Customer Reviews

Interactive Gibson Bible

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the best Interactive Bible to be printed yet. There are absolutely no pictures of any guitar in the book-part of the book, so to say. I may be slightly mad but I like that there are 108 pages of pure facts about any Gibson ever being built. You will learn what a Gibson guitar looks like and what it sounds like on the DVD-part. What makes this book better than the Fender Interactive is that between 1937-41 and 1948-79 you will get production totals of each model being built. And that Dave Hunter and Carl Verheyen is on another level when they play.

In reviewing the book, let me say that I have many books on guitars and Gibsons, and therefore i may be seeing the cup as half empty by comparison with my other experiences. Lovely inviting, exciting green cover-my anticipated excitement and fun stopped there.

The book is essentially a list of Gibson's production guitars, and, little more. It contains models produced and listed both by year as well as alphabetically. It lists production numbers, but sometimes there are several model listed above the total, so one cannot determine production for any given model.

A list is nice, but I am at a bit of a loss as to how one might use it, other than to simply confirm the existence of a model or when it was produced. The details on model features can be sparse, or even wrong in some details, such as the Jimmy Page first run LP,listed as having Kluson tuners on the latter runs, when they are in fact Grovers, with Gibson keystone buttons instead of Grover kidney bean style. Nit picky, but the book touts itself as an essential resource. There are others as well. Such as identifying only one of the spotlight special versions. My point is this 'reference' was not meticulously assembled.

As a practical matter, for anyone wanting to identify Gibsons by shape and appointments, this is not the resource. There are small tidbits of information regarding periodic developments included among the lists in special 'topic boxes'. While there is some interesting information included from time to time, there is not a great deal of depth. Nevertheless, this book, overall, would help someone with little historic background to begin to understand how Gibson guitars progressed, in names of models, rather than with visual examples.

The DVD is, perhaps, the better part, in that some of the more popular models are discussed played and shown, alleviating some of the identifying issues I mentioned above, provided you have a DVD player at hand. The sonic differences among models are nicely demonstrated. The playing by one of the authors, professional Carl Verhaven, is wonderful.

This book was not FUN as far as eye candy and something to linger over and study.

There are other books such as the Tony Bacon book on Les Pauls as well as others that will provide greater in depth information as well as a practical visual reference. I would not recommend this book to any one other than for the DVD and its sonic sample of some Gibsons. I was particularly surprised that among the icons of Gibson, the L-5 had no example shown or compared in the DVD. To call this book a bible, in the sense of a master reference and the definitive word is a hugely misleading.

I got this only because of the DVD. The book is nothing more than lists - really uninteresting. The DVD is why you might get this. Carl Verheyen is great and they review some great gear. One bad mistake on their part was using two different amps, really different sounding amps, when reviewing the guitars side by side. They should have used two amps of the same kind so you could hear the difference in the guitars side by side. The other guy, whose name I can't remember, needs to buy a guitar tuner as well. They should have gotten another really good player like Carl to play alongside with Carl. Some of the facts and explanations seem a bit off at times. Overall, the DVD is cool watching, and I did get it for a good price.

This was a big dissapoinment. I was so looking forward to diving head first into a book on Gibson guitars. There really isn't much substance here. A nice DVD showcasing a bevy of wonderful vintage Gibsons as well as a detailed reference/spec list for Gibson guitars. A little like reading a dictionary. Overall not an engaging presentation. Certainly not worth the money I paid for it.

I bought this and throughly enjoyed the DVD. The book is mostly just a listing of specs with many pictures. The book surely could have been better and only worth it to someone who regularly needs to find data on a particular model Gibson guitar. The DVD is the selling point and it is good.