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Post by okcrecording on Sept 28, 2023 12:57:35 GMT -6
> I love my Custom Shop Heritage Gibsons, and I have 3, I believe made between 2018-2020. They're phenomenal guitars...but even at the custom shop level, the factory setups are not spectacular...find a great luthier who can do some fretwork, cut the nut properly, etc. Totally worth an extra $200 or so. This isn't acceptable. I wish there existed the Gibson equivalent of what G&L is to Fender. In my view, there's little reason to buy a Fender because G&L outclasses them at every price point. And they just sound better. My lowly $1k Les Paul should really be about $200. Nearly every fender that I have personally bought, or working on for other players, needed a fret level. It wasn't a minor leveling in most cases. I would dare say aggressive leveling was needed. The only caveats I can recall are a Strat Ultra and one custom shop. Unfortunate, but expected at this point. This is not to bash on Fender, I love their products and own 5 Fender guitars and several amps that get constant use. My first "real" guitar was a 92 Candy Apple red American Strat, modeled after Gilmour but without the lace sensors. It did not have these issues. One of the fenders I currently own is an American Professional II Telecaster, purchased online, sight unseen or played. When it arrived the action was pretty bad, it was playable, but not up to my standards. After much fighting with the setup I just bought an MJT neck for it, and out of the box the neck was perfect. No filing, sanding needed. Just a slight turn of the truss rod and very minor nut filing and that guitar is now one of my favorites. These are my experiences,YMMV |
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Post by theshea on Sept 28, 2023 13:14:42 GMT -6
can never understand why all gibson j45 sound different … and many sound plain bad … i mean, a guitar that costs more than 2000€ should ALWAYS sound great.
than off course i know its a particular sound. not a shiny prima donna guitar sound but its intended to sound great with chords, rhythm and a few i have played sounded great. all strings equally loud, beautifullly compact sounds but some sounded dead like a 500€ epiphone …
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Post by Ward on Sept 29, 2023 13:06:54 GMT -6
can never understand why all gibson j45 sound different … and many sound plain bad … i mean, a guitar that costs more than 2000€ should ALWAYS sound great. than off course i know its a particular sound. not a shiny prima donna guitar sound but its intended to sound great with chords, rhythm and a few i have played sounded great. all strings equally loud, beautifullly compact sounds but some sounded dead like a 500€ epiphone … The shitty sounding ones should go to doctors and lawyers who only want office decorations anyhow. |
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Post by jeremygillespie on Sept 29, 2023 18:23:20 GMT -6
can never understand why all gibson j45 sound different … and many sound plain bad … i mean, a guitar that costs more than 2000€ should ALWAYS sound great. than off course i know its a particular sound. not a shiny prima donna guitar sound but its intended to sound great with chords, rhythm and a few i have played sounded great. all strings equally loud, beautifullly compact sounds but some sounded dead like a 500€ epiphone … I’ve played 2 newish J-45’s that weren’t shit. It’s amazing how bad the majority of them are when the select few can be so fantastic. I screwed up and figured I’d come back the next day and pick up a killer example at a guitar center that is always totally empty. It was gone when I got there the next day. Oh well. Just another one that got away! |
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Post by ninworks on Oct 28, 2023 10:02:23 GMT -6
I have no experience with current Gibson quality. The last new one I bought in 2013 was great. A 60's Tribute Les Paul Gold Top. Since it was an inexpensive model and I got a good deal on it so I did some mods. Put a featherweight tailpiece, an ABR-1 bridge, and shielded all the inner cavities with copper tape to get rid of a static noise problem. It's an exceptional guitar now.
Before that I bought a new 2008 Custom Shop CS356 from a dealer on Ebay. The neck was twisted when I got it. I could have sent it back to Gibson but they might have just replaced it instead of repairing it. I bought that one specifically because I liked the flame on the top. I got a pretty good deal on it so I decided to have it fixed at my expense by my stellar guitar tech Billy O'Reilly in Phoenix. He re-planed the neck and put new frets on it. It is now one of the best guitars I own. What a monster. I just wish Gibson would have gotten it right the first time. I bought the Les Paul from the same guy I got the CS356 from. As a result of my issues with the 356 he gave me a great deal on the Les Paul to make up for it. He made it right so I wouldn't hesitate to buy from him again.
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Post by robschnapf on Dec 9, 2023 7:37:50 GMT -6
I think the Gibson acoustics are made in a different factory.
I have an early 2000s custom order J35 with a big ass neck on it.
It sounds fantastic.
Took some finish off the back of the neck and it really feels good.
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Post by sean on Dec 11, 2023 8:47:35 GMT -6
Traded for a 2017 Gibson J45 Standard. I'd say it's a fine guitar that I think a better saddle and either a new bridge or some tweaks to the bridge might help. The B and E string are a bit "sitar-y" if you know what I mean? Neck feels fine, finish has a bit of that "gummy" feel to it so if I decide to keep it I might take a little finish off the neck.
From what I've been told by people who make their living playing guitar the latest batch of Gibson electrics have really gone up in quality.
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ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 16,083 
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Post by ericn on Dec 11, 2023 13:03:02 GMT -6
One of the biggest QC issues for almost everyone is the fact that in the grand old days of hometown music stores the guy who was setting up the guitar was one last QC stage. Now with all the big retailers even at most ma and pa shops the set up guy is the lowest ranking sales guy. In many cases the set up guy had the abilities to fix a lot of issues. So if you find a place that can actually set up a guitar, be loyal or be prepared to spend extra to get it setup.
Conflict alert my old employer sells guitars these days.
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