Gibson's Lifetime Warranty?

[Last]

Gee is there anything left to cover with this warranty?

Seems useless to me.

"THIS WARRANTY DOES NOT COVER:

1. Any instrument that has been altered or modified in any way or upon which the serial number has been tampered with or altered.
2. Any instrument whose warranty card has been altered or upon which false information has been given.
3. Any instrument that has been damaged due to misuse, negligence, accident, or improper operation.
4. The subjective issue of tonal characteristics.
5. Shipping damages of any kind.
6. Any instrument that has been subjected to extremes of humidity or temperature
7. Normal wear and tear (i.e., worn frets, worn machine heads, worn plating, string replacement, scratched pickguards, or damages to or discoloration of the instrument finish for any reason).
8. Any instrument that has been purchased from an unauthorized dealer, or upon which unauthorized repair or service has been performed.
9. Any factory installed electronics after a period of one (I) year following the original date of purchase.
10. Cracking, discoloration or damage of any sort to the finish or plating for any reason.
11. Gibson does not warranty the playability of a instrument whose "action" is lower than the standard "action" as defined in the owners manual."

I don't see anything that would actually be covered under this? Anyone ever have success using this warranty after a couple of years of ownership?

I can see an immediate problem/issue getting serviced but I think that after a year or even just a few months any of the above considerations leave you out in the cold.

I've heard some incredible stories concerning Martin Guitars & their "Lifetime Warranty" Repair/Service & these are coming from descendants of the original owner! We're talking decades down the road!

Considering the cost of a Martin & the cost of a Gibson on a comparable basis you don't' get much in the way of protection under Gibson's guidelines though they act like & even call it a GOLD COVERAGE WARRANTY!

Okay, RANT OVER!

 

[The_Sentry]

Yeah...well.....

 

[lp_junkie]

I've had bad experiences with Gibson warranty before so I don't play Gibsons anymore, they really pissed me off years ago.

 

[Nicky]

I've had bad experiences with Gibson warranty before so I don't play Gibsons anymore, they really pissed me off years ago.

Well, your screen name and avatar are confusing, then.

 

[lp_junkie]

I still play Les Pauls mostly MIJ/EPI or older Gibsons at times, but will never buy anything new from them again.

I also developed a taste for modding so I void the warranty the day I get any guitar now.

 

[LiveOak]

Never had to contact Gibson for warranty yet, and from what I have read from you all so far, I hope I never have to!

 

[G-Minor]

i got my flying v repaired (low e part of the nut broke off while windmilling on stage a half a year ago) i only owned it a couple months and the e string kept popping out upod purchase because the crackhead doing the original nut cut the nut so the stings stick out of the nut. so i contacted gibson told them their soddy craftmenship and they said take it to the place of purchase (guitar center) and they will repair it so their repair guy (cooks repair service) took care of it made a very fine nut that resembles an epiphone nut where the strings are in there deep but intonation was off and gibson wouldnt help me :[

 

[lennon47]

i got my flying v repaired (low e part of the nut broke off while windmilling on stage a half a year ago) i only owned it a couple months and the e string kept popping out upod purchase because the crackhead doing the original nut cut the nut so the stings stick out of the nut. so i contacted gibson told them their soddy craftmenship and they said take it to the place of purchase (guitar center) and they will repair it so their repair guy (cooks repair service) took care of it made a very fine nut that resembles an epiphone nut where the strings are in there deep but intonation was off and gibson wouldnt help me :[

same thing happened to me with my v, I think it is because the strings are pulled over farther from the head stock opposed to a les paul

 

[diceman]

So you mean to tell me that if I replace the caps in one of my Gibsons with some good PIO's, and then the neck warps all to shit from a "manufacturer defect" - it wouldn't be covered because of my cap swap?

I'd raise hell over that...

I've read their warranty before and thought the same thing, though - they don't warrant a goddamned thing.

 

[G-Minor]

same thing happened to me with my v, I think it is because the strings are pulled over farther from the head stock opposed to a les paul

yea but like the strings are basically resting on the nut their not in the nut which i see on alot of v's so maybe ur right but they need to fix that problem

 

[SABLE]

void because of string replacement? you cant be serious...bleh, they disgust me.

 

[diceman]

Not void b/c of string replacement - strings are not covered by the warranty.

 

[CRAZY J]

Well, in my opinion Gibson was great until the 70's, the craftsmanship and materials had suffer lot decadence with the years. On the other hand, their prices are ridiculously high. These days, when you buy a Gibson guitar you are not paying for nothing else but the brand name. There are many other guitar makers out there producing reliable guitars for a fraction of a Gibson price.

Don't get me wrong, I own a 1969 Les Paul Custom and is a work of art, but they don't make guitars like that any more.

If anyone is planning on spending over $2,000 on a guitar, think again and you might end up buying 2 guitars instead of 1 and believe me, you will have enough money left for 1 year of strings supply for the 2...lol

 

[Longhair]

So you mean to tell me that if I replace the caps in one of my Gibsons with some good PIO's, and then the neck warps all to shit from a "manufacturer defect" - it wouldn't be covered because of my cap swap?

I'd raise hell over that...

I've read their warranty before and thought the same thing, though - they don't warrant a goddamned thing.

Unless you clamped the neck in an anvil vice to hold the guitar to be able to change the capacitor, then you shouldn't have to worry about the warranty being void.

 

[acstorfer]

Well, in my opinion Gibson was great until the 70's, the craftsmanship and materials had suffer lot decadence with the years. On the other hand, their prices are ridiculously high. These days, when you buy a Gibson guitar you are not paying for nothing else but the brand name. There are many other guitar makers out there producing reliable guitars for a fraction of a Gibson price.

Don't get me wrong, I own a 1969 Les Paul Custom and is a work of art, but they don't make guitars like that any more.

If anyone is planning on spending over $2,000 on a guitar, think again and you might end up buying 2 guitars instead of 1 and believe me, you will have enough money left for 1 year of strings supply for the 2...lol

Just a little curious about something, please pardon my question. Was it your intent to be helpful, answer the question, but got confused and didn't? Or perhaps, was it your intention just to slam 99% of MLP members guitars?

 

[RedSkwirrell]

These days, when you buy a Gibson guitar you are not paying for nothing else but the brand name.

Welcome to MLP!
I wholeheartedly agree with you.
Although your poor grammar renders this statement a complete contradiction to the rest of your post in its' entirety.
I choose to select this part of your opinion to be the most sensible.
Welcome to MyLesPaul.com.



(and just wait untilt they kick off about necro-posting! )

 

[musicmaniac]

I've used it once on an inlay that was popping up and everything was fine. I took it to the local repair place and was as good as new.

 

[KenG]

Well let's look at this a little closer shall we?....

THIS WARRANTY DOES NOT COVER:

1. Any instrument that has been altered or modified in any way or upon which the serial number has been tampered with or altered.

This is simple, if you modded the guitar reversably, return it to original condition for warranty (Dice- swap the original caps back in). Permanent mods are considered tampering which most manufacturers would say void the warranty (eg opening most consumer electronic devices or breaking of seals does the same thing). Tampering with a S/N brings the guitar's ownership & authenticity into Question.

2. Any instrument whose warranty card has been altered or upon which false information has been given.

See my above comment about ownership

3. Any instrument that has been damaged due to misuse, negligence, accident, or improper operation.

This is a standard MFRs disclaimer, you'd be hard pressed to find one that would warranty abuse.

4. The subjective issue of tonal characteristics.

Obviously this is to eliminate the freaks claiming issues with claiming somethings wrong with the guitar becuase it doesn't sound like they think it should. Seems stupid but after reading some posts here it wouldn't surprise me if Gibson got some compaints like this.

5. Shipping damages of any kind.

Always the responsibility of the shipper.

6. Any instrument that has been subjected to extremes of humidity or temperature

Leaving your guitar in the extreme heat or cold is just another form of abuse. I had my MIA Strat damaged when shippers left it out in a container overnite in extreme cold. Caused ripples in the finish. I hardly blamed Fender for this.

7. Normal wear and tear (i.e., worn frets, worn machine heads, worn plating, string replacement, scratched pickguards, or damages to or discoloration of the instrument finish for any reason).

Normal, and Nitro will deteriorate over time, heck some members demand it.

8. Any instrument that has been purchased from an unauthorized dealer, or upon which unauthorized repair or service has been performed.

Standard disclaimer again.

9. Any factory installed electronics after a period of one (I) year following the original date
of purchase.

Standard again, I've seen as little as 3 months warranty of some electronics.

10. Cracking, discoloration or damage of any sort to the finish or plating for any reason.

Again they can't determine the cause (temp extremes, too dry or too moist climate)

11. Gibson does not warranty the playability of a instrument whose "action" is lower than the standard "action" as defined in the owners manual."

Again a response to freaks who demand something that's subjective or unreasonable.

In summary none of these disclaimers surprise me. If the neck joint failed, or the fingerboard delaminated or something was just plain wrong to begin with you'd likely get satisfaction.

Other than some defects that should be picked up immediately, most of the stuff I've seen & read about are due to abuse or at least lack of care.

On a side note, my understanding is a fair bit of Martin work was the result of their not using a proper truss rod and the necks and metal bar didn't hold up well over time rendering the guitar unplayable. So I don't think it's a good comparison.

 

[colchar]

And their lifetime warranty does not apply outside of the United States.

 

[RedSkwirrell]

And their lifetime warranty does not apply outside of the United States.

They hadda cover themselves in case one ends up in France.