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Les Paul Studio Deluxe III wiring question


GCRoberts

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I just purchased a new Gibson Les Paul Studio Deluxe III (GC exclusive model) from Guitar Center last week. I opened up the back cover for the volume/tone controls. I noticed something that didn't look right, especially to someone like myself that was an electronics technician earlier in my career. The bridge grounding wire runs up along the side of the casing for one of the volume controls. Then it takes a tight 90 degree turn to run along the top of the same casing. I would have expected this grounding wire to then be soldered to the casing, but it's not. It's just "resting" against the casing. I called Guitar Center to ask them if they wouldn't mind opening up the other Studio Deluxe III that they had in stock. I explained to the guy what I was seeing, and he said that he saw the exact same thing in the other guitar. So either this was never meant to be soldered, and there is a good reason for it that I'm missing.....or Gibson messed up the soldering on more than one guitar. I'm including two images: one shows the wire before I touched it, the other shows how this wire can easily be bent away from the casing. Anyone have any idea what's going on here?

 

post-74265-094597900 1444055801_thumb.jpg

post-74265-025401400 1444055822_thumb.jpg

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I just purchased a new Gibson Les Paul Studio Deluxe III (GC exclusive model) from Guitar Center last week. I opened up the back cover for the volume/tone controls. I noticed something that didn't look right, especially to someone like myself that was an electronics technician earlier in my career. The bridge grounding wire runs up along the side of the casing for one of the volume controls. Then it takes a tight 90 degree turn to run along the top of the same casing. I would have expected this grounding wire to then be soldered to the casing, but it's not. It's just "resting" against the casing. I called Guitar Center to ask them if they wouldn't mind opening up the other Studio Deluxe III that they had in stock. I explained to the guy what I was seeing, and he said that he saw the exact same thing in the other guitar. So either this was never meant to be soldered, and there is a good reason for it that I'm missing.....or Gibson messed up the soldering on more than one guitar. I'm including two images: one shows the wire before I touched it, the other shows how this wire can easily be bent away from the casing. Anyone have any idea what's going on here?

 

post-74265-094597900 1444055801_thumb.jpg

post-74265-025401400 1444055822_thumb.jpg

 

Is it soldered into any part of the potentiometer, or pass through one of the lugs on the other side?

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Is it soldered into any part of the potentiometer, or pass through one of the lugs on the other side?

 

I don't think so, but I'll take a closer look tonight. I'll also measure the dc resistance with my ohm meter.

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I don't think so, but I'll take a closer look tonight. I'll also measure the dc resistance with my ohm meter.

 

I don't know if you've plugged her in or not, yet, and if you noticed any hum or electrical build up? If GC have seen another one in the same fashion; I can't see this being a fault on 2 guitars; the shaping of the wire seems to be deliberate, and given that it's been hand-wired, I can't see more than one occasion for someone missing the soldering of that piece.

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If it needs soldering just solder it yourself.

It looks like a Bubba mod to tell you the truth. Too much wire showing.

Also none of the wiring job looks like factory work at all. There should be a circuit board in the cavity you fotod but there isn't. There is globs of solder everywhere. Gibson did not do that wiring.

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If it needs soldering just solder it yourself.

It looks like a Bubba mod to tell you the truth. Too much wire showing.

Also none of the wiring job looks like factory work at all. There should be a circuit board in the cavity you fotod but there isn't. There is globs of solder everywhere. Gibson did not do that wiring.

 

I spoke to Gibson Support and they are investigating. They did confirm that it would have been their factory that wired the guitar. Guitar Center only requests the specs, then Gibson builds them. I didn't think to ask them why there isn't a circuit board. I don't know much about the history of Gibson's use of circuit boards. Maybe the GC runs are a small run, and they wire them the "old" way.

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Get that thing back to GC, then! Have them solder it up good and proper, and it'll be under waranty. Or DIY; but I'd say take it back so they can see inside; know exactly what the issues are, and know that other guitars are afflicted (such as the one they still had in stock). It's the responsible thing to do [thumbup]

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Get that thing back to GC, then! Have them solder it up good and proper, and it'll be under warranty. Or DIY; but I'd say take it back so they can see inside; know exactly what the issues are, and know that other guitars are afflicted (such as the one they still had in stock). It's the responsible thing to do [thumbup]

 

Took it back to GC yesterday. They are waiting to hear back from Gibson for the warranty ( [confused] which is separate from me finding out from Gibson if the wiring was incorrect). I could have fixed it myself in 10 minutes, but decided not to risk the warranty [-X . Not only did my "research" let the local GC know there was a problem with one of their "in stock" guitars, I also contacted GC corporate to let them know they might have a large stock of improperly wired guitars. I can't do any more than that! [biggrin]

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Took it back to GC yesterday. They are waiting to hear back from Gibson for the warranty ( [confused] which is separate from me finding out from Gibson if the wiring was incorrect). I could have fixed it myself in 10 minutes, but decided not to risk the warranty [-X . Not only did my "research" let the local GC know there was a problem with one of their "in stock" guitars, I also contacted GC corporate to let them know they might have a large stock of improperly wired guitars. I can't do any more than that! [biggrin]

It's such a small thing, I don't think it's worth all the hassle, and I would be VERY surprised if anyone at Gibson made a "warranty" issue out of you soldering a ground wire in place that should have been there in the first place.

 

I kinda think Gibson would have expected you to go ahead and do it yourself, them having told you and you having asked what was correct. NOTE: I am NOT speaking for Gibson...just making my own statement about something I am not in any way involved in...I ain't Gibson.

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This is why I don't really understand all the fuss about the warranty. Seems like a lot of hassle for a 2 min solder job.

 

I had the guitar at Guitar Center for two days, and Gibson hadn't gotten back to them yet to approve the repair. I asked for my guitar back and soldered it myself last night (in two minutes). Not upset with Guitar Center at all, they're just following the warranty procedure. I'll probably rewire it soon anyways. Was thinking about adding a 4th push-push pot and wiring it up as the Traditional Pro III (another GC exclusive) is wired. It's a very minor change from the way it's wired up now. I'd gain the ability to select inner or outer coils.

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If Gibson isn't pushed to make good to its' dealer network on warranty repairs they won't take it seriously. If the consumer, because that's what we are, we aren't guitar players anymore, took the guitar back and said I want it fixed before tomorrow or I'm just going to ask for my money back, these things and many others may not be missed anymore.

 

I too can solder it up myself with my junky broke a$$ iron, but that isn't the point.

 

rct

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If Gibson isn't pushed to make good to its' dealer network on warranty repairs they won't take it seriously. If the consumer, because that's what we are, we aren't guitar players anymore, took the guitar back and said I want it fixed before tomorrow or I'm just going to ask for my money back, these things and many others may not be missed anymore.

 

I too can solder it up myself with my junky broke a$$ iron, but that isn't the point.

 

rct

Funny you mention that.

 

A long, long time ago, I worked at GC and there WAS a "clause" or a rule, so to speak, that if there was a customer with a gig we were required to do whatever we had to to make sure what we sold was ready for the gig.

 

That extended a lot further than soldering irons at the ready. But there was no such thing as waiting for permission to do "warranty" work. And much of what went back, went back for good.

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If Gibson isn't pushed to make good to its' dealer network on warranty repairs they won't take it seriously. If the consumer, because that's what we are, we aren't guitar players anymore, took the guitar back and said I want it fixed before tomorrow or I'm just going to ask for my money back, these things and many others may not be missed anymore.

 

I too can solder it up myself with my junky broke a$$ iron, but that isn't the point.

 

rct

 

Yea, I'm speaking about warranty work in general. My Honda had a bad ignition switch that was recalled. I needed to get the car to the Honda dealer, get a ride back home, wait till they fix it, get a ride back there, make sure they fixed it....ect..

 

Instead I bought the $15 switch in Ebay and put it in in 20 min. It's understandable on some things like a G Force tuner that stopped working or a pickup that died but for simple stuff it's not worth the hassle. Life's too short to be wasted on all that.

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