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

[danastas]

Exactly! If a $1200 - $1700 guitar is considered low end then what about the $400 Ibanez's. They are much better in construction than the gibsons. Yes, even I have seen frets with glue residues, finishes with flaws...

I think they want to promote the epiphones than the USA gibsons. The epi's are cheaper to produce and they would rather sell 3 epi's than 1 gibson. they always have the custom shop for the hard-core dedicated gibson lover. But they dont lose out on the USA gibsons either. there will be some rich noobish kid who has heard a lot of good things about the gibsons and will not notice these "flaws".

So, a drop from 2000 to 1700 is what I was talking about when I said low end?

[emperor_black]

You are missing the whole point my friend. A gibson is not a "low end" guitar at all. The cheapest gibson is $500+. A low end guitar is BCRich's, squiers and such costing less than $200 - $300. The point that I was trying to make is that my Korean made $350 Ibanez had much better construction quality than a $1200 gibson.

[Tashtego]

When ever I look at that x-ray pic I'm always bothered most by how screwed up the body looks, that there is a least 1 fret that looks grossly misplaced and the tuners don't appear to be aligned right. I guess it must be an effect of the x-ray imaging. If the guitar were really that misshapen no one would have bought it. What is the metal piece at the top of the headstock?

[Bengal]

When ever I look at that x-ray pic I'm always bothered most by how screwed up the body looks, that there is a least 1 fret that looks grossly misplaced and the tuners don't appear to be aligned right. I guess it must be an effect of the x-ray imaging. If the guitar were really that misshapen no one would have bought it. What is the metal piece at the top of the headstock?

I think the funky fret and tuners are an imaging problem with the x-ray. As for the metal piece at the headstock, I have no idea what that is. Something in the case, maybe...

But the real story is the holes in the body... Unacceptable...

[Sunbane]

What is the metal piece at the top of the headstock?

That is one of the feet on the bottom of the case.
I must say I don't see your position at all - it looks fine to me?

EDIT: Looking again, I must admit you're right. The body shape looks funkier than anything.

[Bengal]

That is one of the feet on the bottom of the case.
I must say I don't see your position at all - it looks fine to me?

If your talking about the weight relief holes, you must be kidding...

[sakeido]

There sure are a lot of pigs shipping from Nashville. Everybody that buys Gibbo learns sooner or later. They don't ALL suck but a pretty hefty percentage have some significant problems. Maybe you should look at BFG that supposed to be all fukced up! Your best bet right now is to have a picture of a Les Paul painted on your new PRS Singlecut! Either that or cut the picture of one out of Slash's hands in the magizine ad.
It's the truth...it's an epidemic...modern day Gibson is a total marketing and PR creation. Ignorant peeps will say "troll', but it's the total truth.......dolts and idiots. It's truley a comedy unless your one of the poor stupid bastards that get stuck with a pig or a lucky bastard that gets a winner right off the bat (<1%, I'd say).

Man, if your gonna hang in there, get ready for a snipe hunt! Me...I just ordered a few '07 PRS's! (Ugh....Septemeber....)

Yup I am onto PRS now too... they are mega pricey instruments, but I have never heard a bad thing about the absolutely ridiculous attention to detail they put into their guitars.

[Tashtego]

Good call on the top of the headstock. Holes? Eh, if the guitar sounds, feels and plays good I could care less if there are weight relief holes hidden under the top.

[CharvelRocker]

Theres another one of those metal things off the upper left corner by one of the holes.

[Bengal]

Good call on the top of the headstock. Holes? Eh, if the guitar sounds, feels and plays good I could care less if there are weight relief holes hidden under the top.

Well, glad you wouldn't have a problem with it. I sure do. They don't advertise this point. Someone had to take that pic of their LP to find out, THEN Gibson admitted to it. If I'm buying a guitar that's been "swiss cheezed", I want to know about it before, not after...

It's alot like the Fender snafu in the 90's. They were selling American Standard Strats and Teles advertising that they were alder, they were not. They were poplar with a very thin alder veneer over the top. They did that all through the 90's, didn't stop until 2000, when they revamped the Strat and Tele line. Is that fine too? I know I was pissed to hell when I found that out...

Actually, only the sunburst model had the alder veneer, the solid colors were just poplar, but the catalogue said alder. Not right either...

[StukaJU87]

Wrong. I hate to burst your bubble. I've been trying to find a decent SL2 for a while now.

:ROTF: You did not, and you are not alone in the search.

You didn't burst his bubble. You obviously missed the sarcasm in Scott's post. Search the forum, there's plenty of people complaining about Jackson's QC issues.

Thank you Joe. This is a Jackson forum and since the Jacksons are under fire, some people think the subject can be averted by throwing other manufacturers under the bus. Since Jackson is getting a lot of heat lately, I see the Gibson threads sprouting up too.

I don't think I like your tone Scott. You are being unnecessarily sarcastic. Sure Jackson may have a QC problem now and again but it's only on limited run guitars sold to forum members on the JCF so things really aren't that bad at all. I am now angry with much rage at you for your unwarranted and blatant attacks at the legendary Jackson Custom Shop. Seriously, when is this going to stop with you Scott?

Ok, I can't keep this up any more. Great post Scott - I spit some Diet Rite on my keyboard.

You are welcome Tim. We do not always see eye to eye, but I think we agree on this subject.

I am laughing right along with you, my friend.

[CharvelRocker]

Well, glad you wouldn't have a problem with it. I sure do. They don't advertise this point. Someone had to take that pic of their LP to find out, THEN Gibson admitted to it. If I'm buying a guitar that's been "swiss cheezed", I want to know about it before, not after...

It's alot like the Fender snafu in the 90's. They were selling American Standard Strats and Teles advertising that they were alder, they were not. They were poplar with a very thin alder veneer over the top. They did that all through the 90's, didn't stop until 2000, when they revamped the Strat and Tele line. Is that fine too? I know I was pissed to hell when I found that out...

Actually, only the sunburst model had the alder veneer, the solid colors were just poplar, but the catalogue said alder. Not right either...

Thats illegal in both cases. Its false advertising.

[PowerTube]

...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.

That's nothing. About a week ago, I tried out an Extremely Limited Edition Les Paul Custom at the local Guitar Center. It was encased in glass and surrounded by four armed security guards. I had to leave a $20,000.00 deposit and provide five forms of I.D. to even be allowed in the room. Once I finally presented them with my notarized future death certificate and a $100,000.00 insurance bond, I was allowed to plug it into an old Gorilla amp from 1987.

Let me tell you, it was junk. The bridge pickup just fell right out, revealing that the body was made of plywood and had some rot starting. There were a couple of termites scurrying aroind in there, as well. Once I finally got the neck to stop swaying back and forth (with some duct tape), I proceeded to try and tune it. About every 1/3 of the way around on the tuning pegs, they would slip and release the string. The Gibson logo was even drawn on with a Sharpie™ that was starting to fade.

But the worst part was when I finally plugged it into the amp. I was going to switch it to the neck pickup (since the bridge pup fell out), but the toggle didn't work. So one of their techs took a second to wire the neck pickup to an input jack he had laying around. Sparks flew everywhere and the doctors say that my vertigo should be gone within a couple of weeks.

But yeah, I bought it.

[straycat]

The headstock thing in the pic is this, they route for the logo squeeze in some epoxy then set the logo.Then sand the face of the headstock,then paint it.
There may be some epoxy near the tuner as well.
I think the shape of the body is distorted looking due to the fuzzy lineing in the case.

[nateb]

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.

Man... I will tell you one thing, for 2200 -> 3400, that guitar better play and look right. How much do you have to pay for "higher attention to detail?" A while ago (< 1year) I took a chance and went down to try a couple out. None were epiphones and I tried roughly 10 of them. I wouldn't trade my import Charvel 475 for one of these boat anchors. These all ranged from the 1400.00 to the 3000.00 price range.

Gibson for the most part are nothing but a overpriced fashion statement. No thanks, I gave up drinking Kool-Aid a long time ago.

-Nate