If you love Gibsons..then dont read this thread!

[åron]

Yeah wtf, you gotta learn to listen through the sour notes and hear the whole package. Seriously though, factory setups aside, I don't think the current staff and management at my local GC's even know what to do to set up a guitar. A few years back, there were some killer players; metalheads, rockabilly guys that really knew their shit. The current crop of lifers and punk kids have to be poked and prodded to do the right thing.

As someone who's bought at least a few 'high end' guitars with finish issues because they sounded and played well, I can't speak to the quality of current Gibson production.

[roodyrocker]

My point wasn't regarding GC or their setups. Every guitar gets shipped from the manufacturer with at least their average setup to where the instrument is most likely to be playable in most climates. It doesn't have to ship with THE best setup possible, just something decent then the end user can set it up to their liking. I think out of the box Jackson does a much better job of this than others. I think GC is getting an unfair rap here when its really the manufacturer's fault not theirs. I have never bought a new guitar from GC but I've played quite a few and their guitars are not always out of whack, I have to be fair about that.

[BODOM]

I do not believe that all 4 guitars that you tried had been "messed with".When I was hunting for a nice guitar in OCT I played about 20 gibsons and did not like one of them.All intonated wrong,horrible action,and what has surprised me the most was a 3400.00 les paul custom I played had shotty binding and orange peel on the headstock.Yikes.No matter how you spin it there is no question that gibson has gone down hill in thier production values.

[shreddermon]

Funny, I tried a couple of LPs at a local shop last weekend. Mind you, they were both used instruments. Only a year or two old, but used. One was a great looker. But it played and sounded like utter shit. It literally felt like the shoddy quality that most crappy import guitars had back when I was growing up in the 80s. The other one felt OK - played nice and had good tone. But it wasn't worth anywhere near what they were asking for. It would've been a cool guitar for $1,200-ish, but they were tagged at nearly a grand more. Just MHO.

I truly wish I could dig LPs more than I do.

[JetFixxxer]

I went into my local Guitar shop and asked them about the relief on a Schecter and they had no clue what the neck relief was. As they were messing with a truss rod on a Fender Strat. I'm thinking to myself you don't know what neck relief is, but yet you are messing with the truss rod. So I asked them what they were doing to the neck. They said it had a little buzz and that they are adjusting the neck to remove it. I ask about tolerance and they just stated to me it's in tolerance when the buzzing goes away.

[Frigo89]

buy Edwards...

LOL

I went into a shop not too long ago and Play some $1500 SG and a Firebird of God-knows-what value, and the sounded muddy as fuck, so I plugged in some used Import Floyd-equipped Fender, sounded damn fine!

but I dont think I'll ever be in the market for a Les Paul again, as the shape just doesnt feel right to me, I wouldnt mind having an SG, just not a Gipsun

[Bengal65]

I went into my local Guitar shop and asked them about the relief on a Schecter and they had no clue what the neck relief was. As they were messing with a truss rod on a Fender Strat. I'm thinking to myself you don't know what neck relief is, but yet you are messing with the truss rod. So I asked them what they were doing to the neck. They said it had a little buzz and that they are adjusting the neck to remove it. I ask about tolerance and they just stated to me it's in tolerance when the buzzing goes away.

:ROTF::ROTF::ROTF: Don't you love it. Lost the vocabulary along with their gray matter!

[Racerx2k]

Yep...dammit, your right! She would have found me though...

They ALWAYS do! I think they sniff out the wallet!!!!

[Robert Burns]

Funny, I tried a couple of LPs at a local shop last weekend. Mind you, they were both used instruments. Only a year or two old, but used. One was a great looker. But it played and sounded like utter shit. It literally felt like the shoddy quality that most crappy import guitars had back when I was growing up in the 80s. The other one felt OK - played nice and had good tone. But it wasn't worth anywhere near what they were asking for. It would've been a cool guitar for $1,200-ish, but they were tagged at nearly a grand more. Just MHO.

I truly wish I could dig LPs more than I do.

********* On that note...ive been much more pleased with the Epi Zakk's for under $700 !! They seem like LP's from the 70's imo...
hardly ever a bad one.

[Shawn Lutz]

I can understand expecting a guitar to be properly set up at a retail store, and you'd think one would have the set up before being put on display to perhaps help sell the guitar.

On the same token I think you guys are making too big of a deal out of it (set-ups). I have never once, in my entire life left a new guitar set up as is after I purchased it. This encludes GMW's, USA Jacksons, USA Charvsl, USA Fenders etc. If a guitar on display plays liks ass, sight the neck for straightness, check relief and if its good there then a simple set up will will do the trick. I can't see buying a new guitar and then leavng it at the store for a post sale set-up....I'm too impatient, I pluck down my cahs I wanna play that sumbitch...which is why I learned to do my own set-u an dintonation jobbies...hate waiting on someone elses.

Set-ups as far as action goes is so diverse and subjective so if a guitar is on the floor for months and a bunch of people dicked with it there is no tellin how many times it was jacked wioth by someone before you got your hands on it.

[Bengal65]

Shawn, well said!

[Bengal65]

********* On that note...ive been much more pleased with the Epi Zakk's for under $700 !! They seem like LP's from the 70's imo...
hardly ever a bad one.

Robert, you're getting close to Fett territory

[Robert Burns]

I can understand expecting a guitar to be properly set up at a retail store, and you'd think one would have the set up before being put on display to perhaps help sell the guitar.

On the same token I think you guys are making too big of a deal out of it (set-ups). I have never once, in my entire life left a new guitar set up as is after I purchased it. This encludes GMW's, USA Jacksons, USA Charvsl, USA Fenders etc. If a guitar on display plays liks ass, sight the neck for straightness, check relief and if its good there then a simple set up will will do the trick. I can't see buying a new guitar and then leavng it at the store for a post sale set-up....I'm too impatient, I pluck down my cahs I wanna play that sumbitch...which is why I learned to do my own set-u an dintonation jobbies...hate waiting on someone elses.

Set-ups as far as action goes is so diverse and subjective so if a guitar is on the floor for months and a bunch of people dicked with it there is no tellin how many times it was jacked wioth by someone before you got your hands on it.

^^^ But see...i have taken them home, and not fooled with any kind
of setup until a couple of weeks had gone by. My Eldred HRF Chavel was
near perfect intonation.. my Jackson Dinky from 92' i didnt touch until
6 months later! That Epi LP clone i mentioned was a nice player...the
day it was taken home. I do agree the the GC is going to be much more
of a circus..but still out of 5 over $1100 Gibsons i played, NOT ONE?
That startled me... Funny now that i think about it, an import Jackson
KE3 played pretty solid right off the wall! It had the Skull graphic, so i
know that it must have been handled by 100 punks before me! :ROTF:

[lefty]

... Ever since I started looking at "new" Gibson's in '96, I have noticed a consistancy to have "orange peel" in most of their finishes and most likely the cause is not spending the time in the buffing stage. Looks like they rush it through to me. The wood work and fit seems to be on par. The quality of wood and variety of wood is definitely better over the Kalamazoo factory for the most part IMO.

I've seen Gibsons with awful orange peeling hanging right next to
Epis with flawless clearcoat. Sends a great message to your
customers, eh?

[mjtripper]

Being from Kalamazoo it always pains me to see these threads about how far Gibson has slipped. I'm lucky enough to have one of the old ones and have met one of the guys that worked on it. Some of the old legacy is still around in the form of Heritage guitars which are quite nice and far better then the current crop of new Gibsons. In my opinion that is.