This is sad...

[PierM]

Page’s number 1 looks nothing but those guitars in the OP. Also, comparing a piece of history with tons of mojo (famous for what it does represent and not for how it looks) with a modern brand new standard, doesn't make sense.

A super glossy guitar, with everything shining like a brand new car, with half of his top flamed, and the other half totally plain, looks ugly, period. The funny is, they are not even trying, because if you look those tops, you see how easy would have been to match them, differently, plains with plains, flame with flame. They are just sloppy as they always been. Gibson; only if you are lucky is good enough.

 

[Gtarzan81]

I'm sometimes amazed by the things ya'll bitch about.

 

[TorzJohnson]

I remember the hype for the Original Collection promising higher quality and lower prices. Well, that guitar is $2500. My pre- Original collection Standard also cost $2500 brand new. I thought we might see street prices drop a couple of hundred, but it looks like Gibson only lowered the MSRP to match street prices. Now they have $1600 Specials and $1500 Juniors. Great job on lowering the prices, Gibson.

BTW this is the top on my pre-Original Collection Standard:

 

[lpfan1980]

Is it really that hard to match similar pieces together?-Jimmys lp has similar grains some of the new ones look slapped together and are noticably different ,Maybe Gibson no longer has the selection they once did but im sure they have a fair amount -still just my 2 cents,

 

[lpfan1980]

I remember the hype for the Original Collection promising higher quality and lower prices. Well, that guitar is $2500. My pre- Original collection Standard also cost $2500 brand new. I thought we might see street prices drop a couple of hundred, but it looks like Gibson only lowered the MSRP to match street prices. Now they have $1600 Specials and $1500 Juniors. Great job on lowering the prices, Gibson.

BTW this is the top on my pre-Original Collection Standard:

Yeahh pretty. 3 outof 3 Slash emoji heads!,

 

[Dr. Arkam]

I have zero problem with any of those. Personally I’m not a big flame top fan anyway, but whatever.

 

[jb_abides]

I've seen plenty of R8s with mis-matched tops, and some R9s with flame that only reveals itself at oddball angles... I've seen folks drool over bursts I thought were 'meh', or outright atrocious.

Some like tight barbecue flame, some like grain patterns, some even like heavy chevrons. [Egads! I hate drastic chevrons]. I down vote them all privately, bite my tongue, while others weigh-in with true praise. And that's OK -- I recognize everyone has their tastes.

People want "vintage-y" in the USA line, then complain when everything isn't AAAAA...?!

Go FIGURE.

 

[wmachine]

The problems really start when they mismatch tops on solid colors.............

Not a big deal to me, FWIW. I have some really nice flame tops, but if they're not on a "good one", they're worthless.

 

[1allspub]

I'm sometimes amazed by the things ya'll bitch about.

I wish I could give this comment 100 thumbs up!

 

[rogue3]

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...l-standard-60s-bourbon-burst?serial=123990410

maybe a case of peak-a-boo flame.there is enough grain there to keep me happy...ymmv. mis-matched tops are cool,in my book.

 

[Christosterone]

I prefer plain tops to flames....by far

-Chris

 

[Guitpicky]

Sweetwater seems to get the WORST tops. I bought my 60s Standard from MF and the top was great!

I imagine the better tops they get are sold in store and what's leftover goes online. Still, the trend of late seems to be quite a bit below the normal bar. They've always been hit or miss with bookmarking, some are perfect and others are just atrocious

 

[Guitpicky]

Must be the angle from the back where none of the top is visible.

You beat me to it

 

[Guitpicky]

This guy's Standard '60s Unburst is just horrible. If you want to jump to it, he starts showing it at 3 min 45 sec.

To be honest that one isn't that bad compared to many I've seen, it's more or less par for the course. Many of the issues he was pointing out I couldn't tell from the video if they were actually there or if he was just making mountains out of molehills.

He says in the video that he couldn't return it because he's already returned too many guitars. I don't think that's really working in his favor, because it might say more about him than the guitars he's returning.

I can't really take either side on this one, but it sounds like he fell for the hype of the new regime and bought on impulse expecting absolute perfection. It's like he's more upset with himself but blaming it on Gibson

 

[Guitpicky]

I'm sometimes amazed by the things ya'll bitch about.

Does that include bitching about what other people bitch about?

Sorry... couldn't resist

 

[Guitpicky]

Is it really that hard to match similar pieces together?-Jimmys lp has similar grains some of the new ones look slapped together and are noticably different ,Maybe Gibson no longer has the selection they once did but im sure they have a fair amount -still just my 2 cents,

If you watch some of the factory tour vids on YT it's pretty clear they're not even trying. In one I watched the guy cutting the slabs randomly flipping them over when stacking them. The next guy grabbing them doesn't even notice much less flip them back around so they do match. I love Gibson but that's just sloppy attention to a detail that matters to most people dropping that kind of cash on a guitar

 

[MePapa]

Attention to detail on the wood should be a priority. It should represent pride by the maker in the quality they say they are producing.
A guitar may sound very nice, and still be ugly.
But, I would guess that a new guitar is most often picked up by the prospective buyer by the way it looks.
I'm in no way saying a guitar has to look pretty to sound great.
My gripe as many here is sloppy handling of the wood .
Top grain mating is of high importance to a lot of prospective buyers. Myself included.
Also, I have been very dissapointed to turn a guitar over and find the back grain running at an angle instead of parallel to the nect grain.
Maybe it makes no difference to the sound, or to some buyers, but to me, I like my guitars to be made to at least look the value of the MSRP.
Especially if they are putting a transparent color on them.

 

[drkato]

Best of both worlds? Luckily we have the choice to just pass and say...NEXT!

 

[Guitpicky]

I prefer plain tops to flames....by far

-Chris

How about half plain and

I have zero problem with any of those. Personally I’m not a big flame top fan anyway, but whatever.

Gibson loves you

 

[PierM]