by Nick Sterling.

Nick Sterling

This month I want to take some time to talk about my recent involvement with Gigliotti guitars. For quite some time I’ve wanted to check out a metal top guitar. I checked out various companies’ designs online, but really hadn’t gotten the chance to personally plug one in and hear the effect of what metal has to bring to the tone factor.

I have opened for Joe Bonamassa on a couple of different occasions and he suggested I check out the Gigliottis. He said that the builder had made him a couple and that he really loved them. I ended up playing Joe’s and thought they were extremely cool. There's definitely a really interesting vibe going on with them!

A couple of months later, out of the blue, I was contacted by Patrick Gigliotti, the builder, through my Myspace page. He said he was really impressed with my playing and would like to build me a guitar. He wanted to build it exactly to my specs. He said that the only thing he wanted back from the deal was for me to play it if I liked it and if I didn’t, to return it. I was honored and, of course, I agreed to press on with the project!

He makes two different types of guitars, the GS (Gigliotti Strat style) and the GT (Gigliotti Tele style). Both incorporate his beautiful metal top. Patrick's guitars are truly a work of art. Their appearance completely transforms, depending on the lighting source and angle in which it hits the top. It’s really the kind of thing you have to see in person to believe!

Patrick honed his skills to a very high level while painting cars and has transcended his talents to the styling of the guitar’s metal top.

The build:

So, I decided to go with the GT. I’ve always heard that a Tele worked great in a recording situation paired up with say, a Les Paul. I opted for the semi-hollow mahogany body and neck, a brass top, and an Indian rosewood fingerboard. When the body is routed, the cavity retains a ledge on the perimeter for the metal top to adhere to. I chose to go with a brass top because of its beautiful golden hue.

As far as the neck goes, I requested a huge U-shape. I feel that a lot of the guitar’s tone comes from the size of the neck. As far as I’m concerned, a bigger neck means more tone. I included 6105 frets, a bone nut and Sperzel locking tuners in gold. Gold hardware looks fantastic on these guitars, especially with the brass top.

The bridge is a six saddle style, which would give me the ability to have excellent intonation. I wanted to keep the guitar as traditional as possible, as far as the electronics go, although the guitar itself is far from traditional!

I decided to install a set of Don Mare’s “Green Onion” Tele pickups. I am super impressed with this set. I was a little concerned with the brass top, thinking that overall the guitar could be a little bright. But, I thought the mahogany might help balance that out along with the rosewood fingerboard.

There was no way to tell how the pickups would sound in this guitar until I got my hands on it. But, Don’s pickups are phenomenal! I was totally blown away! They nailed the classic Tele tone. The front pickup is extremely three dimensional and sweet sounding, with excellent definition. The bridge has that snarly Tele honk. Just perfect and absolutely no ice-pick in the ear! Both are very dynamic with just the right amount of classic Tele break-up and spank. Love them!

The guitar is definitely one of a kind, like nothing I’ve ever owned before. It kind of reminds me of my Gibson CS-336 in its acoustic resonating properties. Classic Tele tones with a twist!

All in all, I’m extremely impressed with my Gigliotti GT. The fit and finish and attention to detail is absolutely top notch. I can’t wait to put this guitar on stage under the lights. Guaranteed to be explosive!!

Nick Sterling's Gigliotti GT

Nick Sterling's Gigliotti GT

[Nick noodles with his Gigliotti GT, a 65amps Monterey and a Mad Professor Sky Blue Overdrive]

I plan to get into some recording topics here in the near future. I’m currently tracking my third record and I’d like to talk a little bit about different procedures and techniques that can be used in the home studio environment. Hopefully, I can share some cool tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years.

I’ll see you all next month. Looking forward to it.