L
Lewguitar
Guest
I read about the lack of quality and attention to detail people have experienced with Gibson guitars made in the past 10 - 15 years. IMO, Gibson is making better and more consistent guitars now than they have since things started to go wrong sometime after about 1965.
Since returning to the ES-335 as a main electric guitar, whenever I go into a music shop and see a Gibson ES-335 on the wall I usually ask if I can check it out. Every one has impressed me as being a very nice ax and the quality, tone and feel seems more consistent than in years passed. So it's surprising to read so many slams on Gibson's lack of quality.
Just for the record, I think the worst Gibsons were made during the Norlin era which would mean those from the late 1960's and through-out the 70's. Many of those were garbage: no attentiuon to vintage details, skinny necks and sloppy workmanship. I'm astonished that those lousy guitars are now being sold for $10K and more because they're now considered vintage.
During that period I think the folks at Gibson just didn't have much respect for rock musicians - but they did want our money.
Gibsons made in the last 15 years are made so much better than those made 30 - 40 years ago, IMO.
The '96, '00 and '01 ES-335's I've been able to spend some time with are/were virtually identical and on a par with the ES-335's I owned decades ago which were all made during what I think of as being Gibson's Golden era for electric guitars: 1956 - 64.
Even back in those days I'd find old Gibson from the 50's and 60's that had issues: pickups installed so that the polepieces were not perfectly centered under the strings - stuff like that.
I'd remove the pickup, fill the screw holes and then remount the pickup moved over a tad, to where it should have been mounted in the first place.
I've always had to tweak and tighten up certain small things whenever I get a guitar. To get the action where I like it, this usually means filing the nut some, adjusting the truss rod and adjusting the intonation and action.
I expect to have to do this - I don't expect any manufacturer to know what I prefer and I expect that they'll leave the nut cut higher and the action set higher than I would like.
Likewise, I expect to adjust the pickups and polepieces to my tastes.
Anyways, my own experience with Gibson guitars made in the last 15 years has been very good and I don't see the lack of quality that so many hear complain about.
Maybe it's because I expect to have to do a complete set up on any guitar upon receiving it.
Lew
Since returning to the ES-335 as a main electric guitar, whenever I go into a music shop and see a Gibson ES-335 on the wall I usually ask if I can check it out. Every one has impressed me as being a very nice ax and the quality, tone and feel seems more consistent than in years passed. So it's surprising to read so many slams on Gibson's lack of quality.
Just for the record, I think the worst Gibsons were made during the Norlin era which would mean those from the late 1960's and through-out the 70's. Many of those were garbage: no attentiuon to vintage details, skinny necks and sloppy workmanship. I'm astonished that those lousy guitars are now being sold for $10K and more because they're now considered vintage.
During that period I think the folks at Gibson just didn't have much respect for rock musicians - but they did want our money.
Gibsons made in the last 15 years are made so much better than those made 30 - 40 years ago, IMO.
The '96, '00 and '01 ES-335's I've been able to spend some time with are/were virtually identical and on a par with the ES-335's I owned decades ago which were all made during what I think of as being Gibson's Golden era for electric guitars: 1956 - 64.
Even back in those days I'd find old Gibson from the 50's and 60's that had issues: pickups installed so that the polepieces were not perfectly centered under the strings - stuff like that.
I'd remove the pickup, fill the screw holes and then remount the pickup moved over a tad, to where it should have been mounted in the first place.
I've always had to tweak and tighten up certain small things whenever I get a guitar. To get the action where I like it, this usually means filing the nut some, adjusting the truss rod and adjusting the intonation and action.
I expect to have to do this - I don't expect any manufacturer to know what I prefer and I expect that they'll leave the nut cut higher and the action set higher than I would like.
Likewise, I expect to adjust the pickups and polepieces to my tastes.
Anyways, my own experience with Gibson guitars made in the last 15 years has been very good and I don't see the lack of quality that so many hear complain about.
Maybe it's because I expect to have to do a complete set up on any guitar upon receiving it.
Lew
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