Gibson guitars are crap now.

[gnappi]

I’ve been working on my first ex wife for over 21 years....

My first (and likely only) ex wife went just shy of 30 years. Now I buy anything I like.

 

[Reborn]

Haven't looked at Gibson Les Paul prices in like 5 years, not sure if it's just me or not, but did the prices go up by like $500+? I swear the higher end models (well, the ones with bindings) started at like $1500 new, but now it looks like they're at least $2000.

 

[Frogfur]

Please , somebody shoot this thread! Make it die!

Its going to drag you down to hell ..

 

[jlb32]

Haven't looked at Gibson Les Paul prices in like 5 years, not sure if it's just me or not, but did the prices go up by like $500+? I swear the higher end models (well, the ones with bindings) started at like $1500 new, but now it looks like they're at least $2000.

It depends on what models you look at or are interested in.

IMO Gibson is building some of the best guitars they ever have the last 5+ years.

 

[paruwi]

Gibson guitars are garbage nowadays and have been for a while.

I can't belive we pay so much money for garbage and so many people keep defending Gibson.

I am a Gibson fan but when are we going to be honest about how bad the quality of guitars are coming from Gibson?

As long as we keep making excuses for Gibson we will keep getting Rubbish.

Gibson fans are the most biased fans on the planet, bar none.

 

[Kaicho8888]

My newer Gibsons are consistently better made than my sixties Gibsons that had more handcrafting. If you do price checks of sixties Gibson guitars (with inflation) to present day value, today's guitars are cheaper and better made.

Of course, there are some that are duds. However, you can easily replace them nowadays. Back in the sixties, we were lucky to get a Gibson; and all we did was play them. Never even considered tweaking or modifying them. Certainly, returning them to a store was unthinkable. Most of us just practiced, played, or composed music with one Gibson guitar. We felt lucky to own a Gibson.

Today, we are spoiled... "return it, if you no likey".

 

[jojo]

IMO Gibson is building some of the best guitars they ever have the last 5+ years.

 

[Guitpicky]

My newer Gibsons are consistently better made than my sixties Gibsons that had more handcrafting. If you do price checks of sixties Gibson guitars (with inflation) to present day value, today's guitars are cheaper and better made.

Of course, there are some that are duds. However, you can easily replace them nowadays. Back in the sixties, we were lucky to get a Gibson; and all we did was play them. Never even considered tweaking or modifying them. Certainly, returning them to a store was unthinkable. Most of us just practiced, played, or composed music with one Gibson guitar. We felt lucky to own a Gibson.

Today, we are spoiled... "return it, if you no likey".

I feel lucky to own ANY guitar that isn't a piece of crap. Now if I could just figure out how to play them right

 

[Brian Wood]

I have to disagree with the op.

I have owned a real 59’ Les Paul Standard. Yeah they are rare....yeah some are amazing....and yeah they are inconsistent...As expected during that time. My 2016 Les Pauls are superb and better than the 59’ I owned. Todays Gibsons are good.

 

[VancoD]

..... And I have some stunningly great Gibsons now. Except one. This exact Explorer. I think it is pretty cool being a stripped down version. As far as fit and finish, it looks fine, but with minimal trappings, there is little to screw up.
After an initial once over, my next evaluation is to tune it up and see how it feels, plays, AND sounds unplugged.
There is where the problem surfaced. With all that massive wood, I expected some serious resonance that has been pleasing me with the other Gibsons. But it wasn't there. Dead sounding by comparison.

I will say that mine, acoustically, is fairly "as expected" from the wood used and the amount of "beef" (or lack thereof, as the case may be) in the body itself. It would be a an absolutely great guitar if it stayed in tune.

You paid $500......ya get what ya pay for.

This statement completely lacks logic. What I paid is irrelevant based on it being new, and having a hang-tag of $1700.00. I got "lucky" on the price, nothing more - there's plenty of people out there that "paid retail".

No chance some of the problems could be due to two year old strings ?

Given the amount of bow/backbow I can induce with minimal pressure from my hand it's all in the manufacture of the neck I'm afraid. I have not "tested" the truss rod - would be funny if all along it was snapped.... lol (but I'm 900 miles away from the guitar right now)


Some interesting comments on "Gibson consistency" WRT finishes - I grabbed this screen cap recently - someone in the burst booth was catching a catnap... lol

Funny - the blue one has the best flame but no purple - it was the one I liked the most......

 

[Reborn]

It depends on what models you look at or are interested in.

IMO Gibson is building some of the best guitars they ever have the last 5+ years.

I was talking mostly about the traditional and standard models, but I think the studios have gone up a lot too. I think they were around $1000 back in 2014.

 

[mudface]

Unfortunately the name of this forum is not more specific:

“ILikeMyLesPaul” might help,.. probably not.

So in its current form anything goes.

Someone could produce a forum for those who don’t like their LPs and call it “MyLesPaulSucks” ......would be good for haters and they can have members trying to convince THEM they’re wrong.

Someone needs to start a forum called “Send It Back”


Just a thought..... carry on.

 

[elephantrider]

all 3 of my gibsons are top notch. ..so are my 7 or 8 epis... .

 

[wmachine]

.............the differences are all cosmetic.

Heres a pic of both of the Explorer LEs...



The second issue was the finish itself. While Gibson claims that the LEs’ finish is “worn natural”, one of my Explorers is perfectly smooth like any standard Gibson, just with a matte texture. The other LE has a rougher finish that is smoother than the guitars Gibson offered under their “faded” trim back from 2007-2010, but still has visible pores and wood grain. It’s hard to get these differences to show up in photographs, but here’s the best I can show...

Here’s the smooth finish (reference the texture near the light reflection)...




And here’s the LE that feels/looks rougher...

I finally had a chance to check the finish on mine. Much more like your first one, but I can't say "perfectly smooth". There is very fine grain in the surface. But it doesn't look like your second one. Less glossy like your first one too. So mine does look like it has the same finish as your first one, not the second one.

 

[wmachine]

.......
Some interesting comments on "Gibson consistency" WRT finishes - I grabbed this screen cap recently - someone in the burst booth was catching a catnap... lol

Funny - the blue one has the best flame but no purple - it was the one I liked the most......

I don't think the intention is to make them look exactly the same. Impossible with wood and improbable with hand finishing. I see nothing wrong with any of those 4 finishes.
I really don't understand wanting them all to look alike.
If one wants a totally consistent look, then photo-top them all and be done with it. Would be cheaper too.
I celebrate the differences.
And that is why solid colors can be quite boring.

 

[freebyrd 69]

I will say that mine, acoustically, is fairly "as expected" from the wood used and the amount of "beef" (or lack thereof, as the case may be) in the body itself. It would be a an absolutely great guitar if it stayed in tune.

This statement completely lacks logic. What I paid is irrelevant based on it being new, and having a hang-tag of $1700.00. I got "lucky" on the price, nothing more - there's plenty of people out there that "paid retail".

Given the amount of bow/backbow I can induce with minimal pressure from my hand it's all in the manufacture of the neck I'm afraid. I have not "tested" the truss rod - would be funny if all along it was snapped.... lol (but I'm 900 miles away from the guitar right now)


Some interesting comments on "Gibson consistency" WRT finishes - I grabbed this screen cap recently - someone in the burst booth was catching a catnap... lol

Funny - the blue one has the best flame but no purple - it was the one I liked the most......

If you bought it new, then there are several solutions.....one, send it back. If it was NOS, and you bought it from a retail store as such, they should take it back with no problem. I'd be curious to know where you bought it as NOS marked down that far. At a MSRP of $1700, you bought it below dealer cost, and there was probably a reason they let it go so cheap. If you bought it as an "as is", then I stand by my statement. If it sound too good to be true.....

 

[Macronaut]

Some interesting comments on "Gibson consistency" WRT finishes - I grabbed this screen cap recently - someone in the burst booth was catching a catnap... lol

Funny - the blue one has the best flame but no purple - it was the one I liked the most......

If you watch the factory tour video, the guy in the spray booth has two LPs that were to be sprayed the same color. He decided that one needed a little more of this and a little less of that, depending on what he felt each one needed. Right or wrong, you have an individual deciding how and what to spray on each. Personally, I would not want exact clones of any one LP. This gives us all a choice of what we prefer. Keep looking and your perfect finish will come along.

 

[Brian Wood]

I am kind of digging the last Les Paul i purchased

 

[rjwilson37]

I played my Crap Gibson Guitars a lot this past long Thanksgiving weekend, totally love it?

 

[Pappy58]

no complaints here!