing.

Then I played it. A lot. A couple of days in a row.

The tone is awesome. The action is great (you'll need to set it up if you are like me and play dropped). The neck is thick and roundish, moreso than other Les Pauls I have played. The unfinished surfaces are gritty, and the guitar has a bite to it to go along with it.

You can tell the pickups are overwound by the tone and ease of harmonics, etc. The sustain from the chambered body is for miles. You will find this to be a special guitar upon playing it, and somehow the look and the feel make sense together. After jamming on it for a bit the looks started to appeal to me, those scales will look killer under stage lighting. You do not see many scaley, black Les Pauls out there...

The wooden knobs are great and the kill switch is a nice, solid feeling twist. It is a bit noisy (buzz). If you want to, you can sound just like Slash through a nice tube head with little effort.

No frills Les Paul with a beefy chrome kill switch and wooden knobs. Gig Bag, not hard shell case included (boo, hiss).
If it were not for that buzz, it would be a solid 10. Keep in mind the before finish concept is intentional and factored into this scoring.
The way I see it is you get custom shop guts in a raw body at a great price.

Comments about Gibson Limited Run Les Paul BFG Gator Electric Guitar:

I think anyone who is on the border of buying this would be overally quite happy. You get a lot of features, great build, great sounds for a pretty good value - as far as Gibson LP's go. Plus you won't look like every other player in your town!
I am really enjoying this guitar. I've owned a few Strats, a few Tele's, a few SG's, a few Ibanez, Gretsch, and this was my first LP style guitar. Having had played a few before, I didn't like the weight of them, but the chambered body I personally think is a great feature. The finish IS dark as another reviewer stated, but having expected that, I wasn't dissapointed.

The sounds are very nice that I get out of this. It has a good range of sounds, I usually like the neck p/u's, with tone rolled back for my playing, but this has some really nice sounds throughout the tonal spectrum. The neck pickup has a very nice clarity/punch in the midrange - sort of like my Burstbucker Pro's, but I would say with a little more growl, and nicer sounding with the tone fully on. I prefer these pickups actually.

Having played a few LP's, and owned some SG's, this neck is less fat and chunky to me than the others I've played, but still doesn't feel too wimpy in your hands.

I don't like how the kill switch sort of pops... wish it was a more silent cut, than a hard mechanical cut, but it is convenient for me if I want to set the guitar down and not mess with the volume. It's probably fine in most musical contexts, and for many styles of music.

I really like the wooden knobs personally too. It's a nice distinct touch, but I would have the Gibson logo maybe not the very dark green on the head. The one I got feels like a well made Gibson guitar - I've been dissapointed with others in the past.

I would recommend straplocks, as it seems to want to fall off the strap a lot more than other guitars I've owned.
I would have liked this to come with a hard case for the money, and the fact that the head bends so far back... it even looks like it could be broken in the gig-bag!

Comments about Gibson Limited Run Les Paul BFG Gator Electric Guitar:

The BFG Gator is a marvelous guitar. It plays beautifully. The action and neck are smooth.. The weight is decent.. The only thing that got me was the finish. When you look at the pics above, you would expect to receive a very vibrant, exotic, green and black guitar. However, I was disappointed when I found that these guitars are mostly black, with little green, which makes the appearance much less exotic. Since I have called Gibson about this they have actually changed their picture on the Gibson site to something a little more like what you receive. I would refer to their new photos before purchasing, but if none of that bothers you, go for this one. She's fierce and wild, straight out of the box, with an uncut, raw body that'll leave you and your fans drooling.