Gibson Quality

Philly_Q

Honestly it is shite, isn't it?  Taken one at a time all those things (frets excepted) are minor annoyances, but altogether it is shite.

mrkb

Good to see Ian Elson has secured a new job

BillDL

If I received a £200 Harley Benton / SX / East Coast / Fazley / Jet / etc. with an abundance of poorly finished areas like that I would be disappointed, and frankly also very surprised.  I would return it as being substandard without feeling ashamed about being or being seen as nit-picking, because that just shows a flagrant disregard for quality standards during the build and finish and demonstrates a complete lack of quality control at final inspection.  He says in the text accompanying the video:

" ...So far we have bought and returned one guitar, received the replacement, and then had to return that guitar as well.  Hopefully third time will be the charm ..."

Personally I wouldn't have given them a 3rd chance to try and get something right.

There is a thread running at the moment about what peoples' dream guitars would be to purchase if they came into enough money that budget wasn't an issue.  For many people a guitar at this kind of price could very easily be a dream guitar.  Not much of a dream really.  Any manufacturer that sets an RRP upwards of £2,000 for something like that really doesn't have any regard whatsoever for their potential customers.

SteveRobinson

Thanks @BillDL that really proves my point.

euan

Offset said:

I watched the video from start to finish.  It seems popular to put the boot into Gibson; I've never bothered because despite having one (no major issues), they're really not my bag.

However - that goldtop is a shocker.  Both the finishing issues and the absence of QC are dreadful.  I must admit I'm equally surprised that the reviewer only found the issues which caused him to send the guitar back to Gibson after he'd got it home.  And that was the sixth one he tried!  The others must have been truly dreadful.

It really isn't a good look and when you consider the price point, it's unforgivable.

It’s worse than that. This is  one Gibson sent him as a replacement for one that had a load of issues 

Offset

euan said:

Offset said:

I watched the video from start to finish.  It seems popular to put the boot into Gibson; I've never bothered because despite having one (no major issues), they're really not my bag.

However - that goldtop is a shocker.  Both the finishing issues and the absence of QC are dreadful.  I must admit I'm equally surprised that the reviewer only found the issues which caused him to send the guitar back to Gibson after he'd got it home.  And that was the sixth one he tried!  The others must have been truly dreadful.

It really isn't a good look and when you consider the price point, it's unforgivable.

It’s worse than that. This is  one Gibson sent him as a replacement for one that had a load of issues 

Yes I clocked that but probably didn't make it clear in my post.  It really does suggest they don't give a flying one doesn't it?  Not only do they send him a duffer but it's obviously not new.  Doubtless previously returned by another disappointed punter.

The one thing that is really puzzling me was mentioned by someone else here - if Gibson allegedly Plek each guitar, how on earth do some go out with high frets?

Philly_Q

Offset said:

The one thing that is really puzzling me was mentioned by someone else here - if Gibson allegedly Plek each guitar, how on earth do some go out with high frets?

I guess if they're not properly seated in the first place they may pop up in transit, after the Plek process has been completed?
I remember I had a Spirit by Steinberger with a high fret, you could push it down temporarily but it would pop back up again like whack-a-mole.

elstoof

What guitar shop is this where Gibson seemingly send all their complete shit to and they never bother to inspect their stock delivery 

JD50

Why don't the shop just send the guitar back to Gibson? 

SixStringSage

I don't doubt that this is legit, but I want to know why I've never encountered a Gibson like this in the wild. I bought my first Standard a full decade ago. I've owned multiple Les Pauls, two Custom Shops, and two acoustics including the Dove I purchased this week. Each time I bought one, I played numerous others. Hand on heart, I have never encountered a Gibson with problems that YouTubers seem to have every other week.

Maybe they send better stock to certain places. Maybe. I've mostly played them at Anderton's and they're a major dealer, but I've played plenty at GuitarGuitar, plus Guitar Center in LA, and of course ones my friends owned. 

I've seen some minor things, like a little overspray on the binding by the body, but nothing like chips, dents, bad frets, damaged wood, glue residue, etc. 

That's not to say I'm giving it a free pass - at the price point, I agree it's not acceptable. But I don't understand how in 10 years of playing them in multiple shops in 2 different countries I've managed to avoid any problematic one, while the internet would have me believe that you're more likely to find a bad one than a good one.

Offset

JD50 said:

Why don't the shop just send the guitar back to Gibson? 

His rationale was that he'd tried all six goldtops the shop had in stock and they were all shite - so he sent it back direct to Gibson thinking they'd, errrm, send him a decent one...

Why he didn't just get the shop to do that I really do not know.

SixStringSage

Offset said:

JD50 said:

Why don't the shop just send the guitar back to Gibson? 

His rationale was that he'd tried all six goldtops she shop had in stock and they were all shite - so he sent it back direct to Gibson thinking they'd, errrm, send him a decent one...

Why he didn't just get the shop to do that I really do not know.

Did he provide any evidence of this or do we have to take his word for it? 

Offset

SixStringSage said:

Offset said:

JD50 said:

Why don't the shop just send the guitar back to Gibson? 

His rationale was that he'd tried all six goldtops she shop had in stock and they were all shite - so he sent it back direct to Gibson thinking they'd, errrm, send him a decent one...

Why he didn't just get the shop to do that I really do not know.

Did he provide any evidence of this or do we have to take his word for it? 

I think it's the latter.

elstoof

How does one even send a guitar back to Gibson? Your contract is with the retailer

SixStringSage

Offset said:

SixStringSage said:

Offset said:

JD50 said:

Why don't the shop just send the guitar back to Gibson? 

His rationale was that he'd tried all six goldtops she shop had in stock and they were all shite - so he sent it back direct to Gibson thinking they'd, errrm, send him a decent one...

Why he didn't just get the shop to do that I really do not know.

Did he provide any evidence of this or do we have to take his word for it? 

I think it's the latter.

Hmm, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt but colour me sceptical. What are the odds of a store allowing Gibson to send them only bad guitars? You'd expect the shop to check the stock it receives, and the implication is that Gibson is doing one of two things:

1). Sending poor guitars to particular shops because they know they won't be returned (doubtful)
2). Sending poor guitars everywhere because they only make poor guitars (doubtful)

As someone else said already, YouTube's algorithm can easily incentivise this type of content if a past QC video was the channel's most popular. And I've seen people accuse Gibson of bad quality for things that weren't QC issues — like wanting a refund on an R9 because there was binding bleed, even though that's a feature not a bug.

If the internet has taught us anything, it's that we can't trust the words of strangers on the internet just because they tell us they're right (even if they think they are!)

Offset

elstoof said:

How does one even send a guitar back to Gibson? Your contract is with the retailer

Good point - I don't have an answer :-(

guitars4you

Offset said:

elstoof said:

How does one even send a guitar back to Gibson? Your contract is with the retailer

Good point - I don't have an answer :-(

If we can buy direct from the Gibson Garage in London, assume you can do likewise with Nashville - But that doesn't line up with above comments on FB, or indeed the video clip, in that he tried/examined 6 LP's in stock, as I'm not sure excess stock is held in the Gibson Garage - If you order from the Gibson Garage, is stock shipped from their, or from a UK, EU, or USA warehouse (for USA sales)

elstoof

He says it was from a local authorised seller, and he’s seemingly based in New Hampshire so wouldn’t be the Gibson garage 

elstoof

I’ve had a bad QC Gibson, bought online from one of the box shifters. It had a missing side dot and some bad finishing around the neck join of the fretboard, no big deal, I exercised my right to a refund like any normal person and bought something else. 

I struggle to believe you can open 6 Gibsons from one shop and they’d all be turds, but I reckon 1 of those 6 has a fair chance of showing signs of a troubled life. Not as easy to make a YouTube video about that though 

SixStringSage

FFS it took him until 9+ minutes to tell us this guitar wasn't new and by his own admission he doesn't know if it was a return, refurb, or something else. So he has no idea if Gibson sent it out in perfect condition and problems arose subsequently.