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The new zero nut pinging and cutting groves!


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This is my first post and while I would have loved it to be a more positive one its not going to be. I recently purchased a 2015 LP Classic with the new Gforce and Brass zero nut. I absolutely love the way it feels and plays! I play in an 80's rock band so the Gforce tuner is actually very helpful and it does a really good job if you use the single sing mode. The problem is with the zero nut. My strings which are 10's are cutting little groves into the zero nut which then cause a pinging noise when bending the strings. I took it back to my good friends at the store and they ordered a new nut for me.( supposedly the new prototype brass nut). However, after just two days of playing its doing the exact same thing. I paid over $2000 for this guitar and this is unacceptable to me. I called customer service and he said he never heard of this issue but to send them an email with pictures so I did. I know there were 11 new 2015 LP's in the store and every one of them did the same thing! This is not just bad luck for me. Anyone else experiencing this nut issue? Thank you! The first pic is the old nut and the one that is on the guitar is the brand new nut.post-70220-048257100 1423836282_thumb.jpgpost-70220-069003000 1423836290_thumb.jpg

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It's sad,you are the third person with this problem on this forum.

I think this is a bad case of: Hey, why spend money and time testing our product's when our customers do it for free?

Gibson is not the only company that does it, can't stand it.

They sell f**king prototype's!!msp_cursing.gif

 

I'm sorry to hear that, and hope Gibson's customer care solves this for you.

Just don't give up, mail them untill they fix it.

 

And welcome to the forum!

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There is so much going on here that to me, the only answer is to return the guitar, tell them why, stand firm and demand your money back in full, buy something else. Complaining won't get anything, if they change stuff it will be in their time and in their way. If you show them that you bought one and returned it, it might help get them to move a little faster. As much as I love my Gibsons, I would return that one in a hurry.

 

rct

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So the strings are not sliding smoothly while doing bends and are causing popping or pings when they come out of a groove that shouldn't be there. They will probably suggest that you don't do string bends. [flapper] Sucks when you can't use it the way a normal nut will work! [confused]

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Thanks guys for the replies. I have not heard anything as of yet from customer support. I really love the way this guitar feels and plays except for this damn nut issue. I hope they contact me soon with a solution.

Yeah its real odd they would get something that's so crucial to a guitar set up so wrong...

 

Someone else on here complained about the same thing (as mentioned its come up several times now) and Gibson sent him two of the new "plated" nuts.. Theres a pic on this guitar page that shows it.. http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-USA/Les-Paul-Traditional-Mahogany-Top.aspx

 

LPTDM15ANNH1-Headstock_zpssoppkpkd.jpg

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Yeah its real odd they would get something that's so crucial to a guitar set up so wrong...

 

Someone else on here complained about the same thing (as mentioned its come up several times now) and Gibson sent him two of the new "plated" nuts.. Theres a pic on this guitar page that shows it.. http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-USA/Les-Paul-Traditional-Mahogany-Top.aspx

 

LPTDM15ANNH1-Headstock_zpssoppkpkd.jpg

 

thanks! Hopefully they will send me one and it will work!

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This is one of the issues I thought these had when I tried them out in the store. Some had very small grooves in them that would "ping" doing bends near the nut area.

 

The other issue I felt the nuts had was they tended to bind, or rather, did not let the string glide across which I think is what a "good" well cut nut needs to do to have a guitar that stays in tune.

 

The nuts I tried were a little different the ones in this pic. the grooves on the tuner side were wider and had more of a "v" to them.

 

So...I think that means that the plated versions some are referring to are the third versions?

 

I don't see why these nuts can NOT be designed or modified to work properly. But, either they will or they won't. But in the NOW, why not just change it out to a regular plastic nut?

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Yes, they are sending me out the new Nickle plated zero nut now so I'm told. Apparently from what I have read, the G-force tuner and this type of nut work together. I guess it would cut into a plastic nut to easily with the force of the tuners?? I'm not sure that's just what i'm reading on their site.

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If it was me I'd return that thing faster than you can say "Lemon Law."

 

It think the only way they can solve that problem - besides using a conventional nut design - is to make the nut out of some really hard metal and tumble it to take off all the hard edges. Brass and nickel are waaay too soft. Stainless is kind of soft too. I'm not a materials engineer but I know a sophomore materials engineering student I could hook them up with. [biggrin]

 

You can't have the same break angle at the nut as with a conventional nut and just expect it to work. Helloooooooo! :rolleyes:

 

Like my wife says about the catering business, never try a new recipe on the customers before you try it on yourself. <_<

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If it was me I'd return that thing faster than you can say "Lemon Law."

 

It think the only way they can solve that problem - besides using a conventional nut design - is to make the nut out of some really hard metal and tumble it to take off all the hard edges. Brass and nickel are waaay too soft. Stainless is kind of soft too. I'm not a materials engineer but I know a sophomore materials engineering student I could hook them up with. [biggrin]

 

You can't have the same break angle at the nut as with a conventional nut and just expect it to work. Helloooooooo! :rolleyes:

 

Like my wife says about the catering business, never try a new recipe on the customers before you try it on yourself. <_<

 

Ive been a big fan of the new 2015 changes. Even the new nut idea. But it looks like this brass version was not ready for prime time. The new bridge saddles are titanium. The need to make the nut out of the same thing.

 

Bad screw up Gibson. [thumbdn]

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This is my first post and while I would have loved it to be a more positive one its not going to be. I recently purchased a 2015 LP Classic with the new Gforce and Brass zero nut. I absolutely love the way it feels and plays! I play in an 80's rock band so the Gforce tuner is actually very helpful and it does a really good job if you use the single sing mode. The problem is with the zero nut. My strings which are 10's are cutting little groves into the zero nut which then cause a pinging noise when bending the strings. I took it back to my good friends at the store and they ordered a new nut for me.( supposedly the new prototype brass nut). However, after just two days of playing its doing the exact same thing. I paid over $2000 for this guitar and this is unacceptable to me. I called customer service and he said he never heard of this issue but to send them an email with pictures so I did. I know there were 11 new 2015 LP's in the store and every one of them did the same thing! This is not just bad luck for me. Anyone else experiencing this nut issue? Thank you! The first pic is the old nut and the one that is on the guitar is the brand new nut.post-70220-048257100 1423836282_thumb.jpgpost-70220-069003000 1423836290_thumb.jpg

 

I've been bitten by the zero fret issue as well. My new 2015 SG Standard has zero fret imperfections right out of the box. The small imperfections appear to be caused by the higher strings slicing into the zero fret, resulting in a snagging effect. I have a solid theory of how they got there and have emailed Gibson. (No response yet). These initial imperfections are actually the cause of accellerated wear.

 

Sadly i'll be returning the guitar over the weekend after having it a mere three days. Although it's absolutely beautiful and has a great number of positives, there are intonation issues may be a problematic to resolve. (Saddle for G string already jacked all the way back). I'm actually most disapointed with he fact that the guitar was in no way, shape or form "set-up". Its as if the tech either couldn't care less or just gave up.

He absolutely had to have recognized the issue with the fret, the strings jumping wildly out of tune as they snagged and "plinked" with movement over the zero fret. What irks me is the fact that the tech absolutely knew that the intonation could not adequately be adjusted for some strings. Nahhhh... Couldnt be bothered with it.

 

Instead of shipping it out he could have taken pride in the Gibson product and name and called attention to the flaws and shipped out a different guitar.

In fact, i'm more than certain its he in-house guitar tech that created the initial damage to the zero fret in the first place. Bold statement but the evidence is clear.

 

What can you do? Not many choices of course. The experience has been an unnecessary let down and a terrible customer experience for such a high end guitar.

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This is one of the issues I thought these had when I tried them out in the store. Some had very small grooves in them that would "ping" doing bends near the nut area.

 

The other issue I felt the nuts had was they tended to bind, or rather, did not let the string glide across which I think is what a "good" well cut nut needs to do to have a guitar that stays in tune.

 

The nuts I tried were a little different the ones in this pic. the grooves on the tuner side were wider and had more of a "v" to them.

 

So...I think that means that the plated versions some are referring to are the third versions?

 

I don't see why these nuts can NOT be designed or modified to work properly. But, either they will or they won't. But in the NOW, why not just change it out to a regular plastic nut?

Why not just change it out for a regular plastic nut?

- at whos expense?

- which nut will easily fit the wider neck?

- how well will the plastic nut fare as the gforce tuner rapidly tunes the strings creating a back/forth/back/forth sawing effect with the strings?

Yes, its true. Take another look at the pictures posted above. The grooves in the zero fret were not created by string bending side to side.

They are created by the tuner. The rapid wear and the rest of the binding mess comes shortly thereafter.

My take: DSR-destructive rapid tuning occurs during very first initial tuning at Gibson.

(DSR = tuner revolutions + speed + duration + surface/angle/hardness = the surface is already primed for failure. Most don't realize it until it appears obvious.

Also why mine showed up out of the box with just enough of a snag/cut in the zero fret to make me say question and analyze how the hell my beautiful $1,850 dollar instrument arrived doa.

(And they knew it and shipped it anyway!)

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Thought I would share an update:

So I returned my SG Standard today. (in store).

Went through the whole saga and showed them the issues. Nobody, not the manager or even the luthier were notified of the issue from Gibson. Unbelievable in light of the issue becoming wide-spread to the point of Gibson freezing the other forum.

We all agreed that the guitar finish was beautiful, but the luthier spotted the nut issue in 10 seconds. They mentioned that the really haven't sold many of the 2015's just yet so no mass returns. But together we walked over to check out the ones hanging on the rack. I can say with absolute certainty that the majority of them had at least some amount of imperfection causing the ping/snag effect for the stings on the zero fret. These all will certainly result in the accellerated wear and flaking once they start getting some play time.

 

The question is why is Gibson not doing anything about the store stock before it walks out the door?

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Thought I would share an update:

So I returned my SG Standard today. (in store).

Went through the whole saga and showed them the issues. Nobody, not the manager or even the luthier were notified of the issue from Gibson. Unbelievable in light of the issue becoming wide-spread to the point of Gibson freezing the other forum.

 

 

What other forum has been frozen?

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I am glad now i took the risk with my signature T. I had assumed that you needed the brass nut to use the gforce properly but saw a video demonstrating the 2015 models where the reviewer was saying that the brass nut resolves the issues of strings getting stuck in plastic nuts (whilst at the same time you can hear a distinctive ping as the tuner does its business).

 

To be fare to my sig T the nut is perfectly cut and i have no issues whatsoever with it - tunes quickly and stays in tune. also the strings are not cutting into the material as per the brass nuts.

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Update: I just received my 2nd zero nut replacement. This time its a nickle plated zero fret and it just fits inside the brass plated nut. Time will tell how it stays in tune and if the grooves get cut into them. I'm hoping its good to go now.

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Update: I just received my 2nd zero nut replacement. This time its a nickle plated zero fret and it just fits inside the brass plated nut. Time will tell how it stays in tune and if the grooves get cut into them. I'm hoping its good to go now.

I really hope it works man... Just a shame you gotta go through this...

 

Let us know how it goes [thumbup]

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Yes, they are sending me out the new Nickle plated zero nut now so I'm told. Apparently from what I have read, the G-force tuner and this type of nut work together. I guess it would cut into a plastic nut to easily with the force of the tuners?? I'm not sure that's just what i'm reading on their site.

any update on how your getting on now?

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