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New SJ200 problem


Mr Clean

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Mr.C - I'm curious... Who was the dealer? Gibson makes an effort to ensure their dealers know what they are doing. They don't let any old Mom & Pop sell their guitars. It sounds like this dealer isn't a 5 Star for sure. I really can't imagine a scenario in which Gibson will not make you whole. G'luck!

 

probably a GC

 

 

 

JC

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It shouldn't matter if you took it to a tech for a setup, if all he did was adjust the action. That would be like voiding your car warranty because you changed the oil.

 

If the neck set was poor on a new guitar, then it is a quality control issue with Gibson IMO. You can check the neck set by sliding a straight edge (on edge) down the center of the fingerboard and seeing where it meets up with the bridge. If the straight edge does not skim across the top of the bridge (like in the photo of my SWD below) but runs into the face of the bridge, then the neck is under-set. They have jigs to check this at the factory and should be part of the quality control checks of any new guitar. Regardless of whether you've adjusted the saddle, truss rod and/or nut, I would speak to customer service at Gibson about it.

 

An under-set neck on a new guitar is just wrong. It means the guitar will have a very short life-span before having to be reset. And a reset is an expensive and invasive procedure. You should expect to have 10 - 20 years in your guitar before a neck reset is needed, not a month and a half.

 

DSCF1495.jpg

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Just a follow-up here regarding warranty. The Gibson Warranty on acoustic instruments is as follows:

 

Your new Gibson instrument is warranted to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for the life of the original retail purchaser, subject to the limitations contained in this warranty.

 

THIS WARRANTY DOES NOT COVER:

 

1. Any instrument that has been altered or modified in any way or upon which the serial number has been tampered with or altered.

2. Any instrument whose warranty card has been altered or upon which false information has been given.

3. Any instrument that has been damaged due to misuse, negligence, accident, or improper operation.

4. The subjective issue of tonal characteristics.

5. Shipping damages of any kind.

6. Any instrument that has been subjected to extremes of humidity or temperature

7. Normal wear and tear (i.e., worn frets, worn machine heads, worn plating, string replacement, scratched pickguards, or damages to or discoloration of the instrument finish for any reason).

8. Any instrument that has been purchased from an unauthorized dealer, or upon which unauthorized repair or service has been performed.

9. Any factory installed electronics after a period of one (I) year following the original date of purchase.

10. Cracking, discoloration or damage of any sort to the finish or plating for any reason.

11. Gibson does not warranty the playability of a instrument whose "action" is lower than the standard "action" as defined in the owners manual.

 

It doesn't seem to me that you have violated any of these terms. Number 11 is about playability below standard action and it seems to me you're looking for standard playability. I think you have an argument here.

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.

Some members might recall this issue with J200s has been discussed here at least a couple of times since I joined. J200s should be looked over carefully for this issue before purchase, especially those with four ribbon bridges. In the past I recall someone commenting that Gibson should be setting the 4 ribbon J200s' neck with more back angle than they do to allow for a higher saddle and sharper break angle.

 

 

.

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I hope you get this resolved in your favor. I do believe you should have involved Gibson immediately. Your dealer, whoever it is, sounds a bit shady. My experiences with GC is that they will advise you to not use a tech/repairman who is not authorized by the company who made the guitar. Your dealer, whoever it is, should have told you the same, or at least have issued some paperwork explaining it. Our GC here tells you upon purchase that you have 45 days to return the guitar, and if it's a Gibson, Martin, or Taylor that you need to have repairs done through the builder and with their authorized techs. GC, here, has two techs, but they will not work on Gibsons, Martins, Taylors for anything much more than a setup and string changes if the guitar is under warranty. Fortunately, it appears that no work was done on the guitar by these other techs. From what's been written, it doesn't sound as if the dealer is on your side. I hope you do tell us who it is. Ordering a high-dollar instrument over the net is risky. We've all come to trust certain dealers. Hopefully, that trust remains...Good luck.

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Mr.C - I'm curious... Who was the dealer? Gibson makes an effort to ensure their dealers know what they are doing. They don't let any old Mom & Pop sell their guitars. It sounds like this dealer isn't a 5 Star for sure. I really can't imagine a scenario in which Gibson will not make you whole. G'luck!

 

 

It got nothing to do with knowing what they are doing. The average Mom & Pop store can't afford to be an authorized Gibson dealer as it could never sell the number of guitars Gibson requires.

 

But I would trust my local little indie stores over the meglomart guitar stores any day of the week. Perhaps if there was a place for them with Gibson we would be seeing alot less complaints about new instruments.

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It got nothing to do with knowing what they are doing. The average Mom & Pop store can't afford to be an authorized Gibson dealer as it could never sell the number of guitars Gibson requires.

 

But I would trust my local little indie stores over the meglomart guitar stores any day of the week. Perhaps if there was a place for them with Gibson we would be seeing alot less complaints about new instruments.

 

I partially agree and partially, respectfully disagree. Yes, volume is king in any business and Gibson would prefer to deal with 100 retailers selling 10 times as many units each than deal with and risk their rep dealing with 2,000 retailers who might move a handful a year and present more than a handful of problems. Some of the smaller ones certainly offer better service and/or prices than a GC, but based on the law of averages more than half probably do not. So - would you rather wholesale to 100 retailers who on average were 'better' than 1000 others?

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I would really appreciate if someone could give me some info on a neck reset. How long would this process normally take and will the guitar require a re spray afterwards?

 

A reset on a J200 would not require a respray if done correctly. The nitro lacquer finish would be "broken" with a razor or exacto at the seams of the heel and then when refitted, new nitro brushed into the seam and then buffed. You shouldn't notice the neck was ever off the guitar. They would remove an inlays above the 12th fret as well as the 14 fret itself to drill an access hole for the insertion of steam. Once the neck is off and reset, the fret and inlays re-installed, you will not see any evidence that anything has happened to the guitar at all.

 

I would guess that a professional neck reset would cost $250 - $300.

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Just an update on this.

The dealer is being very difficult so I'm having to take further action.

I can't say any more at this stage, but I will post the whole story once it reaches a conclusion.

 

Just to say that a representative from Gibson themselves contacted me after reading my posts and was super helpful.

 

Thanks for all your help and support.

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  • 7 years later...

I have purchased two brand new Gibson acoustics during my guitar collecting obsessed life.. a 2007 SJ200 AB acoustic electric, and a 2008 Songwriter Deluxe EC.. And I must say, the action on both from the factory was, and to an extent still is.. terrible. The neck angle in my opinion on both guitars made it impossible to set the action to a playable height and maintain good contact with the under saddle pick-up.. I ended up installing a 16'' radius saddle on each to get the action a bit lower without losing outside contact on the bass and treble E strings.. 

My Guild D-40 has a similar issue.. but I bought it new in 1972, and its taken over 40 years for me to lower the saddle as much as I had to do on my brand new Gibson's.. 

Even the MIC Guilds have better dovetail joint neck angles.. for 1/5 the cost?  I also own a Gibson 1987 Chet Atkins CCE, and an SG Standard.. both great guitars.. but I won't be investing in any more Gibson Acoustics..

Guitar OCD 56

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that is crazy... 

I have a 2016 SJ200 standard,

I will say the action was a bit high from the factory, but after a setup, it's dead on 5/64s Low E and 4/64s High E measured at the 12th fret.

That's about as low as I need it but I do have room to go lower. 

 

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2 hours ago, Guitar OCD 56 said:

I have purchased two brand new Gibson acoustics during my guitar collecting obsessed life.. a 2007 SJ200 AB acoustic electric, and a 2008 Songwriter Deluxe EC.. And I must say, the action on both from the factory was, and to an extent still is.. terrible. The neck angle in my opinion on both guitars made it impossible to set the action to a playable height and maintain good contact with the under saddle pick-up.. I ended up installing a 16'' radius saddle on each to get the action a bit lower without losing outside contact on the bass and treble E strings.. 

My Guild D-40 has a similar issue.. but I bought it new in 1972, and its taken over 40 years for me to lower the saddle as much as I had to do on my brand new Gibson's.. 

Even the MIC Guilds have better dovetail joint neck angles.. for 1/5 the cost?  I also own a Gibson 1987 Chet Atkins CCE, and an SG Standard.. both great guitars.. but I won't be investing in any more Gibson Acoustics..

Guitar OCD 56

Did you at any point touch the truss rod ?

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On 4/10/2012 at 1:52 AM, Mr Clean said:

I took the guitar back to my own tech and he lowered the saddle to make the guitar playable....

So the guitar was sent back to the dealer. .... I've now been told that the guitar is being sent to Gibson for someone there to look at.....

 

Man, I hate Gibson's new forum format!  What crap! 

Anyway, you buy a new Gibson, you get a warranty.  You should get a new SJ200 from Gibson, not the defective one after it has had a neck reset.  I think lowering the saddle might have been a mistake.  After getting three expert opinions that it had a flawed neck angle, you should have demanded a new one right then and there. 

On a side note, my Songwriter 12-string produced in Bozeman is spectacular.

 

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3 hours ago, Guitar OCD 56 said:

I have purchased two brand new Gibson acoustics during my guitar collecting obsessed life.. a 2007 SJ200 AB acoustic electric, and a 2008 Songwriter Deluxe EC.. And I must say, the action on both from the factory was, and to an extent still is.. terrible. The neck angle in my opinion on both guitars made it impossible to set the action to a playable height and maintain good contact with the under saddle pick-up.. I ended up installing a 16'' radius saddle on each to get the action a bit lower without losing outside contact on the bass and treble E strings.. 

My Guild D-40 has a similar issue.. but I bought it new in 1972, and its taken over 40 years for me to lower the saddle as much as I had to do on my brand new Gibson's.. 

Even the MIC Guilds have better dovetail joint neck angles.. for 1/5 the cost?  I also own a Gibson 1987 Chet Atkins CCE, and an SG Standard.. both great guitars.. but I won't be investing in any more Gibson Acoustics..

Guitar OCD 56

 

Welcome Aboard.  You should have started a new thread instead of tacking on to an 8 year old one, that we don't know the outcome of.  

 

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