It's a long process no doubt.....but I never had an issue. My favorite way to buy stuff is on no interest Guitar center financing. I've even sold stuff while still paying it off intrest free. The key is to make sure you pay it off before the alotted time or you will get banged like Stormy Daniel's over a table.
It takes like 2 hrs but they do all the work and I play every guitar in the store by the time we are done.
One thing i dont understand is my guitar came with all the usual gibson case candy, however it was missing that "guitar tech table" photo i thought they put in all their new guitars with cases. Or is that only the custom shops?