While attending college, I owned my first acoustic guitar and loved to frequent the music store across from campus. They had a used Gibson I never heard of so I bought it. It was a 1980 Gibson Sonex 180 Custom.
The Sonex line was a low-cost experiment of Gibson's. The Custom variant had all Les Paul electronics and bridge hardware and wiring harness, an ebony bridge, dual zebra open coil dirty finger pickups with a coil tap.
The body was a really ingenious (but not well received) design with a mahogany block as a set through, over-molded with wood-fiber resin. It was engineered for maximum sustain and it really works. They even published graphs of sustain as part of their (failed) marketing efforts. It was also unimaginably heavy.
It's a bolt-on neck Gibson, with all Les Paul "guts" an ebony fingerboard with super low fast frets, and better sustain than even a Les Paul.
Because it was very non-traditional it only lasted about 4-5 years before being discontinued.
I absolutely, positively, love this thing and think its (IMO) the most under-rated Gibson ever made.
Well, I sold mine decades ago but wanted another recently. I went on a quest, found one and did a total restoration on it. It was probably my best restoration work ever and I'm so happy with it.
You can see it on my stand here
my photo journal of the restoration (in reverse picture order)
is here
So, I've had the following Gibsons:
- 1981 Sonex 180 Custom (restored)
- 1981 Sonex 180 Custom (sold)
- 1967 SG Melody Maker D (restored & sold)
- 1956 ES-225T (restored & sold)
- 2014 Les Paul Junior Special Deluxe (didn't like jumbo frets so sold)