Geeeezzzz JazzGtr, chill out brother.
There's no guitar made that doesn't require a certain amount of work to meet my personal taste and I actually enjoy doing it. Call it "bonding" or "making it my own", but that's just me. I understand that there are a lot of players who are more than happy with a given guitar, right out of the box, and maybe they don't possess the knowledge and/or skill to do anything about it even if they weren't. The fact is, it's none of my business.
However, the fretboard issue with the 339 is something altogether different. I haven't seen one yet that isn't exactly as described by some of the people here, or as depicted in the pictures. This leads me to believe that it's not a flaw, or defect, or poor workmanship. I believe that this is how Gibson intended them to be, or deliberately omitted one of the finishing steps for whatever reason, but at best, it's very strange.
I've never, and I mean NEVER seen a fretboard finished (or lack thereof) like this in my life, EVER!!! Not even on $100.00 Strats. And I didn't just fall off the kiddy wagon at Fun Land either. I've been playing and working on guitars for three decades.
At any rate... The guitar is still a bargain and a great overall instrument. In fact, with a few hours of skilled labor, I'd put it right up there with anything, including my Historics.
Bottom line? GREAT GUITAR!!!
