K2desoog
New member
UPDATED: Craftsman GS-90
Revisiting the Craftsman GS-90. A birthday prezzie from the wife a couple of years back.
I'd do it (& her) a disservice if this wasnt posted. So heres a quick review & a short tune.
To re-cap, the GS-90 is a simplified version of the Gibbie LP with 1 x vol & 1 x tone control. A 3-way selector switch for the stock bridge and neck ZEBRA humbuckers. Gives out warm, full tones and lots of low end (way too much sometimes!).
Photos here:
Craftsman GS-90
Body: Alder, Carved Top
Neck: H. Maple
M/Head: Grover Buttons
Pickups: Zebra pickups
This geet is more suited for 'old' school rock (think Soundgarden, Nickleback, GNR etc) & fusion, if you really like. Its not that heavy and its easy on the shoulders. However, it doesnt balance well. The heavy 'bottom' may have something to do with this.
I'm not sure what the neck radius is but holding chords is comfortable. A few dead notes on the upper frets were found but it was easily fixed by knocking it in gently with a mallet. Its not easy to execute fast lead runs on the upper frets (eg Fade to Black lead intro) due to the bolt-on neck. It'll take some getting used to.
The 2 humbuckers..... I'm unsure if they're the original Zebras but they are sure damn loud, warm and carries lots of bottom end. With the Spider L6 INSANE settings, the pups dont work well. Very muddled and indistinctive. On CLEANs, you won't get the ringing brilliance and clarity associated with single coils PUP. I'm using 10s and if you listen to the Sweet Child audio clip, you'll know what I mean. I tried it with a CRATE 10-watt and the results are similar too. Not my cup of tea. It may sound good on other amps though, but hey, I dont own them so I dont know
However, with CRUNCH and METAL settings, you'll get nice bluesy tones and ACDC type riffs are the order of the day! And thats what I use this geet for.
A few bars of Sweet Child using the METAL settings & some CLEAN tones to close it up (forgive the sloppiness, just listen to the tones eh?)
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=9425659
This 'cut-short' tune (Al Di's - Ritmo de La Noche) is recorded direct-to-PC with Reaper through Spider Line-6 15w, using the 'crunch' setting. My 'guitar hero' from way back then.
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=9380248
I'm still dissecting the rest of the tune & progressing at snails pace.
So far, it doesnt look like I'm getting anywhere near there
So thats it, the Craftsman GS-90. I'd give it a 6.5/10 cos like most LP styled guitars, they're not that versatile and are only suited to limited genres (and yes I'm biased towards Strat-style axes too!). Its not great but dont take my word for it. If you come across this guitar, give it a go. You may like it.
Revisiting the Craftsman GS-90. A birthday prezzie from the wife a couple of years back.
I'd do it (& her) a disservice if this wasnt posted. So heres a quick review & a short tune.
To re-cap, the GS-90 is a simplified version of the Gibbie LP with 1 x vol & 1 x tone control. A 3-way selector switch for the stock bridge and neck ZEBRA humbuckers. Gives out warm, full tones and lots of low end (way too much sometimes!).
Photos here:
Craftsman GS-90
Body: Alder, Carved Top
Neck: H. Maple
M/Head: Grover Buttons
Pickups: Zebra pickups
This geet is more suited for 'old' school rock (think Soundgarden, Nickleback, GNR etc) & fusion, if you really like. Its not that heavy and its easy on the shoulders. However, it doesnt balance well. The heavy 'bottom' may have something to do with this.
I'm not sure what the neck radius is but holding chords is comfortable. A few dead notes on the upper frets were found but it was easily fixed by knocking it in gently with a mallet. Its not easy to execute fast lead runs on the upper frets (eg Fade to Black lead intro) due to the bolt-on neck. It'll take some getting used to.
The 2 humbuckers..... I'm unsure if they're the original Zebras but they are sure damn loud, warm and carries lots of bottom end. With the Spider L6 INSANE settings, the pups dont work well. Very muddled and indistinctive. On CLEANs, you won't get the ringing brilliance and clarity associated with single coils PUP. I'm using 10s and if you listen to the Sweet Child audio clip, you'll know what I mean. I tried it with a CRATE 10-watt and the results are similar too. Not my cup of tea. It may sound good on other amps though, but hey, I dont own them so I dont know
However, with CRUNCH and METAL settings, you'll get nice bluesy tones and ACDC type riffs are the order of the day! And thats what I use this geet for.
A few bars of Sweet Child using the METAL settings & some CLEAN tones to close it up (forgive the sloppiness, just listen to the tones eh?)
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=9425659
This 'cut-short' tune (Al Di's - Ritmo de La Noche) is recorded direct-to-PC with Reaper through Spider Line-6 15w, using the 'crunch' setting. My 'guitar hero' from way back then.
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=9380248
I'm still dissecting the rest of the tune & progressing at snails pace.
So far, it doesnt look like I'm getting anywhere near there
So thats it, the Craftsman GS-90. I'd give it a 6.5/10 cos like most LP styled guitars, they're not that versatile and are only suited to limited genres (and yes I'm biased towards Strat-style axes too!). Its not great but dont take my word for it. If you come across this guitar, give it a go. You may like it.
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