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Problems with G-Force Tuners


Gary_T

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Hello folks.

I have purchased my very first Gibson Les Paul. I have been playing for 35 years and absolutely love this guitar.

It's a 2015 and it came with the G-Force tuners. They seemed like a very cool thing at first, but I am soon realizing they are more problematic than they are worth.

First thing, the guitar does not stay in tune. Even after stretching the strings, in the middle of a song, the guitar is out of tune.

The next problem I have encountered is when you turn the G-Force on to tune the guitar, sometimes it takes forever for the Strings to tune. In one instance it took over two minutes.

Am I the only person experiencing problems with the G-Force tuners.

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Ah well...

If you look in here;

http://forum.gibson....n-tech-guitars/

 

A problem shared is a problem halved - or so they say.

Share your woes with all the others who have experienced the same trouble - and also completely different problems - with the MinETune/G-Force stuff.

 

Sorry to hear about the issues but not surprised in the least I'm afraid to say.

 

P.

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...

The next problem I have encountered is when you turn the G-Force on to tune the guitar, sometimes it takes forever for the Strings to tune. In one instance it took over two minutes.

...

Hello Gary, and welcome here.

 

New guitars of all makes tend to lack tuning stability for a certain period, at least all of mine did. My newest one still does less than two weeks after buying and setup which I think is normal. All of them have manual tuners, partly locking, partly not.

 

Two minutes are normal for precise manual tuning, and one will have to rework after warming up strings. I don't want to put down MinE-Tune and GForce here, but the fastest way of tuning are finetuning tailpieces and Floyd Rose vibrato bridges I think. Using them takes me a few seconds only.

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Well....

I have had the guitar for one week, played it for at least 20+ hours and the G-Force tuners have presented me with nothing but problems. The last straw was at rehearsal last night and the guitar was out of tune more than it was in tune. I have purchased many, many brand new guitars over the years and never had the problems with tuning as I have had with this one.

Taking it back today and trading it in for a 2014 Les Paul Traditional. Something to be said about tuning your own guitars manually [thumbup]

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I took mine off after many hours of trying intonation, calibration, pluck it just right in the right place and anything else everyone suggested. I have no problem tuning old school, this tuning devise should be an OPTION not the only choice your given. People vote with there wallet and I believe Gibson will soon see this as folks like yourself return them or pass them up for whats left of last years models.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was telling one of the sales managers at GC (who was unaware) that the G-Force is on almost every model. While I'm certainly no guru... I told her I think this year will bite Gibson in the butt and be one of, if not their worst sales years ever. Though, her being of the younger crowd (22), she disagreed with me. She said she loves the new stuff they're coming out with and most of her peers agreed with her.

 

Of course, this is the generation that grew up playing Rock Band, thinking it was real.

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]Well....

I have had the guitar for one week, played it for at least 20+ hours and the G-Force tuners have presented me with nothing but problems. The last straw was at rehearsal last night and the guitar was out of tune more than it was in tune. I have purchased many, many brand new guitars over the years and never had the problems with tuning as I have had with this one.

Taking it back today and trading it in for a 2014 Les Paul Traditional. Something to be said about tuning your own guitars manually [thumbup

 

darn it, I hate hearing stuff like this, I wanted Gibson to be successful with this right out of the gate, seems they introduced it too fast into the market

 

sorry to hear it did not work out for you, as I am reading on other forums

 

I bought a 2014 TradPro2 last week new negotiated down to $1545 plus tax, took it home and played it, and took it back two days later in exchange for a 14 Standard Plus

 

the Trad was simply too heavy for just to pick it up and rest it on my leg was an effort, mine weighed 10.2 pounds, just saying be aware the Trads are heavy and solid although

they do have some hole drilled in them, some weight relief

 

I also did not care for the 15db boost thing, thought it was nothing special and kind of a gimmic, I did get mine with a 60s neck and I liked that

 

you can specify what weight would be acceptable to you as they seem to range from as low as 9 to well over 10 pounds, this may not bother you as it did me

 

good choice regardless sir .....and IF you can swing another $1000 consider the Standard Plus, the best of everything Gibson can put on a guitar, mine retailed at $3200 but I got it for $2500 with some pretty good pleading at my Guitar Center

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Sheesh. Here's a dealer who likes the knobs but says the G force is absolutely unacceptable and the neck shape is unacceptable. But nice knobs. I don't like them but they look good on him though. [unsure]

 

I don't think he ever used the words unacceptable in the video. I however will. Having these on every model to me IS unacceptable and the neck shape as well. If I wanted that neck I would of saved thousands of dollars over the years and just bought Ibanez guitars. The one I played, not only would it not tune correctly as well, I also didn't care for the neck. Not even going to get into the look of it...They had another in the store, but it was on a techs bench, as they were trying to get it to work The guy in the video was just a customer and was, from what I saw, trying to give them credit for things he did like. I agree with pretty much everything he said from my experience playing one.

 

Gibsonkramer, the comments I've seen that were positive came from people that said, ooh that's a "pretty" guitar lol So I can pretty much figure out where there expertise is. And a sales manager that doesn't know much about their biggest line? Well that's GC for you lol.

 

I don't really care if you like this G Force stuff or not, but to put them on every USA LP has to be one of the worst business decisions I've ever seen. And then charge more for them. I was pretty happy about the quality control the last few years and thought Gibson was making big steps in the right direction and then..."this"...If they had stuck with the direction they were going I would probably have paid the higher price anyhow. But with all these changes, no way.

 

 

 

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it is simply not true that ALL the 2015 Les Pauls come with the G Force

 

for example, the Les Paul Supreme does not

 

Now that's funny! You came up with ONE that doesn't but however is priced the same as some custom shop models...So to get a Les Paul without robotics you need to pay 4-5k...umm no thank you. I've been buying Les Paul guitars since 1976 have owned over 20 and still own 8. I've continually bought them for what they were, not what they have become. If I was alone in this I'd say ok just me, but when Gibson is alienating about 90% of their customer base, you can't say that's a good thing. I did say USA models not all. But a lot of people can't afford custom shop models. I take that back 4599 was for the 2014 Supreme. The 2015 is listed on Sweetwater for $6599...100 dollars more then a custom shop '59 re issue lol

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Gibson is alienating about 90% of their customer base

 

 

I have to respectfully disagree

 

My point is that people on this forum, the MLP forum, people who own and play Gibson guitars are NOT, in my opinion, Gibson's "base".

 

Why?

 

Because "we" already own Gibsons, and how many times have I read "I only buy used, I would never pay for new guitar, I can't afford it"

 

So, WE are not the marketing demographic that Gibson is interested in selling NEW guitar too, Gibson knows that and they know that there are tens of millions of potential NEW gibson guitar buyers out there and in order to both keep and increase their share of the total NEW guitar market they have to market themselves as innovative and the guitar to most aspire to owning, and they are smartly doing that by raising price and being the first to have adjustable nut and auto tuners.

 

It is irrelevant to Gibson that YOU do not like the G Force and the new prices, YOU are not the targeted demographic, Gibson does not really care at all what YOU think.

 

All just my opinion and you can curse and flame me all you want, but at 65 years of age and having sat in many majority shareholder meetings, I think i know "business"

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Pippy, you're a newbie again? lol I thought you had changed your status. Love the 9918 post newbies :)

I keep getting demoted to the ranks.

 

norton raises a very good point. Who, exactly, are Gibson targeting?

The 'we already own Gibsons' argument doesn't hold water as there are many who buy more that one.

Also many folks here DO buy their guitars new; my last two were bought new and Donny would be buying one LP a year if they didn't keep messing them up.

 

But none of us knows with certainty WHO Gibson is targeting and it would be interesting to find out.

 

P.

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I keep getting demoted to the ranks.

 

norton raises a very good point. Who, exactly, are Gibson targeting?

The 'we already own Gibsons' argument doesn't hold water as there are many who buy more that one.

Also many folks here DO buy their guitars new; my last two were bought new and Donny would be buying one LP a year if they didn't keep messing them up.

 

But none of us knows with certainty WHO Gibson is targeting and it would be interesting to find out.

 

P.

 

 

Ask and ye shall receive.

 

midget_zps8008dae2.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

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The guy in the video was just a customer ...

My bad. The guy was so impressive I thought he was somebody special. [biggrin]

 

 

My point is that people on this forum, the MLP forum, people who own and play Gibson guitars are NOT, in my opinion, Gibson's "base".

 

I have no idea about the MLP forum, but my experience is that the members of this forum are very representative of the Gibson customer base. They may be the one single smartest base of Gibson customers ever assembled into one forum. The people you're talking about, the people who are new to the world of premium guitars, are not Gibson's base. They do what other people tell them to do.

 

The problem that Gibson is having now, imo, is that they think the market is structured just like you say, where the customers aren't smart enough to do some research and ask around before they jump into something new. Gibson's business plan was to make guitars in the traditional way. You can't change that plan without negative consequences.

 

The reason that these new features on the Gibsons are bad is that they ARE bad, not that they're perceived as bad. It's not a sales or marketing problem, it's a product design problem. It won't take too long for it to shake out. Once the squire and Epi players who are looking to upgrade find out that real Gibson people don't like the new models, they won't like them either. I'm just guessing, but I have a feeling that this is going to be a rough go at Gibson after this stuff.

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i dunno, but when i look at the over all picture, i still see it as a branding thing mostly.

 

almost all the sub $1000 guitars are gone from the line up.

30% price increase across the board.

the available guitars have been culled and simplified significantly.

 

years ago i saw the interview where henry j responded to a question about gibson's pricing and he stated simply that his data showed that sales increased when prices went up. he created some formula that he uses to keep sales at a certain level. he said then that when he came on board gibson was hurting. part of what turned them around was their branding. they evoke nostalgia, and boutiquey-ness. exclusivity. class. it's kinda the same reason people seem to love relics so much. he doesn't care about music in the slightest. he doesn't care about the customer in the slightest. he's a ceo. for him it's all numbers and shareholders to answer to, etc.

time will tell if it was a bold stroke of genius or an overzealous cash grab. the thin with the tuners and zero nut thing, i think is them trying to move things forward, technologically. how do you be old-school with out being stodgy, cumbersome, slow? maybe one might try taking the guitar to a new place with the help of new technology. that seems to be the road they are taking/attempting.

 

i have to say, for me, i am disappointed to learn those tuners don't work. the idea is a good one, despite what many people think. i had every intention of buying a set for my strat. but if it doesn't work, then it's crap. surely gibson know this. yet they are forcing them on people and upcharging them for it to boot. that's just typical corporate greed, ubiquitous these days. if the zero nut thing works or not i don't know. if it does, than it's a good thing, that needs to be executed in a more attractive fashion. we'll see if the buyer's pockets are as deep as henry predicts they are. i don't think they are but i've been wrong before.

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I'd consider myself Gibson's market. Longtime player, dissatisfied with previous guitars, always wanted a Gibson.

 

Had I walked into GC and all they had, were 2015 models, even before reading anything on these changes...I would have left without one and never looked back.

 

The only reason I bought one was because the Studio Pro, plays/sounds good, doesn't have all that crap, but has enough bling to make her a looker to.

 

I know I've said it before, but I'm firmly in the camp Gibson blew it, big time this model year. They will be scrambling to revamp the 2016 lineup. Very disappointed, they're pricing people out and offering them substandard, to boot. Anyone look at the tops on the 2015s? 2014 basic Studio LPs have better tops.

 

Huge fail on Gibson's part, imo.

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you know what guys?

 

We will never know if Gibson "blew it" or not, will we?

 

Gibson does not release to the public their new guitar sales, model by model, every year.

 

Reading through all the posts on the 2015 models it is clear that a large number of us posting here are making great predictions that Gibson will "fail" in sales this year.

 

Really? How would you know, you don't sit in their board room and look at the numbers.

 

I hate to say it but it seems that a lot of us here almost seem to be rooting for failure, so we can say "I told you so"

 

I hope Gibson does just fine selling their 2015s and the more I read the more I read of people buying the guitars with the G Force, nut, and neck, and actually liking them.

 

Sure, of course I have also read of a handful, really just a couple, of guys who bought and had immediate problems with the G Force, but they are covered under warranty.

 

Gibson sells all over the world, I would like be be a large shareholder getting 20 million dollars every year in dividends and laughing to the bank about such a "unmitigated disaster".

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you know what guys? We will never know if Gibson "blew it" or not, will we?

Yes. We will. "In the Fullness of Time". Just like we know that Norlin "blew it" previously.

 

...it seems that a lot of us here almost seem to be rooting for failure...

No-one here wants Gibson to fail.

The majority view was that we would have preferred the G-Force system to be offered as an option rather than as a standard feature.

In this fashion it would have become clear, through sales, which route was most popular with the public.

 

I would like be be a large shareholder getting 20 million dollars every year in dividends and laughing to the bank.

A similar approach to the one which drove Gibson to the verge of bankruptcy during the Norlin era.

I would like Gibson to offer the 2013-spec Trad again. But I'm not a businessman and our mindsets are clearly different.

 

P.

 

EDIT : Norton Stevens. Chairman of ECL (Ecuadorian Company Limited) takes control of CMI in '69 and the Norlin era was born.

Weird co-incidence.

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I just watched that video... and DAMN!!! if that's what we can expect from G-Force then I think we all have the right to moan about it..

 

I certainly don't want Gibson to fail in any way shape or form...

 

As for the robo tuners, well you can always take them off.. so whatever....

 

But the neck changes... I just cant fathom...

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