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pickguard disintegration and corrosion of gold parts


MaxiumburnN

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I guess we are not going find out what the warranty dealer said.

 

IF he even called, I'm guessing it went something like this:

MaxiumburnN: "Dear low level staff person, I demand you give me warranty service because I didn't properly care for my guitars."

Gibson: "Bwahahahahahahahaha"

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I can understand being real upset over this! However, at the time of manufacture, did Gibson or anybody know about gassing or was there even any knowledge that certain "plastics" would do this with age? I'm not sure, but I believe Gibson procured the bulk materials from Italy.

 

I've got a number of 50 plus year old guitars and fortunately, only minor checking. In the late '50's-'60's, like everybody else, I bought a guitar to play. I never even considered it would last for decades... much less be a collector's item. At that time, a $300-$400 Gibson guitar was a huge expense; but it sure brought lots of enjoyment through the years. "Priceless!"

 

The man is clearly upset, but I doubt Gibson will do anything; nor should he take it out on forum members! msp_rolleyes.gif ...just saying.

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I was waiting for him to post a picture of his actual guitar but that never happened.

 

I always thought it was a good idea to take them out of the case and give everything a quick polish and oiling several times a year at the very least.

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I was waiting for him to post a picture of his actual guitar but that never happened.

 

I always thought it was a good idea to take them out of the case and give everything a quick polish and oiling several times a year at the very least.

 

I think I've located the grease nipples on my guitar. One at the lower bout end and another where the neck attaches.

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  • 3 weeks later...

This is a storage/age related issue. I restore many things, and we have similar issues with old radios. The longer the item sits, sealed up, the worse the damage will be. Humidity and heat also agravate the situation. As others have mentioned, air them out from time to time. I would remove the pick guard, and either order a new L5 one from All Parts, or buy the matching material from Stew-Mac and make new ones. Take the hardware off and get it re-plated, but have them put it on a bit thicker than the original flash plating. Let the cases air out for a month, and keep the guitars on stands so they air out too. Be sure to take them out at least once a month and play them. Oh, and change the strings.

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I can understand being real upset over this! However, at the time of manufacture, did Gibson or anybody know about gassing or was there even any knowledge that certain "plastics" would do this with age? I'm not sure, but I believe Gibson procured the bulk materials from Italy.

 

I've got a number of 50 plus year old guitars and fortunately, only minor checking. In the late '50's-'60's, like everybody else, I bought a guitar to play. I never even considered it would last for decades... much less be a collector's item. At that time, a $300-$400 Gibson guitar was a huge expense; but it sure brought lots of enjoyment through the years. "Priceless!"

 

The man is clearly upset, but I doubt Gibson will do anything; nor should he take it out on forum members! msp_rolleyes.gif ...just saying.

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OK you know I was upset and you know still a little bit upset because this happened o an n L5 I had a super400 and I have L4 and the all three of them the pick guard started to go on them you know maybe I'm lucky because I could afford to have all these great guitars but you know it's just not right if you put them in storage and dontvlook at them for like six months and they have this corrosion problem.

I had to take the pick guard's off the L5 and super 400 and then the most recent guitar that I had was the L4 from about 2004 it was the Namm show guitar and the friggin pick guard is corroding the gold and it's got like a killer finish and I'm just really upset that you know nobody in this form very few realize that what's going on here. You know the manufacturer should make a pick guard that doesn't do that ****.

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You know if somebody had a class action suit against Gibson for the **** you know they would correct it

As has been said, this is not what the vast majority of customers want. For certain models, they want "vintage spec". That means the same materials, and the same risk that has happened and WILL happen to these guitars if they are stored this way for great lengths of time.

 

Again, nothing to correct. Rather, the effort has been made to "educate" you and others that if you want these models of guitars, you have to store them correctly.

 

Nothing wrong with these guitars, it's just the storage method.

 

As an alternative, you could have guards made that don't cause this.

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Saying that the guitars were always made that way make them desirable by the customers is not true first of all. I am one of the customers and I do not want the guitar to have a corroding pick guard. How on earth would anybody want that for their guitar. In fact I am A person has spent a considerable amount of money on Gibson guitars and as such I'm letting you guys know what's going on. Not everyone looks at Gibson guitar forms and was told by the dealer that you must air out your damn guitar every month so it doesn't corrode the gold parts,

If that's the case then Gibson should put a disclaimer on the guitar when you get it saying by the way you have to air out your guitar or this condition could happen. But why would you have to do that why can't you just make a pick guard that doesn't dissolve surely there is technology to do so. Or how about just making a pick guard out of wood like Ibanez or Eastman which are Chinese for god sake.

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And the canard that Gibson is actually making the new guitars just like vintage is totally false 1960s L5's for instance has a bridge that has some sort of plastic inserts in the saddles which gives the guitar a distinctive sound the new Gibsons have metal or wooden bridges. when is Gibson going to start making those bridges for the new L5.?

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Furthermore if it pick guard is toxic which means that ihas a potential to harm a human being why on earth would Gibson continue to make that.?

I hope you guys could forward this discussion to your legal department. Because you guys don't know how to handle this question.

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Saying that the guitars were always made that way make them desirable by the customers is not true first of all. I am one of the customers and I do not want the guitar to have a corroding pick guard........

....... But why would you have to do that why can't you just make a pick guard that doesn't dissolve surely there is technology to do so. Or how about just making a pick guard out of wood like Ibanez or Eastman which are Chinese for god sake.

You are in the minority, regarding THOSE particular models.

 

Gibson DOES make guitars that don't have corroding Pickgaurds. It's only on SOME models, as in, the ones made to be LIKE the old ones, that they use the gaurds LIKE the old ones.

 

Like the original purchaser of the guitars you were complaining about?

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And the canard that Gibson is actually making the new guitars just like vintage is totally false 1960s L5's for instance has a bridge that has some sort of plastic inserts in the saddles which gives the guitar a distinctive sound the new Gibsons have metal or wooden bridges. when is Gibson going to start making those bridges for the new L5.?

Perhaps before you learn about what type of bridge is "supposed" to go on what guitar, when certain bridges were used, you might do better to learn about what Pickgaurds are "supposed" to be on what guitars, and when certain pickguards were used.

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And the canard that Gibson is actually making the new guitars just like vintage is totally false 1960s L5's for instance has a bridge that has some sort of plastic inserts in the saddles which gives the guitar a distinctive sound the new Gibsons have metal or wooden bridges. when is Gibson going to start making those bridges for the new L5.?

I think they will analyse the molecular structure of these plastics and make true replicas before releasing an L-5 reissue.

 

Furthermore if it pick guard is toxic which means that ihas a potential to harm a human being why on earth would Gibson continue to make that.?

I hope you guys could forward this discussion to your legal department. Because you guys don't know how to handle this question.

Pickguards were made from celluloid like baby dolls were then. I never wanted to play with those of my younger sister but I liked their smell of camphor. [biggrin]

 

The danger of being harmful to health is negligible compared to that of self-ignition over 38°C or circa 100°F. Beware of storing items like the one pictured below in the attic!

 

pc-0008.jpg

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You're the original owner of these guitars, right? Just show us copies of your receipts for the guitar before anybody goes any further. If you are not the original owner, there's no use for you to be crabbing at everybody any more. If you are the original owner of any of them, then take pix and post them. Then you won't be wasting anybody's time any more. If you didn't buy the guitars new yourself, then forget it. I'm assuming you're not the original owner, because you said what people always say when they're not the original owner.

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You're the original owner of these guitars, right? Just show us copies of your receipts for the guitar before anybody goes any further. If you are not the original owner, there's no use for you to be crabbing at everybody any more. If you are the original owner of any of them, then take pix and post them. Then you won't be wasting anybody's time any more. If you didn't buy the guitars new yourself, then forget it. I'm assuming you're not the original owner, because you said what people always say when they're not the original owner.

 

 

It doesn't matter if I am the original owner. It is a defective product. The fact that some of them were bought used and some where bought new with the same problem only re-enforces my claim. And why would I show my receipts??? I don't know you and you're not trying to help. It is the light brown tortoise shell pick guards that have this problem.

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It doesn't matter if I am the original owner. It is a defective product.

It's really the only thing that is relevant.

 

What you own, what you bought, is only between you and the seller. If you have a problem with the merchandise, then you take it up with the one you did business with. The one who YOU bought it from.

 

Why should anyone be held responsible for a transaction they had no part of?

 

You really expect Gibson to give you a dime when you yourself never did business with Gibson? Never paid them a cent yourself?

 

Think about it: All YOUR complaints with these guitars, and what you think Gibson should do, could have very well been addressed between the "original" purchaser and the dealer they bought it from.

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I think they will analyse the molecular structure of these plastics and make true replicas before releasing an L-5 reissue.

 

 

Pickguards were made from celluloid like baby dolls were then. I never wanted to play with those of my younger sister but I liked their smell of camphor. [biggrin]

 

The danger of being harmful to health is negligible compared to that of self-ignition over 38°C or circa 100°F. Beware of storing items like the one pictured below in the attic!

 

pc-0008.jpg

Never store your baby in an attic or a place that gets to 100 degress F.

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So Steins logic is that if somebody buys an item secondhand from a company that makes the defective product that the company is no longer responsible but the person who sold it to them is responsible for that only??

 

If that were the case no cars would ever be recalled if they're sold secondhand that's ridiculous logic and US law does not support that argument because it is defective.

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So Steins logic is that if somebody buys an item secondhand from a company that makes the defective product that the company is no longer responsible but the person who sold it to them is responsible for that only??

 

If that were the case no cars would ever be recalled if they're sold secondhand that's ridiculous logic and US law does not support that argument because it is defective.

Yup. It's a matter of personal responsibility. Something lacking more and more.

 

If a person is unwilling to take responsibility for their own actions, it is impossible to be able to judge others for THEIR actions.

 

This is a perfect example. You want to hold Gibson responsible for your guitars. But since you don't want to take responsibility for what you had and how to store them, you fail to see that what you would want Gibson to do for YOU would hurt others more than you would benefit.

 

If you can't see where you are responsible for your part, how can you be trusted to be responsible for your effect on other people?

 

Gibson built the guitar right. You stored them wrong. If Gibson was to then build them to be stored the way you want to store them, that line of reissues would then be made "wrong". And the majority who want these would not get what they want.

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