Pre-Chickenfoot Test-Driving on 48th St.

Before the Chickenfoot show last night, my buddy and I hit the guitar stores on 48th Street – the three of them that remain, anyway.

Manny’s, owned by Sam Ash for some time now, has been an NYC institution, but is closing at the end of this month. Despite the huge signs advertising 20-40% off (actually up to 50% off, and that was before any negotiation), there still weren’t any eBay- or Craigslist-level deals to be had – maybe because any remaining inventory would be simply walked across the street to Sam Ash.

Sam Ash had a decent slection, and we played a few guitars through a Matchless combo they had there.

The first was a Gibson Les Paul Custom ’68 replica in a wild neon-green burst – iguanaburst, I believe Gibson calls it. (The guys working at the store didn’t know the color, and one freakin’ thing about any of the guitars! What the heck are they doing there?!). It was the lightest Les Paul I’ve ever held. I asked one of the guys working there if it was chambered. He “didn’t know.” Of course it was!

Anyhow, the guitar felt good and played decently (except the knobs felt cheap), but it sounded so bad through the Matchless that I actually checked to see whether the amp was solid state (it wasn’t). Asking price for the LP was around $4,500 – gotta love NYC prices.

Next up was a Greco Zemaitis (GZDF501 – pictured at top), Tele-shaped, three pickups, metal everywhere. This absolutely blew away the Les Paul. Sounded great. Could sound very raunchy, but cleaned up pretty well. An excellent classic rock axe. I must get one to review….

Asking price on this one (used) was about $2,800.

The last one we messed around on was a black EVH Wolfgang, which was the heaviest guitar of the three. A very nice guitar. The neck felt broken-in already, just like the Edward’s Music Man and Peavey signature guitars. It sounded great, sustained well and the pickups were classic Van Halen: they got dirty, but not too dirty, and cleaned up really well using the volume knob.

The pots also were outstanding. The Floyd didn’t seem as solid as old original fine-tuning Floyds, and I was surprised to see that the fine tuners were plastic instead of metal – that felt cheap.

The guitar, which listed for just under $3,000 new, was as advertized: sort of a Mazerati with comfortable seats, if you know what I mean. Did I, as an Ed fan, “have to have it?” No. But it’s a nice guitar.

It’s also NOT a Les Paul-with-a-Floyd as some have speculated Ed is going for with the binding, maple cap, etc. It’s definitley distinctly Ed.

Category: Edward Van Halen, Greco, Les Paul, Zemaitis