The Gibson Years, The Good and The Bad

[voggin]

Re: The Gibson Years, The Good and The Bad

I have four gibson, from between 92 and 2010. They're all fine.

I find Gibsons have their own thing going on. They don't feel like other guitars. For one, they tend to work better with a slightly higher action than many guitars, not because the fretwork is bad, but because they just sound and play better that way.

I think a lot of the internet complaints come from people expecting something from a Gibson that Gibson just doesn't do. They don't do the massive frets/microscopic action thing. People buy them expecting some kind of transformative experience, and then discover they are still the same guitar player with a different guitar.

 

[Masta' C]

Re: The Gibson Years, The Good and The Bad

I regularly go to my local guitar stores and check out Gibsons. Always have. We're talking 20+ years (since mid-late '90s) of wrapping these palms on Gibsons...hundreds at this point.

I've been blown away plenty of times by off-the-shelf Gibsons.

Unfortunately, in recent history, I've seen more quality issues as an overall percentage of the Gibson guitars I put my hands on. Nut, frets, finish, setup, you name it.

I also put my hands on hundreds of other guitars in a given year and, for those that have been watching over my past 9 years on the forum, I've had my fair share of "nice" axes to compare, so I know what to expect at each price point.

Gibson delivers many fine guitars today. They just don't deliver them as consistently as they once did. I'm fairly certain that's what all the "naysayers" are really suggesting. Not that Gibson is "bad" or "low quality" by default, but that the quality control has gone downhill.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: The Gibson Years, The Good and The Bad

My '62 LP is a killer guitar, and I love everything about how it plays and sounds. HOWEVER... until it required a neck reset, the scale length was wrong. The bridge was mounted a little too close to the nut, making the entire guitar very poorly intonated. He installed a small spacer during the repair, and it's been great since.

Point is, even during the great periods, there were some blunders.

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: The Gibson Years, The Good and The Bad

The good and the bad...but what about the ugly?