CHARLIE PICKETT: This is a '57 Classic.

PATRICK OGLE: What is it called?

CHARLIE PICKETT: A '57 reissue, Custom Shop Reissue I think it's called, and it's got a little certificate that comes with it. I just wanted a gold top all my life and I finally got one. As you can see, I don't treat it that well but I'm going to treat this one a little better, clean it all up, and put it on eBay. This guitar was one of those rare one where you sit there and it feels so good in the shop, played it through a blues junior, sounded good in the shop. I had some good moments with it playing but I've had more moments where I'm sitting there wondering why this guitar seems to fail in my hands than I have had good moments with it. The other day I tried to play some slide with it, and it actually, you know, the slide, almost every time you get in here, the octave, you start to get the note sort of an undertone-overtone sort of thing going on, and all I got was just incredible mismatch as if the guitar wasn't set up right and the guitar is set up right, so I just think it's me and this guitar just don't get along that well

So, the original SG there was $350 at the time, which I guess makes it an expensive guitar this day, but yeah that's a $2,700 guitar and it just doesn't work for me, which you know I feel kind of bad because I like the way it looks and you know having aspired to have one all these years is kind of a shame, and you know I finally got one in my hands where I can pretend to be a better guitar player than I am, and it just doesn't work, so this one's I think I'm just going to let it go on eBay or try to sell it on eBay or something like that or Craigslist. I just don't care for that much.

And this is one of the very, very rare guitars I've ever not liked after I bought it because I usually play everything quite a bit before I buy it, and that didn't succumb to like the first time in my hands thing either. I played it once, said I cannot buy this because it feels good and it's so darn expensive, and I went back and played it again and it still felt good at the time. So, it's got a very thick neck, which, you know, actually I like because it slows you down. It doesn't let you do dumb licks because you have to think of what you're going to play before you play on this guitar.

[CHARLIE PICKETT PLAYING A FEW LICKS ON HIS GIBSON LES PAUL '57 CUSTOM SHOP REISSUE]

It just doesn't work for me so I just got to let it go. Well these are Burstbucker 2's.

PATRICK OGLE: Oh, those are Burstbuckers. Okay.

CHARLIE PICKETT: Burstbucker 2's, and --

PATRICK OGLE: Maybe that's why it doesn't work.

CHARLIE PICKETT: I'm sorry. It's Burstbucker 1's...

PATRICK OGLE: Ones.

CHARLIE PICKETT: ...which means they're underpowered, which is good. I don't like hot pickups that much. It just doesn't work for me. I thought about switching out the pickups but I thought, you know, yeah I'm just going to put this away and call it a bad lesson. And then I got a Robot SG on layaway because I play slide and I always hate stopping the show to switch out guitars, and it's just a little bit clunky to do so, and I obviously, you know, just one of the rules of playing, you seldom, you try to not to play two guitar -- I'm sorry -- two songs in the same key. So you know, when you're holding the slide, open-tuned guitar, typically you're going to be playing in the key that the guitar is tuned out, so you're going to be doing three songs in a row in D or switch out the guitar, and so with the Robot Guitar, the idea is that I'll play that again at the shop quite a bit, and as such you just pull up one of the knobs and change the tuning. It cuts itself off from the amp by 90 degrees or 90% of power to the amp and changes the tuning, talk to the audience for a few seconds while you're doing that, and then you come back and you've got either straight tuning or another tuning or another open tuning. So, that's what I'm looking for. Those are on sale now for $1,400 and if I can get $1,400 out this, which I think I ought to be able to get, then I'll be.

PATRICK OGLE: And --

CHARLIE PICKETT: I'm happy enough with the night. I think it's a shame that they're having what they calling open D is not an open E dropped to D. It's an open D, which I don't know how to play in so I'm going to have to learn to play in that or I'm going to have to do something with it. Now, it has one custom tuning, but the custom tuning I would like is an open D that runs root, fifth, root, fifth, root, third, and so I don't want to put a straight standard stock open tuning D into that custom tuning slot. I think once I get the guitar I'm going to write to the folks at Gibson, and surely there's a way to re-engineer the computer that's doing the tuning to get rid of the open D that they've got designed into it and put in another different open D tuning. It just can't be that.

Well, if they've got a custom tuning, surely they can re-engineer one of the set tunings.

PATRICK OGLE: Right.

CHARLIE PICKETT: Because I don't need an open E tuning. I mean yes I do but that's a hell of a lot of strain on the neck. I just assumed it had to be an open E slashed down to a D where you don't have so much neck strain.

PATRICK OGLE: Of course you have to add the SG headstock with those giant tuners on there. It would just [OVERLAPPING].

CHARLIE PICKETT: It could just -- Yeah, just asking for it to snap. Anyway, this is my dream guitar that didn't work out so well.