Gibsons Chambered System

[Ian Supplee]

Question guys how long has gibson been useing the Chambered System and is there any tonal highlights to it.

[Kerry Krishna]

 If I understand properly, they only use this for the Alex Lifeson (RUSH) Gibson, because they knew he used to play them, but had to stop because of back problems. It's his signature guitar, and he is as pleased as punch about it too! There is a big story on it in Vintage Guitar from 4 or 5 months ago.

[Paul Verticchio]

It was mainly done as a weight relief solution. It was also used on Gibson's ES-336 CS guitars. It's neither a new or radical technology.  They first used it on their Chet Atkins line of nylon string & steel string "stage acoustics" as far back as the 80's.  Heck, that was the initial goal of the Thinline Tele introduced in 1968.  It's been around for a loooong time.

Surprisingly, I applaud Gibson for weight relieving guitars.  More solid body makers should follow suit.

As far as tonal enhancements, it's impossible to tell as no two guitars ever sound the same.  Because of that, any sort of definitive answer would be pure speculation. In the specific case of the AL signature model, the FR trem sucks out most of the string's vibrational energy before it even gets to the wood.

Kerry, I think that Liefson raved about them so much because he's getting them for free! 

The following is NOT a negative criticism, but just my POV: Liefson has NEVER been recognized as a 'tone guy' in the traditional sense of Hendrix, Clapton, Bonamassa, SRV or Robin Trower.  Alex's guitars have always had so many effects on them (so processed) that his sound is more textural than tone driven.  Personally, I enjoy it within the context of RUSH.  It works for him & RUSH and that's the bottom line.

And one more time: 90% of a guitarist's "tone" is in his/her hands, not the instrument.  That's why Clapton sounds like Clapton on a LP through a Marshall or a Strat through a low powered twin.  It's also why Jeff Beck sounds the same no matter which guitar he plays, or Carlos Santana, or BB King, or....you get my point.

Ian, if finances allow, get two 'must have' publications:

George Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars and

VG's Annual Price Guide. 

Most libraries can get them in for you if you're short on $$$$...like every other musician/repairer I know (;

They're invaluable for highly detailed information. Plus they are just great general info resources that every guitar aficionado should have in their library.  Ignore the value prices in the VGAPG as they're still way above real world actual sales pricing.

Have a great weekend buddy (:

[Russell Vance]

Hi Ian,

Gibson use chambering all over the model range from their premium LP's right down to their cheapest offerings (Studios etc) - they have used cylindrical chambers in the past (the swizz cheese models) some with balsa inserts and fully contoured carve out chambers of many varieties in many guitars.   Gibson say the chambering makes little difference  to the overall tone with a little more top end and resonance etc etc - John Suhr says chambering makes a difference to his guitars along the line of describing a chambered guitar giving an equivalent difference to switching between silicon diodes to tube rectification (at high volume and gain obviously) - we see this in our own stuff and I would agreed.  I would generally choose a chambered guitar  over a non chambered equivalent these days as you always get some additional tonal complexity to play with.  Rusty.