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Gibson Apparently In Trouble.

#61
I've seen some of the worst quality control sins on gibsons, but they were all pretty self evident, and it wasn't like it was every instrument or anything. My favorite was a heritage cherry SG (the 2 p90 version) where they literally missed spraying the color coat over a good sized swath of the lower horn. It had been clear coated and buffed, but had a naked stripe. I'm mystified nobody caught that at some point in the finishing process. That said, it sounded awesome.
 
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#62
Henry has ruined that company. I live where their headquarters are, and know lots of people who have worked for them. I've never heard a glowing review. Also, I've played Les Paul guitars from the 60's, and the "reissues" that Gibson puts out now aren't even close to the originals. The Les Paul Custom was called the fretless wonder because it had really low frets. The 68 reissue Custom I played in recent times had REALLY tall frets and felt nothing like an original Custom.
 
#63
MobileHolmes said:
I've seen some of the worst quality control sins on gibsons, but they were all pretty self evident, and it wasn't like it was every instrument or anything. My favorite was a heritage cherry SG (the 2 p90 version) where they literally missed spraying the color coat over a good sized swath of the lower horn. It had been clear coated and buffed, but had a naked stripe. I'm mystified nobody caught that at some point in the finishing process. That said, it sounded awesome.
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There was a point in time where that guitar would have been stamped as a second on the back of the headstock, and given to an employee. It never would have passed inspection.
 
#65
Lownote38 said:
There was a point in time where that guitar would have been stamped as a second on the back of the headstock, and given to an employee. It never would have passed inspection.
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That was my thought. Should have been a 2nd and discounted, not for sale at full price. More than anything, I just thought it was funny, because it was so obvious, and somebody had put the clear coat on and sanded the thing without noticing
 
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#66
MobileHolmes said:
That was my thought. Should have been a 2nd and discounted, not for sale at full price. More than anything, I just thought it was funny, because it was so obvious, and somebody had put the clear coat on and sanded the thing without noticing
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I'm sure someone noticed, but were forced to finish it anyway and ship it off to a dealer. That's what Henry does other than use illegal wood when he can get away with it.
 
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#68
Jackers said:
I don't know what's more stupid. Journalists or drummers.
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Journalists can at least read, and write (usually).

On a serious note, Gibson's guitars are iconic. The people with the most disposable income still know LPs and Strats as the guitar to own. Maybe that will change as younger generations become the ones with the most purchasing power, but one can only speculate. A lot of their idols still use Gibson guitars. For the foreseeable future, people will still be buying Gibsons. This is despite the fact that Gibson has long been known as a hit-or-miss company. For as along as I can remember, people have been complaining about inconsistent construction, mediocre wood selection, and boat anchors, whilst lamenting the demise of the "golden years" of Gibson guitars. Boutique luthiers have long been promising instruments with all of the "tone" and "vibe" of Gibson, while actually being playable, well-constructed, and light.

I'm not saying that there aren't issues with Gibson. They certainly aren't the first name I think of when I go shopping for a new instrument. However, it really isn't anything new, as far as I can remember. People will continue to hastily report the demise of Gibson, and guys with money to burn will keep buying them, and hanging them in their office.
 
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#71
Chrisk-K said:
You can find some of the worst quality control crimes on any mass-production brand.
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I'm not a fender fan boy (actually I don't own anything fender apart from a guitar amp) but I've never seen anything worse than a really bad set up on any of the american made fender stuff. That said, some of those fenders would have needed a week of trussrod tweaking to get them in playable shape.
 
#73
I have a friend who has a few LP's 60's vintage. In every one of them he replaced the 500k pots and searched the nets until he found the 333k pots that to him seemed to make his guitars sound much better than they were stock. Looking at those circuit boards I'm thinking they're those 500k pots and some purists will have a problem with them.:cool:
...it's the reason Heritage guitars are rising in popularity:thumbsup:
 
#74
lavmonga said:
I don't get how you can't change the pickups? I see pots in there, you can just wire pots up the old fashioned way.
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That was my thought when I read the thing the other day. The pickups have to be connected to the cicuit board some how, and it shouldn't be that hard to connect different pickups. It's not like you can't solder to a PC board. Or you could cut the leads and splice in the new pickup. But actually, looking at the pic, It looks like they might be some really easy to use solderless connectors. Heck, even if you had to totally rewire the set up, you're only really looking at buying 4 pots for a Les Paul. That's a drop in the bucket
 
#75
Clark Dark said:
I have a friend who has a few LP's 60's vintage. In every one of them he replaced the 500k pots and searched the nets until he found the 333k pots that to him seemed to make his guitars sound much better than they were stock. Looking at those circuit boards I'm thinking they're those 500k pots and some purists will have a problem with them.:cool:
...it's the reason Heritage guitars are rising in popularity:thumbsup:
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The only instrument I ever regret selling was my heritage 535 (I needed to make rent in grad school). It was every bit as nice, if not nicer, than an Es335, and at the time, I payed about 40% of what a similar Es335 would have cost
 
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#76
Give me an article with facts and named sources rather then "music-store worker" and "A longtime Gibson user" before reaching any conclusions that are suggested to be "factual" and predictions of companies being "in trouble".

Anything else I just view as tabloid fare.

Personally, when I was shopping for a 335 about 10 years ago, I would up with a Heritage, (the company started by old Gibson employees that didn't want to make the move east and bought the old factory and equipment from Gibson before the move).

Compared side to side with the new Gibson 335s I played at the time, the Heritage quality was superior to the Gibsons to my fingers and ears and the Heritage was more than half the price....

In the spirit of full disclosure, I also played about 30 Heritage guitars before deciding on the one I bought, but I attribute that to just getting the right hand carved neck into my hands...
 
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#78
there will always be haters and lovers of the major brands. there will always be those that love to bathe in their failures and there will be those that those that deny/ignore the negatives. truth is usually right in the middle.

this talkbass where opinions are rep'd as facts....one guitars imperfections mean a companys entire catalogue has the same issues....
 
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#79
I am Soma said:
there will always be haters and lovers of the major brands. there will always be those that love to bathe in their failures and there will be those that those that deny/ignore the negatives. truth is usually right in the middle.

this talkbass where opinions are rep'd as facts....one guitars imperfections mean a companys entire catalogue has the same issues....
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I agree. There are always three sides to every story. Your side, my side, and the truth.
 
#80
petrus61 said:
I suppose this is the gripe?
View attachment 640645

I have to admit, it does look a bit flimsy and really seems to go against what someone who wants a Gibson would be all about as far as authenticity is concerned, but it's still just caps, pots and tracing...nothing really different.

I should start wiring up Gibson harnesses...that market must be booming:)
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Yeah, I don't see what the big problem would be retrofitting different pickups to that board..
 

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