GMP Guitars

[pro-fusion]

I had a chance to try out a GMP semihollow (not sure of the model--it looked like a Pawnshop) a couple of years ago, and it had a great neck. If it had been a dual cutaway design, I might have nabbed it.

[Mr Graphic]

This is the GMP I ended up with from the few I've had. Every single one was a "player". I love my bird!

[Superfly]

Stay away from serial numbers between 300~400. These are known to have issues with paint flaking away near bing and have poor playbility. A friend stopped me from buying one at a good price. Sure enough, the paint was flaking off after clarification with the vendor.

The #s go higher than that. Brad told me the exact # but i can't for the life of me remember what it is. I have #500. One of the Elites. It has the finish issue but is purely cosmetic. I have ZERO problems playing it and to top it off the finish checking is by the "binding" on the neck that only i can see. If you are looking straight on front, you can't even see it. There may be issues with the lower #s that make them "unplayable" but mine is not an issue...

[YetAnotherOne]

There were a couple of issues. From the beginning until about the 900s they put the nuts on before shooting the clear. On those it's not uncommon to see a bit of clear flaking off the sides of the nut or from around that area. There was also a bad batch of clear, IIRC it ran from the 400s through the 800s, Glenn told me that it's likely that all of those have some flaws in the clear or will eventually. I have a few in that range and none show any yet ... knock on wood.

[danastas]

God is Dead

Wow, looks like a Custom graphic maybe, but if you're going to go all out like that, make sure the faith is strong.

[circle of the tyrants]

The #s go higher than that. Brad told me the exact # but i can't for the life of me remember what it is. I have #500. One of the Elites. It has the finish issue but is purely cosmetic. I have ZERO problems playing it and to top it off the finish checking is by the "binding" on the neck that only i can see. If you are looking straight on front, you can't even see it. There may be issues with the lower #s that make them "unplayable" but mine is not an issue...

I think they go to around 1200-1300 or so. I had 5, 2 of which had serial nos. over 1000. Awesome guitars. My V was no. 571 (I think) and it still had issues with clearcoat chipping around binding, tuner holes, etc. By the time I got the last 2 which were both Firebirds, they must have worked those bugs out because they were perfect. Very heavy, but perfect in every other way. Justin at JC's has an Explorer that I had thought about snagging, but since the rest of mine are gone, I've lost interest.

[YetAnotherOne]

AFAIK they only go to 1115 but I've heard there were 1202 S/Ns. Everything I've had beyond 900 (which is a bunch) has been exceptional. The most common QC issues I've seen include separation along the head/neck binding edge (always cleared over, never able to be felt, but a bit unsightly) and once in a while there's not quite enough filler between the inlays and the fretboard wood (small separations that look like shrinkage, you'd have to look *very* closely to see this issue when it's present). But then I'm a critic and have been known to find flaws in darned near every guitar I've ever owned.