Salvador

Yes, it's all strings. Not just the 3rd & 4th. It is very pronounced on the 6th string, low E.

Thank you for the advice everyone. I have tracked down the issue: It is both the nut and the tuners. The nut is grippy. Strangely so. I'm not sure exactly what the Graph Tech nut is trying to be. If the design goal is to act as a quasi locking nut, a'la Floyd Rose, it fails. Nor does it permit the strings to slide freely. I purchased Big Bends Nut Sauce & applied it. It helped a little bit. So I applied it again. It helped a little. SO, I thought "Well, I wonder how the tuners feel when they aren't dragging a string through Mr. Jr. Loctite Graph Tech nut, and they weren't smooth. They too had a grippiness in the mechanism. I can open them up. oil them (I not only have plenty of BB's Nut Sauce, but I also have some pure Silicone oil), but should I have to on a BRAND NEW GUITAR? Not only is this the only guitar I have with this issue, here's the REAL kicker: I bought an Epiphone Les Paul Standard a month before I bought the Gibson. I liked it, so I figure I'd "upgrade." It also has Grover Tuners, but a different nut material. It too didn't tune all that well. I put the Nut Sauce on the Epiphone (for practice, as it's the cheaper guitar) and it helped quite a bit. Not so on the Gibson. At this point I have 3 "Les Pauls:" Gibson, Epiphone, Chibson. The Chibson tunes the nicest, the Gibson is the worse. Explain how this is possible? Explain how this makes sense? So at this point I'm faced with repairs, or whatever, for a brand new guitar that I think shouldn't have problems. I base this on experience. I own many guitars, mostly American, but some foreign. NONE of them have had this issue. I am VERY disappointed. There is no excuse for the premier, arguably the number one guitar company IN THE WORLD to produce anything inferior to anybody. Plus how does it make sense that three guitars, all with Grover tuners, but presumably different build-quality, with Gibson ostensibly the best of the three, to have the worst problems, & the cheap foreign made knock-off to have superior tuning feel & stability?

I took a look at the link you provided. Candle wax sounds intriguing, is easy enough to get, & probably not very messy. I'll try that on one string & see if it helps. The vaseline 3-in-1 & lighter fluid combo sounds dangerous and I'm not sure how a GraphTech nut would react to that. I'll have to research this material separately. All that for a $2K guitar..... It should come with a valet to apply it for me.

Thanks for all the advice. I'll try some of the suggestions. If there is a defect in manufacturing, shouldn't that be a warranty item? The issue is on all strings, not just the D & G. It is very pronounced on the 6th & 5th strings, but to a greater or lesser degree exists on all strings. There also seems to be more lash in the tuning mechanism than on either of the two guitars LP-like guitars. Sadly, even the potentiometers aren't as smooth as on the imports. Maybe Gibson is struggling so much they can't even make guitars any more. Less sadly, it plays great. I'm only comparing the Gibson Les Paul with other Les Paul type guitars, as my other guitars are so different it wouldn't be an apples to apples comparison.

Brand new 2020 LP Classic with GraphTech nut & Grover tuners. When I tune it isn't smooth. It feels like the string or the mechanism grabs, then moves. It feels like there is either an issue with the tuners or the strings are grabbing in the nut, and then with more tuner force (or string force if tuning down), slips free. 1. Is there some kind of adjustment I should know about &/or do to the tuners? 2. I've heard of products like nut-sauce, is this something I should use? 3. How common is it for the nut be cut wrong? 4. Any suggestions? Confounding this is that I contacted Gibson directly and they were unconcerned, saying "go ahead & replace the tuners if you'd like." I am basing my assessment on other guitars I have. I have two other LP-like guitars, An Epiphone LP Pro Plus-top & a Harley Benton Chibson. Both of these other guitars have Grover tuners. I don't know the type of nut on the Epiphone, the HB has a graphite nut. Both of these guitars feel better than the Gibson when tuning, the HB being the best, then the Epiphone, & the genuine Gibson the worst.

Rather than necro an old post (I found them as far back as 2008 & as recent as 2011), I figured I'd start one anew. Just got a brand new Epiphone Les Paul. The fingerboard is pau ferro. When I play it my fingertips get black where they contact the strings. I have read a number of theories that include: dye on fingerboard rubbing off; oxidation on strings; finger chemistry reacting with string metal; cleaning chemicals used on fingerboard leaching chemicals. With the suggestions to fix being: play it more and it'll stop; put oil on your fingerboard; change strings; return guitar; stop whining you crybaby. I find both the supposed cause & the supposed cures obtuse. I have purchased numerous new guitars. These guitars have come from the following countries: USA, China, Japan. These guitars are the following brands: Fender, Gibson, Steinberger, Ibanez, Yamaha, Jackson, Mitchell, Recording King, Harley Benton. I own 13 guitars, all purchased new. I have other guitars much cheaper, as well as other guitars with D'Addario strings, as well as other guitars from China. This Epiphone is the first, and only guitar I've ever bought or owned that has done this to me. Certainly the cause isn't the chemical composition of my fingertips, or I'd have noticed it on some other guitar I'd played spanning the many years I've been playing. If it's "fingerboard dye," or "string oxidation," why would only the Epiphone suffer from this affliction? Is it even reasonable to think that Epiphone is the only manufacturer, of all the various manufacturers of guitars I own to dye their fingerboards? Why would they dye pau ferro? Of the plethora of guitars I own, why only the Epiphone? I took a picture of my fingers to post, but it's easily reproducible: all I have to do is play the Epi for a few minutes.