If you love Gibsons..then dont read this thread!

[shobet]

Huw, your post / signature ratio is also in the red on the HC meter.

Shush you silly Scandinavian!

[drockilles]

Can we have a moment of silence for Jeff Albertson?

[El_Kabong]

On this side of the pond, my dealers get 5 in to try at a time and send them back if they are not up to standard. The name still sells, but over here, the junk ends up at the big chain shops which do get set up... by 21 year old college drop outs.

[DonP]

**** Here is what bothers me about this... why do others (Ibanez,
ESP..Schector..etc play fine at the GC?

People only abuse the high end Gibsons and ignore the others?

[jackson1]

Huw, your post / signature ratio is also in the red on the HC meter.

[shobet]

Your list of guitars is longer than your posts!

[satch0922]

Anyone who walks in the flea market which is the Guitar Center to judge guitars obviously has some false expectations.

Guitar Center is full of seconds, returns, abused and ill prepared guitars. This is Walmart of the guitar world. Just like the Jacksons hanging on the wall with the Floyd 2" off the body and binding that looks like a monkey on crack did the work etc.

Yes a Jackson custom shop "should" be as good or better than anything made, but then again so is a Gibson custom shop. The rest of them are like cars, a lemon in every bunch.

[Racerx2k]

**** Here is what bothers me about this... why do others (Ibanez,
ESP..Schector..etc play fine at the GC? So its NOT all "GC crap...it
just seems to be the expensive Gibsons, at least in Arizona imo

Not ALL of them do. I had my hands on an Ibanez Jem a few months ago that played like garbage, and have gotten my hands on some Jackson, too, like that. I'm not saying it's all GC's fault, cause there are alot of crap Gibsons being sold out there, but I HAVE seen my share of "axe abuse", first-hand, at the two GCs in my area, and almost always by little punk-asses. It's normally not us older guys, cause we are actually there to check out gear, as opposed to these f#$*ers, who are just looking to kill time, and screw with shit.

[Robert Burns]

Do you really think you can find something nice at GC? If it's nice it gets sold quickly. If not, it sits on the wall for years.

I go into GC about once a year. I feel like I'm seeing old friends, Gibsons sitting on the wall, always there, never selling year after year after year.

Yet, I've bought two new Gibsons from this store. My 1998 SG Std. had left Gibson less than 10 days before I bought it (inspection / setup date on the tag). My 2004 R0 was there less than 15 days. It's all luck - get there right after a "good" shipment and you might have something to buy.

**** Here is what bothers me about this... why do others (Ibanez,
ESP..Schector..etc play fine at the GC? So its NOT all "GC crap...it
just seems to be the expensive Gibsons, at least in Arizona imo

[nateb]

Bah... you want to know what... you walk into a store to spend 3K on a guitar, the fucker better be setup. And I don't buy the whole "Kids mishandle them thing" because They feel like shit in a lot of stores other then guitar center. Hell, even guys that I know who work at setting the things up think that Gibson has gone to complete shit. Who is going to tell you the truth? The guy who sells them, the guy who buys them, or the guy who is forced to try to make them play right? I have played a few good gibsons, when they are right, they are right. Gibson needs to face the facts, they are fucken up big time.

-Nate

[Tashtego]

I think the Gibsons might be more sensitive to environment because they are finished in nitro which breathes a bit. The others you mentioned are finished in lacquer probably and don't react to humidity or temp as much. Just a thought.

^^^ But see...i have taken them home, and not fooled with any kind
of setup until a couple of weeks had gone by. My Eldred HRF Chavel was
near perfect intonation.. my Jackson Dinky from 92' i didnt touch until
6 months later! That Epi LP clone i mentioned was a nice player...the
day it was taken home. I do agree the the GC is going to be much more
of a circus..but still out of 5 over $1100 Gibsons i played, NOT ONE?
That startled me... Funny now that i think about it, an import Jackson
KE3 played pretty solid right off the wall! It had the Skull graphic, so i
know that it must have been handled by 100 punks before me! :ROTF:

[DonP]

Do you really think you can find something nice at GC? If it's nice it gets sold quickly. If not, it sits on the wall for years.

I go into GC about once a year. I feel like I'm seeing old friends, Gibsons sitting on the wall, always there, never selling year after year after year.

Yet, I've bought two new Gibsons from this store. My 1998 SG Std. had left Gibson less than 10 days before I bought it (inspection / setup date on the tag). My 2004 R0 was there less than 15 days. It's all luck - get there right after a "good" shipment and you might have something to buy.

[mjtripper]

Being from Kalamazoo it always pains me to see these threads about how far Gibson has slipped. I'm lucky enough to have one of the old ones and have met one of the guys that worked on it. Some of the old legacy is still around in the form of Heritage guitars which are quite nice and far better then the current crop of new Gibsons. In my opinion that is.

[lefty]

... Ever since I started looking at "new" Gibson's in '96, I have noticed a consistancy to have "orange peel" in most of their finishes and most likely the cause is not spending the time in the buffing stage. Looks like they rush it through to me. The wood work and fit seems to be on par. The quality of wood and variety of wood is definitely better over the Kalamazoo factory for the most part IMO.

I've seen Gibsons with awful orange peeling hanging right next to
Epis with flawless clearcoat. Sends a great message to your
customers, eh?

[Robert Burns]

I can understand expecting a guitar to be properly set up at a retail store, and you'd think one would have the set up before being put on display to perhaps help sell the guitar.

On the same token I think you guys are making too big of a deal out of it (set-ups). I have never once, in my entire life left a new guitar set up as is after I purchased it. This encludes GMW's, USA Jacksons, USA Charvsl, USA Fenders etc. If a guitar on display plays liks ass, sight the neck for straightness, check relief and if its good there then a simple set up will will do the trick. I can't see buying a new guitar and then leavng it at the store for a post sale set-up....I'm too impatient, I pluck down my cahs I wanna play that sumbitch...which is why I learned to do my own set-u an dintonation jobbies...hate waiting on someone elses.

Set-ups as far as action goes is so diverse and subjective so if a guitar is on the floor for months and a bunch of people dicked with it there is no tellin how many times it was jacked wioth by someone before you got your hands on it.

^^^ But see...i have taken them home, and not fooled with any kind
of setup until a couple of weeks had gone by. My Eldred HRF Chavel was
near perfect intonation.. my Jackson Dinky from 92' i didnt touch until
6 months later! That Epi LP clone i mentioned was a nice player...the
day it was taken home. I do agree the the GC is going to be much more
of a circus..but still out of 5 over $1100 Gibsons i played, NOT ONE?
That startled me... Funny now that i think about it, an import Jackson
KE3 played pretty solid right off the wall! It had the Skull graphic, so i
know that it must have been handled by 100 punks before me! :ROTF: