I thought Gibson quality problems with overexagerrated, but...

[sakeido]

...they are not. I've been gassing for a Les Paul for awhile now and decided to go to the guitar shop last night and try and find one that suited me. First one I played was a black custom classic ($2800cad), it looked bitchin... but the toggle switch would wiggle back and forth and cut the sound in and out, plus the glue had seeped out from around the neck joint and they just painted over it. Flaws in the binding, too. Next one was just a normal classic ($2200cad). Played like fucking garbage. Couldn't really put my finger on it, but it felt like hell. Then a standard. These things are ugly, they put the shittiest tops on these things and then the burst sucks. It was a cosmetic abortion. Also had glue seeping out from the neck joint. Then I played one Les Paul GT ($3400cad) - WICKED paintjob, but NO OUTPUT from the fucking jack no matter what. Played the other, still same wicked paintjob, but I did one bend on the A string at the 5th fret and heard this plunk and thought "hey I broke a string" but lo and behold, the string had just popped out of the nut and settled in with the low E string because the nut wasn't fuckin set up properly - only the slightest groove! The strings sat on top of the nut with just the slightest divot to hold them in. Unbelievable.

No more GASing for Gibsons for me. These things are garbage.

[danastas]

But none of the ones you tried are coming out of the Custom shop. Only the Custom Gibsons go through the Plek machine process, and have a higher attention to detail.

I agree that the lower end ones are crappy, wherever they're made, Nashville or Kalamazoo, but the Custom VOSs are all pretty good.

By the way, those prices in Canadian $$ are outrageous!! Man, come down to the US (if you live close to the border and buy one).

You can buy a new custom for 2200.

[StukaJU87]

Buy a new USA JAckson. They have zero issues.

[DonP]

Too bad. Looks like I bought up the only good Gibsons that were out there

[StukaJU87]

Too bad. Looks like I bought up the only good Gibsons that were out there

I was thinking the same thing. I still have 4, but have owned so many over the years and can't recall ever seeing these kinds of issues.:ROTF:

[nonamemx]

I was thinking the same thing. I still have 4, but have owned so many over the years and can't recall ever seeing these kinds of issues.:ROTF:

Its the new ones that have questionable quality.

[Monster Joe]

I always wonder why I never come across these awful Gibsons.
I have two Standards and they are both fine guitars.
I've got a Faded Les Paul on layaway that is just awesome. Sounds like a bell!
I've played oodles of Gibsons over the years and the only ones I considered to have a serious issue were a Gothic with backbow in the neck and an SG-X or something that had shitty fretwork.
Most other guitars were decent to very good. Not necessarily awesome, but surely no lemons.

Maybe they don't ship their crappy guitars overseas?

[kelly user]

bought an explorer....................... decent only because i got it for $949 +tax with a case, that im not that pissed i walked out paying $1027

nut job look a little sloppy, and there was paint on the fret tips on the 18-22 frets and what boggles my mind even more is they just cleared over it

[Predator1]

I am still awaiting delivery of a SG Standard/Silverburst/Ebony board. It is one of the Guitars of the week. I surely hope it has none of these issues. It also comes stock with grover tuners instead of the junky green ones. I got it for a really good deal. Ijust hope it's not a lemon!

[eakinj]

...they are not. I've been gassing for a Les Paul for awhile now and decided to go to the guitar shop last night and try and find one that suited me. First one I played was a black custom classic ($2800cad), it looked bitchin... but the toggle switch would wiggle back and forth and cut the sound in and out, plus the glue had seeped out from around the neck joint and they just painted over it. Flaws in the binding, too. Next one was just a normal classic ($2200cad). Played like fucking garbage. Couldn't really put my finger on it, but it felt like hell. Then a standard. These things are ugly, they put the shittiest tops on these things and then the burst sucks. It was a cosmetic abortion. Also had glue seeping out from the neck joint. Then I played one Les Paul GT ($3400cad) - WICKED paintjob, but NO OUTPUT from the fucking jack no matter what. Played the other, still same wicked paintjob, but I did one bend on the A string at the 5th fret and heard this plunk and thought "hey I broke a string" but lo and behold, the string had just popped out of the nut and settled in with the low E string because the nut wasn't fuckin set up properly - only the slightest groove! The strings sat on top of the nut with just the slightest divot to hold them in. Unbelievable.

No more GASing for Gibsons for me. These things are garbage.

This is going to sound really bad.. but if you want a les paul try some of the Epiphone customs. I have one and they thing is perfect. I think the import shops are still keeping up with standards where as the US stuff they just let slide now. they'll sound a bit different but they are good guitars (and a decent substitue until you find a good US model (probably used)

[eakinj]

I always wonder why I never come across these awful Gibsons.
I have two Standards and they are both fine guitars.
I've got a Faded Les Paul on layaway that is just awesome. Sounds like a bell!
I've played oodles of Gibsons over the years and the only ones I considered to have a serious issue were a Gothic with backbow in the neck and an SG-X or something that had shitty fretwork.
Most other guitars were decent to very good. Not necessarily awesome, but surely no lemons.

Maybe they don't ship their crappy guitars overseas?

I have seen a couple at Guitar Center that should have never left the plant they were so bad. I have to wonder if it's more the dealers who are selling them, I wonder if they get some sort of discount for these with the mistakes and then sell them for a preimium price. There's a lot of crooks out there who'll take advantage of people any way they can.

But like I said earlier, I noticed that the import models are coming in at pretty high quality, at least the few (maybe 12) I have played compared to the US models.

I dont think it's that they are lemons in this case (well one of them sounded like it was) but just the fact that for 2800 dollars there should not be glue visible, and everything should be nice clean and look like a 2800 dollar guitar.

For me being an American and wanting to support to American companies, things like this make it very difficult to buy a US made guitar by a HUGE company when their quality isn't as good as their lower end import versions. It's kind of sad, and hope that it was just a case of the wrong guitar shop instead of the wrong guitar maker.

[Newc]

But none of the ones you tried are coming out of the Custom shop. Only the Custom Gibsons go through the Plek machine process, and have a higher attention to detail.

I agree that the lower end ones are crappy, wherever they're made, Nashville or Kalamazoo, but the Custom VOSs are all pretty good.

A USA made Gibson Les Paul Custom and Standard are hardly considered "low end". Gibson has a history and a tradition of being a "top quality" USA made guitar and the production models should not have these issues, with the Custom Shop/Custom Order/MasterBuilt models getting all the QC. That's saying that $2000 isn't good enough money for a quality guitar with no issues, and that's 100% bullsh*t.

[Rupe]

As a Gibson dealer through 1999, I never saw any of the issues that you mention, and still haven't to this day (although I have only played 10-12 new ones since changing professions).
The most common issue that I would see was orange peel in the paint, which was much too common IMO on a high end instrument.

[Inazone]

I don't know at what point in time a Gibson becomes a "new" Gibson, but back when Mars Music was still open, I checked out quite a few SGs and LPs. Orange peel on SG Supremes, crooked inlays on LPs, glue and paint all over the binding, and some very obvious electronics issues. A couple years later, I saw the same problems on Gibsons at Guitar Center. I talked to one small shop owner and a Gibson-authorized tech, and both mentioned the high number of returns and warranty repairs on brand new high-end Gibsons.

I have my eye on the new Les Paul BFGs, but of course they have a different finish, no inlays and no binding.

[toejam]

No problems with my '04 faded "vintage mahogany" Studio.