NGD X2, Agile edition
Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2023 4:11 pm
When I heard that Gibson was raising the price of the LP Standard to $3k, I knew that something must be done.
So, I bought two Agile ALs:
Well, it didn't happen quite that way.
At first I found an AL2000 lemonburst with a USA Bigsby B7 and Vibramate that I bought purely for the Bigsby. The pickups had been changed to GFS VEHs, which sound surprisingly good. I'd originally planned on removing the Bigsby and flipping the guitar, but it's grown on me and I decided it'd make a good guitar to keep at work. Lemonburst isn't my favorite, but it's a cool guitar. I ordered a set of nickel silver humbucker covers for it, because I don't like the double white.
Then, a cherryburst AL3000 showed up on Craigslist at a reasonable price. Call me boring, but cherry sunburst is my favorite color on humbucker LPs. The price was reasonable, but ultimately I didn't really need it. A week later though, the price had dropped to "just do it". It's the old version with the open book headstock and 2-wire pickups. I really like the 4-wire pickups in the newer ALs, but these sound pretty good too.
Interesting note- the AL2000 weighs in at 9 pounds (with the Bigsby), but the AL3000 is a whopping 10.5 pounds without a Bigsby. I was thinking about swapping the Bigsby over to the AL3000, but jeez... I'm not the kind of guy who whines about the weight of guitars, but that gives me pause.
The très cool open-book headstock:
So, I bought two Agile ALs:
At first I found an AL2000 lemonburst with a USA Bigsby B7 and Vibramate that I bought purely for the Bigsby. The pickups had been changed to GFS VEHs, which sound surprisingly good. I'd originally planned on removing the Bigsby and flipping the guitar, but it's grown on me and I decided it'd make a good guitar to keep at work. Lemonburst isn't my favorite, but it's a cool guitar. I ordered a set of nickel silver humbucker covers for it, because I don't like the double white.
Then, a cherryburst AL3000 showed up on Craigslist at a reasonable price. Call me boring, but cherry sunburst is my favorite color on humbucker LPs. The price was reasonable, but ultimately I didn't really need it. A week later though, the price had dropped to "just do it". It's the old version with the open book headstock and 2-wire pickups. I really like the 4-wire pickups in the newer ALs, but these sound pretty good too.
Interesting note- the AL2000 weighs in at 9 pounds (with the Bigsby), but the AL3000 is a whopping 10.5 pounds without a Bigsby. I was thinking about swapping the Bigsby over to the AL3000, but jeez... I'm not the kind of guy who whines about the weight of guitars, but that gives me pause.
The très cool open-book headstock:
