Custom Chibson Experience (Internals vid added)

guitargeek62

For all of those asking about playability;

The action is set to a medium height, I've not measured it yet but it's virtually the same as I like my Strat to be setup. I'll play around with the setup next week and see how low it can go without fretwork being required etc. My instincts are saying that it'll be more than adequate for 90% of players out of the box. 

The scratchiness on the fret tops isn't anything to worry about. There are no deep nicks at all on them, and no reason to suspect that they won't polish up beautifully with my micro-mesh pads (or steel-wool) as per usual. 

For those still toying with the idea of ordering one, I can only say that this one from this seller seems fine so far. I have no experience at all with other Chibsons from these people or any other, so there is a chance that I got lucky, but going by the general fit & finish here I'd be surprised if another had major flaws.

I'll be as honest as possible about all aspects of the guitar or transaction so don't hesitate to ask away if you want any specific questions answered.

It's been a fun process, and I expect to order another from them at some point.

TTony

guitargeek62 said:

It's been a fun process, and I expect to order another from them at some point.

they ought to be sending you one FOC, in lieu of commission on all the extra orders ...

guitargeek62

I wish! I'd gladly take a Firebird 1 from them though.

TTony

@digitalscream might correct me, but my reading of the stats suggests that this is now our most popular thread ???

 

9.9k views!

guitargeek62

Shit... I'd better put some vids on youtube and get some ad revenue

ThePrettyDamned

Ha!

I wonder how custom they will go...

JookyChap

ThePrettyDamned said:

Ha!

I wonder how custom they will go...

@ThePrettyDamned - did you notice how clean it was inside the diamond hole things? Not sure if I mentioned but there was this guy who saw a Custom Shop Gibson with paint dribbles in the f holes to the extent that they had stuck the QC sticker over the flow of them...

funstuie

ThePrettyDamned said:

Ha!

I wonder how custom they will go...

They will go as custom as you like. The major issue is the headstock. They don't seem to be able to make a custom headstock but custom logos, custom fret markers, custom everything. You can combine your two (or three) favourite guitars into one uber guitar but it will have a copyrighted headstock. The electronics are universally shit on these guitars. Some like the microphonic squealing though.

redrighthand

@guitargeek62 thanks for an enjoyable thread so far, it's been really interesting to follow this.

Gagaryn

Out of curiosity - has anyone checked whether they would supply the guitar without any electrics or pups, and how much cheaper that would be?

guitargeek62

Mine's not microphonic at all, and I tested it at high-gain & high-volume earlier to see. There's just a little rattling off of a couple of the saddle screws that was giving some harsh overtones on a couple of notes but I fixed that in a few seconds with some clear nail varnish. The pots are the usual on/off variety though, so yet another reason to replace the loom.

The pickups are fine, but I expect I'll put something PAF-ish or filter'tron-ish in there from Oil City or Mojo pickups.

guitargeek62

Gagaryn said:

Out of curiosity - has anyone checked whether they would supply the guitar without any electrics or pups, and how much cheaper that would be?

I haven't yet, but I'd be very tempted to next time around. I didn't want to take the risk this time as I thought it would increase the risk of faults being missed during any QC checks before it was sent out.

underdog

JookyChap;213462" said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

Ha!



I wonder how custom they will go...





@ThePrettyDamned - did you notice how clean it was inside the diamond hole things? Not sure if I mentioned but there was this guy who saw a Custom Shop Gibson with paint dribbles in the f holes to the extent that they had stuck the QC sticker over the flow of them...

ThePrettyDamned

underdog;213484" said:

[quote="JookyChap;213462"]ThePrettyDamned said:

Ha!



I wonder how custom they will go...





@ThePrettyDamned - did you notice how clean it was inside the diamond hole things? Not sure if I mentioned but there was this guy who saw a Custom Shop Gibson with paint dribbles in the f holes to the extent that they had stuck the QC sticker over the flow of them...

[/quote]

If I took a picture of it, I swear, I'd have it tattooed on my face so everyone could know what Gibson had to do to turn an otherwise relatively sane human into someone who feels a twang of pain every time I hear of a custom shop semi from Gibson...



Now, I'm off for my medication and punch bag routine...

mudslide73

guitargeek62;213476" said:

Gagaryn said:

Out of curiosity - has anyone checked whether they would supply the guitar without any electrics or pups, and how much cheaper that would be?










I haven't yet, but I'd be very tempted to next time around. I didn't want to take the risk this time as I thought it would increase the risk of faults being missed during any QC checks before it was sent out.

That's a good point. I fancy a sunburst Firebird 1 "chassis". Then I'd find a friendly pup winder to hook me up. Electronics I can do.. very tempting indeed.

viz

Yours looks great. I got a choubleneck, probably from the same place - "please post a link to the site".

Mine looks fantastic, the body and necks are all fine and beautifully finished, the electrics were awful and illogical and I replaced the pickups, and the setup was shite - it was just really poorly put together and the necks wobbled like broken bones. Then again it was 290 quid plus 60 for the case, 45 for customs, plus 100 for new pickups and rewiring, and some hours resetting the necks and bridges. I love it now - 500 quid for a unique doubleneck which exactly meets my needs. It's unbranded. But it was definitely shoddy (they'd rammed in some torn bits of balsa wood to try to shim the necks).

digitalscream

TTony said:

@digitalscream might correct me, but my reading of the stats suggests that this is now our most popular thread ???

 

9.9k views!

Not quite, but it is up there...

Shit that boils your piss	15892
He's at it again.	15352
Show us your pedalboard.	12924
The wide neck guitar criminal!	11976
Custom Chibson Experience: It's arrived (page 12)	10194

Neil

I've followed this thread with interest and admire your candid approach and information on  the reality of ordering a Chibson unseen. 

I do think it looks great but it does seem that the majority of the effort goes into the finish (how it looks) with less effort going into the important stuff.

The bad finish at the base of the neck, the suspect centre block fitment, the hacked timber under the cover plate and wonky truss rod cover (although I admit the latter will have no effect in reality) gives an overall feeling of shoddy workmanship to me. Coupled with the pot not working out of the box doesn't say much for their QC.

You have said that the tuners are pretty poor, it has cheap electrics etc etc and you intend to upgrade with new hardware, electrics and probably pickups which will add considerably to the cost do you know how much the total will be for the guitar as you would like it?

I'm sorry if I sound like a critic and I realise you can't get a Trini just anywhere but by the time you have finished spending on your new guitar do you not think you could have got something similar better from Epiphone, Ibanez etc for possibly less money and also have the chance to try before you buy? 

Again, thanks for an interesting thread and your dose of reality. Plenty of people would have skimmed over any faults on a new guitar, praised it to the rooftops then quietly flogged it off a couple of months later. 

usedtobe

Fascinating thread! Lol'd at 'choubleneck'..!

randomhandclaps

digitalscream said:

Not quite, but it is up there...

Shit that boils your piss	15892
He's at it again.	15352
Show us your pedalboard.	12924
The wide neck guitar criminal!	11976
Custom Chibson Experience: It's arrived (page 12)	10194

So put simply, get that undercut nut sorted and whack a Tele bridge pickup in that neck spot and you'd have a winning thread.