Please help, is there something wrong with my gibsons neck?

[Young Angus]

My new gibson es137 custom sounds lovely and looks absolutely beautiful, but im a bit concerned about a few things.

Ive heard lots of people complain about gibsons current quality control and how some poorly made instruments are getting through the production lines. Im concerned about the binding on my guitar, mainly around the fingerboard. The binding on the bottom edge of my fingerboard is pretty flush with the neck itself and ive got no real worries there, but the binding on the top edge of the fingerboard has a few sections around the 5th, 12th, and particularly the 9th fret where the binding is not flush with the neck and theres a good millimetre drop where the edge of the neck finishes and the binding begins, laving a sharp edge and what looks like a spot where the paint could easily start peeling off the back of the neck with time. Now that i take a closer look it doesnt look like a fault with the neck but that the binding has been almost squashed down at that point or scraped out or something.

Has anyone ever encountered this before?

As this is a long awaited for new guitar im a bit pi$$ed off about this cos i expect when i pay top dollar for an instrument, a high end gibson instrument at that! i want to get something that is better made than my friggin jackson at the least!

Please advise me on what i should do :grumble:

 

[Young Angus]

Re: Please help, is there something wrong with my gibsons neck?

And forgot to mention there is a sharp edge on the binding on the top of the 1st fret, while the others are pretty smooth the binding starts getting sharp at the 3rd fret and gets sharper and sharper till the 1st fret where its nice and sharp!

:cussing:

 

[Kent S.]

Re: Please help, is there something wrong with my gibsons neck?

And forgot to mention there is a sharp edge on the binding on the top of the 1st fret, while the others are pretty smooth the binding starts getting sharp at the 3rd fret and gets sharper and sharper till the 1st fret where its nice and sharp!

:cussing:

Plain and simple ... If you're not satisified with it, take it back, express your concerns and get an exchange or have the store reorder the model from Gibson. Plain and simple,you'll probably have to wait, but that's the way it goes. Other than that, exchange it for another model, and then buy (this model ) at a later time, directly ordered from Gibson, if it's not right, tell 'em send it back and get another one. Don't get nasty with the sales people, it's not their fault you accepted it, if it was mail-order, then same thing goes.

 

[Skullkrusher]

Re: Please help, is there something wrong with my gibsons neck?

Hmm........where did you get your gibby from? I'd contact the place you bought it from and tell them about it. If your not happy with it(I wouldnt be) send the darn' thing back and get one that has been built right. I'm planning on getting a high end gibby here real soon and I would be mad as well.

 

[Young Angus]

Re: Please help, is there something wrong with my gibsons neck?

I wont get mad at the sales people i know they didnt built it

 

[Norman_T]

Re: Please help, is there something wrong with my gibsons neck?

Any chance of posting some pics so that we can see what the problem is?

But if you are unhappy about it then send it back and get another one ordered. It is annoying when you have paid a lot of money for a guitar and then find that certain things like this has spoiled your experience of guitars. The other alternative is to have someone repair it for you and ask them how much this would cost and then get the shop to reimburse you that amount. I suspect that this is going to cost quite a lot.

 

[Young Angus]

Re: Please help, is there something wrong with my gibsons neck?

I hear the current les paul standards are being made pretty well

 

[JfromHouston]

Re: Please help, is there something wrong with my gibsons neck?

I need pics to grasp what the problem is. Any chance you can snap a few and post them up?

 

[Young Angus]

Re: Please help, is there something wrong with my gibsons neck?

My DR11 washburn acoustic has a better binding job than my freakin gibson!

:bsflag:

 

[Young Angus]

Re: Please help, is there something wrong with my gibsons neck?

I dont actually have a digital camera, but ill see if i can get hold of one in the morning and snap some pics off.

 

[Hellion]

Re: Please help, is there something wrong with my gibsons neck?

I got a 135 from the Memphis factory about 2 years ago. It was impeccable, which makes me think that you may have caught them on a bad day. I'd return that puppy if you're not satisfied. That's a lot of money to pay for something which shouldn't have any problems..

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Please help, is there something wrong with my gibsons neck?

Guitars are all the same....some are perfect, some aren't perfect. If you bought it new, it holds a warrantee. They'll either fix it, or replace it. I'd push them to replace it so the repair doesn't look half-assed. If it was used, it was a buyer beware situation.

 

[Xeromus]

Re: Please help, is there something wrong with my gibsons neck?

I'm not trying to be an @$$hole at all, but, welcome to the world of Gibson. Messy binding is only the beginning of the problems they leave the factory with. I just don't like Gibsons, have had bad luck with them, Don't flame me. Show me a really nice Gibson that's actually worth the price and I will give them a second chance.

 

[Young Angus]

Re: Please help, is there something wrong with my gibsons neck?

It was a brand new purchase so the shop can take care of it.

I just took it up then and they are gonna contact the supplier and see what they can do. Im gonna go in every day to see whats happening, its not the sort of problem that looks like it could be just fixed. If they cant get a decent one in, exactly the same colour and chrome hardware, then as much as i want one of those guitars i wont mind having a $3500 store credit for something else, possibly a LP standard

I had a quick look at some more gibsons while i was there and picked up a gibson les paul ebony standard, and the binding on it had similar problems to mine but not as extreme. Seriously whats with gibson being so slack, its really dissapointing for lack of better words from such a reputable company...although their reputation seems to be heading somehwere else according to lots of people.

NOT HAPPY JAN! (thats for the Aussies out there )

 

[strat_master]

Re: Please help, is there something wrong with my gibsons neck?

id complain and send it back for the price of a gibson its unacceptable.

 

[Norman_T]

Re: Please help, is there something wrong with my gibsons neck?

It was a brand new purchase so the shop can take care of it.

I just took it up then and they are gonna contact the supplier and see what they can do. Im gonna go in every day to see whats happening, its not the sort of problem that looks like it could be just fixed. If they cant get a decent one in, exactly the same colour and chrome hardware, then as much as i want one of those guitars i wont mind having a $3500 store credit for something else, possibly a LP standard

I had a quick look at some more gibsons while i was there and picked up a gibson les paul ebony standard, and the binding on it had similar problems to mine but not as extreme. Seriously whats with gibson being so slack, its really dissapointing for lack of better words from such a reputable company...although their reputation seems to be heading somehwere else according to lots of people.

NOT HAPPY JAN! (thats for the Aussies out there )

I would seriously check out Hamers (US) guitars, better quality, construction and probably cheaper. If you want the name on the headstock to say Gibson then you may have to put with this. Sorry but it is the truth.

 

[Young Angus]

Re: Please help, is there something wrong with my gibsons neck?

Its seriously ridiculous that something so prestigious and high in price has this crap that you've gotta watch out for. Im determined to find me a good gibson, be it a 137 or a les paul, whatever but i know theres one out there for me and its just something i have to get.

I went up to the shop today to discuss possibilities of an exchange and when that came up the guy who i bought it off went all quiet like id suggested something outrageous and made me feel bad! I mean sh!t im not trying to cause trouble, i just want a guitar that gives me a hard on when i look at it and pick it up and to be honest the 137 wasnt doing it for me. Whether it was the fact that i knew the binding was stuffed or whatever, but i dont want to spend that money on something that doesnt make me want to play it non stop.

I think the fact that i found the binding problem and ive heard from a lot of other peoples experiences that they have bought the same 137's and found flaws all over them. So its not exactly encouraging to get another one as a replacement. I think id be better off finding a really well made les paul standard out of the ones they've got in the shop, of which they have a lot.