Factory setup R8

[Bulldog T]

Anybody had any issues with Custom shop setups from the factory? I'm not expecting them to be great and I was already planning on getting it done once I got the guitar but I thought it would be better. The string at the 12 fret was 3/32nd up from the board. My luthier said that is how high acoustics usually come set up. He also said the frets are not perfectly level which is strange since the guitar has been plek'd. He did say depending on the heat in shipping the frets could possilble move around alittle bit.

Wondering if anybody else has experienced the same issues?

[Phil W]

I think I got lucky. My R9 (2011) was spot on, very low action and no buzzing. It's possible the shop I bought it from had had a go at it but they didn't say so. I know the shop assistant was very sad to see it go and I presumed he'd been playing it so it's possible he did a setup for his own benefit as much as any prospective customer's.

[Dave1968]

I bought mine new from Guitar Village in 2008, they set it up and then sent it by courier. Good shop!

I bought a Studio '50s Tribute in 2010, that was set up ok but the fretboard was very dry and slightly shrunken inwards, humidity and storage doesn't help.

Sure once its set up you'll be in love!!!

[silverkw]

My r8 was new, it didn't play as well as my r7 which I bought used. So I didn't play the r8 as much and eventually sold it.

[JMB1984]

Yes, but even if the Custom Shop pumped out the same perfect set-up every time, it doesn't mean that the Custom Shop's perfect set-up is what I prefer.

[GuitarMechanic]

Originally Posted by JMB1984

Yes, but even if the Custom Shop pumped out the same perfect set-up every time, it doesn't mean that the Custom Shop's perfect set-up is what I prefer.

Yeah everybody has their own idea of what it should feel like so as long as it doesn't feel like a 1969 Teisco hanging up in Thrifty drug store you should be able to tweak it to your liking pretty easily

[ACELUEK]

My R8 was perfect when it came from Eddie's Guitars.. The only guitar I have not had professionally setup and it still the best..

[KenG]

Both my Eddie's Guitars RIs came with a decent setup right out of the box. Of course I tweeked them some for my personal preference but that's to be expected.
The height on your strings may be high if the neck gained some relief during the time from when it was built and setup to the time you received it. Relative humidity and temperature variantions can affect this easily.
I'd get a second opinion on the frets as well. Ideally the neck should be dead straight first then the frets checked. I'm of the opinion a lot of people automatically blame frets when a decent truss rod adjustment is all that's needed.

[River]

The weather's been brutal. The chances of you getting a guitar exactly the way it left the factory floor are about zilch.

I spend days getting the setup of a particular guitar just where it's best for me, sometimes more. Doesn't matter if it's new, used, Gibson, Guild, etc. I even made substantial tweaks to the truss rod of my Martin acoustic.

[burntsausage]

My new R8 plays spot on (for me at least).
The action was written down on the Checklist page on the back of the warranty.

[lespaulbluesbreaker]

Ignore the PLEK shiiite. It sounds great in theory but not in practice; I've never played one out of the box that felt good (don't ask me why). If you want a great guitar out of the box go buy a PRS - I've never played one that wasn't consistently set up perfectly out of the box. Gibsons always seem to need some TLC - figure it in as part of the bonding process. If you can't do it yourself take it to a good luthier - not some ape at Guitar Center. Have him level and finish the frets, and file the nut. The Gibson ABR-1 bridges are poorly made. Get a decent after-market Bridge (I like Faber). I changed out Tuners in one of my CR8s to tonepros vintage style to match the Gibson ones. They certainly feel better and don't have the built in "slop" that the Gibson ones have. It will play better, sustain better and hold tune better.
Stew-mac have a great book on setting up guitars. It should be in every guitar players library. With a few tools and some apptitude you can do your own set-up work, feel confident that your guitar is set up correctly and share a little touchy-feely time with your guitar! Otherwise, buy a PRS!

[GuitarMechanic]

Originally Posted by keng

i'm of the opinion a lot of people automatically blame frets when a decent truss rod adjustment is all that's needed.

yes +1,000,000

[Bulldog T]

Got the guitar back from the luthier and looks like 2 or 3 frets were high. So he went head and leveled the frets. I'm surprised about that because I had heard so many good things about Plek'd. Anyways the guitar sounds and plays great now.

[Gibsonclassic2001]

Problem seem to be factory plek.
They don't do it as the plekmachine company says it should be done.

But according to guitarlabs the pleked factory stuff is better then the old stuff.

If 8/10 are ok now only 4/10 were good before. (Fretwise)

And most crappy setups here in Europe is due to the importer.
We get em raw without strings etc locally.

[970harris]

Originally Posted by lespaulbluesbreaker

Ignore the PLEK shiiite. It sounds great in theory but not in practice; I've never played one out of the box that felt good (don't ask me why). If you want a great guitar out of the box go buy a PRS - I've never played one that wasn't consistently set up perfectly out of the box. Gibsons always seem to need some TLC - figure it in as part of the bonding process. If you can't do it yourself take it to a good luthier - not some ape at Guitar Center. Have him level and finish the frets, and file the nut. The Gibson ABR-1 bridges are poorly made. Get a decent after-market Bridge (I like Faber). I changed out Tuners in one of my CR8s to tonepros vintage style to match the Gibson ones. They certainly feel better and don't have the built in "slop" that the Gibson ones have. It will play better, sustain better and hold tune better...

My congrats to those who received good "out of the box" setups from Gibson with their Historic.

But I couldn't agree more with the quote above. Although my R8 actually ended up needing a full refret, including a new (bone) nut and fretboard leveling, I had my trusted luthier put the same Tonepros Kluson tuners on her along with a Callaham bridge at the same time. Much improved action, sustain, and tuning / intonation were the result. BTW, some pics of the refret work on "Honey Butter":

Gibson Les Paul Refret Finger Lakes Guitar Repair

Edit: Oh yeah, forgot to mention that I don't miss my nibs at all.

[tdarian]

This is a real sore spot with me, probably more on "principle" than practicality* and precludes the stacked board fiasco as far as I'm concerned. Here is the issue, predating the 2012 stacked boards that seem so popular:

2011 R7 (new) Frets Jescar FW45100 (.045 tall in raw form)
Actual measurement ranges for height off the board - .039 to .045 after PLEK new from factory/Wildwood Guitars.

Frets were indeed level. That means that the fretboard was not.

Two luthier/refret specialists, both of who do Historic LP refrets and use PLEKS have told me that Gibson affixes the frets to the RW boards BEFORE the boards are affixed to the neck. This makes it easier to install the neck binding and nibs, but it makes it impossible to perfectly level the board before laying down the frets. Bad engineering, if true, which I believe it to be but am certainly open to correction as my information is second hand.

What I can tell you is that Michael Tuttle (luthier #3) measured my R7 frets and I saw the variance from .045 to .039. He loved my guitar, but as a builder and player had to shrug about this.

I did have him resolve the problem...he said as is typical he had to do significant board leveling in order to create a flat level surface on which to lay new frets, which are now the same height off the board. By contrast, he did not have to do very much board prep at all with 4 PRS guitars that he's worked on for me.

I mentioned that this bothered me on principle. In practicality, I love SS frets, Michael had a rare open slot for me last December, so I took it. I could not really feel the fret height differential, but it bothered me that some of the frets had over 10% shaved off out of the gate needlessly.

Regardless, if they would begin with a level board things could only be better, PLEK or no PLEK.

Look Ma! No nibs!

[BrianBlessed]

Originally Posted by JMB1984

Yes, but even if the Custom Shop pumped out the same perfect set-up every time, it doesn't mean that the Custom Shop's perfect set-up is what I prefer.

My thoughts exactly. I get a bit frustrated when shopping for guitars because every factory seems to set them up with 9's, Its not in a large shops best interest to change strings, intonation and relief for every guitar either.

From a UK perspective by the time a guitar is sent across the Atlantic in a container and/or sat in a guitar shop for any period of time they generally are quite badly set up with s***ty old strings.

[Tim Plains]

I always tighten the truss rod and lower the bridge on new historics to get them where I like them. Don't think I've ever come across a new historic with fret issues. Gibson USA, yes.

[lespaulbluesbreaker]

I love my Gibbies... 2 CR8s and an R6 but at these prices things should be better. Each of them required fret work; one of them was way off in the higher fret range, particularly on the G & D strings. After checking the fretboard radius I found that it started changing profile around the 14th/15th fret. So it did indeed seem like a fingerboard issue rather than a fret issue. I've also never had one where the bridge didn't rattle/buzz and sap some tone out of a string or two. I've changed every bridge to a Faber. I love the idea of historical accuracy and I'm sure there were errors in the original guitars too but now that we're 50/60 years on you would think this would have been corrected and at $4,000 + our guitars would be perfect!

[lkft]

I must say that my late 2010 R9 was absolutely perfect in every way as far as set up goes. All I had to do was adjust the saddles for intonation. I haven't touched it since and as long as I keep using 10s I'll never have to, it hasn't budged a bit.

The difference between this purchase and others is that I actually played it before I bought it and all the others were shipped w/o having played them and when it was time to go back home it was with me in the plane as a carry on article so I'm sure shipping has something to do with the setup going out so avoid if possible.