New Gibson Les Paul Standard 50’s

[Scott79]

$200

 

[mjross]

Purchased my 50’s Gold Top from Sweetwater! So far so good. Does not to always seem be the case but SW does a pretty good job of checking out their guitars before shipping. I’ve always had good results when purchasing from SW. YMMV!

 

[Larry8016]

Sounds like this will continue to bother you and rightfully so. No amount of money will not change that. I would not touch it. Take your time, find another one that plays as well and trade it in!

 

[jskidder]

The Mom & Pop shops are pretty much out of the picture when it comes to being a dealer for Gibson. Gibson, as far as I know, still requires the dealer to purchase what Gibson sends them, and most M&P's cannot sell $5k LP's and order minimum $100K per year up front. The big boxes are all that's left in the Gibson dealer networks. At least that's what I was told by a Nashville dealer about 15 years ago, and he had to cut from them.

You can't compare 15 years ago to today. Different ownership and the marketplace has changed significantly.

 

[jskidder]

$180 discount is a joke for that blemish. You should have gotten at least $200 off retail to begin with, and that fretboard should have been another $200 off. I'd return it.

 

[Gitter]

So, the steel wool didn’t work. I’m yet to try the razor blade. I’m starting to think it’s super glue! I’ll give it a try when I restring it!
Also, I’ll be keeping the guitar. They refunded me $180. That’s good enough for me

You should try using a fretboard cleaner with the steel wool. If that doesn't make a difference try a drop of naphtha on a rag, just make sure you follow up with a fretboard conditioner.

 

[Rock & Roll Hawk]

Recently, I had to sell my Les Paul to cover medical, and car troubles costs. I decided to save some money, and order another Les Paul. It came in yesterday. It plays flawlessly and weighs 8lbs and 12oz. Everything is perfect as far as playability. Anyhow, I contacted AMS, to see if they could give me a discount on it because it came with blemishes. I work at an instrument factory and I’m having the repair guy give me a quote. What does anyone think this is? I speculate it’s either super glue or lacquer that seeped past the painters tape. It also came with a couple of dents. What do you think would be fair as far as a discount goes? I feel they’re going to lose money on it if they just have me exchange it. Part of me doesn’t want to exchange it because it’s perfect in every other way.

The problem is Gibson has had nothing but problems with their fretboard material since they got busted for obtaining illegal wood. They blamed the government but it seems that Fender, PRS and everyone else was able to obtain wood without it being illegal.
With that said I have found that new is great but when it comes to Gibson's I really don't like a lot of the material they are using on their fretboards.
Purchasing a new guitar on line is just a big crap shoot.

Good Luck !

 

[redking]

You can't compare 15 years ago to today. Different ownership and the marketplace has changed significantly.

Ya, there are definitely small shops that are Gibson dealers - I know of one that I frequent regularly and they carry Gibson USA, Custom Shop and Epiphone.

 

[nkd]

Buying unseen online is not something I'm comfortable with, a guitar needs to be inspected in person and played.

Online dealers have return policies and claim that they inspect instruments but yet send defective items knowing that, due to human nature, many will not be returned.

 

[motowntom]

Buy a Heritage. Ive bought 2 played 4 in the last month or so flawless and play/sound amazing! View attachment 519819 View attachment 519819 View attachment 519820

This..... and be done with it.
Cheers

 

[amgomez]

Maybe someone did a set up and used something funky on the fretboard (or used too much of it).

No, me fretboard was dry as hell when I got it. It’s definitely glue. It started worry me as to why there’s super glue. I don’t see a crack under it.

 

[Nintari]

No, me fretboard was dry as hell when I got it. It’s definitely glue. It started worry me as to why there’s super glue. I don’t see a crack under it.

Yeah, it would worry me as well. I mean, there are only so many reasons why super glue would be used on a fretboard and none of them are good.

 

[Dark Horse]

Buy a Heritage. Ive bought 2 played 4 in the last month or so flawless and play/sound amazing! View attachment 519819 View attachment 519819 View attachment 519820

Never having heard of Heritage guitars before my first thought was "Not another range of Les Paul's it is confusing enough as it is with Standards, Traditional's etc!"

 

[CB91710]

Never having heard of Heritage guitars before my first thought was "Not another range of Les Paul's it is confusing enough as it is with Standards, Traditional's etc!"

Heritage moved into the old Gibson factory in Michigan.
Many believe that they make better guitars than Gibson did on the same tooling.

 

[moreles]

Lots of interesting commands from posters who have onlyt your pictures to go on. Lots of other misinformation as well. So... looks like you should just guess. You'll be better off. All I will say is that the fretboard blemishes could be several things, some mentioned here and some not, and I would, myself, be very confident of determining and fixing whatever it is if I had the guitar in my hands. I'm not going to suggest remedies here because done wrong, some of them can mess up your guitar. I would suggest that you avoid steel wool, as there are better ways to do what that material does, and steel wool does not belong around guitars. Its day has long passed, and it's totally unnecessary to use it. As for the comments about Gibson's fretboard issues, well, those are not confined to Gibson. Some companies have a good supply chain for rosewood and ebony and do better; Gibson and Fender clearly do not, at present. I dpn't think they prep their fretboards very well anymore, either. But even companies like PRS, which is second only to Collings (Taylor is quite good, too) in its QC, are not exactly dazzing in the fretboard department.