I'm officially done buying gibsons new anyway.

Re: I'm officially done buying gibsons new anyway.

This has nothing to do with the chapter 11 stuff. Or is it for bashing them. As I still love a lot of their guitars. But this was my 2nd 2018 sg standard that had to go back.
The first was because the neck and bridge were both set wrong. I got this one everything was fine setup was good sounded and played good. Then after a few weeks the clear coat started peeling and flaking off on the neck and headstock. On the low e side it started at the nut and went 3/4 the way to the first fret. On the high e dids it went from the nut to 1/2 way to the first fret. The headstock started in the middle at the stop and went almost to the Gibson logo.
I contacted sweetwater and they said they were having a lot of problems with the clear delaminating on gibsons.
So they just let me pick something else along with a few other goodies. So look for a NGD post in a few days.
View attachment 89575

And I thought this only happened on cars.
peeling-cc.jpg
 
Re: I'm officially done buying gibsons new anyway.

Now, if you had went ahead and paid $6000+ you would have had Tom Murphy pre-eff it up for you just like that. But for the bargain price of $2000 you have to eff it yourself.
 
Re: I'm officially done buying gibsons new anyway.

I could have handled some of it coming it. But it seemed like every few days another section flaked off. I wish I had gotten a pic of the headstock. I have seen and had corners chip but never had it come off the face of the headstock like that.
On the plus side with in 6 months the neck would have probably looked. And felt like it had been played for 20 years lol.
 
Re: I'm officially done buying gibsons new anyway.

Dude! You would have had a Custom Shop relic without the upcharge.
 
Re: I'm officially done buying gibsons new anyway.

It's hard to imagine this sort of quality control issues from company with this history and at the price point one pays for their products. Yet here it is. I own two and mine are both well constructed and finished, but more and more stories like this are out there. A co-worker of mine wanted to buy his son a Les Paul for Christmas from one of the big box chains. He asked me what I thought of the model, and it was a fairly high end model that the son wanted. His wife ordered it, and when it came it had a blemish in the paint that they just clear coated over. It looked as though the paint could have been buffed to fix the problem, or at least make it less noticeable, but they just clear coated over it. The imperfection was on the back of the guitar, and his son was willing to live with it, but the wife was not having it. The Box store paid return shipping and sent another. This one seemed fine at first but had binding that was lifting off, and a trapezoid inlay on the fret board that was lifting up. At this point my buddies wife was really pissed. The customer service people at the store said they didn't have another in the Chicago blue color that the kid wanted, but they offered to upgrade him to a higher end Les Paul at no extra cost. The guy on the phone stated he would personally inspect and set up the guitar and promised it would be flawless, but it was in a different color than the kid wanted. It came in, and it was perfect, but it was also a different guitar and a different color than what the kid wanted. All in all the kid was happy. He got a beautiful guitar that I'm sure he will cherish for life, but two lemons in the three thousand dollar price range?!!? Admittedly both defects should have been caught at the point of sale, and neither of these guitars should have been shipped, but it doesn't say much about the QC at Gibson either.
 
Re: I'm officially done buying gibsons new anyway.

It's hard to imagine this sort of quality control issues from company with this history and at the price point one pays for their products. Yet here it is. I own two and mine are both well constructed and finished, but more and more stories like this are out there. A co-worker of mine wanted to buy his son a Les Paul for Christmas from one of the big box chains. He asked me what I thought of the model, and it was a fairly high end model that the son wanted. His wife ordered it, and when it came it had a blemish in the paint that they just clear coated over. It looked as though the paint could have been buffed to fix the problem, or at least make it less noticeable, but they just clear coated over it. The imperfection was on the back of the guitar, and his son was willing to live with it, but the wife was not having it. The Box store paid return shipping and sent another. This one seemed fine at first but had binding that was lifting off, and a trapezoid inlay on the fret board that was lifting up. At this point my buddies wife was really pissed. The customer service people at the store said they didn't have another in the Chicago blue color that the kid wanted, but they offered to upgrade him to a higher end Les Paul at no extra cost. The guy on the phone stated he would personally inspect and set up the guitar and promised it would be flawless, but it was in a different color than the kid wanted. It came in, and it was perfect, but it was also a different guitar and a different color than what the kid wanted. All in all the kid was happy. He got a beautiful guitar that I'm sure he will cherish for life, but two lemons in the three thousand dollar price range?!!? Admittedly both defects should have been caught at the point of sale, and neither of these guitars should have been shipped, but it doesn't say much about the QC at Gibson either.


Agreed regarding both Gibson, and the retailer's responsibility not to allow lemons to slip through. Those should be sold as B-stock guitars at a discount.

I've bought a lot of things from Sweetwater now, but an early experience I had with them was buying a $2K acoustic that had some obvious finish flaws. I emailed pics of the flaws to my sales rep and she offered to take it back, or discount it. I took the $300 discount. I've received a few guitars from them that had issues that should have never passed that "55 point inspection". They are a great company and overall I've been very happy with their service and selection (and I have bought far more high end equipment from Sweetwater than MF and GC). But that supposed 55-point inspection is complete crap. I buy most of my high end stuff from my local shop, so at least there I know exactly what I am getting. And I've seen those guys reject things for finish flaws that I didn't even notice and send them back. Sweetwater's inspection/set-up team could learn a thing or ten from my guys.
 
Re: I'm officially done buying gibsons new anyway.

It amazes me that Gibson still has its doors open yet Hamer closed down.

Aging baby-boomer professionals with high discretionary income didn't idolize the Hamer brand like they idolize Gibson and Fender. Many of those boomers had children who were raised to idolize the same things that their parents idolize (my kids love my 80s music as much as they love their own generation's music). Hamer was just a tiny blip on the radar of iconic brands. I've owned a LOT of guitars over the past 34 years, yet I've never owned a Hamer. I've played some in shops that seemed nice, but none ever grabbed me and said "take me home!". The only guy that I can think of off the top of my head that really made a dent with the big brands and put Hamer on the map is Rick Nelson from Cheap Trick. As opposed to the countless players of Gibson, Fender, Ibanez, Jackson, Charvel, ESP etc that have been well-known over the years.

And the one brand that has really made a dent in the icons over the past 20+ years is PRS. They were known by very few in the 80s, but by the late 90s had come on very strong. I haven't seen that kind of growth against the sales of the icons in other major brands that I can think of. I feel like PRS is on the decline in terms of that prestige that their instruments once carried (selling imports under the same name will do that). But they're still a very powerful brand. Hamer might have taken some tips from Paul about how to make a dent in the big ones.
 
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Re: I'm officially done buying gibsons new anyway.

Man no offense, but that finish was just going to do that with time anyway. It’s not something that hurts the playability of look of the guitar past looking at it from close up.

I have 40+ year old guitars, and the finish isn’t peeling off.

I’m a luthier. I’ve setup and repaired lots of new Gibson’s. The workmanship on them is awful.




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Re: I'm officially done buying gibsons new anyway.

Used is the best way to buy Gibsons. Someone will have already gone through the weeding out process of poor QC issues or dialing in the guitar to be a good player.

Sent from my LG-H931 using Tapatalk
 
Re: I'm officially done buying gibsons new anyway.

F4581705-01.jpg


CUSTOM SHOP USED TO MEAN MORE THAN THIS ...
 
Re: I'm officially done buying gibsons new anyway.

Like our Man-in-Moon officially titled this thread, "I'm officially done buying gibsons new anyway."

Not for any quality control reasons, but I am an old fart and don't really need any more axes. I currently have 8 great playing Les Pauls and can't find a need for more. I do still play a lot, so most of them are a getting their share of stage time, but I am very thankful that I was buying when Gibson was still making good guitars. I can only hope that they pull through this and get their act together.
 
Re: I'm officially done buying gibsons new anyway.

The parallels with Harley are considerable. Both are American Icons, both are holdouts on still manufacturing in America, both allow one to identify with an idol or lifestyle, both are struggling due to lack of appeal to the younger generation, both retain their used value very well, and in both cases you can buy a lower cost product that will perform better.
 
Re: I'm officially done buying gibsons new anyway.

It's hard to imagine this sort of quality control issues from company with this history and at the price point one pays for their products. Yet here it is. I own two and mine are both well constructed and finished, but more and more stories like this are out there. A co-worker of mine wanted to buy his son a Les Paul for Christmas from one of the big box chains. He asked me what I thought of the model, and it was a fairly high end model that the son wanted. His wife ordered it, and when it came it had a blemish in the paint that they just clear coated over. It looked as though the paint could have been buffed to fix the problem, or at least make it less noticeable, but they just clear coated over it. The imperfection was on the back of the guitar, and his son was willing to live with it, but the wife was not having it. The Box store paid return shipping and sent another. This one seemed fine at first but had binding that was lifting off, and a trapezoid inlay on the fret board that was lifting up. At this point my buddies wife was really pissed. The customer service people at the store said they didn't have another in the Chicago blue color that the kid wanted, but they offered to upgrade him to a higher end Les Paul at no extra cost. The guy on the phone stated he would personally inspect and set up the guitar and promised it would be flawless, but it was in a different color than the kid wanted. It came in, and it was perfect, but it was also a different guitar and a different color than what the kid wanted. All in all the kid was happy. He got a beautiful guitar that I'm sure he will cherish for life, but two lemons in the three thousand dollar price range?!!? Admittedly both defects should have been caught at the point of sale, and neither of these guitars should have been shipped, but it doesn't say much about the QC at Gibson either.
Poor kid, my heart bleeds for him. Wrong color? Chances are he will wind up in jail or institutionalized over the trauma
 
Re: I'm officially done buying gibsons new anyway.

Agreed regarding both Gibson, and the retailer's responsibility not to allow lemons to slip through. Those should be sold as B-stock guitars at a discount.

I've bought a lot of things from Sweetwater now, but an early experience I had with them was buying a $2K acoustic that had some obvious finish flaws. I emailed pics of the flaws to my sales rep and she offered to take it back, or discount it. I took the $300 discount. I've received a few guitars from them that had issues that should have never passed that "55 point inspection". They are a great company and overall I've been very happy with their service and selection (and I have bought far more high end equipment from Sweetwater than MF and GC). But that supposed 55-point inspection is complete crap. I buy most of my high end stuff from my local shop, so at least there I know exactly what I am getting. And I've seen those guys reject things for finish flaws that I didn't even notice and send them back. Sweetwater's inspection/set-up team could learn a thing or ten from my guys.

The 55 point thing is a crock, it is marketing BS
 
Re: I'm officially done buying gibsons new anyway.

I have 40+ year old guitars, and the finish isn’t peeling off.

I’m a luthier. I’ve setup and repaired lots of new Gibson’s. The workmanship on them is awful.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yea, sure it is. Maybe you can take over QC and talk them into putting your name on the headstocks?
 
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