Disappointed with 2016 Gibson

[pushedcrayon1]

Hey guys, just thought I'd share some thoughts I had today while I was at my local gc.

I picked up a 2016 standard to see if there was anything amazing about it, and I was truly let down after playing it. The nut was horrible, and super tall, the fretwork was not good at all, I could feel quite a few sharp frets, the binding in the neck was off, very inconsistent, and the paint job was also inconsistent, some spots I could clearly see blemishes. I pointed them out to a worker and he said that's how it came, and we talked about the quality control at Gibson.

I have nothing against Gibson, I actually love some of the guitars they put out. I love my 2015 traditional pro iii, but I was really let down with the "standard" of this year.

I understand it could have just been a bad one, or a thousand other factors, but I can't believe it was that way from the factory.

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[regan]

Re: Disappointed with 2016 Gibson

I love LP's 335's Junior's & SG's but Gibson's? meh
I have 90's US Gibson LP I love but I'd go with Jap Tokai's & Edwards if I was to buy a new 'Gibson'
P.S. has Gibson dispensed with the 'nibs' on the neck binding completly now or just for certain models?

 

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Disappointed with 2016 Gibson

Welcome to the last 25 years of my life

 

[Mr. B]

Re: Disappointed with 2016 Gibson

Well, you have to keep in mind that they are reverting back to their older tooling and scrambling to try and get the normal models back on the shelves after the "new improved" 2015 model fiasco. I noticed that their 2016 descriptions in the new sales catalogs all contain words like "traditional neck width" and "manual tuners that players want", and "the traditional specs that made the XXXX great". I hope the mentally challenged toad that came up with the 2015 line "improvements" is now working in a sewer somewhere.

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: Disappointed with 2016 Gibson

Did you only try one and judge the 2016 line by that? Or did the store only have one in stock?

I tested a 2016 SG Standard, and I liked it (tried a 2015 SG Standard; did not like it - the neck was too thin for me, and I couldn't figure out how to tune to Eb with the tuning system).

 

[pushedcrayon1]

Re: Disappointed with 2016 Gibson

I tried a couple 2016s the store had, and honestly, they all had the same bad fretwork. Some were cosmetically in better condition than the one I played, but all had the same high nut, sharp frets. It blew me away the price they're asking when I feel the quality is not as good as it has been in the past.

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[blueman335]

Re: Disappointed with 2016 Gibson

There's such a thing as quality control, and at that price, they shouldn't leave the factory until they're fully inspected and meet all the quality standards. There's no excuse for anything less.

 

[pushedcrayon1]

Re: Disappointed with 2016 Gibson

I think the part that irritated me the most, was all of the guitars had a tag on them, hand checked off, by some tech that comes through and checks them. They were all "checked" Monday! It says they changed strings, oiled the boards, and the standard 20 point inspection or whatever. But there is no way anyone looked at that thing, and if anyone did, they shouldn't have a job doing that anymore.

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[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Disappointed with 2016 Gibson

Hence why I switched to PRS

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: Disappointed with 2016 Gibson

I tried a couple 2016s the store had, and honestly, they all had the same bad fretwork. Some were cosmetically in better condition than the one I played, but all had the same high nut, sharp frets. It blew me away the price they're asking when I feel the quality is not as good as it has been in the past.

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Are you in an area that is currently drier than Nashville and Memphis? If so, the fretboard can shrink, but the frets won't react to weather changes. That causes sharp fret edges, and it could be that the stores just aren't properly caring for/conditioning the fretboards.

I think the part that irritated me the most, was all of the guitars had a tag on them, hand checked off, by some tech that comes through and checks them. They were all "checked" Monday! It says they changed strings, oiled the boards, and the standard 20 point inspection or whatever. But there is no way anyone looked at that thing, and if anyone did, they shouldn't have a job doing that anymore.

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I don't trust GC employees or "techs" either with inspections/inventory. But if the Gibsons were actually cared for, well that sucks then. Hit and miss.

 

[pushedcrayon1]

Re: Disappointed with 2016 Gibson

It's been pretty wet here. Just got over some bad flooding (southern Illinois).

Now I'm not trying to bash Gibson, I like the company and what they produce, I was just disappointed that I wasn't happy playing the guitars today.

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[Thundermtn]

Re: Disappointed with 2016 Gibson

I haven't bought one in 15 years, and then I played 20-25 LP's before I found one a had to have. I played a '15 that was pretty nice last month, good feel and sang even unplugged. Good flames too, however nice the top was though the rest of it was so butt-ugly I couldn't pull the trigger even with it being $800 off sticker already.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Disappointed with 2016 Gibson

I think the part that irritated me the most, was all of the guitars had a tag on them, hand checked off, by some tech that comes through and checks them... But there is no way anyone looked at that thing, and if anyone did, they shouldn't have a job doing that anymore.

Gibson's too big and been doing this too long not to have their act together. This is a very competitive market, and if guitars aren't worth their retail price, they're not going to move many of them. You'd think after the disastrous year 2015 was for Gibson, they'd make an honest effort to earn the respect of players again.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Disappointed with 2016 Gibson

Gibson's too big and been doing this too long not to have their act together. This is a very competitive market, and if guitars aren't worth their retail price, they're not going to move many of them. You'd think after the disastrous year 2015 was for Gibson, they'd make an honest effort to earn the respect of players again.

Unfortunately they slap the name "Gibson" on the headstock and the guitars sell themselves

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: Disappointed with 2016 Gibson

Gibson's too big and been doing this too long not to have their act together. This is a very competitive market, and if guitars aren't worth their retail price, they're not going to move many of them. You'd think after the disastrous year 2015 was for Gibson, they'd make an honest effort to earn the respect of players again.

You do realize you're judging the entire 2016 line (just 6 days in), off of one stranger's post on the internet, who said he played a couple guitars (which isn't a very great sample size to make a fair judgement). You tell 'em how it is.

I honestly do not think Gibson's guitars are any where near as atrocious as the internet makes them out to be. I'd happily own one or two. I don't like the CEO or their business practices, but that doesn't mean their guitars suck. Are they expensive? Yeah, but if people like them enough that they think the price is justified, that won't change - we just have to wait and see what happens.

Is this going to turn in to yet another 7 page long Gibson-bashing thread?

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Disappointed with 2016 Gibson

You do realize you're judging the entire 2016 line (just 6 days in), off of one stranger's post on the internet, who said he played a couple guitars (which isn't a very great sample size to make a fair judgement). You tell 'em how it is.

I honestly do not think Gibson's guitars are any where near as atrocious as the internet makes them out to be. I'd happily own one or two. I don't like the CEO or their business practices, but that doesn't mean their guitars suck. Are they expensive? Yeah, but if people like them enough that they think the price is justified, that won't change - we just have to wait and see what happens.

Is this going to turn in to yet another 7 page long Gibson-bashing thread?

I agree and would happily own 10 or 11 Explorers of all different tunings.

And yeah 6 days in? That's kind of a short time to be basing your opinion on.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Disappointed with 2016 Gibson

I'm not trying to bash Gibson, I like the company and what they produce, I was just disappointed that I wasn't happy playing the guitars today.

The people to be bashing are the dealership staff.

Take the offending instrument up to the counter and politely ask, "have you seen this?" Calmly point out the defect(s). Then, either angle for a discount or tell the shop that you probably would have purchased the guitar in question were it not for the issues.

The shop is there to sell. Motivate them to keep their stock to a good standard.

 

[some_dude]

Re: Disappointed with 2016 Gibson

I'd hit it.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Disappointed with 2016 Gibson

Having the logo on the bridge pickup cover in the "wrong" corner looks unbelievably naff - especially on a guitar in this price bracket. So do the squared off, "pre-factory" style bridge and tailpiece.

Q: Do the nickel humbuckers do that scumming up thing like the older PRS #7 models?

 

[some_dude]

Re: Disappointed with 2016 Gibson

Having the logo on the bridge pickup cover in the "wrong" corner looks unbelievably naff - especially on a guitar in this price bracket. So do the squared off, "pre-factory" style bridge and tailpiece.

Q: Do the nickel humbuckers do that scumming up thing like the older PRS #7 models?

What's funny is that best I can tell the "logos" are all hand etched, so whoever they have doing that could easily flip 50% of the covers around.

By "scumming up" do you mean tarnish? So far as I know all nickle does unless you polish it.