So I bought this...

[S-man]

I won't have it my hands until after next week....but the wheels are in motion.

What do you guys think?

[toejam]

Wow, very nice! Congrats. Love the flames on the headstock and the back of the neck as well.

[daisp]

Very nice, the one from Fullers?

[jonipop]

love the flames

[S-man]

Yep, the one from Fullers...thanks.

I figured some of you had seen it before. I probably overpaid. But, I haven't been having much luck finding a decent USA select SL2. They all seem to have "issues". This one looks decent from the pics, at least the strings line up with pups and the fretboard. I wonder why it's so hard for them to get that right? I've seen so many problems on the new USA select guitars. I played a lightning sky graphic with pups so misaligned that no part of the string was over the polepiece. Plus a long list of other things, on many USA Select guitars.



It's freakin unbelievable.

It's like they lowered the bar on everything....Custom Shop has become USA Select quality, JCustom has become the Prestige level, Gibson Custom Shop has become the USA Gibsons, etc.....but they forgot to send us the memo.


Oh well, hopefully I like this one.

Wish me luck, I think I may need it....Fedex will probably break it if it's any good.

[kinde69]

CONGRATS!!! I will keep my thumbs up that you will be satisfied with this killer soloist!!!

[S-man]

CONGRATS!!! I will keep my thumbs up that you will be satisfied with this killer soloist!!!

Thanks.


The ones that I've played, that have issues, are still nice playing guitars. It's a shame, a little more attention to detail and they would be awesome. Even with the defects most have still have some great qualities. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't even bother trying to find a "good one". Then again, I may be pickier than others. Though, I don't remeber so many problems in the past....maybe I've become pickier. (I don't think it's that.)

[Rupe]

Nice!!! Best of luck...I hope you got one of the "good" ones!

[Robert Burns]

Not only does it look amazing, but you dont have to wait 8 months or
more for them to build it either? Finding one, already built is twice as
nice! We need more pics when it arrives!

[S-man]

Here is one that I returned...look at how far the High E is shifted to the treble side of the fretboard...your almost playing over the binding.



Here is the bridge pup...



Both pups are misaligned.

Plus, other stuff.


This one was better...



It had nut issues and buzzing on the lower frets. I was going to have it Plek'd and the nut modified, but didn't feel like I should have to and something about the neck just didn't seem right. (Can't exactly put my finger on it).

FWIW.

[StukaJU87]

That's a nice axe. I hope it is perfect for you.

You would think that the machines that route these things would turn out a consistant product. Misaligned pups and bridges? Pathetic.

[shreddermon]

Love the ghost flames. Post pics and a review when you get it.

[Special-K]

Love it...although I love black ghost flames more this look pretty awesome..
Love them speacially on the neck and the headstock...
Great...

[S-man]

Not only does it look amazing, but you dont have to wait 8 months or
more for them to build it either? Finding one, already built is twice as
nice! We need more pics when it arrives!

That's what I figured. I'd probably have to wait a year or two with the way things seem to be going at the Custom Shop now-a-days. Then who knows how it would even turn out.

I want a NEW SL2H with the JB, 59 and flames. The USA select seem to be very much hit and miss and the only Custom Shop SL2H I could find, that was built with that configuration, was this one. So I figured I'd bite the bullet and go for it. Plus, custom shop prices have went up this year.

Don't worry about pics there will be plenty. (They'll probably ban me for posting too many pics.)....Even if it arrives destroyed from the carrier.

In the meantime...

BGF#1



That was the one with the misaligned pups and strings.



BGF#2




The one with the better string alignment but messed up nut, fret buzz, and funky truss rod or something, I'm not sure?

The first one I bought sight unseen. The second one I played and saw major relief in the neck, but figured it would adjust up fine. Even though the first one had alot of relief and it adjust up fine the second one proved to be more troublesome. That's when I discovered the fret buzz and nut problem. I should have had them adjust the neck before I bought it. Hindsight is 20/20...

[S-man]

I hope I don't get banned for posting pics of Ibanez guitars.

They have problems too. Here is an 06 S2170 Prestige. Look at the neck pocket. Gzzzz.



Especially on a guitar that is that thin.



Compared to this 97 S540FMTP...



WTF???