Here's a warning for ANYONE even THINKING of looking at a Gibson guitar (rock, single)

[GuitarBizarre]

Dinosaur Rock Guitar

Thats only the beginning. The Guitar of the Month '84 Explorers they just released? Almost uniformly terrible.

For example, here are the fret markers from that guitar, courtesy of someone over on another forum:



Lopsided much? YES. Unacceptable, this guitar costs more than every guitar I own put together, with the exception of my S prestige, and has such a massive flaw in it that not a single one of those has, and that takes literally 20 mintues to do right instead of ****ing it up.



Theres also overspray on the guitars:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o.../blemish01.jpg

This porous spot of wood where Gibson haven't sealed the wood properly.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o.../blemish02.jpg

Finish cracks on the neck joints
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o.../blemish03.jpg



And the worst of the lot, this massive unexplained hole (Which later turned out to be a problematic neck joint, when another person took apart their older explorer with the same issue, just look at that horrible crappy routing.)



Also, quoted from the same board, by proxy:

****, something I read on the ESP board right now...I'm quoting:

About the 84 Explorer:
"Also, some corrected wiring by my tech. Silly Gibson done ****ed up. It's noticeably less noisy now."

Soneone else about another Guitar of the Week edition guitar:
"GOW New Century Explorer with the Carbon Fiber pickguard... there were many, many things wrong with that guitar, the worst being the wiring - the bridge pickup didn't even work! It wasn't wired at all!"

I'm so disappointed by hearing these stories. I'll never look the same at Gibson again

Yeah, tell me about it...

And what I think is really sad is that Gibson fans are beginning to think this is 'normal' and 'acceptable.' I don't remember if it was on this board or some other, but somebody told me that this is to be expected (meaning 'OK') on a $1,000+ Gibson. Well, if that's the case, I think I'll rather stay away from those guitars...

(I'll still give this Explorer a chance, but if that doesn't work out, I'm pretty sure I won't be buying any Gibsons in the near future.)

THESE ARE HORRIBLE FLAWS ON GUITARS THAT COST OVER $1000 EACH, AND ARE HIGHLY PUBLICISED LIMITED EDITION MODELS FROM GIBSONS GUITAR OF THE WEEK INITIATIVE.

[mr dave]

most manufacturers offer a return policy. my only question is WHY did someone choose to keep that guitar? send it back, wait a few weeks or months until they send you something you're satisfied with. if that's unacceptable because they want it NOW then they're only really interested in the brand name so why whine about the quality?

ESP has a known quality issue, but they're also known for having a great return policy. i paid over a grand for my EC-1000, it has 2-3 minor issues with the finish (mostly around the binding) but not enough to make me return it. i'm not perfect, i don't expect my instrument to be either. besides, they all end up looking a little rough around the edges after a while with the way i play haha.

your quotes make it sound like these people were dropping fair chunks of change on guitars and either not knowing how or bothering to get them properly setup.

dots on the fretboard and overspray is lame but hardly the end of the world. the hole between the neck pickup and the neck should have been a big clue to SEND IT BACK. same as the issue on the back of the guitar.

besides, gibsons were known to suck in the 80s. why would a reissue of a guitar from a time when the company was known to suck be expected to not suck?

[mosesandtherubberducky]

meh, I've never been a real fan of Gibsons except for their Melody Maker model (and the double cut away version).


I'll stick to my discontinued schecter and ibanez for incoherent noise

[GuitarBizarre]

Originally Posted by mr dave

most manufacturers offer a return policy. my only question is WHY did someone choose to keep that guitar? send it back, wait a few weeks or months until they send you something you're satisfied with. if that's unacceptable because they want it NOW then they're only really interested in the brand name so why whine about the quality?

ESP has a known quality issue, but they're also known for having a great return policy. i paid over a grand for my EC-1000, it has 2-3 minor issues with the finish (mostly around the binding) but not enough to make me return it. i'm not perfect, i don't expect my instrument to be either. besides, they all end up looking a little rough around the edges after a while with the way i play haha.

your quotes make it sound like these people were dropping fair chunks of change on guitars and either not knowing how or bothering to get them properly setup.

dots on the fretboard and overspray is lame but hardly the end of the world. the hole between the neck pickup and the neck should have been a big clue to SEND IT BACK. same as the issue on the back of the guitar.

besides, gibsons were known to suck in the 80s. why would a reissue of a guitar from a time when the company was known to suck be expected to not suck?

They did send it back. The forum I got that post from has at least 3 members who have bought that model of guitar, and of the three of them not one of them has recieved one which is unflawed. Those 3 members have been through 7 guitars and 1 return between them.


And the point is that these mistakes shouldn't be happening this often. I've seen pictures only yesterday of an ESP where the Floyd nut was over to the side, leaving a large flat shelf to the lower side of the neck, that guitar was also sent back. And Schecter released the Jeff Loomis Signature, where I have seen examples that were shipped with raw frets, as in they were a trapezoidal shape, as opposed to crowned. In both cases the guitars were sent back, but also in both cases, its reasonable to assume that they were isolated incidents fixed promptly. Gibson on the other hand release guitars like this as a matter of course, even to reviewers frequently, and even the ones that aren't horribly botched horror stories, in my opinion, haven't matched the pricetag by a long way. I've ruminated before on two different Les Paul studios and my uncles 70's LP, along with SGs and assorted other Gibsons I've come across on my travels.

[mr dave]

right on. it's getting confusing to track the gibson chat between two threads haha.

i'll just repeat the short version of my last post in the other spot.

i don't think $1000 = high end guitar anymore. it's the line where mid range ends and the high quality stuff begins.

i don't expect to buy a new car for $5000 anymore, same as i don't expect that a $1000 guitar will be a flawless reflection of musical perfection either.

seems pretty simple to me. if you know you're stuff you'll know how to avoid crap. if gibson wants to replace epiphone's spot on the market then it's up to them.

[Alfred]

I have even lower expectations for my Epiphone Les Paul Special II.

[mr dave]

NO WAY. the special II is a TANK

it's by far the best beginner guitar i've ever tried. you cannot go wrong on that guitar for the price they're asking. the ONLY issue i've ever had with mine is weak tuning pegs. a $40 replacement pack took care of that.

just don't fool yourself into thinking it's anything but an entry level guitar though. as long as you enjoy playing chunky rock stuff it'll serve you well as you save up for something nicer. if you want to shred then you made an unfortunate mistake.

[GuitarBizarre]

UPDATE: Megadeth boards again, some kind soul who works for a big guitar shop took the liberty of posting this:

Originally Posted by natekelly35

:P

So this is the 2nd consecutive year we've amassed about 90-100 Gibson Custom Shop ($3000+) guitars that couldn't even pass inspection to be sold. See the Post-It notes on the ends of each box? Each one explains why the guitar did not pass inspection. (Varying from messy glue jobs, blemishes, and even bad wiring) Gibson apparently had a hard time believing their own CS would send out guitars with such problems, so they sent a few suits down to see for themselves the lack of quality control they have seemed to form. I think they made it through 1 1/2 palettes of guitars before they decided to not argue against, and just accept their rejects.

I can't totally trash Gibson, as I have an SG Standard that plays extremely fast and sounds great.. but I can say I expect a lot more from a company like them.

FYI, the amount of Fender CS rejects amounted to less than a palette. Other company rejects (ESP, PRS, Zemaidis, Tornovoz, etc) were pretty much non-existent.

[ryanh707]

aw thats not like gibson

i love their guitars

[spook]

Always thought Gibsons were way overpriced.
Looks like a case of a company living on their past reputation, and as long as people will buy a guitar for what's on the headstock, they'll keep getting away with it.