Several months ago, while looking for a Les Paul, I once again got sidetracked by another guitar which I bought in its stead; the Gibson 2009 Limited Run Nighthawk. Back in 2009 Gibson release several guitars with limited production runs. The Nighthawk, which had a run of 350, was a revival of sorts of the VERY quirky original Nighthawk that saw a very short life of six years back in the 90’s. The 2009 is not a duplicate of the original; rather, it is more of a hybridization of three guitars. It has the body shape of the original Nighthawk; has a mahogany body and neck, and a maple top like a Les Paul; and it sports the P-90/Humbucker configuration of the Les Paul BFG. It has a very thin, yet highly resonant body, which gives the guitar a very light weight (~6 lbs), but has tons of sustain; it’s a just a little less than the sustain of a Les Paul, but a lot more sustain than a 335 to give you an idea the range of its sustain.
Tone-wise, the Nighthawk 2009 has a much fatter sound than a Les Paul. The P-90 is super-hot and produces a thick, rich clean tone, and ballsy overdrive, and the bridge pickup has lots of gain on tap, and is just a bit darker than the bridge pickup of a Les Paul.
- Grade A two-piece mahogany body
- Grade AAA “bookmatched” solid figured maple top
- solid piece of Grade-A mahogany neck
- Gibson’s traditional ’50s neck profile
- Grade-A rosewood fingerboard
- 12-inch radius
- 22 frets
- Figured, swirl acrylic dot inlays
- P-90 Neck Pickup
- Gibson’s 498T “Hot Alnico” Bridge Pickup
- Two Gibson Gold Top Hat volume controls
- 50’s-style pickup wiring (tone doesn’t bleed off highs as much & volume knobs both act as master volume)
- Gibson Gold Top Hat master tone knob
- Three-way toggle switch
- 1/4” output jack made by Switchcraft
- Pearloid tuning keys
- Tune-o-matic bridge
- Nitrocellulose Translucent Amber finish
- Approximately 6 lbs
Pictures
Took these with my Nikon D40 and a f1.8/35mm lens, using available light to warm up the photos (though a couple were taken with a flash).
Sounds
I provided these in my original review of the Nighthawk, but rather than have you go back to the review, here they are:
Neck Pickup
Clean
Dirty Lead
Rock Rhythm
Both Pickups
Clean
Dirty Lead
Rock Rhythm
Treble Pickup
Clean
Dirty Lead
Rock Rhythm
Guitar Gear 
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