Vintage Icon GT

I was looking for a Gold Top and I came across a Vintage Icon Gold top. They are fairly rare in Canada and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the guitar. I took it to my tech and he did a set up. I have 20 Electrics and he does all my set ups. I like a fairly low action and he said I had some high and low frets on it. It did have a lot of buzz. I had a fret level done and now the guitar plays like a dream.
I find the P90s are a little noisey but do hum cancel in the middle position. The controls have to be perfectly matched though.
Over all a pretty nice guitar for the money. But the fret issues cost me an extra $100.
I was wondering if anyone else had issues with this?
I do like the Wilkinson hardware on this guitar and when you factor that into the price they are quite good bang for the buck.
The weight of this guitar is a pleasant surprise as well. About the same as my Chambered Gibson LP Gold top. I like the dark back, and the Vintage headstock and logo really set this guitar off.
Over all I think this is an excellent guitar, and even factoring in the extra hundred I am just over 500.
No case but I had an extra Yorkville case and it fits like a glove. I now have two Goldies, one HB and 0ne P90, but quite a bit different in price. The Icon holds up pretty well to the Gibby though.

I have one of these. The frets were fine on mine, just needed a quick dress and polish to get them perfect. I think, as with all high production items, you do get the odd one that falls through the net.

I love the sound of mine, the P90's do give off a bit of noise as with all single coils but I reduced it a little by shielding all cavities with aluminium shielding tape.

I paid £140 for the guitar and £40 for my Tech to dress and polish the frets then £10 for the tape and did it myself so less then £200 to get it exactly as I wanted. A friend set it up for free.

I wish I got one one of these instead of the AV1. But the AV1 is a great guitar and I'm very very happy with it

Admin wrote:I have one of these. The frets were fine on mine, just needed a quick dress and polish to get them perfect. I think, as with all high production items, you do get the odd one that falls through the net.

I love the sound of mine, the P90's do give off a bit of noise as with all single coils but I reduced it a little by shielding all cavities with aluminium shielding tape.

I paid £140 for the guitar and £40 for my Tech to dress and polish the frets then £10 for the tape and did it myself so less then £200 to get it exactly as I wanted. A friend set it up for free.

Did you buy the guitar new? I paid 429 Can. for mine. I checked on the exchange rate for the Pound and the initial price seems pretty low. At 40 pounds the Fret dressing was about the same cost, because mine included a complete set up. My tech does the intonation, nut, neck relief, adjusts the bridge and puts my favourite strings on.
I have a 1968 P90 Gibson SG, and the pickups are not close to being as noisy as the Wilkinsons.
I wonder if it is the pots and caps as well.
the shielding might be worth a try.
I have never had my pick ups out. How are they attached. I figured they were screwed right into the wood.
I absolutely hate any pickup noise and I was contemplating swapping that P90s out for a set of Mini humbuckers. I decided to keep the P90s and live with the noise. I didn't try shielding.
What would you say the shielding reduced the noise, out of 10 say?

Yes, I did buy it brand new but I got it from a store that was clearing out due to the fact he was closing down, so I had the GT for a crazy bargain! Would have cost me twice that if I had bought it anywhere else.

The fret dress/polish was done by the same guy I always use. I set the guitar up and filed the nut myself (I use VERY heavy gauge strings so the string slots in the nut needed to be widened).

The shielding did have some effect, out of 10 I would say about a 3 or 4 but there was still some noise there. Upgrading the pots/caps/wiring will help also. If you want to stay close to the sound but eliminate the noise completely you could swap the pickups out for the Wilkinson stacked P90's, Model numbers: W90SKN and W90SKB. They lean more towards a humbucker sound but still retain the P90 "bark" we all know and love.

Check out the Wilkinson pickups here: Wilkinson Pickups page

Hope this helps.

Admin wrote:Yes, I did buy it brand new but I got it from a store that was clearing out due to the fact he was closing down, so I had the GT for a crazy bargain! Would have cost me twice that if I had bought it anywhere else.

The fret dress/polish was done by the same guy I always use. I set the guitar up and filed the nut myself (I use VERY heavy gauge strings so the string slots in the nut needed to be widened).

The shielding did have some effect, out of 10 I would say about a 3 or 4 but there was still some noise there. Upgrading the pots/caps/wiring will help also. If you want to stay close to the sound but eliminate the noise completely you could swap the pickups out for the Wilkinson stacked P90's, Model numbers: W90SKN and W90SKB. They lean more towards a humbucker sound but still retain the P90 "bark" we all know and love.

Check out the Wilkinson pickups here: Wilkinson Pickups page

Hope this helps.

That is interesting. I thoought mine were supposed to be the stacked P90s. I guess I read it wrong.
When they were referring to the stacked P90s I thought they were talking about the ones in the V100.
Thanks for clearing that up. I really don't think I will change them out. If they go I will put a set of Minis in.

Hi guys - just for clarification, the model you both have is a V100 Re-issued Series gold top - there isn't currently a Gold Top with p90's in the Icon Series, (although there is the humbucker equipped V100MRJBM) which are the artificially distressed, or aged guitars.

I'm going to check on how the V100GT is wired - I've talked to one of the techs and we are sure it is just as a single coil - hence the noise - unlike on the Advance series where it is wired as a stacked humbucker. You could try extra shielding in the control cavity a la Thomas Blug?

Thanks Gav. I am not that worried about the noise. I really like the feel of the guitar, and I could probably do the shielding thing.
Still, I think it would be a good platform for a set of mini buckers.
But for now it stays stock.

I've already done the cavity shielding and that seemed to help a bit. The level of noise from mine is not a problem for me and I like the sound of the P90's.

I have been researching the cavity shielding, on a P90 guitar and the consensus seems to be that it is a waste of time. Most have said it changed very little and some have even said it changed the tone of the pickups. The opinions seem to say that it is a p90 and you will get noise so live with it.
If it was the only guitar I owned I would probably get rid of it. I do have an original 68 Gibson SG that I have owned for over 40 years and it has a lot less noise, but it is there. I remember years ago getting radio signals with it through my 1964 Super Reverb amp. Now that was crazy.
I have heard of the P100s from Gibson being noise cancelling.
Of course we all should know that the reason for the humbucking pickup was in fact P90 noise and hum.
So if you want raunchy I guess you go with the p90 and live with the humm!