The net is abuzz with talk of the Gibson Dusk Tiger.

With details still pretty sketchy, a limited number of images and some, relatively high-level, information is turning up here and there.

So let’s have some here as well as there.

Continuing the guitars-for-the-21st-century theme (my words) of the Gibson’s Dark Fire, the Dusk Tiger comes crammed with a bundle of features to provide for some serious sonic tweakage.

The Dusk Tiger will have many of the same features as the Dark Fire such as Robot tuning, hex outputs, RIP computer interface, Chameleon tone technology and so on (see here for Dark Fire features to get an idea and more detail).

Like the Dark Fire, it’s unlikely that the Dusk Tiger will be a modelling or MIDI guitar.  All of it’s sounds will be created with analogue means alone.  This should serve to keep traditionalists a little happier.

What may, however, push the traditionalists in the unhappy direction are the looks.  While based roughly upon a Les Paul, its lines have been tweaked somewhat.  The top is flat and few would complain about the beautiful exotic wood used but the, snarly sabre-toothed, pickup mounts and large pickup/control panel may well raise some disapproving eyebrows.  The Snagglepuss theme is continued by small ‘fang’ inlays in the 5th and 12th positions.

The Dusk Tiger boasts a programmable, active, four-band parametric EQ for both the magnetic and piezo pickups.  It also has a, switchable, low-impedance circuit.

Guitarists are often a conservative lot.  Many of the most popular guitars out there haven’t changed in half a century.  Possibly this traditionalism kills off many chances for the guitar to evolve.  There’s no doubt that the Dusk Tiger is different.  Different isn’t necessarily bad, however.  The looks may not appeal to everyone but Gibson are trying.  In the face of MIDI and modelling guitars, Gibson are trying to release innovative and flexible instruments without being straying too far from the ‘traditional’ analogue vibe of a guitar – this is not a digital replica of how a guitar should sound.  Even if the Dusk Tiger’s looks don’t appeal (and bear in mind, these are most likely prototype images), there’s something refreshing about that.

The images, and much of the information, come from Gear-Vault so pay them a visit.