Well I promised piccies in the 'For Sale' thread so here goes.
Bob currently has my immense Les Paul Doubleneck back for a spot of tweaking to the necks, so I thought that if he was going to have the necks off that we may as well use the time to give it a new heart transplant. Before Bob made my doubleneck I have never heard of Bareknuckle humbuckers, so I was quite happy to go with Gibson humbuckers in the Doubleneck, but unfortunately (or fortunately as it turned out) the 12 string neck was too wide for the standard pole-piece width on the Gibson 57 Classics I had purchased for the 12 string neck. This resulted in Bob getting Tim to custom wind some F-Spaced 'Stormy Mondays' for the 12 string neck, and so began my love of Bareknuckle humbuckers.
The Gibson Burstbucker #1 and #2 in the 6 string side are due for removal now, and a matched (covered this time, not open Zebras) pair of 'Mules' are on their way for the Doublenecks 6 string neck.
During this current discussion on the new heart for the Doubleneck Bob did inform me about this sublime MG602M that had become the first ever guitar to be sent back to Bob due to alledged transit damage (how you damage a guitar inside a Hiscox hardcase is beyond me - and I have that same hardcase so I should know!) but I'll leave it at that! Now I utterly adore my Doubleneck so the chance of owning another Bob Johnson creation preyed heavilly enough on my mind that I got straight on with clearing out some of the deadwood sitting around at home. Bob is also a very decent guy so he insisted on me coming down to play the guitar before parting with any cash for it.
All I can say is that I'm sorry I'm not a better guitarist (outside of my day job I'm actually an opera singer first and foremost) because this guitar is sublime. I can play a bit, don't get me wrong, but I'm no Jimmy Page, or Jeff Beck. The guy who sent it back must need to see a shrink because it's got a fabulous vibe to it that you simply don't get by buying something with a brand name on the headstock off the shelf. When my Doubleneck returns home these two will sit proudly side by side.
The guitar body is made from a lovely piece of Brazillian Mahogany with lovely grain structure, whilst the neck is made from the same mahogany, topped off with a dark Rosewood fretboard and a Rosewood veneer to the facia of the headstock. Tuners are Gotoh, and the bridge is a new one for me - Schaller - but is actually very comfortable to play. The electrics are where this beastie gets interesting as Bob has planted in a matched pair of 'Riff Raffs' complete with coil taps on both. So you can go straight from Angus Young balls to the wall rock, and then open up the coil taps and you actually have a pretty decent Strat-esq honk in there! Great for doing funky stuff with. Combined with a weight that just tips the scales at a smidge over 7lbs and you have a winner!
Bob outdid himself with the inlays though on this guitar. My wife is a Kiwi so she's very au fait with Abalone (or Paua as the New Zealanders call it) so she loves the multi-part Abalone inlays that Bob created for this guitar, and the 'Legra' headstock logo in Abalone too is another really nice touch.
All in all I couldn't be happier! :D
Everyone should own a Legra guitar!
