was really excited to see what the GT Custom
had to offer. I’ve also played a couple of other
metal guitars in the past, but they’ve lacked
a certain organic timbre to their sound. This
time I wasn’t disappointed. Metal topped
guitars have their own thing going, and while
the GT Custom did exhibit a certain metallic
“zing,” it was well-tempered by the chambered
mahogany body. Playing with just the bridge
pickup, the brass top lends to an interesting
effect, almost as if someone were tracing your
playing with a resonator mixed deeply into the
background. That’s not to say the GT Custom
won’t twang. It’ll twang all right, but it can also
easily produce Roy Buchanan “Nancy” and
crunchy “Keef” Tele tones. The Jason Lollar
Imperial Humbucker neck pickup was particularly lush and blended well with the bridge even
in higher gain situations. By itself, the Imperial
Humbucker is a beautiful pickup that has a very
even tonal response with less pick tones than
your garden variety PAF clone. It was also nice
to see that someone spent the time to radius
the pole pieces to match the neck radius too.
Next, I ran the GT Custom through a Fuchs
Blackjack 21 in full crunch mode. Wow! And
I mean, wow! The GT Custom was fat and
punchy, with each pickup retaining its own
distinctive character. As with the Zemaitis Tribal
Tattoo, the Gigliotti GT Custom was remarkably
resistant to feedback, even when I kicked on an
Xotic AC Booster for some added smack down.
It was also nice to know that when the neck
pickup began to sound just a tad woolly, I could
kick in the bridge pickup for just a little more
cutting tone—a real plus for live situations.
The Final Mojo
The Gigliotti GT Custom is a pro-level guitar
with a unique look and tremendous build quality, even if you don’t dig on the Dale Chihuly-like
finishes. Historically, Kluson tuners haven’t been
exactly celebrated for their tuning reliability,
and given Patrick Gigliotti’s claim of increased
tuning stability some were suspicious. I yanked
on the strings, bent them without mercy, and
mangled them in all directions for nearly two
weeks, and I only needed to tune the guitar
three times: the first was when I received it from
shipping; the second was when tuning the low
E string to D, and the third was retuning the G
string one time. Mission accomplished Patrick;
well done. Overall, the GT Custom isn’t my
personal favorite. The finish is a little showy and
the neck makes the neck on my 1957 Gibson
ES-125T feel like a toy. But, if you want a great
sounding, well made, Thinline-style guitar that
will give you plenty of stage presence, and will
adapt well to both the studio and live situations,
you should seriously consider the GT Custom
as your next Thinline option. My only concern is
the guitar’s painted brass top, but with a guitar
this nice you can’t help but want to take good
care of it.
Buy If...
you want a great new take on the
classic Thinline design.
Skip If...
you have a wad of Scotch Tape
holding together your horn-rimmed
glasses.
Rating... 4. 5
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