Is this neck out of alignment?

Musicman20

I would be cautious and send it back for that money.....unfortunately.

fendergibson

That would niggle me constantly - send it back !

Musicman20

The other thing to consider is some might see that as a reason to knock you down in price should you ever sell on. Be safe and send it back. £500? no problem. £2.5k - absolutely a problem. 

Three-ColourSunburst

hyperben said:

I think if the neck were out of line the strings would not be equal distances from the edges of the fretboard, which it looks like they are.

Unless Gibson drill the tailpiece and bridge holes using a jig that aligns with the neck, doing this after the neck has been fitted? 

axisus

Looks wrong to me. As already mentioned, I'd send back for that money. 

That thing about out of 10 guitars that are the same, one is a bit special - I'm pretty sure that's one of the 9.

poopot

Send it back, this is what a well fitted tenon should look like...

terada

Ok so I've now had the neck pickup out, and this is what I've found:

Doesn't seem to be a shim there to me?

Musicman20

Just so I'm on the right page, I'm still new to Les Paul neck construction, but I assume the gap of wood near the fretboard is not normal? 

poopot

terada said:

Ok so I've now had the neck pickup out, and this is what I've found:

Doesn't seem to be a shim there to me?

Send it back dude.

Twinfan

The neck join to the body around the tenon looks fine, it's what you can't see under the fingerboard that might cause a problem.

johnl

If it was me and I liked the way the guitar felt and played I'd keep it. There's clearly enough contact between the neck and the pocket but you could certainly argue for a decent discount from the retailer.

Three-ColourSunburst

axisus said:

Looks wrong to me. As already mentioned, I'd send back for that money. 

That thing about out of 10 guitars that are the same, one is a bit special - I'm pretty sure that's one of the 9.

That's exactly what I thought when I saw that so many were buying those R8 and R9s because they had been reduced in price. (So now people were only paying only a grand over the top for the Gibson logo and 'R' designation, rather than 2 or 3.   ) Even so, I see that some mindful of the usual 'never buy a Gibson you haven't played' rule bought a couple with the intention of keeping the best of the two.

It all brings to mind Henning Pauly's recent Les Paul shootout. The best in the whole test was a Gibson R8 that had been snapped up by a member of the Thomann staff (I think) who recognised it as being the stand out instrument in the stock they had been sent. Non of the other Gibsons came close, including a 8,500 Euro 'colector's choice' and as Pauly said (I paraphrase) "This is the last Les Paul you would ever want, but there is no point just saying 'Buy an R8 and you will get an instrument just like this', because that is not how things work with Gibson, with Gibson it's the individual instrument, not the model that counts."

Conversely, another standout 'Les Paul' was an FJN Neo Classic 30 fitted with Seymour Duncan 'Whole lotta humbucker' pickups, with a solid flame maple top, long tenon, and so on at around 1800 Euros. Here buying one wouldn't be a lottery (or at least would be one with much shorter odds than if one was buying a Gibson) but of course, no matter how great is sounded, how well it played and how well it was constructed, for many it could never be a 'real' Les Paul.

WezV

terada said:

Ok so I've now had the neck pickup out, and this is what I've found:

Doesn't seem to be a shim there to me?

That’s a cosmetic issue on the surface, structurally it’s fine.  

Your choice, but it’s not a serious fault.  Although it still shouldn’t  be there on an expensive guitar.

peachguitarsdotcom

Musicman20 said:

Just so I'm on the right page, I'm still new to Les Paul neck construction, but I assume the gap of wood near the fretboard is not normal? 

The gap between the end of the fretboard and pickup ring is fairly normal

WezV

poopot said:

Send it back, this is what a well fitted tenon should look like...

Exactly... shimming for a good fit is fine, just like on that one.

terada

WezV said:

poopot said:

Send it back, this is what a well fitted tenon should look like...

Exactly... shimming for a good fit is fine, just like on that one.

What do you reckon from the updated pics?

Danielsguitars

terada said:

WezV said:

poopot said:

Send it back, this is what a well fitted tenon should look like...

Exactly... shimming for a good fit is fine, just like on that one.

What do you reckon from the updated pics?

I think that looks shocking to me and not acceptable in any way, the neck is probably fine but to see it on top is terrible, if they'd had the pickup ring butted up no one would've known

ICBM

Less serious than I expected - it’s some shoddy routing on the top of the pocket rather than a badly-fitted tenon, by the look of it. What looked like a shim is actually a splinter of the maple.

That’s why it was necessary to take the pickup out and have a look... as Wez said it’s certainly not good on an expensive guitar, but it no longer looks like a potential structural issue.

If the rest of the guitar is as you want I would keep it. If it was me I would probably fill the gap just to make it look less unsightly.

breadfan

Twinfan said:

The neck join to the body around the tenon looks fine, it's what you can't see under the fingerboard that might cause a problem.

What problem could it cause?

Structurally, it looks fine to me - it's better than many I've seen from Gibson.

It's a cosmetic issue &, if it was bought it in-store, I'm not sure the shop would be obliged to swap it for another one, given that it would have been inspected prior to purchase.

If you're otherwise satisfied with the guitar, I'd say keep it.

Bridgehouse

ICBM said:

If the rest of the guitar is as you want I would keep it. If it was me I would probably fill the gap just to make it look less unsightly.

I was just thinking that I'd probably squeeze a bit of glue in there and then fill it. Only if it was def. one I wanted to keep hold of though.