NG(Gibson)D

[muttznmongrelz]

Although I've recently stated "I'm done for a while in regards to guitars", I've got a couple of significant "life events" at the moment (neither short term nor positive) so when I came across this...I figured "WTF" and picked it up.

I had sold the previous Gibson M-III (Non Pickguard Amber Finish HSH) that I had picked up last year for cosmetic reasons (didn't care for the streaking and dark spots in the wood, as well as doubling my investment). Only upgrade/changes will be the additon of a Big Brass Block to the Floyd and a DiMarzio Clip-Lock Strap. Will post pics when I have it in my hands.

[d1dsj]

Nice! Like I've stated in previous threads... you have a knack for finding a good guitar and hopefully this one won't break with tradition!

[BloodRose]

Awesome! Congrats!!

[Mr 9finger]

Is that stock? If memory serves me correct, didn't those come stock with the OBL rail type pickups? At any rate, it is a cool guitar! Hope all is well with you D!

[muttznmongrelz]

Nice! Like I've stated in previous threads... you have a knack for finding a good guitar and hopefully this one won't break with tradition!

Thanks for the kind words. That "knack" is simply spending too much time looking at guitars!

[muttznmongrelz]

Is that stock? If memory serves me correct, didn't those come stock with the OBL rail type pickups? At any rate, it is a cool guitar! Hope all is well with you D!

Actually they came w/the 496R/NSX/500T Combo as far as I know but I've seen some unusual variations on the theme.









http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyl...0510-2011.aspx

Rebel Without A Cause: The Gibson M-III

Peter Hodgson|05.10.2011

The early 1990s were an unusual time of rapid change for guitar design. In the 1980s, the classic shapes of the ’60s and ’70s had fallen by the wayside, replaced by sleek shredder axes. Where once guitar players demanded elegant carved maple tops and fixed bridges, the typical guitarist of the ’80s wanted high-output humbuckers, Floyd Rose tremolos, 24 frets and flash. Lots of flash. Slash helped turn things around with his low-slung Gibson Les Pauls after Appetite For Destruction hit, but for the most part, day-glo finishes and pointy curves were where it was at.

In the early ’90s, that all changed. By the end of 1992 shredding was out, ’80s-style hard rock was really out, and the guitars that made that music were really, really out. Players were, instead, seeking vintage - or at least retro-styled - guitars in keeping with the alternative aesthetic. Nobody wanted thin necks, hot pickups, whammy bars or reverse headstocks. As a result, a lot of innovative guitars never quite got their shot. One such instrument was the Gibson M-III.

After a decade of trial and error, guitarists and guitar companies alike were really starting to get the hang of hard rock-oriented guitar design by the early ’90s. The Gibson M-III, introduced in 1991, was a sleek, double-cutaway instrument that was surprisingly un-Gibson-like – with the exception of its Les Paul-style volume and tone knobs and reverse Explorer-type headstock. The Standard and Deluxe models sported Schaller-made Floyd Rose tremolos and an H-S-H (humbucker/single coil/humbucker) pickup layout married to a five-way blade switch and a two-way toggle, making the guitar capable of both humbucker and single coil sounds. The pickups were a 496R in the neck position, a 500T in the bridge and an NSX single coil in the middle position. Flip the two-way switch one way and it focused on humbucker sounds. Flip it the other way for single coil sounds. A total of nine separate sounds were possible, including an enhanced neck pickup tone and a stand-by mode for muting or kill switch effects. Great care was taken to make the pickup layout seem intuitive, presumably to ease the learning curve for an admittedly un-Gibson-like Gibson. One particularly interesting touch was the “zebra” pickup color scheme: the white coils of each humbucker, combined with the white single coil, provided a visual reminder that the guitar was capable of traditional 3-pickup single coil sounds as well as twin-humbucker ones.

An advertisement from 1991 touted the M-III's slim-taper neck as being "shaped to your hand, not some alien's." That 1-14/32-inch wide neck was set in (compared to the bolt-on necks one might expect on such an instrument) and featured 24 jumbo frets, arrowhead-shaped offset inlays and a maple fretboard. The neck joined the body at the 22nd fret for superb upper-fret access, and to this day, if one digs deep enough, internet message boards are peppered with players reporting how pleasant the M-III's neck is to play. In February, 1992, Guitar World's Chris Butler reviewed the M-III Standard and remarked that the instrument's only drawback was that it was so addictive to play that he found himself noodling instead of focusing on the recording session at hand.

The M-III Standard and Deluxe each had a uniquely-shaped tortoise shell pickguard with an almost tiger stripe effect, which followed the crescent-like arc created by the treble and bass side cutaways. (Actually, if you squint hard enough, the pickguard almost looks like an upside-down and backwards Explorer body). The pickguard was echoed by a tortoise shell truss rod cover and toggle switch surround. The guitar was available in Ebony, White or Candy Apple Red (Standard) or a clear finish which showed off the quality of the mahogany body (Deluxe).

Other variants included some which were rear-routed (ie: no pickguard); different pickup layouts (a pair of humbuckers with no single coil); different tremolos (Steinberger); and different woods and construction methods (including neck-thru models, as well as unconfirmed anecdotal reports of a handful of bolt-on models). The innovative switching system and pickup layout were also incorporated into a few Les Paul models. Epiphone made a version called the EM-2 Rebel (1991-1998), while also offering basses inspired by the M-III body shape all the way into 1999. The M-III, meanwhile, remained in the Gibson catalog in one form or another until 1996, and today the body shape lives on in two guitars from Epiphone's prophecy series, the EM-2 EX and EM-2 FX (the EM-1 was discontinued in 2010).

An early fan was Sid Fletcher of the band Roxy Blue, who used the guitar in the video for the band’s single, “Rob the Cradle.” It also appeared in a print advertisement campaign for Gibson in 1992. For the most part, the M-III was bought and loved by regular players who required a high-performance instrument with Swiss Army knife-like tonal flexibility.



M-III Info
SPECIFICATIONS

* Produced between 1991 - 1996
* Double-Cut Away Solid Body
* Famous Gibson Set Neck Construction
*25.5" Scale Neck w/24 Frets and Arrow-Head Inlays
* HSH Pickup Configurations
* "Gibson" Branded Schaller "Made In Germany" Double Locking Floyd Rose Tremolo
* Manufactured in the USA U.S.A. - Nashville, TN

The M Series Collection:

1) M-III Standard: H/S/H PU configuration, maple fretboard w/black triangle inlays, reverse Explorer headstock w/reversed Gibson Logo (must my inlayed pearl), 1 Tone, 1 Volume, 5-way (or 3-way) blade switch, 1 mini-switch, side jack, Gibson stamped locking vibrato bridge, w/pickguard, various finishes including Metallic Candy Red (don't know the actual finish name) and Ebony.

2) M-III Standard - No Pickguard: The same as (1) but without pickguard, ad shows the guitar in Translucent Amber finish.

3) M-IV S Deluxe: The same model as (1) & (2), but the body wood is different, the finish in Translucent, the vibrato bridge is seems like an alternated/wider Vintage Synchronized Vibrato Bridge, Rosewood (could be Ebony) fingerboard w/triangle pearl inlays.

4) M-IV S Standard: Same as the above, solid Ebony finish, the same weird bridge, Ebony (seems a bit too dark to be Rosewood) fretboard w/pearl dot inlays.

A very nice detail imho is that the tremolo was custom-made for Gibson, and where you normally had "Schaller" stamped into the baseplate, on an M3 it reads "Gibson".




GUITAR WORLD - FEBRUARY 1992 PRODUCT REVIEW


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GIBSON M-III STANDARD ELECTRIC GUITAR

Despite its rich history of quality and innovation, Gibson has been a little frustrated in getting a "modern" line of electric guitars to "stick" in the marketplace. Their bread-and-butter Les Pauls, ES-335s, and SGs have been hard acts to follow, hut with the M-III, the company has definitely come up with a winner.

This is a totally new Gibson guitar, save two classic features: the reverse Explorer-style headstock, and the gold Les Paul control knobs that compliment the tiger-shell pick guard (and truss rod cover and mini-toggle switch-plate--nice follow-through!).

The M-III has a racy shark fin and a deep-cutaway look that's "California custom car" sharp, balanced with enough natural wood to avoid vulgarity. The flat, ultrathin, 1-14/32-inch wide maple neck with arrowhead inlays is built for speed, and the jumbo frets and set-in construction deliver sustain that hangs into next week.

Thc M-III is also a very comfortable guitar to play: there's front and rear beveling, that's forearm-friendly, plus the 22nd fret neck-join means easy access to the 24th fret for players with even the biggest paws. In general, the workmanship is excellent, although I thought the edges of the frets could've used a tad more polishing.

A PEEK UNDER THE HOOD

Gibson's designers have put as much thought into the electronics as they have into the cosmetics. For starters, there's no need to run this guitar flat out in order to get a full sound.

The M-III's nine tone settings stay the same at any volume level. And they're musically useful tones, too, with plenty of high-end snap on the treble settings and rich, mud-free lows for rhythm work.

The pickups are recent Gibson models--a bright 496R ceramic magnet humbucker in the rhythm position that's mated with a high-output Model 500T humbucker at the bridge. Also, there's an extra NSX single-coil in the middle position, giving the player a wide range of humbucking and single-coil options.

Of special note is the efficient switching system: flipping a mini-toggle into Position One cuts in the single-coil sounds, while Position Two is for the double-coils. There's also a standard five-position switch for selecting the normal combinations, plus a few extras like an enhanced neck pickup tone that adds a hollow-body character to the sound and a stand-by mode for manual special effects, between song muting, etc...

There are no single-coil-plus-humbucking combinations in the stock factory wiring scheme. But there's nothing stopping the intrepid, soldering iron-wielding wirehead from making a few mods, is there?

Rounding out the M-III's features is a flush-mounted, Schaller-made Floyd Rose tremolo system, but what's there to say about a Floyd Rose that you don't already know If you've ever owned a guitar equipped with one? I've never understood why most guitar manufacturers don't include a booklet explaining the care and feeding of these systems, which are fairly sophisticated. What kind of strings are required? Does it need lubrication'? How do I adjust it? We're not born with this knowledge, folks, and the first time a first-time buyer busts a string they're gonna suffer some serious angst.

ROAD TEST

I worked the M-III out on a publishing demo for one of my new tunes, which called for two completely different rhythm guitar tracks. Normally, that would mean lugging all my guitars up to the studio, but thanks to its switching capabilities and dual pickup systems, the M-III was all I needed.

The first track needed a funky, single-coil, "boink-boink" tone--and the middle/bridge single coil setting was ideal. But I also wanted the amp (a '62 Vox AC30/6 "Treble") to clip a little, and was wondering if the single-coils would pump out enough power to overdrive the pre-amp section. No problem--I was even able to turn the amp's volume down, thus saving wear and tear on this antique amp's output stage.

Track Two needed a mega-crunch, fat humbucker tone for rhythm/power chord accents, so we fired up an ancient Marshall 2 X 12-inch, 50-watt combo and set the guitar to the neck humbucker position. The initial sound was dynamite, but when auditioned against the backing track, it was obvious, that a rounder sound was called for. The engineer started to reach for the EQ knobs, but all I had to do was switch to the enhanced tone setting. Actually, the "front-end" sounds on both tracks were so good that it was possible to record them with no EQ, thus reducing extraneous electronic noise. There was only one "problem" with the M-III: it's such a fun guitar to play and has such a pleasant "finger feel" that instead of concentrating on the task at hand, I noodled around too much! -CHRIS BUTLER

MODEL: M-111 STANDARD
NECK: 24-fret set-in maple neck with arrowhead inlays.
BODY: Poplar.
PICKUPS: One 496R ceramic magnet humbucker in the neck position, one NSX single-coil in the middle position and one 500T humbucker
in the bridge position.
TREMOLO: Double-locking Floyd Rose and black chrome hardware.
COLORS: Available in ebony, white and candy apple red.

*** HARMONY CENTRAL REVIEWS...check out what the people who own them think of them:

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/r...son/M-III/10/1

[muttznmongrelz]

Awesome! Congrats!!

Thank you Sir!

[TheLivingDead]

[GuitarDoc]

DANG!!!

That's all kinds of awesome. Nice score.

[Ashurbanipal]

They seem like pretty well thought out superstrats. Always like the shape; bet it balances really well too.

I think one of the forum bros has a rare HH one.

[muttznmongrelz]

Exactly!!!

[jtougas]

Fascinating wiring... would love to see the schematic of that one.

Especially that P5 in humbucker mode effectively works as a killswitch...

[St_Genesius]

I've never seen that model before.

Kinda trying to figure out a way to un-see it.

[muttznmongrelz]

I've never seen that model before.

Kinda trying to figure out a way to un-see it.

Ha! I acutally like some of the "Strat-ish" designs that Gibson tried - the M-III and Victory Models in particular.

[muttznmongrelz]

Hoping to find it at my office later tonight.

Hope it looks as good as the ones I am finding on the net:

[astrozombie]

thats... very 80s.

[muttznmongrelz]

Actually Early 90s. "Gibson...late to the party again"...

[muttznmongrelz]

Dropped by my work and picked it up last night...still need to clean it up, rotate the neck pickup back to the way it should be, add a Brass Big Block to the Floyd and get it set up...






...it's been played so there's a little fretwear but plenty of life left after a light leveling is done and it plays nicely, it's black so EVERYTHING shows but only one ding which is on the back side that will get a touch up. Not really liking the 496R/500T Humbuckers though, so it may get the HB-R/HB-L upgrade. Came w/the Original Hardshell Case and Warranty Paperwork - looks like it stayed w/it's original owner since 02/22/92 when it was purchased from a McKay Music, 2802 23rd Avenue, Moline, IL 61265 (found this info in a July 1991 Guitar World Mag "Special 1991 Edition - Blues Power" with Jeff Beck and Buddy Guy on the cover, had an ad for the M-III "Engineering Data Sheet" on page 39).

[TheLivingDead]

Niiiiiiice. I'd rock the hell out of that funky thing!

Kinda weird that the previous dude put the ball ends of the strings in the Floyd. Never seen that. Unless I'm crazy.

[stevie_bees]

That's the exact model I had...I should have never sold it...

Congrats! I'd definitely have one again, but they're as rare as hen's teeth here, and very expensive when they show up