The Long Road to a Goldtop

It took me quite a long time to finally acquire this guitar.

Back in the day, the world of guitar heroes was sharply divided:
if you wanted the power of humbuckers, you played a Les Paul;
if you preferred single coils, you reached for a Stratocaster.
There wasn’t much room in between.

The first person who ever taught me what a P-90 could really sound like was Char.
I still remember watching him perform “Tōgyūshi” (“The Bullfighter”) with that Gibson Goldtop in his arms,
wondering what kind of sound it would produce.
When he began to play, I was struck by how the tone resembled that of a Mustang —
or perhaps it’s more accurate to say that Char made it sound like Char,
regardless of what guitar he held.

I suspect that nearly everyone who bought a Goldtop with P-90s in those days
did so because they were inspired by Char.
I certainly count myself among them.

Of course, the weakness of single coils remains the same — hum and noise.
The P-90 seems even more prone to it than a Strat pickup.

Top: 2-piece maple
Back: 2-piece mahogany
Weight: 4.14 kg (including strings)
(Updated August 27, 2016)