Alex Lifeson on Premier Guitar

[Jose]

Have you guys seen Alex Lifeson's interview in the April issue of Premier Guitar? I thought he was done with PRS guitars but he says PRS sent him a 245 that he's checking out. Another interesting question they asked him was what are the guitars that he is most attached to emotionally and the 335, 355, a Tele and his early PRS CE's are on top of his list... Of course then he added a few of his Les Pauls and the Howard Roberts. All in all a very good interview.

[synthetic]

It kinda smelled like PRS didn't pay him enough to endorse this time around, or Gibson paid more, but he's keeping the door open. Also note that Gibson is creating a Lifeson-signature 335. It doesn't make me want to trust any endorsements from him. Maybe his taste really did change, but it feels funny to me.

[Dancing Frog]

Given that the Alex Lifeson 355 had serious issues that he signed off on, I'd be a little leery of an endorsement from him. But on the other hand, the H&K Triamp MkII ALSE was really good which means his endorsement doesn't really mean squat. So, it would be the overall reputation of the company that stands behind the product that I would use as a basis for picking up stuff with his name on it.

[leroy4403]

I think that at this stage of his career, he can like/dislike about anything he wants! He has never been scarce on his equipment that he owns. He has always played many different instruments and I've seen Rush since 1977 (many times!). I've never known Alex to be specific about any brand.

Great artist, in my opinion, and I wish him well!:dude:

[Halsey]

Mr. Mintzer says no artists are paid to use PRS guitars as endorsers.

[richbonn]

Palladia HD is running the Rush R30 concert from a few years ago in heavy rotation (I saw part of it again last night - looks like it was a great show). You'd think it was a PRS infomercial there are so many PRSi in action. A singlecut gets a heavy workout, along with a CE, and a HB...

[jpftribe]

Given that the Alex Lifeson 355 had serious issues that he signed off on, I'd be a little leery of an endorsement from him. But on the other hand, the H&K Triamp MkII ALSE was really good which means his endorsement doesn't really mean squat. So, it would be the overall reputation of the company that stands behind the product that I would use as a basis for picking up stuff with his name on it.


What issues were there with the 355? I've been looking for one of these and am curious.

[02Singlecut]

It kinda smelled like PRS didn't pay him enough to endorse this time around, or Gibson paid more, but he's keeping the door open. Also note that Gibson is creating a Lifeson-signature 335. It doesn't make me want to trust any endorsements from him. Maybe his taste really did change, but it feels funny to me.

PRS doesn't PAY any endorsed artists other than guitars. In fact I'm pretty good friends with one endorsed PRS artists that PAYS for his guitars. :rolleyes:

[Dancing Frog]

What issues were there with the 355? I've been looking for one of these and am curious.The biggest issue was that the volute was in the wrong place. It began about 1 inch too far down the neck behind the middle of the first fret which made playing open chords impossible. Gibson was charging customers to fix it on the basis that it wasn't a problem at all since Big Al signed off on it.:mad: Another issue was a sloppy installation of the Maestro Vibrola which cracked up the finish around the install. Also, some of them were extremely dirty when they arrived and were full of saw dust. Not something you'd expect from a high end guitar.

Then, there is the little niggling issue that the neck carve is not the same as Alex's 1976 ES-355TDC. Alex's is narrower. Maybe that is a good thing, but maybe not. That certainly effects the tone and feel of the instrument. I think if you paid top dollar for a replica of a famous instrument, you'd want something that at least really close and not some "improvement." That's what got me over my GAS for one.:(

[hutchtoo]

I doubt Lifeson has any special loyalty to Gibson. He just seems to have a healthy case of GAS.

Over the years...
Lots of Gibsons
Various Strats
Fender Telecaster
Hentor Sportscaster :D
Ovation
Signature (extinct Canadian make)
PRS

I'm sure I missed a couple. Seeing as Rush is still near the peak of their playing ability, I'd expect to see more guitar fashions come and go before he winds down.

[synthetic]

PRS doesn't PAY any endorsed artists other than guitars. In fact I'm pretty good friends with one endorsed PRS artists that PAYS for his guitars. :rolleyes:

That's good to hear.

[RustyFalcon]

Agreed!!!!! I love the R30 video; especially more so since I get to see Alex's PRSi in action.

Palladia HD is running the Rush R30 concert from a few years ago in heavy rotation (I saw part of it again last night - looks like it was a great show). You'd think it was a PRS infomercial there are so many PRSi in action. A singlecut gets a heavy workout, along with a CE, and a HB...

[prsisbest]

I doubt Lifeson has any special loyalty to Gibson. He just seems to have a healthy case of GAS.

Over the years...
Lots of Gibsons
Various Strats
Fender Telecaster
Hentor Sportscaster :D
Ovation
Signature (extinct Canadian make)
PRS

I'm sure I missed a couple. Seeing as Rush is still near the peak of their playing ability, I'd expect to see more guitar fashions come and go before he winds down.


Isn't that fascinating?? 30 + years into it, and Rush are still more than fantastic players! RUSH!!!!:dude:

[ctx1050]

I saw them back in the 80's in Ohio. Amazing musicians but I was never enough of a fan to buy any of their albums (didn't dig Geddy's vocal style). A friend just sent me the Snakes and Arrows DVD set however, and I am hearing all the material in new light. It totally rocks! I particularly like the versions of Mission and Between The Wheels. I was hoping to see at least one PRS is there, but alas it's all LPs...though nice ones. Lifeson gets a nice acoustic tone with a piezo bridge on a few numbers. I'd love to see them in concert again.

[PJLCC14]

What issues were there with the 355? I've been looking for one of these and am curious.

I've got one.......like Frog said.....issues galore......terrible set-up.....hollowbody full of sawdust.......smudges all over finish......some report dark stains coming thu the white finish........and yeah the volute is 1" lower than any Gibson production guitar....ever.......it took Jack Gretz half a day to get mine in order to send to me.......very shameful considering this came from the Custom Shop, the the best of the best that Gibson has to offer. I like mine after Jack finished with it......but I know alot of people that bought one......got fed-up with Gibson Customer Service on dealing with the issues....and sold it. It's a shame......cause it's really a cool idea for a cool artist......just very poorly produced!!! IMHO!

[John C]

Hentor Sportscaster :D


I love that sense of humor about guitars - that was the only one of the modded Strats he took the time to put a "logo" on. I have a lot of old Guitar Players hanging around (almost complete back to 1980:o) and in either the 2002 Vapor Trails article or the 2004 R30 article Lifeson says he still gets asked where you can get a "Hentor":p.

Regarding the ES-355 - I think he wanted the wider neck as his original has the 1 9/16" nut width and the reissues have a "standard Gibson" 1 11/16" nut width. It's a real shame about the volute being in the wrong spot.