Presenting the Gibson N-225, one of the coolest, multi-tonal guitars ever made by Gibson. I love the way it looks, sounds and handles. Eventually these guitars will command a higher price, as they need time for players to discover all the positive reasons to have at least one in a collection. In Very Good Condition with one small blemish on back of the horn which I will get a pic of shortly.

Gibson N-225 review

You're thinking: what the hell is this? Well, 'this' is the Gibson N-225: a lovable mongrel that borrows elements from Gibson classics like the SG, LP double-cut & ES series. A New NightHawk, supposedly!

It joins Gibson's product line-up as part of the Designer series - home to other radical designs including the Moderne and Flying V. As such, it'll divide opinion faster than the proverbial yeast-based toast accompaniment.

Build

The mash-up of styles doesn't stop with the visuals. The N-225 is loaded with a P-90 in the neck position and a Dirty Fingers humbucker in the bridge. Controlled by a standard three-position toggle switch, the humbucker can be split using the tone pot for single-coil sounds.

You also get a Vibrola vibrato, as seen on signature SGs by artists such as Frank Zappa, Angus Young and Robby Krieger. And don't let those f-holes on the N-225's maple body fool you - this is an "open- chambered" design rather than a full-blown semi or hollowbody.

Sounds

As the pickup configuration implies, the N-225 offers pretty diverse tones. The P-90 in the neck sounds great clean, but better when you apply a little dirt for punky rhythm sounds, and it also gets you deep, defined and tonally rich neck pickup tones for single-note riffing.

It's a similar story with the Dirty Fingers in the bridge, albeit with more bite. It works particularly well for heavier sounds, without muddying up as much as the P-90. Given the scale length, you'll find that some of the traditional single-coil snap is lost from the coil-split unless you really dig in, but once you do, you'll find it surprisingly authentic.

Thoughts...

Overall, there's a real sense of clarity from the N-225: the pickups sound powerful yet dynamic, and the individual notes are audible, even under plenty of gain. In addition, the chambered body and f-holes help to create resonant feedback when needed.

Yet we can't figure out who this guitar is for. The N-225 is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, accomplishing some great tones very well, but without mastering any. Still, we can sympathise with Gibson's designers. Pump out another Les Paul and you're accused of complacency, deviate from the script and it's not traditional enough…