Losing their F#$%^&* minds!!!!!

[leftykingv2]

I just looked at Gibson's prices and I must say I think the whole company is smoking crack! Four grand now for a regular Les Paul custom?????? You must be joking! These guitars have not changed in 50+ years in the least bit! The headstock is still pitched at the wrong angle. There is STILL no volute in the neck. They're just about all still horribly balanced. They still have the highest neck breakage percentage in the business. I personally have three friends who have bought from Gibson in the past five years who have had nothing but problems and when you pay this kind of money for a guitar it should be perfect. All of my friends had issues with the company when it comes to trying to get factory defects fixed under warranty. In two instances my friends not only got the guitar back from the company with the same issue they sent it away to get fixed for but they came back unfixed and with new damage!!!! This company has gone to shit since it moved to Tennessee! If you want a real Les Paul buy from Heritage! They not only build a quality instrument but they stand behind their product one hundred percent. I know all kinds of people are going to hate this thread but think about what you're actually buying and how much it's REALLY WORTH!!! NO production model guitar is worth four thousand dollars! For that price Jackson and a whole myriad of other companies will build you ANYTHING you want! Please don't be be stupid and post on here that "Slash" and "Zakk" play Gibson because anyone with a brain knows their guitars are ghost built.

[straycat]

Lots of misinformation in the above post sorry man I had to say it.
I have had a couple of new Pauls and SG's and they were all fine guitars and did what they were built to do.No nicks, faulty paint or bad construction.
I don't piss and moan about a ding or a nick or crappy pots I just fix the problem myself and play them.
Some Gibson owners are uber anal and will cry about the strings being too high from the factory LOLOLOLOL.
Free market to charge what you want no harm in that is there?
If you think the price is too high don't buy one.
@ to address the factory defect comment play before you buy is the best policy.

[leftykingv2]

Lots of misinformation in the above post sorry man I had to say it.
I have had a couple of new Pauls and SG's and they were all fine guitars and did what they were built to do.No nicks, faulty paint or bad construction.
I don't piss and moan about a ding or a nick or crappy pots I just fix the problem myself and play them.
Some Gibson owners are uber anal and will cry about the strings being too high from the factory LOLOLOLOL.
Free market to charge what you want no harm in that is there?
If you think the price is too high don't buy one.

First of all there is no misinformation in my post! Do you know my friends? Have you seen their guitars? Have you played their guitars? I can answer all three questions for you, and the answer is no. Just because YOUR Gibsons came in good shape doesn't mean what I said is a lie. I must say also that if you pay that kind of money for a guitar and it has a "ding" or scratch or a bad set up and or bad pots it's a shame and you are part of the problem!!!! I wouldn't call it being "Uber anal" if I pay four grand for something and expect it to be perfect! This is why that company has gone to shit, because people like you will drop a couple grand or more and deal with a ding or scratch or whatever. I own over 30 guitars and have been playing for over 28 years. I do own some Gibsons but everyone is from the 70s. Every Gibson I have played from after 1998 ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT measure up! There's also a difference between fair market and just being stupid and getting ripped off and four grand for a production model guitar of any type is a rip off!

[straycat]

I've only been playing for 47 years and owned maybe 300 guitars so what the hell do I know?
No guitar is perfect trust me there will most always be a small imperfection somewhere on it.
Gibson is run by humans and humans do make mistakes.Paint doesn't always act right either it may be perfect when it leaves the plant and the paint may sink a bit in transit lots of things can happen.
Gibson puts a generic set up on all guitars so you can set it up to what feels best to you.They expect you to how can they know how you want it?
I prefer the 70's and 80's Les Pauls myself so I wont argue with you on that point.
I'm a guitar tech so I work on lots of guitars and all makers have the same issues from time to time.
Just to reiterate there is no absolute perfect guitar.
Just to make you feel better I'm working on a Fender David Gilmour CS strat right now and its a 4200.00 piece of shit.
Neck pocket isn't cut correctly and the fit and finish is really bad.Spent 3 hours re fretting it.
Oh its a brand new guitar too.
The owner doesn't want Fender to touch it and wants it done right so he called me.

[leftykingv2]

I've only been playing for 47 years and owned maybe 300 guitars so what the hell do I know?
No guitar is perfect trust me there will most always be a small imperfection somewhere on it.
Gibson is run by humans and humans do make mistakes.Paint doesn't always act right either it may be perfect when it leaves the plant and the paint may sink a bit in transit lots of things can happen.
Gibson puts a generic set up on all guitars so you can set it up to what feels best to you.They expect you to how can they know how you want it?
I prefer the 70's and 80's Les Pauls myself so I wont argue with you on that point.
I'm a guitar tech so I work on lots of guitars and all makers have the same issues from time to time.
Just to reiterate there is no absolute perfect guitar.

I agree with your last post! nothing is perfect. I am not a tech like yourself either so I will take your word on it you know more than me from a technical standpoint. All I do is tune them, set them up, a pick up change here and there and play them. Don't get me wrong I ABSOLUTELY LOVE my 1976 Les Paul and it's great in every way! Be honest though bro four grand for a Les Paul custom is insane and lately I see more and more guys showing up with 3 thousand dollar dogs!

[leftykingv2]

That's a horror story. I have only had a few friends with personal experiences that were bad with Fender. They usually stand behind their products better than that from what I have heard. Tell your friend I am sorry to hear about that. It just sucks when you spend that kind of money on anything and end up being disappointed .

[straycat]

There are plenty of dogs out there by all brands.
I do find most people buy a guitar on looks and the name on the headstock.Maybe its a prestige thing who knows.
But they don't look the guitar over closely for issues and maybe not even play it first.That to me is crazy in and of itself.
I had a guy call me complaining that his new LP had too fat of a neck. I asked what did you buy which model?He said a L.P aren't they all the same?
I told him no they are are not.He told me the salesman said it had a 50's neck profile and he thought it was special because Gibson had put a neck out a 50's L.P in it.
You can't fix stupid.

[leftykingv2]

That is so funny I almost pissed in my shorts!!! You should have invited him over just to see if he had a helmet on when he got there!

[Shawn Lutz]

I agree the prices new are high. I never pay full price for anything. The new guitars are not pieces of shit as you claim. I have a 2012 Traditioal plus that smokes any guitar I ever played, including USA Jackson Custom Shops. If you're looking for an LPC why buy a new one at $4k that comes with a Richlite fretboard instead of ebony? Look for 2011 and older ones that have ebony boards. You can buy nice LPC's in $2000-3000 range. I'm in the market for an ebony black beauty LPC myself.

[lefty]

With the exception of the LPC, which I agree is overpriced, I'm more impressed with the fact
that Gibby's been trying to offer some lower-priced gits, viz the LPJ and SGJ, and some of the
new Tribute and Studio models. Haven't played [or even seen one in person] them so no opinion
on quality, but at least they APPEAR to be introducing some more sanely-priced stuff...

As for quality of recent Gibbys, I bought 2 last year, an SG faded and a LP Melody Maker, both
obviously low-end models, and had no issues with them whatsoever. YMMV...

[DonP]

I just looked at Gibson's prices and I must say I think the whole company is smoking crack! Four grand now for a regular Les Paul custom?????? You must be joking! These guitars have not changed in 50+ years in the least bit! The headstock is still pitched at the wrong angle. There is STILL no volute in the neck. They're just about all still horribly balanced. They still have the highest neck breakage percentage in the business. I personally have three friends who have bought from Gibson in the past five years who have had nothing but problems and when you pay this kind of money for a guitar it should be perfect. All of my friends had issues with the company when it comes to trying to get factory defects fixed under warranty. In two instances my friends not only got the guitar back from the company with the same issue they sent it away to get fixed for but they came back unfixed and with new damage!!!! This company has gone to shit since it moved to Tennessee! If you want a real Les Paul buy from Heritage! They not only build a quality instrument but they stand behind their product one hundred percent. I know all kinds of people are going to hate this thread but think about what you're actually buying and how much it's REALLY WORTH!!! NO production model guitar is worth four thousand dollars! For that price Jackson and a whole myriad of other companies will build you ANYTHING you want! Please don't be be stupid and post on here that "Slash" and "Zakk" play Gibson because anyone with a brain knows their guitars are ghost built.

Please explain to me why it is that these players who have more money than I can imagine (an I can imagine a lot) keep playing these sub-par instruments when they can afford anything they want?

Please explain how can Gibson stay in business trying to sell such a crappy guitar for so much money?

Why is it that Gibson guitars hold their value so well, in fact better than any other guitar out there (with a very few exceptions) if they are so poorly made?

Why is it that so many people want these guitars?

[j2379]

brand loyalty and years of history. I had a 90's SG-Z it was a dog, fret work was OK, neck shifted as does almost every 61 reissue type SG, and the guitar wouldnt intonate properly, as the fretboard end was off so the nut was not in the right spot. this was the only Gibson Ive owned, and the newest gibson I had played. My buddy has a small collection of old SG's and they are nice, much better than my old POS.

as for you comments about headstock pitch and lack of a volute, please explain. Ive got a collection of OLDer BCR's basically the same headstock pitch and no volute, no problem? & ghost built, i highly doubt, massaged by their tech i can believe.

& trust me you think Gibson is bad you've never dealt with Wayne. Michael actually had the balls to tell me, i don't know how to maintain my guitars and began naming rock stars that owned Wayne's that didn't have issue. in a simple email i sent him a pic of about 25 early/mid 80's charvel/jacksons and BCRichs that i had at the time, and told him none of these 20+ year old guitars had any issues & with customer service like that Wayne guitars would be as forgotten about as his Ritz guitar line.

[YetAnotherOne]

I have three LPs: a Zakk Wylde, a Lifeson & a Boneyard and they're all fantastic instruments, certainly as good as any of the couple hundred guitars I've owned over the years. I paid an average of about $2850 for them. In the 50s a top of the line LP was $275, adjusted for inflation that's nearly $2700. Yeah, prices have really gotten out of hand.

[leftykingv2]

I believe I did explain the problem with the headstock and the wrong angle. They have the highest neck breakage in the business. My buddy has a 1998 Sg that dropped once and the headstock broke right in two! This same friend has an LTD. Jeff Hanneman model that's fallen the same way at least a half a dozen times and surprise, it's never broken. If a volute were installed the neck/headstock (and this is where they break a lot!) would have more support and be less likely to break on small impacts. My personal friend Jack Cuda is a Master Luthier and has told me as much on at least five occasions.He worked for Washburn and Kramer back in the early years and now runs a small repair shop out of his house in Pgh. Pa. for a hobby now that he is older and retired. In his 45 plus years of experience repairing guitars he has told me he has repaired more broken Gibson necks than all other brands combined. Plus you didn't get that Zakk new for $2850.00 those things are 4 grand or more! I am a left handed player and I can't even imagine what they would try to charge me for a custom LP or a Zakk model! Don't get me wrong I love my 1976 LP more than life itself but the new stuff I have played and seen doesn't measure up at all! My LP is 36 years old and is a better quality guitar than anything they're selling now by far. Do yourselves a favor and Look up Kris Derrig (may he rest in peace) and or Max or Peter Barrant then tell me about how so and so plays a LP!

[coloradoman25]

maybe your friend needs to better protect his gear?