Brighton Lead Player

Price

£850 GBP

Lead Player gets chuckles and snorts from the Gibson afficionados - of course it does. Studio Lord used to as well until people experienced how Yamaha could make them play. Super Reals by Greco are now appropriately respected, but as Gibsons rocket up in price, these high quality pretenders follow. We'd proved that we could make Matsumoku and Fuji Strat/Tele products play, sound and feel as good as the real thing, so we took this philosophy to the Les Paul. This experiment should appeal to people who care more about the sounds than the script on the headstock, don't have the funds for a Gibson, but also are left cold and unimpressed by the Epiphones. This is the second one we have built, and we've really pulled out all the stops. This Brighton is a Japanese made guitar and is a chambered construction. It has a 70's LP feel. Shock horror, it is a bolt-on. The people here that really know what they are talking about took a look at the rather sorry presenting guitar as it arrived from Japan and both came to the conclusion that this guitar was basically fine – the key characteristic was that it was very well made and could be made to rival a real one. Tony said we could make it sound better than a real one. That’s all we needed to hear.

Various experiments with the Jimmy Page wiring philosophy resulted in the ideal schematic for some experimental Clausen pick-ups. Proper high quality hardware arrived and we assembled it. As if we'd say anything else, but what resulted exceeded all expectations. There are a couple of videos of this guitar that probably tells the story better than words - give them a listen if you fall into my intended demographic, or are in another but find it interesting anyway. This guitar is one you can take everywhere, use anywhere and if it gets a knock it won't leave you on your knees. It's Clausen pick-ups at their most exciting, it's 1970's modified Les Paul as you play it, and from a distance, just a great sounding guitar with a huge tonal palette (watch our video). As Epiphones creep up in price for decent spec ones (this is top drawer Gotoh everywhere, so better), this offers a proper alternative. The precise age is unknown - the Japanese domestic market had many brands, but the construction of this leads us to believe it is a Yoshino build - this guy managed to get domestic market distribution for both Fender and Gibson concurrently. He knew Gibson very well and made a few trips to Kalamazoo. Without this chap, Hohner ‘The Prinz’ wouldn't exist. Regardless, it is now an amazingly versatile, comfortable and usable guitar. It has Dr Blues 0.11s on it at present - they suit it and the neck can easily take them, but we can slim down the gauge if need be. This is priced at £995 - fully stage ready and prepared by Clausen - if it’s OK for Tony, it'll be fine for most of us.

Details

The Look

Keeping its beauty spot, we have kept this looking like a mid-70s faded cherry burst Custom gigging tool. It would suit a black pick-guard. We thought gold hardware would suit this.

Headstock

Proudly sporting the words Brighton, Lead and Player. The good stuff is underneath, with gold Gotoh SD90 tuners offering great looks and stability.

Neck

This neck arrived straight, and is still straight with 011s on it. This guitar may well be a bolt on, but it was made to last.

Pick-ups

2 x Clausen Brightons (custom wound) wired in the Jimmy Page fashion therefore offering everything from hot T-Top, to that ‘Page honk’. There is a decent balance between neck and bridge and in single coil mode, there is still ample power and presence.

Bridge

New gold Gotoh Saddles and Tail.

Controls

Gibson OEM 3-way toggle, standard volume and tones for each Clausen. Volume knobs pull out to split the humbuckers to single coils, upper tone knob pulls out as a phase reversal for the bridge Clausen and the lower tone knob pulls out to put the bridge and neck Clausens into series mode. The variety of tones available from this guitar is huge – all of them useful.