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Gibson ES Les Paul Truss Rod?????


Larsongs

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I am just now getting around to Setting up my brand new Gibson ES Les Paul.

 

I discovered it didn't come with a Truss Rod Tool. I called Gibson & the Rep said the y don't come with new Gibsons anymore. (My new Fenders came with them.) So, then I tried an older Truss Rod Tool from my '90's Gibson Les Paul & it wouldn't fit. I ordered one from Amazon which was supposedly for a Gibson Les Paul & it didn't fit. So I ordered one directly from Gibson. I doesn't fit either.

 

None of them will fit on the Truss Rod bolt. It's either the worng size Bolt, which I doubt, or the cavity wasn't Routed out enough.

 

Anyone else have this problem? Any idea what's going on? Any idea what I should do??

 

Thanks,

 

Lars

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I am just now getting around to Setting up my brand new Gibson ES Les Paul.

 

I discovered it didn't come with a Truss Rod Tool. I called Gibson & the Rep said the y don't come with new Gibsons anymore. (My new Fenders came with them.) So, then I tried an older Truss Rod Tool from my '90's Gibson Les Paul & it wouldn't fit. I ordered one from Amazon which was supposedly for a Gibson Les Paul & it didn't fit. So I ordered one directly from Gibson. I doesn't fit either.

 

None of them will fit on the Truss Rod bolt. It's either the worng size Bolt, which I doubt, or the cavity wasn't Routed out enough.

 

Anyone else have this problem? Any idea what's going on? Any idea what I should do??

 

Thanks,

 

Lars

 

 

You can pick up at any music shop, I always have one in a case, in case

 

http://www.therecordshopltd.co.uk/product/jp-guitar-multi-tool-case/

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Can you put a nut driver or socket on there to see what size it is?

 

Nope, that didn't work. There just doesn't seem to be enough clearance from the outside of the Nut to the carved out Wood to get either one on.

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Wow that's crazy to have to ship it back because you can't get a tool on the truss nut. This is not the first I've heard of this problem though. Something weird is going on. The other poster that had this problem, Gibson told him there might be too much Lacquer inside the truss tunnel. That doesn't seem right as every time I have adjusted a truss rod nut it seems there isn't much if any finish in there.

 

Obviously they are fitting a larger nut to the end of the truss rod - but how'd they get it in there in the first place?

 

Very strange, but unlike little finish flaws this is something that really has to be corrected. Let us know how it turns out if you get an answer to what they did when it comes back.

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Wow that's crazy to have to ship it back because you can't get a tool on the truss nut. This is not the first I've heard of this problem though. Something weird is going on. The other poster that had this problem, Gibson told him there might be too much Lacquer inside the truss tunnel. That doesn't seem right as every time I have adjusted a truss rod nut it seems there isn't much if any finish in there.

 

Obviously they are fitting a larger nut to the end of the truss rod - but how'd they get it in there in the first place?

 

Very strange, but unlike little finish flaws this is something that really has to be corrected. Let us know how it turns out if you get an answer to what they did when it comes back.

 

I was told the same thing by both Sweetwater & Gibson regarding too much Lacquer in Truss tunnel. But it looked like there was hardly any if any at all?

 

I'm still trying to figure out how it got past both Gibson & Sweetwater? It was almost Set up to Factory Specs. But I like the Action lower than Factory Spec. How did they Set it up?

 

When did Gibson quit including Truss Rod Tools?

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On both my ES Les Pauls the truss rod nut was lacquered over. I had to scrape away the lacquer around the back side of the nut and also the nut itself was covered in a lacquer coating. There was no way either of them had a truss rod adjustment post finish spraying (by Gibson or the vendor). Both needed adjustment out of the box.

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2 month ago i bough an second hand ES335 ,the trussrod was at his max with a 10/52 strings set .

Before break it , i decide to sale the guitar and buy a new ES335 a 1969 reissue from Menphis factory.

I received it 3 days ago, put a 10/52 set and began to adjust the trussrod ... same problem this one is very hard too .

WHAT HAPPEN WITH GIBSON'sTrussrods ?

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On both my ES Les Pauls the truss rod nut was lacquered over. I had to scrape away the lacquer around the back side of the nut and also the nut itself was covered in a lacquer coating. There was no way either of them had a truss rod adjustment post finish spraying (by Gibson or the vendor). Both needed adjustment out of the box.

 

Mine didn't appear to have excess Lacquer on the Nut or in the Cavity. I lightly scraped the Nut but not so much it looked like abused anything. After several tries & a few ?Gibson Les Paul Truss Rod Tools I decided to escalate the issue..

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Here is the truss rod nut on on of my ES Les Paul's named "Plug". You can see the puddle of lacquer on the bottom of the cutout that was preventing the tool from going onto the nut. Also notice it is drilled off-center.

 

Ls8xTRf.jpg

 

She is named Plug because of this:

 

NZYVs1a.jpg

 

Looks like what is used for a side fret marker.

 

Plug is on the left:

 

6mudDDs.jpg

 

EujzTdo.jpg

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Here is the truss rod nut on on of my ES Les Paul's named "Plug". You can see the puddle of lacquer on the bottom of the cutout that was preventing the tool from going onto the nut. Also notice it is drilled off-center.

 

Ls8xTRf.jpg

 

She is named Plug because of this:

 

NZYVs1a.jpg

 

Looks like what is used for a side fret marker.

 

Plug is on the left:

 

6mudDDs.jpg

 

EujzTdo.jpg

 

Wow!!! That's alot of lacquer!!! Mine didn't have anything like that.. Crooked Truss Rod?? Mine didn't appear to have that either. I'm wondering if they put the wrong size Truss Rod Bolt on?? Otherwise how could they have even Set it up Close too Gibson Spec???

 

Incidentally, I recently found out here theat even though I just bought it new a couple months ago it was built in 2014....There seems to be a lot of Old Stock out there.... May be why gibson's not going to Winter NAMM??

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I'm wondering if they put the wrong size Truss Rod Bolt on?? Otherwise how could they have even Set it up Close too Gibson Spec???

 

 

Of course they are not using one-off truss rods and nuts. The correct rod and nut is installed, but impossible to use. The bigger issue that you hit on is that it would be impossible to set up such a guitar after finish spraying...either by Gibson or the sweet dealer who supposedly does a multi-point inspection.

 

Of my N of 2, both ES LP's impossible to adjust without cleaning out the lacquer first.

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A friend who is a guitar tech. showed me a Gibson LP with the truss rod so close to the fingerboard that they ground material off the nut to get the cover to lay flat. So what do you do when you have to adjust the nut and reinstall the cover? He said he has seen this several times in the past year.

Thanks John

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In my case this is the second one. The first one had had extra holes drilled & poorly filled & finished on the Headstock. This one is the replacement.

 

I don't know what's going on with Gibson but I do hope they get it fixed. Or replace it with one that has nothing wrong with it.

 

They've done that in the past with my 50th Anniv 1961 RI Casino. There was something wrong with the Tremotone so they gave me a new Guitar just like it. Only it was/is perfect.

 

Lars

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In my case this is the second one. The first one had had extra holes drilled & poorly filled & finished on the Headstock. This one is the replacement.

 

I don't know what's going on with Gibson but I do hope they get it fixed. Or replace it with one that has nothing wrong with it.

 

They've done that in the past with my 50th Anniv 1961 RI Casino. There was something wrong with the Tremotone so they gave me a new Guitar just like it. Only it was/is perfect.

 

Lars

 

I probably would have sent it back, but it is a limited run and there wasn't another one available. It's a very nice player...almost my number one.

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I probably would have sent it back, but it is a limited run and there wasn't another one available. It's a very nice player...almost my number one.

 

 

They told me mine was the last one they too. I asked my Sweetwater Rep if he'd double check with Gibson & he did. He called me the next day & said Gibson was sending them another one. It was supposed to be the last of the Special Run Blacktops....

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My question is, How can the truss rod be off centre if it's machine cut? All of the bad press that Gibson have received is obviously true, I see some shocking photos of new guitars on Facebook of guitars that should have never left the factory. Why doesn't Gibson aknowledge the problems? They must be losing sales by the truck load. I can honestly say that foreign made guitars are getting better reviews than USA Gibsons and even some custom shop. I really can't understand why they are bringing new models out when thee QC is so bad. The management must be terrible. All you can hope is that China doesn't buy them. But I fear they will.

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