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2014 Les Paul Custom


RockyA

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I had the guitar overnight and took it back the next day. The nut slots were binding some of the strings. The Gibson Tech submitted warranty claim along with pictures of the poorly cut nut to Gibson. Gibson Warranty Department approved the warranty claim and directed the nut be replaced entirely with a Graph Tech nut. Anyone else had problems with poorly cut nuts from the factory? I had two in a row.....a 2014 ES 335 purchased 15Jan2016 purchased new and all the string slots with the exception of the Low E were angled wrong and slots poorly cut. Gibson also directed the bone nut be replaced with a Graph Tech nut.

 

Wonder why Gibson just don't put the Graph Tech nuts on them at the factory instead of bone and Corian?

 

I'm told the Graph Tech nuts are far superior to the Corian and Bone nuts due to their consistency.

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Oh Lordy, just got call and thought I'd pick up my Les Paul Custom. After replacing the nut and spec setup, it kept fretting out. Upon further inspection the frets weren't seated properly and Gibson is replacing the Guitar. Should have a new in about three days fresh in the box and unopened. I told the tech to go ahead and open and inspect it good and make sure the frets are seated properly, nut cut right, setup to specs, and playability before he calls me to come and get it. Then I will look it over real good too before taking it home. It's hard to believe that Gibson puts out such a poor product that is the flagship of the Les Paul line, these guitars should be perfect.

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Sorry for your bad luck, Rocky. [crying]

 

There have been three Corian nuts on brand-new Gibsons of mine that I had replaced with bone nuts on warranty. They were rather brittle and didn't survive the first one or two restringings. One more will probably call for replacement after less than three years. Nine more from between 2011 and 2013 are fine so far. Corian indeed seems too inconsistent to me as material for nuts. [mellow]

 

I never encountered a single poorly seated fret on any guitar or bass. If that happened, I would be annoyed, too, regardless of brand. <_<

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I think what I will do is if the new replacement isn't right, then I'll just ask for my money back from GC. Sweetwater has 9 of them in stock that are 2016s and same price $4799. I'll just buy one from Sweetwater and if it isn't right I will send it back and keep sending them back until one of the 9 they have is right. If none are right, I'll just get my money back, heck I'm 67 and have a good 2013 Les Paul standard plus that is right. I just won't buy anymore Gibson guitars at all since they are manufactured this poor. May have the same problem with the ES 335 just bought too! If the frets aren't seated correctly I will just ask for my money back and skip buying anything else from the Memphis plant also. I watched a video of the Memphis plant and saw the kind of workers they have working on guitars there, so I can see why the Memphis plant can't put out any quality guitars anymore either.

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Well the Horror story continues. GC called and told me the new LP Custom had come in and unopened box. Went there opened the box in front of them, took the guitar out and out of the case. It was filthy, so they cleaned and polished it up. It had a big scrape on the shoulder side and a big long scrape gash on the round side. The binding where the fretboard meets the body had been scraped to deep and plain body wood was exposed. The A thru High E binded at the nut and all the frets past the 5th to the 22nd were uneven heights on the bass side. Every other fret was High and then Low. The action was of 5/64 on bass side but the high e treble side was 5.5/64. Lowered the action to 5 and 3 like the checklist said it was prepack inspected. It fretted out from the 17th to 22nd for the b and g strings.

 

So, there are two more 2014s still in the unopened box, 1 in Califronia and another in Florida and they told me they would send for them and see if they were the same. Yesterday they said the Gibson Rep visited them and looked at the LP Custom I had initially bought that is being replaced and told them just to pound the frets in the fretboard as that was normal with Richlite Fretboards.........Whoooa I'm certain that would crack the binding over the edges of the frets.

 

So I'm going to let GC order one more and if it has the same problems then I'll just get my money back and no more LP Customs for me. They said I definitely did not want a 2015 as it was the worst year so far for Gibson Guitars and the 2014s are better........

 

I can't see how they could get any worse unless they just quit producing guitars period.......and they way they are going with their quality control I think that may just happen in the short future.

 

Will post again, when the 3rd one shows up and is looked at. I think I have been more than patient with Gibson and they don't even have the courtesy to reply to me......$4700.00 guitar....

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What a crying shame! [crying] They can't have unlearned making guitars! What do they do to their artisans? How does a Gibson guy come to say that frets popping out were normal on Richlite boards? The rot starts at the top I guess. <_<

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Talked to Gibson customer service this morning by phone. Rep said that was BS what the Rep said about the frets popping out cause of the Richlite. He said he's never heard of it. I told him of the poor condition and damage to the last two LP Customs and of the fretting out above the 12th fret when action was at factory spec. I told him I have a 3rd one on the way in a few days new in the box and what to do if it is like the other two or worse. I told him I really wanted a LP Custom but I can't accept the substandard ones the factory has put out. He said that if the 3rd one is also like that, and if I still want one, for me to get authorization to ship one with my receipt directly back to Gibson for evaluation and repair so they can see what is going on with these guitars. He said they would have the repair and restoration department restore it to speck and it would be flawless when the sent it back to me.

 

So, I guess that is what I will end up doing. Hope this 3rd one is okay. I hope it don't take 6 mos to get it back if I do ship it back to Gibson.

 

Anybody here ever had to ship one back to the factory for evaluation and repair under warranty? How long did it take?

 

Keeping Fingers Crossed

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Talked to Gibson customer service this morning by phone. Rep said that was BS what the Rep said about the frets popping out cause of the Richlite. He said he's never heard of it. I told him of the poor condition and damage to the last two LP Customs and of the fretting out above the 12th fret when action was at factory spec. I told him I have a 3rd one on the way in a few days new in the box and what to do if it is like the other two or worse. I told him I really wanted a LP Custom but I can't accept the substandard ones the factory has put out. He said that if the 3rd one is also like that, and if I still want one, for me to get authorization to ship one with my receipt directly back to Gibson for evaluation and repair so they can see what is going on with these guitars. He said they would have the repair and restoration department restore it to speck and it would be flawless when the sent it back to me.

 

So, I guess that is what I will end up doing. Hope this 3rd one is okay. I hope it don't take 6 mos to get it back if I do ship it back to Gibson.

 

Anybody here ever had to ship one back to the factory for evaluation and repair under warranty? How long did it take?

 

Keeping Fingers Crossed

I have not, but been reading this forum a long time. It takes a long time, months usually.

 

In a way, IF you can wait that long, you are kinda doing Gibson a favor by sticking it too them, and letting them make right. It IS something the dealer should be doing though, which it seems, they aren't. But also, in a way, a lot of these sub-par guitars get sold at deep discounts.

 

If you are going to send one, send the WORST one.

 

Again, the easiest way, is to find a good luthier who is an authorized repair place for Gibson. But, you don't need to hear all the reasons for that again unless you want to.

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The worst one so far is the second one, it needs body repairs and repainting, buffing, etc, along with either a reset of the neck and refret. Doubt if a dealer that is an authorized Gibson repair is going to do all that or any luthier on a brand new guitar is under warranty. So you believe I should send the worst one that needs all this? There are deep gouges on the playing side of the body shoulder and wide part where it had been scraped against something like the guitar had fallen and slid straight down on a railroad spike. where the neck joined the body there is a 1/4" wide x 2" length where there is no paint just exposed wood. The frets on the high e side are nearly even with the fretboard and the fret on the low E side are probably 1/32 high, then alternate in heights, every other fret until the 5th fret which are all even from there to the 1st fret. Since they all so far have fretted out in the upper frets past 12th, it may need a neck set again. All I can say is the PLEK machine must have when bonkers when they did the run on LP Customs, the painters and finishers were drunk, and the final inspector must have not even been there when these were made.

 

Like Cap said, they couldn't have unlearned how to make these guitars this soon.

 

I think the Dealer will send the other ones to them to even though they haven't been purchased by a customer. The Gibson Rep said my receipt of purchase must be with the guitar when I ship it to them for evaluation. GC is going to do the shipping for me and get the authorization on my behalf.

 

Maybe by a stroke of luck, the 3rd one might be perfect......It's coming from CA unopened box.

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