Gibson Little Lucille
Encyclopedia
The Little Lucille is a relatively recently designed (1996-2006) Gibson
model designed mainly for blues
players. It superficially resembles the Les Paul
in that the body outline is similar. The Little Lucille was discontinued by Gibson in 2006. The Little Lucille is a variant on the Blueshawk that features a stop tailpiece and tune-o-matic bridge. The Little Lucille was endorsed by BB King
(1993-1999) - but unlike the Nighthawks, the Little Lucille is a semi-hollow bodied guitar with twin f-holes and a flat (uncarved) top.
Other distinctive / innovative features include:
Gibson Guitar Corporation
The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...
model designed mainly for blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
players. It superficially resembles the Les Paul
Gibson Les Paul
The Gibson Les Paul was the result of a design collaboration between Gibson Guitar Corporation and the late jazz guitarist and electronics inventor Les Paul. In 1950, with the introduction of the Fender Telecaster to the musical market, electric guitars became a public craze. In reaction, Gibson...
in that the body outline is similar. The Little Lucille was discontinued by Gibson in 2006. The Little Lucille is a variant on the Blueshawk that features a stop tailpiece and tune-o-matic bridge. The Little Lucille was endorsed by BB King
Construction
The Little Lucille has a number of distinctive features that distinguish it from virtually all other Gibsons. The Little Lucilles body outline is the same as a slightly earlier range of guitars - the NighthawksGibson Nighthawk
The Gibson Nighthawk was a short-lived electric guitar model line, manufactured by Gibson. The Nighthawk represented a radical change from traditional Gibson designs featuring many elements more commonly associated with Fender guitars. The Nighthawk superficially resembled the Les Paul, Gibson's...
(1993-1999) - but unlike the Nighthawks, the Little Lucille is a semi-hollow bodied guitar with twin f-holes and a flat (uncarved) top.
Other distinctive / innovative features include:
- 25.5 inch scale length (the same as many Fenders, Gibson's more typically have a 24.75 inch scale length)
- Blues 90 pickups (a modified version of the P-90P-90The P-90 is a single coil electric guitar pickup produced by Gibson since 1946. Having a more complex architecture and larger dimensions than Fender's single coils, it is occasionally mistaken for a humbucker.- History :...
pickup) - noise reduction circuitry which employs a dummy coil
- a Varitone circuit (similar to that used on the Gibson ES345) - the Varitone circuit is a mid-cut/band-stop filterBand-stop filterIn signal processing, a band-stop filter or band-rejection filter is a filter that passes most frequencies unaltered, but attenuates those in a specific range to very low levels. It is the opposite of a band-pass filter...
with a choice of five center frequencies - a light guitar - the body is made from poplar, capped with maple - the body is small and relatively thin and has two cavities
- simple control set - master volume, master tone, three-way pickup selector, six-way rotary Varitone control switch
External links
- Blueshawk.info - an independent enthusiast site dedicated to the Gibson Blueshawk, the Little Lucille and the other Hawk guitars
- Review of the Gibson Little Lucille. Lucille Has A Little Sister. (Jun 21st 2001).